Marrakech

Founded almost a thousand years ago, Marrakech is one of the great cities of the Maghreb. Somehow this bursting-at-the-seams city exists on the edge of the Sahara Desert, its pink pise (rammed earth) palaces framed by the snow-capped High Atlas. In its seething souks, Europe, Africa and the Middle East mingle and merge, and the past and present are hard to tell apart. But make no mistake, Marrakech isn’t some petrified piece of history. Instead, this centuries-old trading hub is a creative sweet spot where ideas thrive and a buzz of entrepreneurialism charges the air with an intoxicating, and sometimes, intimidating energy. This isn’t a place you can gracefully glide through. Instead, you’ll find yourself telling jokes with snake charmers, hankering after the latest henna tattoo or getting a scrub down in the local hammam.