Morocco featured among top destinations to visit in 2024 – CNN Travel

Morocco is featured among the best world destinations to visit in 2024, according to the “Travel” segment of the renowned media outlet CNN.

CNN has highlighted in a recent feature on its “Travel” segment, Morocco as one of the top 24 must-visit destinations for the year 2024.

Morocco is one of the few African countries, alongside Angola, to secure a spot on this prestigious list, joining the ranks of destinations such as Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore, Chile, Canada and others.

“A longtime travel favorite thanks to its diverse landscape and spectacular architecture, Morocco has bounced back determinedly after a devastating earthquake this past September,” CNN points out.

The media recommends that tourists explore other lesser-known places in Morocco, such as Tetuan and Meknes, less crowded but undoubtedly as enchanting as the popular cities of
Marrakech, Rabat, and Fez.

Have A Break In Marrakech

An insider's guide to Marrakech, featuring the city's best hotels, restaurants, bars, shops, attractions and things to do, including how to travel there and around. Why go? Red baked-mud medina palaces beneath the snow-capped High Atlas and a powder-pink ring of ramparts around 19 kilometres of seething souqs, Marrakech is Morocco’s most memorable experience.

Hollywood Made In Marrakech

CINEMA:  The city of Ouarzazate is with no doubt the rightful holder of the title “City of Cinema”, however, the city of Marrakech is rivaling Ouarzazate for that title, as a lot of directors are succumbing to the beauty, charm and the decorative diversity of the red city. Let’s discover some masterpieces, all made in Marrakech.

A long weekend in... Marrakech

After its independence from France in 1956, Morocco, and specifically the fourth largest of the historical Berber Empire's Imperial Cities, Marrakech, took off as a hippie mecca for artists (Andy Warhol), Hollywood starlets (Rita Hayworth), film directors (Alfred Hitchcock shot scenes for The Man Who Knew Too Much here) and the musical jet-set with The Beatles and the Rolling Stones enjoying rest and hazy "relaxation" in the maze-like alleys of this medieval medina.

Marrakech: The Desert's Edge

Once a haven for hippies, Marrakech has outgrown that phase along with its visitors. Today, it's a showcase of high design, mixing Euro cool with the medina's rich colors. The "new Marrakech" look is keeping local craftsmen busy: if you spy a piece of furniture you like during your stay, most places will sell it to you and ship it back home.

A Face-Lift for Marrakech's La Mamounia Hotel

La Mamounia, or at least its eight hectares of gardens, began life in the 18th century as a wedding gift to Morocco's Prince Moulay Mamoun from his father, King Mohammed Ben Abdellah (the hotel didn't follow until 1923). Today, those gardens, with their centuries-old olive trees, still retain their historic splendor. And the rest of La Mamounia has never felt fresher.

A Place In The Sun

Ean Vassort, dressed comfortably in jeans and blue cotton shirt, stands on the terrace of his whitewashed house, taking in the view of long golden beaches and a broad estuary snaking eastward into a hot, rocky valley. Retired since selling his restaurant near Avignon, France in 2002, Vassort, 74, now lives year-round in this sun-washed setting where he once took his holidays. But unlike earlier generations of French pensioners, Vassort's retirement idyll isn't tucked away along the villa-studded expanses of the Côte d'Azur, or in one of the popular resort towns of Spain's Costa Brava. Instead, Vassort is one of a growing number of European pensioners jumping the Mediterranean to Morocco — and getting much more bang for their euro.

Marrakech named world's best destination Summer 2015

Marrakech named world's best destination by TripAdvisor as London ranks sixth behind Prague and Hanoi... and New York fails to crack top ten

• Marrakech has been rated the world's best destination for the first time
• Results came from the website's annual Travellers' Choice awards
• Siem Reap, Istanbul and Hanoi also made the top ten world locations 

One of Britons' favourite places to visit in North Africa has been named the world's top destination by TripAdvisor users.

With its desert landscape and bustling souks, Marrakech came out on top in the website's annual Travellers' Choice Awards for the first time.

10 Places For having Fun in Marrakech

TOP 10 Marrakech Attractions:

1. Maison de la Photographie, 46 Rue Ahel Fes Medina, 5 24 38 57 21

2. Jemaa el Fna (Place of the Dead)

3. Bahia Palace, Beyond Place des Ferblantiers

MARRAKECH’S BEST VIEWS

The top 3 Marrakech Best Views You shouldn't Miss:

20 great things to do in Marrakech

The ultimate checklist for things to do in Marrakech – follow our insider tips for stunning mosques, fascinating crafts and luxury living:

Insider’s Guide to Marrakech Morocco

For many travelers, the ancient, bustling city of Marrakech (Marrakesh) is the first stop on a journey through Morocco and a “must see” destination. Marrakesh is a metropolitan oasis pieced together with ancients souks combined with an endless array of shops, cafes, and museum. Even the scooters and motorcycles weaving past pedestrians and donkeys is a sight to behold. Unlike much of the rest of the country, tourism is nothing new in Morocco (or in Marrakech for that matter). For centuries, Moroccans, foreigners and traders from around the world have been coming here for business, pleasure and a taste of the exotic.

