Fez — Marrakech is once again drawing international attention for its design scene, with British interiors and lifestyle magazine Livingetc publishing a new city guide centered on the Moroccan city’s mix of craft, hospitality, architecture, and contemporary style.

Published on September 30, the 48-hour Marrakech itinerary was assembled with recommendations from the magazine’s Casablanca-born social media editor.

Rather than treating Marrakech only as a sightseeing destination, the guide approaches the city through design.

Hotels, restaurants, museums, cafés, bookstores, hammams, and souks appear together as parts of a wider creative landscape where Moroccan craftsmanship intersects with international hospitality and contemporary aesthetics.

The publication describes Marrakech as a destination where heritage and modern design continue to overlap.

From riads to contemporary design

Among the suggested stays are Nobu Hotel Marrakech and its smaller Nobu Riad, where Japanese references are combined with Moroccan materials and decorative traditions.

The itinerary also points readers toward El Fenn, the well-known medina hotel recognized for bold color, Moroccan craft, contemporary art, and individually designed interiors.

For cultural stops, the guide includes the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech, whose permanent connection to the French designer reflects the role Morocco played in shaping his visual language.

It also recommends Booklore, a bookstore and café offering a quieter counterpoint to the intensity of the medina.

Traditional souks remain central to the itinerary, particularly for visitors interested in objects, textiles, leatherwork, ceramics, and other forms of Moroccan craftsmanship.

The guide then moves beyond the medina to properties including Les Deux Tours in the Palmeraie and Amanjena, where hospitality, landscape, and Moroccan-inspired architecture form part of the experience.

Marrakech as a global design reference

The “Livingetc” feature is notable less for any single recommendation than for the way it frames Marrakech.

International travel coverage has long focused on the city’s palaces, riads, souks, and gardens.

Increasingly, however, design publications are presenting Marrakech as a place where contemporary creative culture is developing alongside those established references.

New hotels, restaurants, galleries, boutiques, concept stores, and renovated riads continue to reinterpret Moroccan visual traditions rather than simply reproduce them.

That evolution has helped make the city a recurring reference point for international designers, photographers, fashion brands, and hospitality groups.

The new guide ultimately reflects a familiar tension at the heart of Marrakech’s appeal: centuries-old craftsmanship existing beside constantly changing ideas about luxury and contemporary design.