if you want to travel back in time in Morocco to an era long gone, where tribesmen from the desert came to the city to sell their wares, and where the stucco buildings and ancient palaces still survive in all their grandeur, then come to Marrakech, the most distinctive of the imperial cities, and a place where every sight blends into an image that you are within the world of the Arabian Nights, and the modern world is still only a dream.

Marrakech offers you the chance to experience the past, while still remaining linked to the present through the modern luxurious hotels and hi tech shopping centres that lie in the newer parts of the city, meaning that you need not sacrifice the creature comforts in order to come into contact with the gritty reality of the past.
Snake charmers, magic potions, hidden palaces: Marrakech brings the most outlandish travellers’ tales to life. The pink city has waylaid desert caravans since the 11th century, as visitors succumb to the charms of its bluesy Gnaoua trance music, steamy hammams (traditional Moroccan spas), and multi-course feasts.

Visitors today often disappear down a maze of winding derbs (alleys) and emerge days later, relaxed and refreshed from their stays in spectacular riads (courtyard guesthouses) where their every need is anticipated by butlers, in-house chefs, and massage therapists.

Adventure awaits at the doorstep in the medina(old city), with its seven zaouias(saints’ shrines) and qissaria (pedestrian street) stalls ladling up steaming bowls of snails and sheep’s head soup. The focal point of Marrakech is its celebrated square, theJemaa el Fna, Morocco’s UNESCO-recognised platform for halqa(street theatre). Towering over the scene is the stately Koutoubiaminaret, a template for Hispano-Mauresque architecture and a reminder of the importance of Islam to the lives of the city’s residents.

Key Attractions

Jemaa el Fna (Place of the Dead)

The great square of Jemaa el Fna is the centre of medina life both day and night as a gathering place and unofficial stage for street theatre. For over a millennium, the Jemaa el Fna’s daily bill has featured acrobats, henna tattoo artists, storytellers, belly dancers, musicians, snake charmers, and potion sellers.

Majorelle Garden and Museum of Islamic Art

Given by the fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent as a gift to the city of Marrakech, this botanical garden was created in the 1920s by French artists Jacques and Louis Majorelle. Perfectly manicured gardens, with pools, giant cacti, bamboo, coconut and banana trees, stand out against the bright-blue wash that covers the villa and garden walls, with splashes of lemon yellow and emerald green on planters, doors, and furnishings.

Sa’adian Tombs

One of the most visited sites in Morocco, the Sa’adian Tombs were only accessible via the mosque next door so survived in pristine condition until ’rediscovered’ and opened to the public in 1917.
El Badi Palace
This once magnificent palace, whose name means the ’incomparable’, was built in 1578 by the Midas of Marrakech, Sa’adian sultan Ahmed el-Mansour. Its 360 rooms were once sumptuously decorated in marble, gold, onyx, ivory, cedar wood and semi-precious stones, surrounding a vast central courtyard of pools, fountains and sunken gardens.
Koutoubia Mosque

From any approach, the first sight of Marrakech is of the minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque, which dominates the skyline and is a handy reference point for lost travellers. Marrakech’s tallest building dates from the 12th century and is the prototype for Moroccan design, with each facade and archway on the square minaret carved with a different architectural flourish.
Factual information

• Dialling code to Morocco: 212.
• Population of Marrakech: just under 2 million.
• Time zone: GMT.
• Electricity :220 volts, round two-pin, European-style plugs are standard.
• Average July temperatures : 29°C (84°F).
• Approximate flight times to Marrakech: From London is 3 hours 30 minutes
• 1 Moroccan Dirham (Dh 1) = £0.07; US$0.12; C$0.13; A$0.16; €0.09 approx