What are the best things to do in Morocco with teenagers?

Teenagers are the trickiest age to please and Morocco is, honestly, brilliant for them — provided you swap passive sightseeing for active doing. The single biggest hit is the desert. A night at a Sahara camp near Merzouga, sandboarding down the dunes, a quad-bike blast, drumming round the fire and stars overhead — even the most phone-glued teenager looks up from the screen for that. If you can't reach the deep Sahara, the Agafay stone desert near Marrakech delivers quad biking, camel rides and camp dinners in a half-day, which suits a shorter trip.

On the coast, give them a board. Taghazout, north of Agadir, is Morocco's surf capital — mellow beginner waves, a laid-back surf-town vibe, and lessons that teenagers take to fast. Essaouira up the coast adds windsurfing and kitesurfing on its big breezy bay, plus a walkable little medina and a relaxed beach scene that doesn't feel like 'being dragged round culture'. A surf or kite lesson is the kind of holiday memory a 15-year-old actually wants to tell their friends about.

In the cities, pick the experiential over the educational. Jemaa el-Fna at night — the food stalls, snake charmers, musicians, the sheer sensory overload — is genuinely exciting for teens in a way a museum never will be. A hands-on cooking class where they make their own tagine and bread tends to land surprisingly well (food they made, plus bragging rights). And in the Atlas, a day of waterfalls and scrambling at Setti Fatma in the Ourika Valley, or ziplining and via ferrata where available, gives them the physical challenge that keeps them engaged.

Two honest tips from planning family trips. First, build in downtime and decent wifi — teenagers run hot and cold, and a pool afternoon at the riad between big activities resets everyone's mood. Second, give them a small bit of ownership: let them choose one activity, navigate a souk leg, or be the one to haggle for a souvenir. Teenagers travel best when they're participants, not passengers — and Morocco, with its adventure, food and sheer novelty, gives them an unusual amount to dig into.