MOROCCO has become more popular as a holiday destination in recent years, especially as a winter sun destination.

But those looking to beat the crowds and for an even cheaper alternative to Marrakesh, might want to consider visiting Taroudant.

5

5

Advertisement

The city, which is sometimes called ‘Little Marrakesh’, is known for its impressive red-mud walls and views of the High Atlas Mountains.

As its nickname suggests, it’s much smaller in size than Marrakesh, and also considered calmer and less crowded.

Many visitors say it offers one of the most authentic experiences of every day Moroccan life.

Taroudant and Marrakesh bear many similarities – both cities have rich cultures that are influenced by Berber tradition and Islamic civilisations, and they have medinas (old towns) and souks (open air marketplaces).

But Taroudant also has its own unique features, including its walls, landmarks and location.

For a short time in the 16th century, Taroudant was the capital of Morocco. Its location between two mountain ranges was why it was chosen.

To defend it, a huge wall was built around the city, which today are among the best preserved in Morocco.

Made of honeyed stone, the walls are seven kilometres long and encircle the entire medina.

The best time to visit the walls is at sunset to see the low light make the stone glow.

And the best way to see the walls is to walk, bike or take a horse-drawn carriage, known as a calèche.

Taroudant’s landmarks include Palais Caludio Bravo, famous for being the former home of Chilean painter Claudio Bravo.

The palace houses a large collection of his works, as well as other artists, including Francis Bacon and Pablo Picasso.

Its architecture is noteworthy as it’s made up of several wings and structures connected by courtyards and covered passages.

The palace’s beautiful garden is a mini-replica of the famous Menara garden in Marrakesh, with trails, sculptures and exotic plants dotted around.

5

5

Advertisement

Taroudant has a good location because it’s close to many other attractions, making it a good base for exploring the surrounding area.

Marrakesh is about a three and a half our drive away, and Skoura, an oasis town on the way to the desert, is about a five hour journey east.

The coastal resort of Agadir, with an international airport, is about an hour’s drive west, and Essaouira, with a pretty beach and coastal medina, is about a four hour journey northwest.

Tarroudant is also located at the foot of the Atlas mountains, making it a good base for hiking

When it comes to places to stay, there are lots of luxurious 4* hotels for cheap prices.

Domaine Villa Talaa is a 4* hotel with an outdoor pool, spa and wellness centre, gardens with mountain views, and lots of activities, such as ping-pong, walking tours, bike tours and cooking classes.

Prices for two adults for one night start from £75.

Dar Zitoune is another 4* hotel built in the Berber style using local materials.

It’s set in four acres of landscaped grounds with olive, papaya, and citrus trees, has a large heated swimming pool and Jacuzzi, a spa, and a gourmet restaurant that serves a mix of Moroccan and Western specialities.

Prices for two adults for one night start from £99.

Flights from London Gatwick to Agadir, the nearest airport, are also good value.

At the beginning of November, a one way flight with easyJet starts from £22.99.

Marrakesh was recently named the best city for a budget friendly Autumn break.

5

WITH its sun-drenched beaches, world-class wine-ries and majestic Table Mountain as a backdrop, Cape Town has long been a dream destination.

Now there’s even more reason to visit South Africa’s Mother City as it has been named the best value long-haul holiday destination in Post Office Travel Money’s latest Long Haul Holiday Report.

6

6

Advertisement

6

The city has reclaimed the top spot after a six-year hiatus thanks to a perfect storm of favourable conditions.

Local price drops combined with a weaker South African rand have led to a 12 per cent decrease in costs for British visitors since last autumn.

At £55.59 for a basket of ten tourist staples — including meals and drinks — it offers unbeatable value.

To put into perspective just how cheap holidays here have become, they are over 14 per cent cheaper than last year’s best value destination, Hoi An in Vietnam.

While Cape Town takes the spotlight, the report reveals interesting trends across other long-haul destinations.

The Far East continues to be a wallet-friendly option, with three destinations in the top five.

Tokyo, Japan, has jumped into second place, with its basket of staples price falling by 13.5 per cent to £64.07.

Despite a 21 per cent increase, Hoi An still manages to secure third place at £64.80.

Bali, Indonesia, comes in fourth with a basket cost of £67.70, down eight per cent from last year.

For those eyeing the Caribbean, there’s a mix of good and bad news.

While most Caribbean destinations did not make it into the top ten, Montego Bay, Jamaica, sneaked in at tenth place with a total of £93.74, down 9.4 per cent from last year.

