Scott Dunn: ANYTHING ELSE IS JUST A HOLIDAY

Just off the Rue Sidi El Yamani in the centre of Marrakech, you will find Café Arabe. Choose between the courtyard and the terrace for your early evening cocktails. The terrace provides a romantic view across the rooftops, and is decorated with cushioned seats, where you can sit and have a drink as the sun sets over the city.

Try traditional tagine dishes at Le Foundouk restaurant, or taste the chocolate and fig pastille for dessert. With beautiful traditional décor across two floors, Le Foundouk is atmospheric and charming – well worth a visit.

Marrakech is a bustling place, and Jemaa el Fna, the main square in the Medina, is well worth a visit. Snake charmers, singers, storytellers, healers, and a huge variety of food stalls can be found here. The hustle and bustle of the square snakes into the winding alleyways and the many souks of Marrakech. Marrakech is renowned as one of the best places for shopping - in the maze of souks and markets, you can purchase anything from silk slippers, leather bags, spices, and jewellery to iron lamps, carpets, dates and donkeys!

Begin at the Rue Souk Smarine, which leads to the Souk el Arrarine, a good place for spices and pottery, and to the Souk el Kebir which has a good variety of leather bags, and traditional Moroccan clothing. If you wish to buy good quality items, seek out boutiques and be prepared to pay a little bit more. Aya’s, in the Medina, is a super place to buy uniquely designed linen and silk kaftans, all with intricate embroidery, or for high-quality silk trousers, head to Beldi, on the Rue Mouassine.

Separating the genuine from the fake, and the good from the bad is not an easy task, and we’d recommend that you spend the day with a personal shopper, who will guide you to the best places in the markets, and show you to some of the more refined boutiques further away. Elena Masera is a personal shopper, lives in the heart of the medina and knows the souks extremely well. She will guide you through the old town to the best locations; yet will also take you to the more modern boutiques, recommended for travellers who have only allocated a small amount of time for shopping. She is available for full or half day and will arrange for a car and driver to accompany your day of shopping.

The French artist Jacques Majorelle, who settled in Marrakech after the First World War, designed Jardin Majorelle. This peaceful garden within the chaotic city of Marrakech has a wide variety of cacti, dotted amongst electric blue and bright yellow plant pots. Take a walk along the rose pink pathways, shaded by palm trees and encircling lily-covered ponds. Restored by Yves Saint Laurent in 1980, the gardens house a superb collection of islamic art, from ceramics and textiles to jewellery. An interesting and beautiful place to visit, the gardens provide a welcoming oasis from the hustle and bustle of Marrakech. There is a memorial to Saint Laurent in a quiet corner, and his ashes were scattered in the gardens.