Mornings can begin in a narrow lane where shutters bang open and bread passes on a tray, then end on a breezy Atlantic shore with only the swell for sound. Morocco keeps two moods side by side, the busy old city and the wide quiet of the Atlas and the Sahara.

The north and coast are mild and Mediterranean, snow can linger on high Atlas peaks, and the south turns hot and dry. Spring and autumn are gentlest. When plans run out between one medina and the next desert road, a Local Friend picks the next stop.