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Matisse Art Gallery
Housed in this marble-fronted gallery are contemporary Moroccan artworks such as Farid Belkahia's organically shaped henna paintings evoke Berber blessings and ancient landscape formations, and you can't miss works by Marrakesh's most famous artist, Mahi Binebine. His haloed figures in natural local pigments and beeswax are tinged with melancholy, like the imprint of a loved one who's just left the room.
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Mellah
In the narrow derbs of the city's historic Jewish quarter are the tallest mud-brick buildings in Marrakesh. Some doors are embellished with six-pointed stars and menorahs. Visit the local synagogue and the Miaâra (Jewish cemetery), where donations are requested from visitors for upkeep. But to see the living legacy of Mellah artisans and spice traders, check out the Place des Ferblantiers, Grand Bijouterie and Mellah Market.
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Menara Gardens
Local lore tells of a sultan who seduced guests over dinner, then chucked them in the Menara Gardens' pools to drown. Clear days bring families for picnics in a stately 19th-century pavilion. Stay for sunsets against the Atlas mountain backdrop, but skip the sound-and-light show, a 65-minute flag-waving version of Marrakshi history featuring lasers and awkward interpretive dance.
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Rahba Qedima
Harry and the Hogwarts crowd probably shop here for school supplies. The Rahba Qedima is ringed with apothecaries who sell exotic and mysterious spell supplies to locals and traditional cosmetics to tourists, who eagerly dip a wet finger into clay pots of aker and smear it on their lips as rouge - apparently unaware that this stuff is made of ground-up insects.
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Ramparts
In the 12th century, the Almoravids wrapped the Medina snugly in 19km of mud brick 5m tall, so that the city doubled as a fortress. But this didn't keep out the Almohads, who considered their predecessors irredeemably corrupt and razed the city, leaving almost no trace of their 85-year rule except for these ramparts. Today the ramparts are for lovers, not fighters, with couples patrolling the rampart gardens at sunset. Calèches (horse-drawn carriages) are available near the Djemaa el-Fna.
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Saadian Tombs
Long hidden from intrusive eyes, the area of the Saadian Tombs, alongside the Kasbah Mosque, were originally the privileged burial place of the sherif , the descendants of the Prophet Mohammed. However, the ornate tombs that can be seen today are the resting places of the Saadian princes, most notably Ahmed al-Mansour.
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Sultana Spa
Through the majestic archways lies this glistening marble spa, its glowing emerald pool flanked by private cabins for gentle gommage treatments with organic plant extracts and essential oils. Get the royal treatment with two- or four-handed amber-oil massages in a roof-terrace pavilion.
