Is Midelt worth a stop?

Let me be honest about Midelt: people don't go for Midelt itself, they go because it's exactly where you need to break the journey. On the long haul from Fes down to Merzouga and the dunes, Midelt sits roughly halfway, in a high plain where the Middle Atlas hands over to the High Atlas. Splitting that drive with a night here turns an exhausting marathon into two civilised days, and that's its real value.

It's apple country — locals call it the apple capital of Morocco — and the setting is genuinely handsome, with the snow-dusted peaks of the Eastern High Atlas (the Jbel Ayachi massif) as a backdrop. The town itself is modest and workmanlike: a small souk known for kilims and rugs, a few cafés, and not much in the way of monuments. The nicer experience is just outside town, where there are some lovely kasbah-style hotels and a famous monastery, plus the Cirque de Jaffar, a rough mountain track for those with time and a 4x4.

What I tell travellers is to calibrate expectations. If you arrive expecting a 'destination' you'll be underwhelmed — there's no headline sight, and an hour covers the centre. If you arrive treating it as a comfortable, scenic pause with mountain air and a good dinner before the desert, it's exactly right. The drive south from Midelt the next morning, through the Ziz Valley and its palm gorges, is one of the most beautiful stretches in the country, so an overnight here also sets you up to do that leg in good light.

My verdict: worth a stop as a strategic overnight, not worth a detour as a sight. If your Fes-to-desert route allows it, breaking here (or the alternative, Errachidia/Ziz) makes the whole trip more pleasant. If you're tight on time and can drive straight through, you won't feel you missed a great attraction — you'll just have had a longer day in the car.