A... is for Atlas Mountains
Test those leg muscles on a 15-day High Atlas trail. The highlight is an ascent of Jebel Toubkal, the roof of North Africa, where you can gasp at the awesome, barren views. The walking can be strenuous with long climbs and an average of five to eight hours' trekking a day. You also get time to check out Marrakesh before flying home. The trip, which has departures from May to October, costs £325 plus a local payment of €100 (£70), and includes three nights' hotel accommodation, 11 nights in village houses or mountain refuges and all meals with Guerba (01373 826611). Flights are extra.
B... is for Berber
Morocco might be Arabic, but the country is still populated by the descendants of the Berber people with their tribal way of life. Stay in a 150-year-old Berber hilltop fort 15 minutes from Marrakesh with panoramic views of the desert, olive groves and Atlas Mountains. The Kasbah Agafay, a member of Small Leading Hotels of the World, combines Berber tradition with luxury, and has four tented suites containing four-poster beds plus loads of antique textiles, a cooking school and spa. Stay for three nights' B&B including flights and a romantic dinner in a Berber tent in desert palm groves for £780pp with Abercrombie & Kent (0845 070 0612).
C... is for camels
Trek through the sand on the 'ships of the desert', sleeping in traditional nomad tents under a night sky full of brilliant stars. Travelbag Adventures (01420 541007) incorporates three days of camel trekking through the Draa Valley, walking past oases set among shifting dunes, in its eight-day Desert Adventure, which also takes in Ouarzazate and Marrakesh. The trip costs from £579 including flights, transport, B&B accommodation - sometimes in tents - and some other meals.
D... is for Dar Tamsna, Palmeraie, Marrakesh
Everyone from David Bowie to Brad and Jen has been attracted to this elegant, bougainvillaea-clad walled estate which appears in films and interior-design maga zines. Its two villas and a cottage for four are set in gardens bursting with date palms, citrus and olive trees, and sleep a total of 22 people. Inside, they are stuffed full of antique furniture and authentic rugs and fabrics, with views of the Atlas Mountains. The properties can be hired separately or together. Prices start at £871pp for three nights including flights, based on eight people sharing, with The Owners' Syndicate (020 7801 9802).
E ... is for Essaouira
The windsurfing capital of Morocco, Essaouira has a magnificent beach with lots of spots to learn or just to hire a board. It's also a quaint old fishing village of narrow lanes, whitewashed houses and small workshops filled with artisans. Stay in the Villa Baoussala in nearbye Douar el Ghazoua, which is set in the heart of eucalyptus woods, relies on solar power and water from the well. The kasbah-style home on the outskirts of a Berber village sleeps 10 in four beds, and is just a quarter of an hour's drive from the sandy beaches of the Atlantic coast. The property costs from £1,127 a week from Holiday Rentals (020 8743 5577), excluding flights.
F... is for food
It's full of flavour and easy to rustle up. The best way to learn to make Moroccan cuisine, from traditional couscous to tagines made from lamb, cumin, turmeric and ginger, is in the country itself. The Rhode School of Cuisine (01428 685140) has a two-and-a-half hour hands-on lesson daily in its autumn culinary weeks at the House of Green Mint, Marrakesh. The course costs around £1,185 in a standard room excluding flights.
G... is for golf
Morocco has more than 20 courses and is still adding to its network. The nine-hole Royal Country Golf Club in Tangier has just doubled in size and Fez will gain an 18-hole course by the end of July. Action Travel (020 7313 9006) has a number of golf packages, including one at Rabat's Dar Es-Salem Royal Golf Club, which has 45 holes. A seven-night package from London costs £695 including half-board at the four-star Sofitel and four rounds of golf.
H... is for horse riding
Get in the saddle and follow the routes of desert tribesmen on an important trade route from the southern town of Ouarzazate on an open plain at the foot of the Atlas Mountains, to the small town of Zagora on the edge of the Sahara Desert. Explore bazaars and kasbahs along the way, which winds through groves of date palms and past imposing fortified villages. Between four and seven hours a day are spent riding on pure and cross-bred barb Arab horses in groups of up to 10 people with Ride World Wide (01837 82544). The trip, which leaves in October and November, costs £990 for eight days including riding, hotel and all meals. Flights are extra, but cost around £350.
I... is for independent travel
Go touring without guides by driving yourself around the sites. Worldwide Journeys and Expeditions (020 7386 4646) has a 14-day trip taking in the cities of Fez and Marrakesh and then driving for nine days through the High Atlas Mountains to the citadel of Taroudant before ending up on the coast at Essaouira. The round trip of 400 miles is on good roads, and petrol is about half the price we pay here. The trip costs from £1,345pp including flights, accommodation and car hire.
