• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

Admire Moorish arabesques adorning the dining room at La Cour de Lyon.   (Photo: Courtesy of Es Saadi Gardens)

Squeeze among dozens of food stalls in Djemaa el Fna, Marrakech’s main square. The best are those swarmed with Moroccan customers, like Hassan 31, where the air is smoky from garlicky grilled lamb sausage, or Stall 23, where harira, a spicy lentil stew, boils in a 50 gallon pot ($1.50 to $5).

Sample the French-inflected cuisine of chef Sébastien Bontour, a Parisian transplant who moved to Morocco in 2001, seduced by the local spices. He turns out dishes like cumin-scented lentils and locally raised duck ($22 to $34) from the elegant La Cour des Lions restaurant atop the Es Saadi Palace.

Order the house specialty—pigeon—at Al Fassia Guéliz. The squab is seasoned, diced, and folded into a savory, layered pie that’s stuffed with nuts and topped with cinnamon-dusted phyllo dough ($10).

Published on May 27, 2010 as a web exclusive.