Marrakech

Marrakech — Morocco’s most iconic city and the beating heart of tourism in North Africa. Known as the Red City for its ancient rose-pink pisé walls, Marrakech is where the Sahara meets the souks, where medieval architecture stands beside contemporary art galleries, and where the energy of a living medina hits you the moment you step through the city gates. The legendary Djemaa el-Fna square — a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage site — is the greatest public space in Africa: storytellers, acrobats, snake charmers, Gnawa musicians and dozens of food stall cooks fill it every evening in a performance that has repeated without interruption for nearly a thousand years. The Koutoubia Mosque anchors the western medina. The Saadian Tombs reveal one of the finest examples of Moroccan decorative arts. The Bahia Palace showcases what a 19th-century Moroccan vizier considered worthy of his ambition. Jardin Majorelle — the cobalt-blue garden created by Jacques Majorelle and saved by Yves Saint Laurent — is the city’s most photographed space. The souks divide by trade: copper hammers ring in the metalworkers’ quarter, leather babouche slippers emerge from raw hide in the tanners’ district. Marrakech is the natural starting and ending point for all southern Morocco tours, with direct flights from London, Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid and most major European cities.