Travel to Marrakech: A city guide to Marrakech, Morocco. Debbie Davies shuns the commercial hotels of Marrakech - Morocco’s most exciting city - and goes in search of authentic luxury in the heart of the city’s Medina.

There are very few places in the world that are just a four hour flight, but a whole world away from the UK. Marrakech is one of those mythical destinations that delivers an exotic weekend away in the dark winter months. I was greatly unprepared for my arrival in Marrakech; it would etch on my memory forever.

We hailed a taxi from the station and immediately stepped into the maelstrom that is Marrakech. From the minute we entered the Medina’s walls our guide/taxi sparked up with a really welcome orientation of the sprawling Medina. My partner and I were speechless, with our faces pressed against our respective windows we saw famous landmark hotels with beautiful fountains and grand doormen lining the elegant boulevard, haughty horses with full plumage trotting at top speed pulling beautiful black carriages containing camera laden tourists.

Travel to Marrakech: Place Jmaa el Fna

As we very slowly made down the Boulevard, the guide shouted that we were about to pass the famous Place Jmaa el Fna, without us realising the quick pace of the boulevard had made way for smaller roads that began to twist and turn so dramatically that time seemed to warp at each turn and with every road was taking us deeper into the Medina, the sound of humanity getting louder and louder.

By now we had stopped feigning Western ‘seen it all’ attitudes, which we usually adopt on entering new countries, so as not to alert would be muggers to the ‘fresh tourist’ opportunities. We were more than open mouthed as we saw donkeys overtake us on roads where only one car could possibly fit at a time; the noise and smell of a hundred scooters all beeping at once; men and women dressed in traditional Berbers with thousands of pointy hoods bobbing up and down in front of the car.

The driver by now did not have his hand off his horn, whilst in the back we were being offered fish and weird Moroccan delicacies to eat. Just when we thought the road would narrow off too much and we would get stuck, the driver abruptly stopped, got out and told us to stay in the car as we watched our suitcases get passed over the roof of the car.

We adopted English indignation regarding as to where are bags were going? And we were greeted by big belly laughs as our driver explained that we would have to walk to the Riad we had booked and a porter would escort us and wheel our bags on a trolley. “Oh,” we responded as we climbed slightly shell shocked out of the taxi, made our fond farewells and chased down the maze like roads after the back of our disappearing luggage and a man with a pointy hood.

Travel to Marrakech: The Medina

We got to a very dark archway and our porter ducked down and made his way along it, both of us hovering at the entrance feeling a little exposed and wondering what on earth possessed us to put ourselves into this death wish situation. In the dark tunnel the porter, realising that we had not followed him, beckoned for us to follow; it was a strange Mexican standoff with a dark dank tunnel between us and people lurking in the shadows.

Just when one of us would have to relent, a splitting sound like the earth cracking in two averted all of our gazes and another pointy hood stepped out of a doorway illuminating the darkness with a candle. As we were about to run back along the medina and beg our taxi man to take us to that nice hotel on the boulevard, the candle holding hoody said in the sweetest voice, “Miss Debbie? Miss Debbie? Is that you?”

The relief gushed from us in spades and we sprinted along the dark corridor to the candle where there was an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ cut out door in a huge door that we gratefully tripped into and collapsed in a heap amongst our luggage in relief that we had not been mugged.

As we untangled ourselves we saw that we were in the most heavenly courtyard, with fountains tinkling, birds singing, rose petals billowing to the floor and smile upon smile as the staff of the Riad all came out to greet us. From the chef to the cleaner everyone had made an appearance to welcome us to Marrakech with a cooling mint tea and our very own looking glass!

We explored the medina at great depth over the course of the weekend, and where at first we needed to employ a guide to take us to and from the Place Jemaa El Fna, by day two we were hopping and skipping down the tunnel to our Riad at all times of the day and night as if we had lived in the medina all of our lives.

We stayed in a riad in the middle of the souks in the middle of the medina called Riad Karmela; rates are extremely reasonable, the hosts are French but speak English. The food is deliciously Moroccan made even more so, by the beautiful dining salon warmed by fire and candlelight at night.

The suite we stayed in had its own beautifully decorated balcony overlooking the fountain in the courtyard. The Riad follows the classic centuries old layout and we had the good fortune to have a roof terrace all to ourselves to watch and listen to the heady exotic call of prayers in the evening and sunbathe in privacy in the day time. For further information visit www.riadkarmela.com

Where to Eat in Marrakech: Restaurants in Marrakech.

For an off the wall luxury dining experience please beg borrow or steal a reservation at Dar Moha which is five minutes away from the Place Jemaa El Fna. This stylish riad previously owned by Fashion Designer Pierre Balmain, has been lovingly restored and is now THE restaurant in Marrakech which offers a fixed menu of nouvelle cuisine ‘morocaine’ by Chef Moha in and around one of the most beautiful pools in Marrakech. For further information visit www.darmoha.ma

One of the most comprehensive web sites for riads in Marrakech is Maroc Selection and they have an online booking facility and the site shows detailed pictures of each Riad and even pictures of which room you will occupy. For further information visit www.maroc-selection.com

Cheap Flights to Marrakech:

Flights are available daily from London Gatwick and Marrakech via easyJet.com – www.easyjet.com or British Airways. www.BA.com