However, Barbados saw the biggest price drop of all destinations surveyed, with costs in St James falling by 18.5 per cent to £141.29.

The report is great news for British travellers in general.

Thanks to the strength of sterling against most long-haul currencies, prices have fallen in over half of the destinations surveyed compared to last year.

This means your pounds will stretch further in many popular winter sun spots.

However, not all destinations offer equal value.

Priciest place to dine

The report reveals significant price variations across the 32 surveyed locations.

Australia, for instance, features four cities in the bottom ten, with Sydney emerging as the most expensive destination overall.­

A three-course meal with a bottle of wine in Sydney will set you back nearly £117, making it the priciest place to dine out.

Other expensive destinations include Costa Rica and New York, both coming in at over £160 for the basket of goods. Orlando, Florida, offers far better value than New York, with prices 57 per cent lower for the same items.

For budget-conscious travellers, it’s worth noting that prices have increased in some traditionally affordable destinations.

Hoi An saw the biggest price hike, while Mombasa, Kenya, experienced a near 14 per cent increase.

6

Advertisement

6

6

The report also covers the way many of us instinctively measure our holiday exchange rates — the cost of a beer.

If you’re looking to enjoy a lager without breaking the bank, head to St George’s, Grenada, where a bottle of local beer will cost you £1.50.

Other cheap beer destinations include Hoi An (£1.53), Cape Town (£1.81) and Scarborough, Tobago (£1.83).

On the flip side, if you are not watching your wallet, Downtown Dubai tops the list of most expensive beer destinations at £7.55 per bottle, followed by Darwin, Australia, at £6.40.

THEY are cute at any time of year but French mountain towns peak the two weeks before Christmas when streets are lined with decorated trees, covered in real snow.

In the third week of December last year, my family and I squeezed in some skiing at La Rosiere, a child-friendly resort 1,850m up in the Savoie region of the French Alps.

5

5

Advertisement

5

Skiing in December can be a gamble weatherwise, but La Rosiere is very high up and better for snow than most, so the white stuff was at least a foot deep everywhere.

La Rosiere is particularly great for festive feels, as it’s a traditional town with plenty of old chalets and little cafes.

There is also very little traffic and scores of festive activities, including a Christmas market and a visit from Santa.

We were staying with package holiday company Ski Beat in one of its shared chalets right in the middle of the action — a blessing given that we were travelling with my five-year-old son.

The resort’s learner slopes were perfect for a first week.

On the first day with the Evolution 2 ski school, he learnt on a tiny hill of snow and by the second day, he was ready for the simplest of slopes.

Buoyed by his success we celebrated with tea and cake back at the chalet.

By the fourth day, he was taking the drag lifts halfway up the mountain and riding the kid-friendly green slopes, lined with little tunnels to whizz through and bells to ding on the way down.

On the fifth day, he was fine to try out one of the easiest blue runs.

There was plenty of ground for my boyfriend and I to cover while our son was in lessons, too.

La Rosiere is relatively small, but with 83 runs of varying difficulty, it kept us very happy for a whole week.

And on one afternoon, my partner skied into Italy to try out their slopes . . .  and pasta.

That’s not to say there wasn’t delicious grub back at our chalet.

Ski Beat is very reasonably priced for the quality of the catering and chalet staff.

The young couple who ran our property were lovely and doted on our son, even when he fired questions at them pre-7am as they made everyone’s hot breakfast.

We had some of our favourite evening meals there, including an excellent tartiflette washed down by far too much red wine.

Delicious grub

The chalet was very comfortable and cosy with a modern look.

Our triple room had plenty of storage and a spacious en-suite bathroom, with a pared-back, natural palette.

Thanks to our location, it was easy to venture out for meals, too.

The Hotel Relais Du Petit Saint Bernard at the bottom of the main ski lifts was the perfect pit stop for a long lunch after the morning’s lessons.

After our dishes of steak hache and raclette, my partner and I sipped beer in the afternoon sunshine while our son dug holes in the snow with a gang of French children.

Meanwhile, the Caffe Latte tea room along the high street was a great place for a midafternoon hot chocolate and cookies, when my son and I bunked off skiing one afternoon to browse the souvenir shops for alpine-themed Christmas presents.

5

Advertisement

5

But the absolute highlight of our meals-out was at L’Ancolie.

The log cabin-style restaurant, tucked away at the bottom of a ski slope, was weighed down under a foot of snow, with rustic wooden walls, open fires and red checked curtains.

