What are the best viewpoints in Morocco?

Morocco is a country of staggering long views — desert, mountain, gorge, and medina rooftop — and choosing the 'best' viewpoint is really about choosing your favourite landscape, so let me share the ones that genuinely stop travellers in their tracks, organised by the kind of vista you're after. These are the moments people photograph and then just stand and stare.

For pure drama, nothing tops sunrise over the Sahara from the top of a dune in Erg Chebbi near Merzouga — climbing a tall dune in the dark and watching the sun set the entire sea of sand glowing orange and pink is, for most travellers, the single most beautiful thing they see in Morocco. The mountains rival it: the Tizi n'Tichka pass, the high road over the High Atlas between Marrakech and Ouarzazate, climbs past 2,200 metres with switchback after switchback of breathtaking valley views, and the great gorges — the soaring red cliffs of the Todra Gorge and the winding rock formations of the Dades Valley with its famous serpentine road — are jaw-dropping vantage points you reach on the desert route.

For the iconic town views, two stand out. In Chefchaouen, the short uphill walk to the Spanish Mosque at golden hour rewards you with the whole blue town tumbling down the mountainside below — it's the postcard shot, and worth the sweaty climb. In Fes, the Marinid Tombs on the hillside above the medina give you the entire ancient city spread out, a thousand rooftops and minarets, especially magical at sunset with the call to prayer rising across the valley. The kasbah at Aït Benhaddou, climbing to the granary at its summit, offers a sweeping view over the ksar and the river plain that you'll recognise from a dozen films.

And then there are the rooftops. Marrakech's medina is best appreciated from a terrace at sunset, when the Koutoubia minaret glows and the Atlas sometimes shows snow on the horizon — any good riad rooftop delivers this. My honest advice for planning around viewpoints: the desert sunrise and the Chefchaouen and Fes overlooks require a little effort and timing (early starts, short climbs), but they pay back more than almost anything else you'll do, so build them in deliberately rather than hoping to stumble on them. Chase the golden hour and the sunrise — Morocco's light is the real attraction, and these spots are where it's at its most generous.