The Red City certainly lives up to its name: from the red cloth drying on the rooftops, to the pink-and- cinnamon-hued walls, to the flashes of terracotta ceramics and crimson bags in the souks. But it's far from a city of just one hue. The marvellous Moroccan Medina town in the shadow of the High Atlas Mountains, long a stop-off for caravans crossing the desert, is Edith Wharton's "great market of the south" - a place where bright colours, exotic spices, herbalists and a hint of black magic waft about the souks' secret corners, wanned by the heat of the communal bread ovens. A place where trading has continued for centuries, but where cloaked men driving donkey-carts laden with vegetables now share the narrow passageways with whining mopcds.
Come dusk, as the muezzins of the mosques call the faithful to evening prayer, Marrakech takes 011 a different aspect. The lights of the Djemaa el-Fna (or Jemaa el-Fna), the Old Town's main square, flick on to illuminate the fruit-sellers, snake-charmers and henna-painters in one of the world's greatest meeting places. Here are traders from the Sahara; buses discharging passengers after long journeys; Berber and Tuareg tribesmen completing a deal; and friends meeting over supper, the fizz, sizzle and billow of cooking smoke filling the evening air.
There are tranquil places to be found in Marrakech, however. Wander (and get lost) down quiet backstreets and you'll find men playing draughts with bottle-tops, while glorious riads - oases of intricate tilework and breezy courtyards - hide behind unassuming wooden doors. A little further outside the city, the elegant Jardin Majorelle is a calming sanctuary of pools and palms.
For the more adventurous, Marrakech is a gateway to experience more of Morocco, perfectly placed for forays into mountains, desert and sea. You can sleep out under the stars and experience Berber life amid the Saharan sands, or try canyoning and rafting in the Ourika Valley (just 45 minutes away) to raise your adrenaline levels. The coastal resort of Essaouira is only a two-hour drive, for more Moroccan culture as well as refreshing Atlantic air. But whatever your choice, you will feel mahabha - the warm welcome of the Marrakechi people.
