WHAT IS IT WORTH COMING TO MARRAKECH FOR? TOP 10 AWESOME THINGS TO DO
Marrakech is the legendary red city of Morocco. Mystical (it is home to marabouts), stealing (when entering the market, pick your pocket!), cheeky, noisy, luxurious, hot . Marrakech has no access to the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, but every year, crowds of tourists rush here like ants on a piece of sugar. The local hotels are like paradise oases of comfort and beauty, gardens filled with fragrant flowers, refreshing swimming pools, relaxing spas and golf courses. The nightlife in Marrakech is endless. As well as gourmet restaurants with terraces, where it is so pleasant to relax, art galleries, literary cafes, museums, palaces. It is in Marrakech where many celebrities have bought their villas and luxurious riads: Brad Pitt, Madonna, Naomi Campbell, Jean Paul Gaultier, Leonardo di Caprio, Alain Delon. This magical city spread out against the backdrop of the snow-capped Atlas Mountains has inspired and beckon
Travel guide
A visit to Morocco can be much more than a weekend fling: to really scratch the surface, you should spend a week or two exploring its highlights: the ancient medinas and riad hotels of Marrakech; the luxurious camps on the sand dunes of the Sahara desert; the arty, laid-back coastal town of Essaouira.
The more you delve into this slice of north Africa, the more you’ll add to your wishlist: hiking between hilltop kasbah hotels and Berber villages high in the Atlas mountains, perhaps? A week of haggling (and eating) your way around the treasure-stuffed open-air markets of Fez with pockets full of Moroccan dirham? Morocco rewards the adventurous – so what are you waiting for?
Souk it and see: a virtual guided shopping tour of Marrakech Lorna Parkes
It is lunchtime in Marrakech, but the Djemaa el-Fna is so deserted it takes me a minute to recognise what is usually the medina’s social nexus. There are no snake charmers wielding pungi flutes, nor are there any henna artists on plastic stools fanning themselves with their pattern cards in the midday heat. Yet some things remain reassuringly familiar: the sky is blue, the Koutoubia mosque still cuts through the skyline, and my guide nearly gets run over by a motorbike within five minutes of introducing himself.