The Mediterranean Morocco hosts all sorts of towns and cities, a couple of Spanish enclaves (Ceuta and Melilla) and some important ports.

Map of Africa      ♦     Hotels in Morocco

Morocco is located in the northwest Africa. It has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea. To the east  Morocco has border with Algeria, the southern border is with Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony that was annexed by Morocco in 1975. Morocco claims that the Western Sahara is part of its territory and refers to it as its Southern Provinces. Western Sahara has border with Mauritania. The total area of Morocco is 446,500 sq. km. (the disputed territory of Western Sahara comprises another 267,000 sq. km.). The population is around 34 million.

The Mediterranean Morocco hosts all sorts of towns and cities, a couple of Spanish enclaves (Ceuta and Melilla) and some important ports. The northern part of Morocco's Atlantic coast is home to the capital, Rabat, and the biggest city, Casablanca, interspersed with more laid back beach towns. The southern part of the Atlantic coast is more laid back and home to gorgeous beach towns like Essaouira and Agadir.

Around 7.45 million tourists visited Morocco in 2007. Morocco  overwhelms its visitors with the sents and sounds that penetrates the medinas of Fèz and Marrakesh to the astonishing sights of the landscape. Many tourists will go to Morocco by sea, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain to Tangier in Morocco. Others who flies into the country will have Casablanca as their starting point. If you have the time, both the historical medina and the contemporary mosque (the second largest in the world) are well worth an afternoon.

Morocco has hotels to suit all budgets. High class and chain hotels (Sheraton, Hyatt etc.) can be found in all major tourist centers. More modest hotels are found in smaller cities or near the center of cities. The standard is not always up to what you would normally expect, but in general you do not pay much for accommodation.

The climate in Morocco  is reliably dry, although small amounts of rain do fall between November and March. Temperature varies considerably by season and locally. While the southern and southeastern desert regions can reach extremely high temperatures during summer months, the higher altitudes of the mountains are cool in summer evenings and freezing in winter. Most travellers find the early summer months to be the most comfortable time to visit, as rain is not a threat and temperatures are warm during the day and pleasantly cool at night.