Marrakesh.

Snake charmers at dusk, mint tea poured from a meter up, and a maze of souks that eats GPS signals for breakfast. Marrakesh is sensory overload in the best way — and the desert is only an hour away.

Marrakesh is the launchpad for Morocco at its most cinematic. Spend a morning weaving through the medina's souks and the tiled courtyards of Bahia Palace, then trade city noise for the Agafay Desert — camel rides at sunrise, quad bikes over rocky dunes, dinner under the stars. Our day trips climb into the Atlas Mountains and Ourika Valley, chase the Ouzoud waterfalls, and reach coastal Essaouira, while multi-day journeys cross the Dades Valley to a Sahara camel trek in Merzouga.