Moulay Idriss Zerhoun

Draped in white over two green hills, Moulay Idriss Zerhoun is Morocco’s holiest small town: here lies Idriss I, great-great-grandson of the Prophet, who arrived in 789, united the Berber tribes, and founded the state whose current king descends from his line. For centuries the town was closed to non-Muslims entirely; today it receives visitors with easy grace — everywhere except the tomb itself.

That boundary is marked with almost gentle theatre: a low wooden bar across the sanctuary lane, at exactly the height that says “thus far”. From it you glimpse the courtyard glitter of the shrine that is, for many Moroccans, the country’s spiritual heart — five pilgrimages here, tradition long held, equalled one to Mecca. Respect the bar and the town’s welcome is total.

The visit is the town: lanes stair-stepping between whitewashed houses, donkeys on deliveries, hole-in-wall bakeries, and the smell of grilling kefta — Moulay Idriss claims Morocco’s best, and the stalls by the square argue the case at lunch daily. Climb (or taxi) to the terraces above: the classic viewpoints frame the green-roofed sanctuary in its sea of white, with the olive plains and the columns of Volubilis in the distance.

Look for the round minaret — the only cylindrical one in Morocco, tiled with Quranic script — built by a returning pilgrim on the Ottoman model, one more sign of how many currents pass through a pilgrimage town.

Everything is free and unforced; steep lanes are the only tax. Late summer brings the great moussem, when tents and fantasia riders fill the hillsides — spectacular and crowded in equal measure.

Five minutes downhill lie the Roman ruins of Volubilis: the two sites tell one story — empire’s end, Islam’s arrival — and our guided day from Fes or Meknès reads them together as they deserve. Dates on WhatsApp.