Like most cities in Morocco, Marrakech is divided into two parts: the ancient medina (“old city”) and the new city (“ville nouvelle” – often referred to as “Gueliz” after the name of one of the more popular neighborhoods). In the last few decades, the city has become a tourist hotspot and a top destination for many Europeans; many who have purchased vacation and retirement homes here. Even the famous designer Yves Saint-Laurent spent the latter half of his life in Marrakech. And, recently, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy purchased a home here. In Marrakech, expats wander alongside the locals through the medina streets of the famed “Red City.”

Where To Stay In Marrakech

Anyone who’s been back to Marrakech after a several year absence would have difficulty recognizing the place. The winding alleyways of the medina are still there, with atmospheric riads hidden behind nondescript doors and stall after stall of silks, slippers, brass on sale. And in the center of it all, Jemaa el Fna, the main square inhabited by snake charmers, acrobats, sizzling kebab grills, boulevarding locals and mobs of tourists. 

What’s changed, however, is the hotel scene; it’s a veritable explosion with more coming on line all the time: Rocco Forte’s Assoufid, a Baglioni, a Mandarin Oriental, a W, a Park Hyatt, the Jawhar from Monaco’s Societie des Bains de Mer are all set to open over the next year. 

Marrakech, the hard way

It’s easy to fly to Morocco. Alternatively, one can get there by car, rail and sea Children saluting beside flags Saluting Gibraltar from the Upper Rock There is an obvious way for those living in the UK to take a family holiday in Marrakech: drive to Gatwick, hop on an easyJet flight and a few hours later you will be drinking mint tea in the Red City. Alternatively, you could put your three children in the back of the car, catch an overnight ferry to Santander, drive across Spain, dump the car on a clifftop road overlooking the Mediterranean, transfer your stuff into rucksacks, catch a boat to Tangiers and then the night train to Marrakech. We did the latter.

Morocco's bright lights: Romance, riads and arresting exoticism in the Red City

The Red City yanks you from the 21st century immediately. So much so, it seems impossible that my day began in gloomy London. I stand paralysed, ink from the map clutched in my hand imprinted on my fingers and the bedlam of Marrakech ringing in my ears.

The Chic Of Marrakech

Its voluptuous exoticism and easy accessibility have always drawn a certain traveler to this Arab oasis. Now, thanks to an influx of new money and smart new places to stay, the rest of the world is checking in as well.

Frederick Vreeland, the former U.S. ambassador to Morocco and son of Diana, the legendaryVogue editor, has just flown in from Rome to host a lunch party at his Marrakech home, Orchard of the Shooting Star.

Oukameden Ski Resort

Given the soaring heat of Marrakech, its incredible that within only one hour’s drive you can be in the dramatic snow capped peaks of the Atlas Mountains.

20 great things to do in Marrakech

1. Circle the Koutoubia Mosque

The minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque, Marrakech’s most famous symbol – built in a traditional Almohad style and topped with four copper globes – is visible from near and far. It is not really that high (77 metres), but thanks to local topography and a local ordinance that forbids any other building in the Medina to be higher than a palm tree, it towers majestically over its surroundings. Still an active place of worship, non-Muslims may not enter. But it’s possible to get a good view of the exterior by walking around either side.

Marrakech brings An Ode to Sahara 2

From Marrakech, the 70-km climb to the Tiz n Tichka Pass in the High Atlas Mountains is a clutch-grinding series of switchbacks offering fantastic views. The first stop is a wind-blasted pass poised somewhere between the two worlds of the High Atlas Mountains and the sub-Sahara. We head towards the Dades, Draa and Ziz Valleys, blessed in this arid land with life-giving rivers. They are indescribably beautiful, lined with palmeraies, ancient kasbahs (defensive forts constructed of red baked clay) and towns that have changed little in centuries. Historically, tribal feuding and banditry were a way of life for the Berbers of the region, and as a result, hundreds of kasbahs were built throughout these valleys.

Marrakech Brings An Ode To Sahara

A journey to and beyond the exotic town of Marrakech leads to a love affair with the desert sun, ancient kasbahs, rippling sands and mouthwatering food.

IT'S LATE AFTERNOON in the centre of exotic Marrakech, with its Andalusia-inspired arches, ochre ramparts, souk marketplaces and distinctive skyline of mosques set against the majestic snow-capped High Atlas Mountains. I find myself thoroughly lost in the medina, where narrow passageways seethe with human activity. Covered bazaars are crammed with spice stalls and workshops of every kind, with artisans at work fashioning slippers, weaving rugs, dyeing textiles and hammering metals.