A Guide to Marrakech, Sex and the City Style by Anthea Gerrie

It’s no surprise to hear that Sarah Jessica Parker and her co-stars were spotted running riot with their wallets in Marrakesh recently while filming scenes for Sex and the City 2. This most exotic of Moroccan cities is one of the great shopping meccas of the world as well as a great place to dine, steam in a hammam, enjoy local entertainment and just generally hang out.

Now, one can add a new diversion - following in the elegant footsteps of the Blahnik’d four around the hotspots. But to enjoy Marrakesh to the max, you really need comfortable shoes and a choice of lodgings which matches your comfort zone.

Staying in Riads

This could rule out, as it did for the stars of SATC2, bedding down in the Medina - the bustling old town with the astonishing Djma el Fnaa at its heart. This vast square is packed to the gills with henna-painters, story-tellers, musicians and snake-charmers, not to mention date-sellers and orange-juice vendors. As night advances they are joined by several dozen mobile restaurateurs who turn the place into a giant alfresco restaurant from dusk till midnight(lots of good salads and bread)..

It’s a thrilling scene, and until recently one tourists were reluctant to turn their backs on when the lights went out. For the past decade, riads - traditional townhouses built around cool, tranquil courtyards - have been all the rage, a tranquil home from home within the Medina itself with all mod cons. But now contemporary boutique hotels, like the stylish Bab - and, indeed, modern riads - have reached the New Town, which has the sleepy, languid charm of a retro South of France, and the best shops. Gentler souls may prefer a perch here, or in the Palmeraie date oasis 15 minutes out of town, to dodging the noise, dust and donkey-carts of the Medina on a daily basis.

Old Town vs. New Town

Winston Churchill and other legendary figures of the early 20th century got around the Old vs. New Town conundrum by lodging at La Mamounia, a New Town hotel on the outside edge of the Medina.  One of the world’s great hotels, it recently reopened after a multi-million-pound refurbishment - and Sarah Jessica was one of the first guests in.   She stayed in one of the hotel’s own riads, closeted within its magnificent private gardens, which are always worth a stroll.  

Then take tea and Moroccan pastries in the elegant lobby lounge which retains a sense of the art deco which used to pervade the whole hotel. Rooms are now traditionally Moroccan in style - for which read heavy with dark wood - and eye-wateringly expensive. But booking through tour operators makes them just about affordable (for riads, visitors are best to book direct and make their own low-cost flight arrangements).
       
Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davies chose to stay at Amanjena, the celebs’ choice of the past decade. You’ll see its pink sandstone domes in the movie, but this resort is generally a very private place of pink pavilions surrounded by great bodies of green water - mostly ornamental, given the wealth of private pools. In-room goodies include burnooses - full-length Moroccan hoodies under which guests like to hide when taking dinner in the grounds. Another pricey option, Amanjena is a schlep from both the Old Town souks and New Town boutiques - though they have a brilliant shopping list and take guests where they wish by air-conditioned limo.

Luscious Leather Shops

This list may be how the Sex and the City stars wound up at Place Vendome, the luscious leather shop in the New Town. His wife’s charming boutique just down the street, L’Orientaliste, is on the list. It sells lovely native perfumes made from orange blossom and other heady scents, and after hotfooting it there from Amanjena, the girls went up the road after pocketing the scents and ordered tailor-made blousons of the same buttersoft-leather as Place Vendome’s enviable soft handbags. Fewer visitors know about this place than Birkemeyer, the most famous leather emporium in Marrakesh, famous for its Hermes-inspired knotted suede shawls and killer leather jackets.
       
Carpets and lanterns are both associated more with the souks, which feature in the film, but very fine versions of both the weaver and metal-worker’s art are on display in the New Town, and the trade-off for the upcharge is superior workmanship and divine original design.
Penelope Cruz, a SATC2 guest star, longed to view the fabulous brasswork of Yahya, a Brit who went native and switched from running London nightclubs to designing fabulously intricate lanterns and other  objects designed to throw thrilling shadows.  

Cruz was turned away, like Harrods and Neiman-Marcus, as Yahya closed his showroom and his order books in order to concentrate on bespoke orders from individuals. Now an expanded gallery is open and definitely worth a visit for the deep-pocketed.

Marrakesh’s Buzziest Institutions

Those who want to eat as well as shop in the New Town will find good French food with rather bad French live music at Villa Rosa, and OK Moroccan food with exuberant belly-dancers at Le Comptoir, one of Marrakesh’s buzziest institutions. Be warned, though - if you book a table for much earlier than 9.30pm, you may be through with dinner before the show begins.   

Hot spots in the Old Town include Le Foundouk, where Kim Cattrall was spotted sipping a pina colada or three - it has good vibes but indifferent food; Carrie & co. would have been better off at Dar Moha, where a Moroccan chef trained in Switzerland serves excellent fusion cuisine around the swimming pool in Pierre Balmaiin’s old home. Yacout, home of a former honorary British ambassador, is the place for a blowout Moroccan feast in the most opulent of surroundings, with rose-filled fountains and haunting Gnaoui music setting the scene.

An Obvious Tourist Attraction

Exotic fare, enviable souvenirs, veritable palaces to sleep in - about the only obvious tourist attraction Marrakesh lacks is a beach.

Now even that has been brought to town by Nikki Beach, the Miami outfit who are colonising the coolest inland pockets of the world with a beach club experience. Here, among the desert date trees of the Palmeraie, are blue water, swim-up bars and the fabulous draped gazebo featured in the SATC2 trailer. Reservations are essential to circumvent the door policy in place to keep out the riff-raff - though hen parties are always welcome.
       
It’s worth mentioning one lovely place too public for movie stars to visit, but not to be missed by ordinary mortals. The Majorelle gardens were an artist’s vision maintained until his death by Yves St. Laurent. With their tranquil pathways and greenery punctuated by vibrant cobalt, lemon yellow and lavender blue planters, they are a visual joy not to be missed. Always best enjoyed without the crowds, they are good to explore late in the afternoon, when with luck the garden will be near-deserted.

Outside, horse-driven caleches stand ready to take tourists for a gentle trot around the rose-bush lined, terracotta city walls, whose glow deepens from umber to scarlet as the sun gently sets. A ride like this ends a perfect day in a pretty well perfect tourist city, which movie stars with privacy issues could never enjoy half as much as ordinary visitors with no need to hide themselves away.

Want to see Marrakech for yourself?  Check out out listings of luxury hotels in Marrakech.