For many years Morocco has used its rich cultural heritage and geographic location to attract new travelers. This pro-Western Arab and African nation is about as exotic and romantic a destination as you will find within a two or tree hour flight from Europe or seven hours from New York or Montréal Canada.

Today, Marrakech is enjoying another renaissance. A wave of fashionable new restaurants, hotels, bars and nightclubs are emerging and the place is pulsing with wild parities in freshly designed Villas and Riads that typically have a much more glamorous vibe than the rather former bohemian style of the 1960s.

Marrakech can be noisy and intimidating at times when for example, you have to make way for motor scooters and donkey carts in narrow streets and lanes. But it’s feast for the senses, from the pungent spice market to the gleaming brass and colorful silks. You may want to finish up the experience drinking mint tea on the rooftop terrace of the Café de France, looking at the sun setting behind the Atlas Mountains.