DREAM DESTINATION: MOROCCO

Whatever you are looking for from your next trip, this year all roads lead to the North African country

SANCTUARY L’hôtel Marrakech (above), a 19th-century riad bought, restored and opened as a hotel by Jasper Conran, is the perfect retreat from Marrakech’s riotous medina. For his first ‘guesthouse’, Conran has seamlessly mixed the Moorish architecture with a 1930s Art Deco aesthetic, antique furniture, banana trees and artworks from his own private collection. From £292 per night ( l-hotelmarrakech.com). LEISURE Perfect for surfers, Surf Maroc’s first hotel (right) near Agadir is affordable yet boasts an in-house yoga teacher, library and outdoor cinema in the garden. The décor is simple but chic – whitewashed walls, polished concrete floors, and souk-bought tiles. From £32 per night (surfmaroc.com). STYLE This autumn, Yves Saint Laurent opens a museum opposite the Jardin Marjorelle botanical gardens in Marrakech, which the designer bought with Pierre Bergé in 1980 to protect the site. Haute couture dresses and drawings, currently archived in Paris, will be showcased in a terracotta interior by Studio KO ( below; fondation-pb-ysl.net). SHOPPING Sourcer of Berber rugs, Souad Larusi recommends Marrakech’s backstreets for buying woven wonders: ‘For embroidered linen I really recommend Al Nour, a cooperative run by local disabled women artisans, and for rugs, 20th-century and antique Moroccan carpet specialist Ben Rahal’s store houses museum-quality carpets’ (larusi.com).