WHEN it comes to spicing up a down-to-earth Brits abroad holiday with dashes of breathtaking culture, Morocco ROCKS.

In this delightful corner of Africa you can sun it all day on beautiful beaches before soaking up the exotic sights and scents of souks-Arab markets-overflowing with all things exotic.

It's where fast food outlets like KFC sit beside superb restaurants selling French cuisine. Where you can marvel at mosques on your way to watch the match at the pub.

It's a holiday of fez-cinating variety.

We got the best of both worlds by going on on a two-centre break in this north African paradise, starting in Agadir on the Atlantic west coast which attracts thousands of Brits a year.

Cafes

As with many Arab resorts that cater for Europeans--like for instance Egypt's Sharm el Sheikh-its unending beach front is lined with modern hotels packed with amenities so you never have to step into the outside world.

Ours, the Hotel Sofitel, was indeed magnificently equipped-it has probably the best and biggest swimming pool I've ever seen. But Morocco's years as a French colony mean that when you do venture out it's more than worthwhile.

You can stroll along the brand-new five-mile beachside boardwalk past Parisian-style bars and cafes looking out onto surfers and swimmers enjoying the roaring rollers.

European and Arabic families play side by side on the wide sweeping beaches with their golden sands.

Or you can walk into Agadir town brimming with bars and restaurants to suit every pocket.

I was able to go to a big friendly British-style pub to watch a top Premiership game on huge TV screens before taking the family to a reasonably-priced but excellent quality French restaurant for dinner. It reminded me of the nicest bits of southern Spain-but with impressive mosques instead of churches and mixed African and Arab smells and sounds.

Totally chilled out, we headed off on the second stage of our holiday-a three-hour coach trip winding through Morocco's spine, the fabled Atlas Mountains.

The size, grandeur, and constantly changing colours of the landscape make it worth the trip . . . but best of all, at the end of the journey is magnificent Marrakech.

SWIM-SATIONAL: Pool cool and huge at Hotel Sofitel in Agadir

Four days there simply wasn't long enough to take it all in. Its tourist trade is clearly growing, but it's still at heart a proud self-confident Moroccan city that happily exists in its own right. The centrepiece is the amazing enormous market square, Jamaa El-Fna, right in the centre of the old walled city.

It must be twice the size of the Wembley stadium complex and is a colourful whirlwind of dervishes, dancers, acrobats, heavily-tattooed Bedouin women offering traditional henna body art, storytellers, magicians, animal rides and dancing monkeys. Added to this is row upon row of food stalls selling mouthwatering sizzling dishes plus others selling mountains of succulent fruit, sweetmeats, nuts and spices.

And surrounding it all are restaurants galore, mainly traditional Arabic selling the gorgeous tagine-the marvellous meaty stews slowly cooked in distinctive conical clay pots.

You just have to sample the Harira soup-a steaming bowl of spicy lamb, chickpeas, rice and tomatoes.

It was only the much-recommended snails and sausage kebabs that were just, er, a little too rich for our tastes. If you want a meal with a view, try a rooftop restaurant overlooking this fantastic bedlam- especially at sunset where you can watch it sink behind the mighty mosques across this great city.

The biggest of these is La Koutoubia which was built in the 12th century and is at least the size of St Paul's Cathedral, with towering minarets issuing calls to prayer to the devout Muslim locals.

One of the most memorable parts of our visit was strolling the vast market that stretches for many acres around the main square-you can buy literally anything . . . as my family seemed determined to prove.

Friendly

But what was very noticeable was that the atmosphere was different from many Arabic bazaars we visited.

Yes, they were, as ever, eager to sell (not too difficult in our case) but surprisingly they weren't at all pushy or aggressive.

As in Agadir, the Moroccans in Marrakech were just friendly and helpful.

We actually got lost in the twisting, tiny, confusing alleyways and one shop owner left his post to take us on the 10-minute walk back to the main square and then refused the money we offered him in reward.

His unbidden kindness summed up our whole experience in Morocco-a land of unexpected, but delightful, wonders.

Getting there

PANORAMA offers seven nights B&B at the five-star Sofitel Agadir Hotel, from Gatwick on January 2, from £475pp. The firm also offers three nights B&B at the five-star Hotel Les Jardins de la Koutoubia, Marrakech from Gatwick on January 5, from £448pp and a variety of multi-centre Moroccan hols. (www.panoramaholidays.co.uk or 0844 800 7778) or visit Thomas Cook or Going Places.

easyJet (www.easyJet.com or 0905 821 0905) has one-way fares to Marrakech from £65.98, return £95.98.

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