Laâyoune Sahara City

It was in 1934 that Lieutenant Antonio de Oro established a camp on the left bank of Sèquia el Amra for the Spanish colonial police where the generous groundwater permit lasting installation.

In less than a century, Laayoune claimed as capital of an independent Sahrawi state, has skyrocketed, becoming the first economic and administrative center for Saharan Provinces.

Since the annexation by Morocco in Western Sahara in 1979, tax benefits granted to entrepreneurs and investors have allowed the momentum. The exploitation of phosphate mines of Bou Kra and treatment are not strangers. Phosphate is one of the main wealth of the kingdom. It is delivered on a conveyor belt (the longest in the world about 100km) directly to the port of El Marsa third Moroccan port 25 km from Laayoune where it is processed before being exported by ship

Downtown

INVESTMENTS These have most transformed the appearance of the city still remains the old cathedral in Spanish concrete. The center gathers around the vast square Méchouar all jurisdictions, banks and business locations.

These changes were complemented by the creation of cultural and sports venues. Theater, cinema, stadium, home to young people, schools, exhibition hall are also present to facilitate and better meet the needs of a settlement often still nomadic population.

Laayoune opens to tourism

Responding to the wishes of the new tourism directions provided on the Atlantic coast south of Morocco, seaside activities, relaxation and discovery of the hinterland have been implemented with a consistent range of varied leisure. + Continue reading ...

Apart from the water sports that appreciate the consistency of waves and wind, sport fishing or wholesale welcomes more and more fans on the long beach lined Foum El Oued dunes. Hunters will not be outdone, two protected game reserves were created. Hares, gazelles, partridges, bustards their are offered ...

Wild and varied landscapes.

The hinterland lends itself to the needs of travelers of all kinds hungry for wide open spaces. Excursions to the many salt lakes close to the coastal region, as Tah 70 km north of the city, are indeed organized from it. A great adventure to meet this rich and varied nature, made of regs and ergs along the coast and the charm of the region.

On the road to Smara, rock paintings sites Asli and Oued Miran give us, them, the testimony of a distant past when the Sahara was greener and humid, hosting a wide variety of animals. Located 250km, Smara is emblematic of a Saharan town rich past.

Step on the great south road

For many travelers, a city of Laayoune remains friendly and almost mandatory stopover in sub-Saharan Africa.

However, the strengths developed by the region show a willingness to be part of a tourism which hopefully, will be environmentally sustainable and respectful of the local population ...

Kasbah Agadir

Agadir was completely rebuilt after the earthquake of 1960, which makes this seaside city a modern city with recent infrastructure. Here no ancestral or historic kasbah medina but beautiful manicured gardens, contemporary museums and lively souks.

Kasbah Agadir

Vestige of the Agadir memory, Casbah was built in 1572 on top of the hill overlooking the city of Agadir. It remains today of this small fortress, following the 1960 earthquake, a long wall surrounding a buildable terrain. The view of the bay and the port of Agadir is exceptional in clear weather.

Birds Valley

In town the Birds Valley - 7/7 from 11h to 18h, free admission - is a zoo outdoor connecting Boulevard from 20 August to Boulevard Hassan II. Pleasant and convenient to reach a boulevard to the other, we find there a multitude of tropical birds and llamas, Barbary sheep, Barbary Atlas, dwarf goats ...

Garden of Portugal - Olhão-

Also called Garden of Olhão, nicely furnished and well maintained, the garden, which commemorates the signing of the cooperation agreement signed between fraternity and the city of Agadir and the Portuguese city of Olhão, is a small haven of tranquility Gadiris appreciated. 14.30-18.30.

Museum "memories of Agadir"

Attached to the Garden of Portugal, located on the corner of Avenue des FAR, this museum presents a touching exhibition of documents recounting the disaster of 29 February 1960: Photos of the missing city and other decision after the disaster, some articles release period and written accounts of some survivors. From 9am to 12.30pm - 15h to 18h, except Sunday. Free admission, tip the guide, talkative, funny and very friendly. Read the article

Port of Agadir

First fishing port of the Kingdom, the port of Agadir also has a shipyard and a new marina. Read the article

Agadir-The seaside town of southern Morocco

Housed in a large bay shaped crescent moon on miles of sand bordering the Atlantic, enjoying 300 days of annual sunshine and a temperate climate, Agadir is the main town beach in Morocco.

