Agadir

Agadir is Morocco's answer to a modern beach resort — a city almost entirely rebuilt after the devastating earthquake of 1960, and reborn with wide boulevards, a palm-lined corniche and one of the safest, most consistently sunny stretches of Atlantic coastline in the country. Its sweeping bay, framed by the hillside kasbah ruins of Agadir Oufella, draws travellers for the simplest of reasons: dependable sun, warm water and nearly ten kilometres of beach.

What Agadir lacks in medieval medina, it makes up for in ease and range. Souk El Had, one of the largest covered markets in Morocco, offers the full spice-and-spectacle souk experience in a modern, well-organised setting, while the marina area pairs yachts with seafood restaurants along the water. The surrounding Souss-Massa region adds golf resorts, argan-oil cooperatives and some of Morocco's finest birdwatching in the nearby national park.

For the luxury traveller, Agadir is as much a springboard as a destination: twenty minutes north lies Taghazout, the laid-back surf village that has become one of Morocco's most fashionable coastal retreats, and the dramatic ravine of Paradise Valley is an easy half-day trip inland. A private chauffeur makes it simple to pair Agadir's resort comfort with day trips along this stretch of the Atlantic coast.