How do I decide which Moroccan cities to visit?

The question I always ask clients first is not "which cities are best" but "what do you actually want your days to feel like". Marrakech and Fes are both extraordinary, but they pull in opposite directions: Marrakech is theatrical, sunlit and high-energy, with snake charmers and orange-juice stalls and a medina that buzzes until late; Fes is older, quieter, more labyrinthine and more scholarly, the kind of place you absorb slowly. People who love one sometimes find the other too much, or not enough, so be honest about your temperament before you let a famous name decide for you.

After character, let geography do the editing. Morocco's cities cluster into two loose groups, and the smartest itineraries respect that grouping. Marrakech anchors the south-west and pairs naturally with the Atlas, the desert and coastal Essaouira (under three hours away). Fes anchors the north and pairs with Meknes, the Roman ruins at Volubilis, and blue Chefchaouen up in the Rif. Picking one city from each cluster usually means a long drive or a train ride in the middle; picking two from the same cluster keeps your days about the place rather than the road.

I tell first-timers to resist the urge to collect cities like stamps. Three rich days in Marrakech and Fes each will leave you with far stronger memories than a frantic week that also crams in Rabat, Casablanca and Tangier with a single afternoon apiece. The medinas reward repeat visits — getting pleasantly lost on day two is when a city finally clicks — and that simply cannot happen if you are repacking your bag every morning. Depth beats breadth here almost every time.

If you genuinely cannot choose, here is the shortcut I give people: a classic first trip is Marrakech as a base plus the southern desert loop, which gives you one great city and the Sahara. A second trip — or a longer first one — adds Fes and the north. Build the route as a one-direction line rather than a back-and-forth, fly out of whichever city suits your onward flight, and leave the cities you skipped as the reason to come back. Almost everyone does.