What's the best scenic drive in Morocco?

If I had to pick one, it's the Tizi n'Tichka. This is the great High Atlas crossing on the N9 between Marrakech and Ouarzazate, climbing to over 2,200 metres through a relentless series of switchbacks, past Berber villages clinging to the slopes, with the snow-streaked peaks above and the desert opening out beyond the col. It's recently been widened and improved, so it's far less nerve-wracking than it used to be, and the views are simply the best window you'll get into the scale of the Atlas. Almost every southern desert journey crosses it, so most of our travellers experience it without even asking.

My close second is the Dades gorge — the famous tight hairpin loops north of Boumalne Dades, where the road coils back on itself against ochre cliffs in a pattern so photogenic it's become a Morocco icon. It's shorter and more of a set-piece than a long drive, but unforgettable.

For the adventurous, the Tizi n'Test pass on the western side of the High Atlas (the old N10 toward Taroudant) is wilder, narrower and more vertiginous than the Tichka, with even more dramatic drops and far less traffic — beautiful, but only for confident drivers and best avoided in winter or bad weather. And for a gentler, sea-air alternative, the Atlantic coast road from Essaouira up to Safi and Oualidia delivers cliffs, dunes and argan country at a relaxed pace.

Honestly, "best" depends on what moves you — high mountains, dramatic canyons or open coast. But if a first-timer asks me for the one drive that captures Morocco's grandeur, I send them over the Tizi n'Tichka with the windows down. It's the threshold between the imperial north and the Saharan south, and crossing it always feels like a real moment in the journey.