Morocco

Morocco engages every sense at once: the drummers and storytellers of Jemaa el-Fnaa as dusk ignites Marrakech, mint tea poured from a height in a riad courtyard, the blue-washed lanes of Chefchaouen, and then the country's great crescendo — riding a camel over the Erg Chebbi dunes to a Berber camp as the Sahara turns violet. It photographs like a dream and, with the e-visa streamlined for Indians, finally books like one.

The shape of the trip

The classic (8 nights): Marrakech's souks, palaces and gardens (3), the Atlas crossing via Aït Benhaddou's mud citadel to the Sahara for a desert-camp night (2), then Fes — the medieval medina and its dyeing vats (2), finishing in blue Chefchaouen or coastal Essaouira (1). It's a driving country; a car with driver stitches it seamlessly.

The money

Riads — courtyard mansions turned guesthouses — are the great value play: beautiful doubles ₹4,500–8,000. Tagine dinners run ₹500–900; the desert-camp night ₹6,000–12,000 with everything; a driver for the circuit ₹6,000–8,000/day split among the car. Haggling in the souks is sport — start at a third.

Worth knowing

Start the visa a month out. Book riads inside the medinas and accept that cars stop at the walls — porters handle the rest. Fridays quieten the souks; time city days around it. And carry cash for the small magic: fresh orange juice on the square costs pennies.