Culinary tourism is exploding. But who wants to spend their entire vacation eating?

Certainly not me. But neither do I want my vacation to be a boot camp. Well, it turns out The New York Times’ 2009 Culinary Destination of the Year, Marrakech, in the shadow of the High Atlas Mountains, is the perfect middling ground. Did you know there’s a ski resort 90 minutes outside this North African city? A ski resort. In Africa? And when there’s no snow to be had — the ski season is about three months long — Oukaimeden has hiking and mountain biking. The tallest peak in North Africa is nearby too. And then, of course, there is the food, which, famished from the nine hour trip from New York City (including a connection in Casablanca), is what I start with.

Arriving at La Maison Arabe, a cozy boutique property (26 luxuriously detailed rooms + one marvelous spa) that feels more like a home than a hotel, I go directly to a lunch of pastilla, a traditional Moroccan stuffed pie. (It’s also known as B’stilla.) Although Moroccans usually favor pigeon pastillas, chicken is almost always substituted for visitors. Enjoyed al fresco next to the pool, the sweet and savory pastilla — more Moroccan dishes than not include hefty amounts of cinnamon — is the best thing I’ve ever eaten.

Two days later, in a cooking class, I learn why: traditional pigeon (chicken) pastillas take an entire day to make. So my class at Jnane Tamsna, a retreat a short drive from Marrakech’s medina with several acres of organic edible gardens, makes the much easier fish pastilla instead. Eating it — after an appetizer of Morocco’s version of gazpacho, which we also made in the class — under a canopy of white bougainvillea near one of the property’s five pools, I decide it’s almost as good as the chicken version. Almost.

Since a girl can’t live on pastillas alone, no matter how much she wants to, I take another cooking class to learn how to make a tajine. This one is at La Maison’s own cooking school, one of Marrakech’s originals. Although there is a classroom at the hotel, I opt for the one at their “country club,” a complimentary 15-minute shuttle ride away. (My plan is to do some serious relaxing at the pool there post-class.)

While the chicken tajine with olives and preserved lemons is delicious, I end up more enamored with a roasted green pepper and tomato salad. It can be served warm or cold and we make it warm. I’m not certain as I was too busy stuffing my face with it while there to ask, but a Google search upon my return home hints this is called taktouka. (Home for only three weeks, I’ve already made it four times, playing around with different combinations of spices each time.) And since you evidently can’t make taktouka without making Berber bread to soak up the leftover juices, we whipped some of that up too. Think Indian chapatti or pita.

Dangerously close to exploding, I decide it’s time to get to the fitness part of the trip. I’m sure I hiked miles around Marrakech’s serpentine medina, stopping occasionally to gawk at a snake charmer, buy some spices or admire daringly (glaringly?) bright leather goods, but I want to get into the mountains.

Once described as “the most fabulous mountains in all of Africa” (by the great Roman geographer Pliny), the Atlas are the continent’s highest and most extensive range. (If you’re thinking that Kilimanjaro is Africa’s tallest peak, you’re right; but it’s a volcano rather than part of a mountain range.) Stretching nearly 1,500 miles across Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, the Atlas are divided into sub-ranges. It is the High Atlas that are closest to Marrakech. The High Atlas are also the most interesting for hikers, bikers and climbers.

Imlil is the Chamonix of the High Atlas. En route, stop for a day or night at Terres d’Amanar, a true eco adventure resort in the foothills of the High Atlas. (If a place where guests overnight in authentic Berber tents can be called a “resort.”) I might have broken my collarbone while mountain biking here, but, before that happened, I managed to get a good look at its two zip lines (one is the longest in North Africa) and its ropes courses. One hundred and seventy-three acres, Terres d’Amanar has trails that cross over into adjacent Toubkal National Park. The rental mountain bikes they have aren’t bad (I can’t blame equipment for my fall, it was entirely operator error). The hikes – if the scenery looks familiar it’s because part of the Sean Connery movie “The Man Who Would Be King” was shot here – range from easy (meandering through the forest) to challenging (hiking to a nearby summit). In between zipping and ripping, shop at the property’s open-air boutique, which sells paper products, ceramics, and art all made by locals.

Save the serious walking for Imlil though. Although this is Africa – a fact reinforced by the native Berber population in these mountains — there are European-style overnight refuges and chalets all over the place. Starting from Imlil’s square, two are within a day’s walking distance. If you plan on hiking to the summit of North Africa’s highest peak, Toubkal, hire a mule and muleteer (a guide isn’t really necessary) and head for the Toubkal Refuge. In the upper Azzaden valley, the Lepiney Refuge sees far fewer guests than Toubkal does (so you have to make sure and check in with the refuge’s guardian, who lives in a village down the valley, to make sure it’s unlocked). Trails lead in all directions from both refuges; it isn’t difficult to come up with a weeklong refuge-to-refuge itinerary that will take you through Berber villages and past walnut groves, camel corrals and even the occasional waterfall. (You can also walk to Oukaimeden.) For details on specific hikes, the Cicerone guide Trekking in the Atlas Mountains is a good resource.

DINA MISHEV is a randonee skier, cyclist and hiker who, in February 2009, set the world record for the most vertical feet skied uphill by a woman in 24 hours. She is a category-3 road cyclist who consistently places top 5 in the longest single-day road race in the country… {more »}

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