The ‘little Marrakech’

Tourists don't bother much with the town of Taroudant in southern Morocco, says Antony Sattin in Conde Nast Traveller - much to the delight of its regular visitors, French presidents, rock stars and writers such as the late John Mortimer among them. Known as "the little Marrakech" for its "history, miles of red-earth fortifications and colourful medina", it was once the country's capital, but fell into relative obscurity 500 years ago. As a result, there are no crowd-pulling monu-ments here – just an "unspoilt" little town of "atmospheric" squares and souks, full of craftsmen's workshops and tanneries. Most magical are the medieval walls them-selves: there's no urban sprawl beyond them, so you come across them "all of a sudden" as you approach the town, bathed in "magical light" beneath the "snow-dusted slopes of the Atlas". Ryanair (0871 246 0000) flies Stansted-Agadir, 80km from Taroudant. ·