Marrakech and its marvellous souks: the new haven for Hollywood celebrities

Of the celebrity-spotting hot spots in the world, one would put New York, London, Los Angeles or Paris at the top of the list. But Marrakech, often called the 'Ochre City' or the 'Red City', has long laid claim to being the destination where the rich and famous can go to get away from prying eyes and sample the intoxicating scents and sounds of North Africa.

In fact, Marrakech has always been this way, an established outpost of glamour and mystery, as well as being a gateway to the Sahara Desert and the lunar landscape of the Atlas Mountains. It is also a place where you can disappear. Chaplin, Hitchcock, Omar Sharif and Doris Day have all ventured here as have the Rolling Stones, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts and P Diddy. The city's reputation for allowing you to get lost in the maze of streets which make up the city's famous walled 'medina' or hole up in a luxurious private riad make it a favoured destination. Celebs, however, tend to favour the Palmeraie, the so-called 'Beverly Hills of Marrakech', a lush oasis of the city just out of the hubbub.

The fashion world has also long flocked here for both relaxation and to seek inspiration from the souks as well as the open-air marketplaces offering vast arrays of exotic foods and spices. Yves Saint Laurent and Jean Paul Gaultier have both lived here. Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss are regular visitors, and the bohemian look of Marrakech is never far from coming around in the cyclical world of fashion.

And nightlife has always provided a heady cocktail, too. Today, the cream of Europe's DJ set flood to the city, to venues like Theatro where you'll find the likes of David Guetta, Martin Solveig or Avicii playing to a well-heeled crowd of beautiful people. Venerable Ibiza club Pacha also has an outpost in Marrakech, attracting the international party set flying in from the Balearics and Casablanca.

Yet despite this cosmopolitan crowd descending on the city for the past 60 or 70 years, Marrakech remains its own - unchanged by fashion and trends, but continuing to set them. Not so much a current 'it' place, then, as a place that always has been.