We ordered fondue, of course, the delicious house special featuring wild mushrooms the chef-owner picked locally before the snow fell.

As a lifelong fondue fan, I thought that would be the highlight of the meal, but a pudding with meringue, chocolate sauce and ice cream was so delicious it still makes its way into family discussions.

Possibly the best part of the evening was the journey, though.

The restaurant is reached from the town by a 1km path through the forest, which was lined with multicoloured lights.

Away from the roads, it was the perfect festive evening walk as well as an opportunity for a drawn-out snowball fight.

When it was time to head home on December 23, it felt like we were preparing for Christmas round two, such was the extent of the eating, drinking and general fun-having we’d already enjoyed.

A SMALL red berry drops off the branches shading me from the fierce afternoon sun.

If it hadn’t plopped directly into my glass of vermouth, I wouldn’t have noticed — as the band performing on the cobblestones before me had me fully engrossed.

4

This had become my typical afternoon routine at the peaceful Zoetry Wellness & Spa Resort, deep in rugged countryside on the Spanish island of Majorca.

When guests aren’t flopped by one of the two peaceful pools (which remain uncrowded even in the school holidays) or reading their getaway novel in a quiet corner by the old windmill, they can get stuck into loads of free activities including tennis, yoga or live music.

My friend Abbie and I chose to curl up on a cushioned sofa in the sun, sipping on the hotel’s own brand of delicious vermouth.

It would be rude not to, as this fortified wine is made by the resort’s star chef, Andreu Genestra, and can’t be bought anywhere else in the world.

This is part of the sustainable ethos at Zoetry, where much of the food is grown in the surrounding gardens, including on ancient trees — rich with juicy fruit and berries — dotted in between the old buildings.

One of its restaurants, also run by Genestra, was awarded a green star in recognition of its eco-friendly dishes — that is on top of its Michelin star.

Our 12-course tasting menu of elegant Majorcan-style dishes there was nothing shy of delicious.

My favourites included the best potato omelette I’ve ever tried and lentil risotto with ceviche shrimp.

If that all sounds too rich or fancy, don’t panic.

There are three other restaurants serving more casual dishes, from tacos and sushi to salads and fried fish.

This was my first visit to Majorca, and all I really knew of it was what I caught on snippets of ITV’s Love Island.

The panning landscape shots of rugged mountains and lush trees where one solo villa seems to stand isolated from the rest of civilisation looked quite appealing.

And, in all fairness, the lush Zoetry hotel wasn’t all that different, sat in a quiet corner, a 20-minute drive from the busy capital Palma.

But, to my relief, the place was not littered with bikini-clad singletons looking to “couple-up”.

4

If you are keen for a more lively atmosphere then you can certainly get that in Palma, but this resort is all about laid-back getaways with a touch of wellness.

After all, it was only 20 years ago that this secluded 14th century manor house belonged to a wealthy family, and the place has certainly kept an air of sophistication about it.

In fact, many of the original items found when renovating the home are still dotted around, including in the bedrooms, each of which is unique in shape and size and has its own story to tell.

The tiny cove is picture-perfect with the bluest waters, flanked by chalky hills and dotted with little sailing boats.

Our bedroom had a plush super-king bed and patio doors leading on to a leafy garden area with a cushioned sofa — the perfect spot for sipping a morning coffee in our robes and watching the birds peck at fallen berries.

Abbie and I had decided to stick to the wellness theme and instead of hiring a car, like many guests had, we explored the area on electric bikes, which can be rented on-site.

Zoetry is located right at the edge of one of Majorca’s popular cycle routes and the advantage of being in such a remote location meant we rarely needed to cycle with the road traffic.

Helmets strapped on, we pedalled along empty dirt tracks, past rolling vineyards and through a tortoise conservation area.

4

Best-kept secret

Luckily we spotted the small shells crossing the path ahead of us before whacking our e-bikes up to full speed.

After 30 or so minutes we reached the clifftop above the beach of Cala Pi, on the western side of the island.

Glancing down, I was sure we must have stumbled upon one of Majorca’s best-kept secrets.

The tiny cove is picture-perfect with the bluest waters, flanked by chalky hills and dotted with little sailing boats.

Ice cream stalls and restaurants selling beer and light bites sit above the beach, at the top of the cliff, although I’d recommend packing a picnic, which is what many of the locals around us had done.

We were grateful for choosing e-bikes over traditional ones on the return leg. Not for achey legs, but for speed.

If we pedalled fast enough, we would have time for one more vermouth before check-out.

Race you there, Abbie.

4