The beach is covered by a nice ledge where restaurants, leisure clubs, discos, casinos and hotels classified succeed it.

Horseback riding or camel on the beach, surfing and jet ski in the sea, golf, tennis and beach volleyball are among the leisure unavoidable during a stay in Agadir.

In the city center, boulevards August 20 and Hassan II are connected through the Valley of the birds, an open-air zoo, pleasant and convenient. Also, greens have been built and museums Agadir offer a cultural or historical exploration of the city and the region.

Tourism activity has naturally turned to water activities. Its tree-lined promenade along the long beach was completed a marina able to accommodate a number of increasingly important recreational boats.

Become an unavoidable resort in southern Morocco, she has developed a varied hotel infrastructure. While many luxurious resorts are concentrated in the sea, the wide avenues of the city center and the New Talborj area, among others, are home to many cafes, restaurants, hotels and guest houses, albeit more modest but no less welcoming.

In addition to this large number of varied accommodation and department stores, the city center has pleasant green spaces and museums. And the gardens of Izdaïen, Olhao, Portugal or garden, commemorating the twinning links between Agadir with the Portuguese city, it is adjoined by a museum dedicated to the memory of the cataclysm disaster. + Continue reading ...

The old medina was annihilated, its new large souk, Souk El Had was rebuilt a few kilometers from the center. As colorful and lively as his colleagues, with its 6000 shops it is a center of attraction and essential meeting for Gadiri.

Firmly turned towards the sea, Agadir has given itself the means to become the fishing port of Morocco's Atlantic coast. With a modern fleet, a trading port for efficient latest infrastructures is in it that is exported most of the agricultural production of the Souss Valley which it assumes the role with gusto capital.

A climb to the old Kasbah provides a unique view of this set. Old now ruined fortress overlooking the bay, she now contemplates an ever watchful eye promising developments facing the ocean.

But suddenly, February 29, 1960

February 29, 1960, in the night, a terrible earthquake struck the city of Agadir. Trembling of the deadliest land of the twentieth century it almost completely destroyed neighborhoods north of the river Tidli, making about 15,000 victims and burying under its rubble 90% of people in some sectors, around 30% of the population and as many wounded. Bloodless, this flourishing port city try to erase courageously trauma and irreparable scars left by this tragic event.

A few months later, just started Hauling of affected neighborhoods, the foundation stone was laid for the reconstruction.

The decision was made to start the work at 2km south of the destroyed areas Founti, the Kasbah and Yacheh located on seismic fault this.

Rebuilt a modern architecture, Agadir, now loses its typical town character in favor of a more modern appearance.

the surroundings

Agadir is not only the seaside city that we know, the hinterland is also suitable for many excursions.

Along the coast, towns and famous spots for surfing it deploys, the Sous Massa National Park is 65 km south as northeast Valley Imouzzer des Ida Outanane nicknamed 'Paradise Valley is considered one of the best excursions on the outskirts of Agadir. Taroudant imperial city of the Anti-Atlas or near Tafraout Ammeln the heart of the valley are open to you.

Tiznit-In the axis of the Anti Atlas, desert and sea?

with his belted medina walls around which has developed a modern city, Tiznit occupies a prominent place in the region.

At the crossroads of the ocean, the desert and the mountains, it connects the Souss Valley in southern Morocco and the foothills of the Anti Atlas to the Atlantic coast.

Tiznit, which dates back to 1882, is valued for its old Jewish quarter and its medina surrounded by ramparts, which with their 36 towers and 9 gates, more modest than those of Taroudant, but witnessed no less than its past as it has long been one of the major places of southern Morocco.

Visit Tiznit

In addition to its old quarters, Tiznit is also famous for its goldsmith craftsmanship. One can admire in the souk of jewelers, the Medina, the Jewish quarter, the rich Berber architecture made of pisés houses and walkways. The work of these artisans perpetuating an old craft heritage through the production of traditional Berber silver jewelery and brooches that have brought fame to the city.

