Text by Luca Lembi
www.visitmorocco.com
www.marrakech.travel/en
To find the ideal hotel and the best offers you can do a search for the stars but also for districts or landmarks.
Take a twilight stroll around the Place Jemaa El Fna, Marrakesh's busy centre. You will find an exotic and Medieval atmosphere with storytellers, jugglers, animal leaders and, above all, fire-eaters whose flaming jets rip through the Moroccan night to the sounds of traditional music. A unique experience, a trip back in time impossible to share elsewhere.
The Majorelle Gardens house a collection of plants from the four corners of the earth flourishing among elegant ornamental lakes and an Art Deco villa. Yves Saint Laurent's ashes were scattered here. You leave this enchanted spot in one of the many horse drawn carriages available in the city and take the inevitable trip to the palm grove. From there, you continue to the Ménara, one of Marrakesh's symbolic places. This elegant building, which you can recognize by its green tiles, is surrounded by an immense ornamental lake. Marrakshi families come here to enjoy this cool spot during heat waves.
The Medina and souks offer products, textiles and handicrafts, just below the typical ramparts dating from the twelfth century. Far from the center, there are the Saadian tombs and the Arab-Andalusian garden that offers a moment of relaxation before the visit at the halls of the two tombs with decorated suites, which are close to the beautiful minaret of the Mosque El-Mansour. Nearby, you can admire the view from the terrace of the Palace El-Badi that stands out over the rooftops of the city. In the northeast area, you can see the ancient Minbar of the Koutoubia Mosque, a pulpit decorated with sculptures and marquetry.
Place Ben Youssef
The Marrakech Museum was built by Mehdi Mnebhi the late nineteenth century.
Madame Benjelloun Naymah in memory of her husband and to safeguard the national heritage of the city worked to offer visitors a cultural space where they can make available to the national art and contemporary art from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century.
www.musee.ma
The Lalla Takerkoust Lake is just 20 minutes from Marrakesh. You can explore its 7 km by pedal boat, motorboat or even jet ski. The Oukaimeden ski resort in the Atlas gives you access to one of the most extensive ski domains in Africa. You can climb Mount Toubkal (4,167m) which is situated to the south of Oukaimeden. In no time, you can leave the heat of the valley for the pure mountain air.
You can't miss the Marrakesh palm grove. You can drive the 20km to this luxuriant spot where you can then renew yourself. Otherwise you can take a horse drawn carriage to the big ornamental lake in Ménara.
You can visit the Ourika Valley which is about 30km from Marrakesh: granary for the area, with its fields for different crops laid out like a draughtboard, will often pleasantly surprise you: its waterfalls punctuating the beautiful unspoilt scenery, for example, or the Yagour rock carvings. Asni village, with its very beautiful red kasbah, should be seen. The valley of the same name gives access to some sumptuous gorges. Ouirgane is a very popular spot for Marrakshis.