J...is for jeep safari
Four-wheel-drive travel is the way to penetrate deep into the harsh, unforgiving Sahara, stopping en route at the fertile palm and kasbah-lined Southern Oasis Draa Valley. The convoy of vehicles makes its way to desert camps, letting passengers sleep under the starlit sky nomad style. Days are spent on camel safaris and in search of the M'Hazil sand desert at Chegaga, the highest dunes in the region. Explore Worldwide (01252 760144) has a four-night trip for £485 including flights, two nights' B&B and two nights' full board in the desert camp.
K... is for Kasbah du Toubkal
It's only on mule back that you can get to the citadel Kasbah du Toubkal, a mountain retreat 1,800m above sea level at the foot of Jebel Toubkal, Morocco's highest peak. This Thirties home of a local ruler has been completely renovated and changed into a quirky hotel, with eight ensuite rooms full of traditional walnut woodwork and lots of stone, and a house with three rooms. Go out hiking on escorted tours during the day, then come back for a spell in the hammam and the chance to soak up the mystical atmosphere. Rooms cost from £84 a night B&B for two, though the whole kasbah can be hired for 22 people for about £3, 150 a night, including meals and wine. A week divided between Marrakesh, some 60km away, and the kasbah, costs £800 full board, excluding flights, with Discover Ltd (01883 744392).
L... is for long stays
Stay in Morocco for a month for less than £10 a night this winter. Panorama Holidays (0870 238 7744) is this year introducing long-stay packages of 28 and 35 nights in five properties in Agadir, with 28 nights from £269, including flights and transfers, based on six people sharing a two-bed apartment. Upgrade to a three-star hotel on a B&B basis and pay just £319 for 28 nights based on two sharing, or £369 for 35 nights.
M... is for mountain biking
Cycling across the High Atlas Mountains is not for the faint-hearted, though they do say half of it is downhill! The 10-day trip run by Discover Adventure (01722 718444) is for fairly serious bikers who won't find covering 65km a day on off-road dirt tracks too tough going. If you're not too slow, there is time to discover some of the kasbahs and cultural sights along the way. Groups range in size from six to 16. The trip costs from £785pp including flights and full board accommodation in gites, hotels and tents. Take your own bike or hire one for about £100.
N... is for nature
If swapping tales of black-headed bush shrikes, fulvous babblers, bald ibis and desert sparrows over a meal of Moroccan cuisine appeals, head out on a 10-day birdwatching and cultural tour with natural history expert Naturetrek (01962 733051). The tour of southern Morocco which takes in the French garrison town of Ouarzazate and the sixteenth-century ochre-walled imperial capital of Taroudant costs £990, including flights, full-board accommodation and nature guiding.
O... is for oil
More precisely, argan oil, tipped as the next big thing in the culinary world. Found in the south-west corner of Morocco where the argan tree grows wild in the arid desert soil, the rich, nutty oil is great for driz zling over goat's cheese or char-grilled vegetables. Berber women use it on the skin to reduce wrinkles and treat eczema. With a hundred kilos of fruit making just a litre of oil, it isn't cheap - about £5 to £6 a litre. You can pick it up on the new Southern Morocco Explorer tour, introduced this year by Exodus (020 8675 5550). The 15-day tour, which costs from £659, combines exotic cities and Berber kasbahs, the Sahara Desert and the Atlas Mountains.
P... is for personalities
A hotspot for the rich and famous, the place for celebrity spotting in Morocco is Marrakesh's La Mamounia, a blend of Moorish design and Art Deco which Winston Churchill called 'the most lovely spot in the whole world'. Naomi Campbell is often there, while past visitors include Tom and Nicole, Sylvester Stallone and Donna Karan. Cadogan Holidays (023 8082 8313) has a week in July for £1,053, including flights and transfers.
Q ...is for quibla
It's a little-known fact, but a quibla is the wall of any mosque facing Mecca. See it in one of Marrakesh's most famous landmarks, the Koutoubia Mosque, which stands at 70m high and was built in the late twelfth century. Non-Muslims unfortunately aren't allowed to climb the pinnacle to enjoy the views, but they are allowed to appreciate the mosque's paved and flowered gardens. A visit is included in Explore Worldwide's (01252 760144) Imperial Cities and Desert trip, which costs from £645 including flights, 14 nights' B&B and visits to Fez, Rabat and a journey through the valley of 1,000 kasbahs.