Place Mechouar el adjacent to the medina is one of the key appointments in the city. Around this bustling plaza, many small cafes and traditional restaurants, call shops and cyber.

Medina has the distinction of including four quarters among whom is a spring called 'blue source'. While outside the city walls in the new town houses different departments and administrations. + Tiznit continue reading

The proximity to the ocean, with the beaches of Aglou and Mirleft known for the waves and fishing waters, and the Anti Atlas to Getaways cervical Kerdous Tafraoute and back country mountain landscape with warm, makes Tiznzit a nice step.

Explore the area

Fishing enthusiasts to start surfcasting and water sports will even Mirleft, a small town surrounded by steep cliffs, cove and sandy beach, about thirty miles. Mirleft is also a renowned surfing spot.

20 km from Tiznit, the small resort of Aglou-Plage has large white sand beaches, often deserted where swimming can be dangerous because of strong currents and a small natural harbor surrounded by a village fishermen.

The beautiful beach of Sidi mohammed-or-Abdallah, Mirleft, is certainly one of the most beautiful beaches of the south coast of Morocco with the whiteness of its sand and its many coves.

50 km north of Tiznit, the National Park Souss Massa is located at the mouth of the Oued Massa. This nature reserve is home to many varieties of birds: ducks, ibises, flamingos ... and salt.

The road that leads to cervical Kerdous (1100m) and Tafraoute winds through the Anti Atlas is a beautiful route, punctuated with small valleys and traditional villages in which to stroll and meet an ever smiling and friendly people .

Tan-Tan

The front Saharan job?

These are two white camels, giant, which welcome visitors at the entrance of the city ...

Already Guelmin south of 125km, it is a huge desert reg to be crossed to reach Tan Tan. The crossing of the Oued Draa really marks the end of the Anti Atlas geographically symbolizing the arrival in the Sahara south west Morocco.

For the adventurous, a ford is 8 km from the track to cross this river which Pliny the Elder said in his Natural History 'that' Darat Flumen 'was full of crocodiles.

After an arduous journey of nearly 500 miles across northern Moroccan Sahara, the Draa finally water, hard meandering through the dunes to complete its journey in the Atlantic.

A city, a port, but especially the beaches

You do not come in Tan Tan for sightseeing and lack of city beauty does not lend itself to the joys of the photo .. but to El Ouatia, Tan Tan Plage for some.

It is located 25 km from the town on the road to Laayoune. There is a shark medley standing on their fins welcome the traveler. The tourism program envisaged for the South of Morocco plans to make this port a seaside resort.

Opened in 1982 after five years of work, the main southern harbor sardine, one of its activities is the fish processing: canning units, freezing, shipping, processing provide employment to nearly 4,000 people.

Often tourists prefer El Ouatia in Tan Tan city as a stage on the road south. Despite its services, hotel capacity is minimal while the arrival of the fishing boats ensures sought animation. Nearby beaches encouraging idleness, ocean rollers are an invitation for surfers.

Fun and Culture

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Tan Tan became over editions a major destination for the Sahrawi tribes. they can continue to express the rich nomadic culture that tends to wane with the settlement and urban mirage.

Following the regional tensions caused by the annexation of Western Sahara by Cherifian kingdom in 1979, moussem Tan Tan was banned for 25 years, not resuming until 2004. It was in 2008 that Unesco's godmother moussem include this great event nomadic intangible cultural heritage, reinforcing the process of Tan Tan to promote and maintain these traditions dear to the Saharan life.

Thanks to its cultural past, moussem Tan Tan is considered the most important meeting in this northern nomadic western part of the Moroccan Sahara. Modeled on the farming pace of Sahrawi tribes, meetings were traditionally held around the month of May.

This is especially since 1963 that this gathering has really taken the form of a moussem great fair stands for meetings, wedding ceremonies, sales and purchasing, family or tribal alliances, exchanges both commercial cultural.

The Venus of Tan Tan, an archaeological curiosity

Like many places in the Moroccan Sahara Tan Tan interested archaeologists. Indeed, it was in 1999 that a German researcher Lutz Fiedler discovered the enigmatic statue on the north bank of the Draa, near Tan Tan. Containing traces of red ocher pigment to it dates from the period of the Acheulean or there about 300 000 years.

