Marrakesh Sights

  1. Agdal Gardens

    Moroccan sultans have greeted dignitaries here for eight centuries, among fragrant fruit and olive orchards and reflecting pools stocked with psychic carp that sense you and your bread crusts coming. The gardens still serve ceremonial purposes, so they're only open weekends and when the king isn't in residence.

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  2. Bab Agnaou

    One of the 20 gates in Marrakesh, this 12th-century 'gate of the Gnaoua' (named for the sub-Saharan slaves who served the sultan) was one of the first stone monuments in Marrakesh and a triumph of Marrakshi artisanship. From afar the bas-relief appears much deeper than it actually is, due to a sophisticated trompe l'oeil effect. The bluish-gold-green colour of its Guéliz stone seems to change like a mood ring according to the time of the day, the heat and, perhaps, the city's disposition.

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  3. Badi Palace

    When 16th-century Sultan Ahmed el-Mansour was paving his palace with gold, turquoise and crystal, his jester wisecracked, 'It'll make a beautiful ruin'. That fool was a prophet: 75 years later the place was looted. Hard to picture the former glories of the now-barren courtyard, and the next-door garden is a royal mess with the king's security equipment - but the stork's-eye view atop the ramparts and periodic concerts here are musts.

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  4. Bahia Palace

    Modern wizardry can't beat the optical effects of intricate stucco work and polychrome zellij (mosaic) topped by painted, inlaid woodwork ceilings. It took 14 years to achieve this effect in the late 19th century, and you can picture the intrigues that unfolded here back then: enemies and wives of the Grand Vizier stripping the palace bare of its opulent furnishings before his body was cold. The entrance is near Place des Ferblantiers.

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  5. Cyberpark

    Tiptoe through the tulips to check email at the Cyberpark, an eight-hectare royal garden dating from about 1700 that now offers free wifi. The paths are lined with orange trees, palms and internet kiosks - wait your turn on benches filled with teenagers and nervous online daters.

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  6. Dar Chérifa

    Revive souq-sore eyes with a visit to this serene, impeccably restored late-15th-century Saadian riad, where tea and coffee is served with contemporary art and literature. Stop by for shows by local artists, lovely illustrated editions of Arabic poetry in French translation, and saffron tea on the rooftop terrace. Don't miss concerts and art openings at this cultural centre, or you'll be left wandering the streets wondering where everyone else went.

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  7. Dar Si Said

    A monument to Moroccan maâlems (master craftsmen), the Dar Si Said highlights Marrakesh's graceful riad architecture and local craftsmanship - though artisans from Fez must be credited for the spectacular painted woodwork in the domed wedding chamber upstairs. Don't miss the painted musicians' balconies and the vaguely threatening kitchen implements on the second, plus views over the zellij harem courtyard (currently undergoing restoration).

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  8. Djemaa El-Fna

    Grab a front-row or balcony seat at a café alongside the Djemaa, and watch the drama unfold. As the sun travels across the sky, orange-juice vendors make way for healers and henna tattoo artists, who scoot over for snake charmers, astrologers and acrobats. Around dusk, the storytellers begin their epic tales, and cooks cart in the makings of 100 restaurants specializing in barbecued everything, tasty cooked salads and steaming snails.

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  9. Ensemble Artisanal

    Answers to your every 'how'd they make that?' are on display at this state-run artisans complex. Ringing the courtyard are set-price boutiques that give you a benchmark for the maximum you should pay for handmade brass tea trays and felt beanies in the souqs, and to the right are bigger workshops where you can watch carpets, baskets and handbags being made.

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  10. Farnatchis

    To survive in times of siege, every Medina neighbourhood needed two things: its own fountain and a farnatchi , a public oven where locals brought bread to be baked. Many neighbourhoods still have farnatchis, and naturally everyone claims theirs is the best. To find a farnatchi, follow the smell of baking bread or anyone carrying a cloth-covered basket - or visit the one between Le Foundouk and Riad (you guessed it) Farnatchi.

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  11. Fondouqs

    Since medieval times, these creative courtyard complexes featured ground-floor. Only 140 fondouqs remain in the Medina, including notable ones near Place Bab Ftueh and one on Rue el-Mouassine featured in the film Hideous Kinky . The king recently announced an around DH40 million plan to spruce up 98 fondouqs, so now's the time to see them in all their shop-worn glory.

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  12. Fountain

    The Medina had 80 fountains at the start of the 20th century, and each neighbourhood relied on its own for water for cooking, public baths, orchards and gardens. The Mouassine Fountain is a classic example, with carved wood details and continued use as a neighbourhood wool-drying area and gossip source.

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  13. Galerie Noir Sur Blanc

    Get in on the ground floor of the Moroccan contemporary art boom at this 1st-floor showcase of major Moroccan talent. A recent show featured elemental calligraphic paintings by Marrakshi Larbi Cherkaoui, whose words break free of the page and seem to turn backflips on canvas. Friendly, well-informed staff provide useful insights about recurring motifs and fresh ideas in Moroccan art.