R... is for riads
Enjoy the ambience at these traditional houses modelled around internal gardens and courtyards. One new addition to their number is the Riad Sheherazade (00 212 55741642), which opened six months ago in Fez. The authentic palace, built in Arab/Andalucian architectural style at the end of the 19th century, has 14 rooms, with prices from £84 to £105 per room per night. Another new offering is Dar Zemora in Marrakesh, which opens its doors this month with two suites and three rooms set in two-and-a-half acres of gardens full of orange, lemon, olive and palm trees. Exsus Travel (020 7292 5050) has three nights' B&B plus flights for £450.
S... is for skiing
Ski Jebel Toubkal, North Africa's highest mountain, on a challenging eight-day tour in the High Atlas Mountains for confident skiers. Start in the resort of Oukaimeden before heading off-piste to two peaks over 3,500m, a warm up for the ski down Jebel Toubkal at 4,167m. You get to visit slopes normally accessible only by helicopter by using remote and simple lodgings, with mules to carry supplies. Prices for 2004 are yet to be confirmed, but budget for £710 with a local payment of £65 with Exodus (020 8675 5550).
T... is for thalassotherapy
Spas using sea water in treatments are springing up along the Moroccan coast. Try the five-star Sofitel Thalassa Mogador in Essaouira, which is on the sea front outside this beautiful white-walled city. The price is £679 for three nights' half board with Abercrombie & Kent (0845 070 0612), plus the cost of flights. A day of four treatments costs £57. Further up the coast near Tetouan on a three-kilometre stretch of white sandy beach is the Sofitel Thalassa Marina Smir. A four-night stay there with Erna Low (020 7594 0290) taken before 12 July costs £740. This price includes four treatments a day, flights and half-board accommodation.
U... is for Unesco World Heritage Site
Morocco was one of the Romans' most remote outposts, and Volubilis is the country's largest and best-preserved ruin. As well as the usual columns and pillars, the ruins from the second and third centuries AD include the remains of a female corpse entombed in one of the walls, facing Mecca. Some 33km north of Meknès, Volubilis was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1997. Bales Worldwide (0870 241 3212) includes a visit there in its 12-day Journeys through Morocco tour, which cost from £1,399 with flights, B&B and some meals, and takes in Casablanca, Fez, Marrakesh, Ouarzazate, Erfoud, and the Todra Gorge.
V... is for villas
There's lots more choice coming onto the villas market. The Owners' Syndicate (020 7801 9802) has added Morocco to its destinations, featuring 20 villas, riads and guest-houses in Marrakesh and Essaouira. Holiday Rentals (020 8743 5577) has many properties, including the charming white Villa Argana (quote property 3766) near Essaouira. Built by two European artists, its five rooms sleep up to 12 people, from £980 a week.
W... is for weekend breaks
Less than four hours away, Morocco makes a great weekend away. Go to Marrakesh for the night for a Moroccan meal and a visit to the souk from £355pp B&B in a three-star hotel, including flights, or upgrade to three nights in the Sheraton for £420pp B&B with Sunway Holidays (01628 660001).
X... patriate community
Join the thousands of Europeans who discovered Morocco (many have never left). Buy yourself a riad in Marrakesh. Five years ago you could have snapped up a house for £30,000. These days you will be forking out more like £100,000. Try estate agent Mrs F Vernet on 00 212 4442 0870.
Y... is for Yves Saint-Laurent's Majorelle Gardens, Marrakesh
A great place to escape the heat and crowds. The French couturier bought and restored these beautiful gardens created by French painter Jacques Majorelle in the Twenties. Today the gardens are a riot of colour: pink walkways, bright yellow flowerpots and cobalt blue walls interspersed with sub-tropical plants. Majorelle's original studio has been transformed into a museum of Islamic art and includes the sort of fabulous rugs and Berber pottery you'd want to take home with you. A short taxi ride from the city centre on Avenue Yacoub el Mansour, the gardens are open from 8am to noon and 2pm to 5pm daily (3pm to 7pm). Entrance is about£1.
Z... is for Villa Zevaco
Restaurateur Oliver Peyton is moving into Morocco, opening the Villa Zevaco in Casablanca, at the beginning of September. The head chef will be Kamel Benamar, who previously worked in the kitchen at the Michelin-starred L'Oranger in London. The menu will mix French sensibility with local flavours. Bookings on 00 212 2236 6000.