6 cm long, quartzite rock, some interpret as a human representation devoid of face. For its discoverer and others, it might have been created by a natural geological process.

Continue further south

On the road south along ribbon of asphalt sinks towards Tarfaya and Laayoune, marrying a wild Atlantic coast scenery. Up Tarfaya high cliffs dominate the tumultuous ocean. On the banks of these, fishing villages offer dried fish in exchange for food. Neither hotel or store, these villages are only  Wrong?summaries camps they live for several weeks.

the thousand and one nights an imperial city

Marrakech, imperial ancient city, the holy city to the 7 marabouts opens the door of southern Morocco and fans of night life

It is a city of contrasts, where trendy places, trendy restaurants, major hotels and oversized projects alongside a medina which has kept its traditions and its medieval atmosphere.

The tourist places abound, historical, cultural or festive. Palaces, museums, gardens, riads and its colorful souks where different grouped by sector trades offer the fruit of the work of many craftsmen of the medina, all combine to surprise and delight the visitor's eye.

Jemaa el Fna square in the heart of the historic town near the souks, seduced by the intoxication of its effervescence both human drama and the imprint of a still recent past where the word, storytelling, fable and epic resonated within it. His incessant expansion turns into a huge open-air restaurant at the end of the afternoon, and late into the night.

Like a lighthouse, the Koutoubia before the top of its 70 m of the Imperial City.

The remote palm grove center houses a number of hotels and upscale restaurants. 70 km north of Marrakech in the High Atlas, the waterfalls of the Ourika Valley welcome people of Marrakech in the heart of the hot summer. Close to the snowy peaks of the Oukaïmeden in winter Marrakchis thousand resources practice skiing on steep slopes.

Activities abound, sports of all kinds, golf courses, high quality spas, excursions to the peaks of the High Atlas and beyond, barely more than two hours away, the sea. Essaouira deploys its charms, its colors and its fresh air.

Neighborhoods across the history of Marrakech

Holiday of the day: October half-term in Morocco

Morocco is hugely popular as a family destination, and these two guided trips into the desert and Atlas mountains – by camel or mule – will appeal as much to adults as kids 

Morocco has become such a popular family destination that virtually every major travel company now offers some variation on an Atlas mountains or desert adventure, but these two caught our eye.

KE Adventure is a trekking specialist that has started to offer family trips in recent years. Its family trek, Les Petits Caravaniers, starts in the Draa valley, and travels in camel convoy on the edge of the Sahara, across sand dunes and along ridges, and camping out at night, for four days.

The group walks for up to five hours each day but there are plenty of stops to explore the desert, examine the rock art and search for fossils. Equipment is carried by camel and kids can also hitch a ride, which should keep cries of "I'm tired..." to a minimum. The trip ends with a free day in Marrakech.

Unusually, the trip is bilingual, so your kids will mix with French kids and (whisper it) may even pick up some vocab.

If group travel is not your thing, take a look at Tourdust, a small, independent travel company specialising in adventure travel. It describes its Marrakech and Mountains trip, as "an adult holiday that children will enjoy", pointing out that the accommodation is not specifically aimed at families and swimming pools may be unattended. Starting in Marrakech, you transfer to Imlil in the Atlas mountains where you begin a three-day trek, walking four to five hours a day and staying overnight in Berber villages. Instead of camels, the trip is accompanied by mules, which the children can ride too. There are two full days in Marrakech at the end of the trip.

Orange juice seller, Djemaa el Fna, Marrakech 

 Orange juice seller, Djemaa el Fna, Marrakech. Photograph: Alamy

KE Adventure: Departures October 12 and 26. The trip costs £475 per person and includes airport transfers, guide, most meals, HOTEL ACCOMMODATION and camping equipment. The desert landscape is often stark. If you crave greenery, or the sea, try their other Morocco adventures which include surf lessons and coastal camping.

Tourdust: £442 land only or £537 with flights, including transfers, B&B accommodation in .Marrakech, tour guide while trekking, all meals while trekking