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  14. Galerie Photo 127

    Like any worthwhile Chelsea gallery, this one is up a dim, once-grand staircase and in an industrial-chic chamber with the obligatory exposed brick-and-concrete wall. Shows vary from straightforward travel photography to more interpretive works, mostly by Mediterranean artists.

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  15. Galerie Ré

    A slick, two-story showplace featuring emerging Moroccan artists and Mediterranean artists with connections to Morocco. Standouts include the rough-edged minimalist paintings of M'barek Bouhchichi and molten sculptures by Marrakshi Touria Othman. The gallery doubles as a publisher, issuing gorgeous illustrated editions of Arabic poetry in French.

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  16. Hammam Bab Doukkala

    A simple, lovely community hammam that dates from the 17th century. Pass through the cedar wood changing room and you'll reach the inner sanctum; here light filters through star-shaped holes in the dome, steam rises from the floor, and the mostly local patrons rest against stately columns while waiting for a gommage exfoliating treatment.

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  17. Hammam Dar El-Bacha

    The city's most historic public hammam has domed ceilings so high you'll wonder how the place ever steams up - and yet it has for over a century. A massage is very reasonably priced and gommage , or exfoliation, is a little extra. If the skin-sloughing ever approaches the blood-vessel-breaking point, just say, 'Shwiyya shwiyya' ('Easy does it'). Bring your public hammam kit, including dry undies.

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  18. High-Tech Souq

    Wander in the north of the souqs past the bridle-makers and lute-carvers and through a stone archway, and you'll find the most bizarre bazaar of all. This souq is covered with palm fronds and lined with shops that are literally holes in the mud-brick walls, packed floor to ceiling with flat-screen TVs. Donkey carts lug in computers still in their boxes; it's multimedia gone medieval.

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  19. Jardin Harti

    Where the action is for sporty types, active kids and amateur botanists. As well as the soccer fields, there's a playground and an outdoor amphitheatre where free shows are held that doubles as an after-school hangout, and recently restored paths through gardens of cacti and rare succulents that will test your ability to discern euphorbia from echinocactus.

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  20. Jardin Majorelle & Museum of Islamic Art

    Owned by the Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint-Laurent Foundation, this exotic sub-tropical garden provides a haven away from the hectic pace outside. The garden was designed by the French painter Jacques Majorelle, who lived here from 1922 to 1962. In among the cooling water features, the cacti, majestic palm trees and cascades of bougainvillaea, is a small museum.

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  21. Koutoubia Minaret

    When the present mosque and its iconic Moorish minaret were finished by Almohad Sultan Yacoub el-Mansour in the 12th century, 100 booksellers were clustered around its base - hence the name Koutoubia, meaning 'booksellers'. In the recently refurbished gardens outside the mosque, you might still notice a recent excavation that confirmed a longstanding Marrakshi legend.

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  22. Koutoubia Minbar

    Not to be confused with an ordinary staircase or a hotel beverage dispensary, this minbar (pulpit) is the Koutoubia's 12th-century prayer pulpit. With intricately carved cedar wood steps and minute gold, silver and ivory marquetry, this minbar is a credit to Cordoban craftsmanship under Moroccan rule and maâlem Aziz - the Metropolitan Museum of Art restoration uncovered his signature under the inlay.

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  23. Ksar Char-Bagh Hammam

    A trip to this spectacular subterranean red-marble hammam is almost eerily like rebirth. Re-entry to the world is eased with scented essential oils, liberal application of Anne Semonin products and a mood-lit lounge area. There's also a swimming pool. Treat yourself to a hammam, velvety skin scrub, rhassoul (mud scalp rub) and 90-minute perfumed-oil massage and emerge vowing to be a better person - or at least wear more sunscreen.

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  24. Les Palais Rhoul Hammam

    A classic Moroccan hammam, with separate chambers for varying levels of heat, zellij (mosaic) and tadelakt (polished plaster) walls, and sunbeams filtering through vaulted ceilings. It's oddly placed alongside a French baroque villa, amid fake Berber tents pitched in a formal garden - but don't let that deter you. The standard hammam treatment includes gommage, rhassoul with orange-flower water and massage with organic essential oils, and it really Rhouls. Treat yourself to cocktails afterwards at Abyssin and you may have to be scraped up and mailed home.

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  25. Les Secrets De Marrakesh

    This ultramodern hammam in an Art Deco villa is a real find. Follow the candlelit orange niches along the graphite tadelakt walls to the inner sanctum, the all-black hammam. House specialities include the Atlas cedar gommage scrub with ginger and woodsy essential oils, a desert sand and essential oil exfoliation, and the full treatment with hammam, massage, Essaouira salt scrub, and the ultimate carpet-shop detox: a mint tea wrap.

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