MARRAKECH... plus the Atlas mountains
PART ONE Morocco’s most feted (though only fourth largest) city is a place that will happily beckon you into its arms, pull you into the warren of streets that make up its Unesco-listed medina, and only vaguely promise to let you go. It is an experience as much as a destination, where you can run the gauntlet of the hawkers in the souks, watch the dancing cobras in Jemaa elFnaa square – and slip into a riad when you need a break.
ESSENTIAL SIGHT The Yves Saint Laurent Museum (museeyslmarrakech. com). Set outside the medina, neither this showcase of the French fashion designer’s life and work, nor the adjacent Jardin Majorelle ( jardinmajorelle. com) botanical garden that Saint Laurent restored and tended, are part of the medieval Marrakech – but they offer a pleasing change of pace from the chaos that is.
PART TWO A change of pace – and temperature – is available on Marrakech’s doorstep, where the Atlas Mountains begin their rise into the heavens. The range, which divides Mediterranean Africa from the Sahara, is visible from the city, but best viewed up close in person – whether via a hike or an afternoon with the Berber population that calls it home.
DON’T MISS
It is hard to miss Toubkal, the highest of the Atlas peaks, which pushes its snowy head into the clouds – to a height of 13,671ft – 50 miles south of the city.
DO IT Riviera Travel (01283 688372; rivieratravel.co.uk) takes care of everything with its Marrakech & the Atlas Mountains five-night group trip, which also calls on the Atlantic at Essaouira. Some 18 editions are slated for autumn, from £699 per person (with flights).