5 Best Sights in The Southern Atlantic Coast, Morocco

The city walls of Taroudant date from the 16th century and are unique in their completeness and for the fact that the new city has not yet encroached upon them, making the 7½ km (4½ miles) of walls easily visible and approachable. There are five main entry points into the city (from the northwest, going clockwise): Bab el Kasbah, Bab Zorgan, Bab Targhount, Bab Ouled Bounouna, and Bab el Khemis. The one place to climb upstairs onto the ramparts for a view across the town is at Bab el Kasbah.  The best way to see the ramparts is at sunset in a calèche (horse and trap) as the setting sun casts a golden glow over the walls.

The prehistoric gazelle rock carving just 2 km (1 mile) south of Tafraoute is an easy walk or bike ride from town, and although the sparse etching has been retouched, it still gives you an idea about how long these desolate mountains have sustained human cultures. To get here, follow signs to "Tazka" from behind Hôtel Les Amandiers; go through the village to the palm and argan fields beyond. You may have offers to guide you from local children: if you accept, then be sure to thank them with a small gift, such as a pen or toy, but avoid giving money. Although everyone calls it a gazelle, locals in the know will tell you that the celebrated rock carving is in fact of a mouflon (wild sheep). Those energetic enough can visit more cave paintings at Ukas, south of the town of Souk Had Issi, 50 km (31 miles) southeast of Tafraoute.

In the northeast side of the city, you'll find the kasbah, or the former king's quarter. It was built by Alouite leader Moulay Ismail in the 17th century—some of the pasha's palace remains intact and has been converted into a hotel (Palais Salam, which you can visit for a drink or meal). On Avenue Moulay Rachid, with the main gate (Bab el Kasbah) behind you, you'll see a smaller gate (Bab Sedra) on the right, which is the old entrance into the kasbah quarter. Inside the walls is a typical medina residential area with little left of any original structures apart from the gates. The area in front of the hotel is now a public park and a great place for watching the evening promenade.

The distinctive outlines of the medina skala (a fortified bastion) and its citadel, known as the North Bastion, frame the waves dramatically at sunset. The bastion once held emergency supplies of fresh water, and the large circle of stones in the center marks what was known as a call-point, or alarm system, to warn of approaching invaders. Guards would warn of danger by stomping on the resonant circle.  If you stand in the middle of the circle and stomp your foot or yell, you'll hear the echo ring far.

Essaouira has two principal skala, fortified bastions with fabulous cannons: the medina skala and the port skala. Each was a strategic maritime defense point. Unlike the straight-edged Moorish constructions in other Moroccan cities, the ramparts in Essaouira are triangular, so the insider looking out has a broader field of vision than the enemy peering in. Orson Welles filmed scenes of his 1951 film Othello from the tower of the port skala, picking up a magnificent panorama of town, port, and bay all in one that can still be seen today.  The entrance fee is worth it to get the picture-postcard view of the medina through a round opening in the wall.