Essaouira

Essaouira is Morocco's most beguiling coastal town — a fortified port where whitewashed houses trimmed in cobalt blue tumble down to a wide crescent of beach. Cooled by the steady Atlantic trade winds that earned it the nickname 'the Windy City', it offers a refreshing, relaxed contrast to the heat and intensity of the interior, and has long drawn artists, musicians and free spirits to its ramparts.

The UNESCO-listed medina, laid out by a European architect in the eighteenth century, is unusually orderly and easy to explore, its arcaded streets lined with galleries, argan-oil cooperatives and workshops of thuya-wood marquetry. The working fishing harbour, guarded by weathered ramparts and cannon, is a spectacle in itself, and the day's catch is grilled to order at the quayside. Seagulls wheel overhead, blue boats bob in the water, and the light is famously luminous.

For luxury travellers, Essaouira is a place to unwind — to ride horses or camels along the endless beach, to try kitesurfing in the reliable wind, to dine on fresh sea bass and oysters, and to stay in a stylish sea-view riad. Just three hours from Marrakech, it makes both a rewarding day trip and an idyllic two- or three-night coastal escape.