The most Instagrammable Places in Marrakech

The Sahara is the largest hot desert and the third largest desert in the world after Antarctica and the Arctic. Its area of 9,200,000 square kilometers (3,600,000 sq mi) is comparable to the area of China or the United States. From Marrakesh, there are countless organized tours to get to "The Great Desert"; just remember these things: it's very far from the city and to get there you might need a whole day of travel, so think about some 2/3 days tours, during the night the temperature dramatically drops so bring some very warm clothes.

Ouzoud Waterfalls (Amazigh: Imuzzar n wuẓuḍ, French: Cascades d'Ouzoud) (110 m high) are located near the Moyen Atlas village of Tanaghmeilt, in the province of Azilal, 150 km northeast of Marrakech, in Morocco. Ouzoud means "the act of grinding grain" in Berber. This seems to be confirmed by the frequent mills in the region.

For more than 90 years, La Mamounia has been a beloved destination for discerning international travelers. Located in the heart of the enchanting imperial city, this luxury hotel has recreated the intoxicating mood of an Oriental palace. The sprawling gardens are ripe with citrus trees, fragrant rose blossoms, ancient olive groves and a vegetable garden where one might see La Mamounia’s chefs foraging for ingredients to be prepared that evening at the hotel’s three signature restaurants. Completing the regal experience, La Mamounia’s service epitomizes Moroccan hospitality with attentive and friendly staff, always with a warm smile.

Known for its leather goods, Marrakech is home to a few tanneries where local families have been employed for generations. In fact, the tanneries have existed since the medina was founded over a thousand years ago. For visitors, the experience is often a sensory overload of smells, colors, and sight as they watch the men at work using pre-Industrial age techniques.

A souq or souk (Arabic: سوق‎, Hebrew: שוק‬ shuq, Spanish: zoco, also spelled shuk, shooq, soq, esouk, succ, suk, sooq, suq, soek) is a marketplace or commercial quarter in Western Asian and North African cities. The term souq goes by many alternatives in different parts of the world; in Malta; in the Balkans, the term bedesten is used; the terms suq and sometimes monti are used for a marketplace; and in northern Morocco, the Spanish corruption socco is often used. The equivalent Persian term is "bazaar". In general a souq is synonymous with a bazaar or marketplace, and the term souq is used in Arabic speaking countries.

Aït Benhaddou (Berber languages: ⴰⵢⵜ ⵃⴰⴷⴷⵓ; Arabic: آيت بن حدّو‎) is an ighrem (fortified village in English) (ksar in Arabic), along with the former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech in present-day Morocco. Most citizens attracted by the tourist trade live in more modern dwellings in a village on the other side of the river, although there are four families still living in the ancient village. Inside the walls of the ksar are half a dozen (Kasbahs) or merchants houses and other individual dwellings, and is a great example of Moroccan earthen clay architecture. Aït Benhaddou has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

Bab Agnaou (Arabic: باب اكناو; Berber: Bab Agnaw or Tawurt n Wegnaw) is one of the nineteen gates of Marrakesh. It was built in the 12th century in the time of the Almohad dynasty. While Bab er Robb was the official entrance to the city, Bab Agnaou gives entrance to the royal kasbah in the southern part of the medina of Marrakech. The Kasbah, built by the Almohad sultan Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur, is the site of El Mansouria (the kasbah mosque), the El Badi Palace and the Saadian Tombs.

“Marrakech taught me color,” said Yves Saint Laurent, who bought a cobalt blue villa in the Moroccan city and made it his vacation home in 1966. “Before Marrakech, everything was black.” This can be seen in the sprawling collection of couture, accessories, sketches and photographs on display at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent in Marrakech, which opens to the public on Thursday. The museum shows creative masterpieces that span the late designer's 40-year career, from 1962 until his retirement in 2002. (He passed away six years later, in 2008.) Next door to the Majorelle Garden and steps away from his private villa, roughly 1,000 items from Saint Laurent’s studio are on view at the $17 million terra cotta museum designed by Studio KO architects. A project of Foundation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent, it was spearheaded by Pierre Bergé, Saint Laurent’s business partner and former romantic partner, who passed away as well. However, he was able to visit the museum before it opened to see his vision completed.

The Majorelle Garden (French: Jardin Majorelle, Arabic: حديقة ماجوريل‎ hadiqat mmajuril, Berber languages: ⵓⵔⵜⵉ ⵎⴰⵊⵓⵔⵉⵍ urti majuril) is a two and a half acre botanical garden and artist's landscape garden in Marrakech, Morocco. It was created by French Orientalist artist, Jacques Majorelle over almost forty years, starting in 1923 and features a Cubist villa designed by French architect, Paul Sinoir in the 1930s. The property was the residence of the artist and his wife from 1923 until their divorce in the 1950s. In the 1980s, the property was purchased by fashion designers, Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé who worked to restore it. Today the garden and villa complex is open to the public. The villa houses the Islamic Art Museum of Marrakech, the Berber Museum and has recently opened the Musee Yves Saint Laurent.