What should be on a Morocco bucket list?

A real bucket list has to start with the desert. Top of mine is a night in a Sahara camp out at Erg Chebbi near Merzouga — the camel ride in, the dunes turning rose at sunset, dinner under the open sky and the unbelievable stars. I would put a sunrise over the dunes right beside it, because watching the light flood the sand from a high ridge is a separate experience entirely and just as worth listing.

Then the cities, where Morocco overwhelms you in the best way. Getting genuinely lost in the Fes medina — the largest car-free urban area in the world, with its tanneries and medersas — belongs on every list. So does sunset over Jemaa el-Fna in Marrakech from a rooftop, and a slow morning wandering the blue lanes of Chefchaouen. These three cover the country’s three great moods: ancient, theatrical and dreamlike.

The landscape entries give the list its drama. A High Atlas trek, even a day hike above Imlil to a Berber village, earns its place with walnut terraces and mountain air. Ait Benhaddou at golden hour is the cinematic must. And Todra Gorge — standing on the canyon floor with 300-metre red walls leaning in over a shallow stream — is the kind of place that makes a list feel complete rather than just busy.

Finally, the sensory rituals that turn sightseeing into a real Moroccan experience. A proper hammam scrub. The windswept Atlantic at Essaouira with grilled sardines on the harbour. And, simplest and best of all, mint tea poured from height on a rooftop terrace as the sun goes down and the call to prayer rolls across the medina. Tick those ten and your bucket list is not just full — it is the genuine Morocco.