Marrakech on $25, $80 or $300 a day

Djemaa el-Fna at 9am (most acrobats and performers are setting up; the orange juice stands are the best breakfast at MAD 4 per glass). Walk into the northern souks — follow your nose through the spice district and get deliberately lost. The key is to not need to be anywhere.

Medersa Ben Youssef (MAD 70 — the 14th-century Quranic school with the most beautiful tiled courtyard in Morocco). Walk to the tanneries for the rooftop view (free if you buy MAD 20 of sprig mint from the leather shop). Lunch at a local snack bar for MAD 25–35.

Djemaa el-Fna from 6pm as the stalls light up. Walk the food stalls: harira soup (MAD 5), brochettes (MAD 20), pastilla (the sweet-savory pigeon pie, MAD 30). A mint tea from any of the surrounding cafés (MAD 15) to watch from above.

Majorelle Garden (MAD 150 — owned by Yves Saint Laurent, designed by Jacques Majorelle, a cobalt-blue oasis in the city. Get there at 9am when it opens. The YSL Museum adjacent costs MAD 100 extra and is worth it for fashion history enthusiasts).

El Badi Palace ruins (MAD 70 — the "Palace of the Incomparable," gutted by a rival sultan in 1696; only the skeleton remains, but storks nest on the ramparts and the scale gives a sense of the original grandeur). Saadian Tombs (MAD 70, book online — the 16th-century royal tombs, rediscovered in 1917, are astonishingly intact).

Back to the medina for the evening. A hammam in the Mellah or near the souks (MAD 50–80 for a public hammam, bring your own soap and kessa scrub mitt — or pay MAD 150 for a tourist hammam with everything provided).

Shared minivan to Imlil in the High Atlas (MAD 50 each way, 90 minutes) — the hiking base below Jebel Toubkal, North Africa's highest peak (4,167m). Even a 2-hour walk above the village puts you among Berber villages and terraced fields that feel unchanged for centuries.

Lunch at a village gîte (MAD 40–60 for a tagine). Return to Marrakech by late afternoon. Alternatively: Ourika Valley (greener, with a river and waterfall, MAD 30 shared taxi each way).

Final evening at Djemaa el-Fna. Order a msemen (griddle bread with honey, MAD 5) from a street cart and walk the edges of the square away from the tourist restaurants. The medina at 10pm is entirely Moroccan.

Private morning souk walk with a local guide (MAD 300–400 for 3 hours — worth it; a guide prevents the constant touts, explains the craft guilds, and takes you to the best workshops). Start at the dyers' souk.

Medersa Ben Youssef (MAD 70) and El Badi Palace (MAD 70). Lunch at a medina rooftop restaurant: Nomad (MAD 150–200 per person) or Café des Épices (MAD 100–150) — both have terraces overlooking the medina roofscape.

Djemaa el-Fna food stalls and café terrace for dinner (MAD 150–200 for a full evening with tea). A cooking class the following morning can be booked through the riad — most offer classes starting at MAD 400.

Majorelle Garden + YSL Museum (MAD 250 combined). Walk Gueliz for a French-style café lunch (MAD 80–120). Menara Gardens (free) for a quiet afternoon by the reflecting pool with Atlas views — the most peaceful spot in the city.

Traditional hammam experience at a tourist hammam (Les Bains de Marrakech, MAD 350–500 for a full gommage treatment): the black soap scrub and argan oil massage is a Moroccan essential. Two hours of pure sensory reset.

Dinner at Al Fassia (the finest traditional Moroccan restaurant in the city — entirely female-staffed, the best bastilla and mechoui lamb, MAD 300–500 per person). Book ahead.

Shared taxi or organized day trip to Essaouira on the Atlantic coast (MAD 70 each way, 2.5 hours). The blue-and-white port city: ramparts, a working fishing harbor, argan oil cooperatives, and the Gnawa musicians who have played in the medina squares for centuries.

Fresh grilled fish at the port market (MAD 60–80 for a whole fish with salad). Walk the ramparts and the beach — the wind is constant (Essaouira is a world-class kite-surfing destination). Return to Marrakech by late afternoon.

Farewell dinner in the Marrakech riad: many riads offer in-house Moroccan dinners (MAD 250–350 per person). Eating in a candlelit riad courtyard is the definitive Marrakech evening.

Breakfast at La Mamounia (Churchill's preferred hotel in the world). A private souk walk with a senior guide from the hotel's concierge: the private workshops, the antique silver dealers, the carpet merchants who actually know the provenance of their pieces.

Lunch at Le Foundouk (beautifully restored 18th-century caravanserai, excellent Moroccan-French fusion, MAD 400–600). Private cooking class with a renowned Marrakchi chef in the afternoon.

Dinner at La Grande Table Marocaine (Royal Mansour hotel — the most spectacular dining room in Morocco, built by the King, Michelin-starred). A dinner that's also an architecture tour. MAD 800–1,200 per person.

Private car or light aircraft to the Draa Valley and Erg Chebbi dunes (6–7 hours by road, 2 hours by light aircraft): the edge of the Sahara, camel trek to a private luxury desert camp at sunset. The stars over the Sahara without light pollution are among the most powerful experiences available on earth.

Luxury desert camp breakfast: fresh Berber bread, argan honey, mint tea. Return journey via the kasbahs of the Draa Valley — Ait Ben Haddou (UNESCO, used in Lawrence of Arabia and Gladiator).

Back in Marrakech. Spa at the Four Seasons Marrakech or the Royal Mansour — the latter's hammam is a private riad building, the most elaborate in Morocco. Dinner in the riad courtyard.

Musée de Mouassine (MAD 50 — a beautifully restored 16th-century riad housing a collection of Moroccan artisan objects, less visited than the major sites and more beautiful). Then a private hot air balloon flight over the city and palmeraie at sunrise (MAD 2,000–2,500pp, includes transfer and breakfast).

Lunch at Dar Yacout (a legendary traditional Moroccan dinner venue, also does lunches — multiple courtyards, live music, the full ceremony of a traditional feast, MAD 400–600). Last medina shopping with guidance from your riad concierge.

Farewell dinner at Nomad's rooftop (the contemporary Moroccan version of traditional flavors, excellent wine list by Moroccan standards). Mint tea on the riad terrace watching the swallows over the medina.