Essaouira, an ancient coastal city founded by Phoenician merchants, is located on a peninsula facing the Atlantic ocean, about three hours drive from Marrakech. Known as the white city for the typical color of the buildings in its medina, it has played an important role in its history as a commercial center, starting from the exchange of salt and purple dye, obtained from fishing for murexes. In 1764, Sultan Muhammad III of Morocco transformed it into a fortified naval base designed by the French architect Thèodore Cornut. For years it remained the only port open to foreign trade and enjoyed great prosperity also thanks to the large Jewish community which became intermediary between the sultan and foreign powers. Its decline began with the French protectorate, to the benefit of other ports such as Casablanca and Tangier.
Today the city has flourished thanks to tourism and its cultural and musical vocation. Its flagships are the port, where freshly caught fish is unloaded from fishing boats and displayed on stalls to be sold, the Kasbah with the fortified walls still defended by cannons, and the Medina, declared a UNESCO heritage site, with its white houses and blue shutters, the little square of Moulay Hassan with its cafes, the narrow alleys that then open into small squares where markets and bazaars are set up.
The Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdallah Museum collects the best of local art and crafts: collections of musical instruments, jewels, carpets and costumes, weapons and paintings on wood. Essaouira also boasts a beautiful sandy beach that disappears in the late afternoon to make way for the tide that almost completely laps it.

It is one of the most famous wine regions in the world, easily accessible from Nelson. The Wairau river’s valley that winds through beautiful mountains has a particular climate and soil, which favors the production of great wines, particularly of Savignon Blanc.

Located in southern Morocco, this valley is crossed by the country's largest river, the Draa. which remains dry for almost the whole year. It is nicknamed "the valley of a thousand Kasbahs" due to the presence of numerous city-fortresses, built to defend themselves from attacks but exploited by merchants and caravans, coming from Timbuktu, and by the strenuous crossing of the desert, as they were cool and hospitable places. The landscape in this area is very varied, and includes lush plains, palm groves, snow-capped mountains, sand dunes.