Where are the best museums in Morocco?

Morocco's museum scene has come a long way and now genuinely rewards a visit, ranging from intimate historic-house collections in restored palaces to world-class contemporary institutions. They're also a wonderful refuge — a cool, calm, beautifully curated hour out of the heat and bustle of the medina. Let me point you to the best, city by city, because the standouts are clustered in Marrakech, Fes, Rabat, Casablanca and Tangier.

Marrakech has the densest concentration. The Yves Saint Laurent Museum, beside the Jardin Majorelle, is superb — a striking modern building housing a rotating selection of YSL's couture and his Moroccan-inspired work, beautifully staged. The neighbouring Berber Museum (in the Majorelle garden) is a jewel of Amazigh jewellery, costume and craft. Add the Marrakech Museum in the restored Dar Menebhi palace, the Maison de la Photographie with its wonderful vintage images of Morocco, the Musée Yves Saint Laurent's rival the Musée de la Confluence / MACMA for orientalist art, and Dar Si Said (the museum of weaving and carpets) — and you have days of good museums.

Elsewhere: Rabat is the home of high culture, with the Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (the country's flagship modern-art museum) and the rich National Archaeology and Earth Sciences museums holding the famous Volubilis bronzes and prehistoric finds. Casablanca has the unique Museum of Moroccan Judaism — the only Jewish museum in the Arab world — plus the Villa des Arts. In Fes, the Dar Batha Museum, set in a Hispano-Moorish palace and garden, is the great collection of Fassi arts and crafts (ceramics, woodwork, embroidery), and the Nejjarine Museum of Wooden Arts and Crafts occupies a gorgeous restored funduq.

Up north, Tangier's Kasbah Museum (in the former sultan's palace, Dar el-Makhzen) blends Moroccan art with Roman finds and commands sea views, and the American Legation Museum covers the city's literary and diplomatic story. A few tips: many of the best "museums" are the historic palaces themselves — the Bahia Palace, Saadian Tombs, Ben Youssef Medersa — so don't draw too firm a line; hours can be irregular, so check before you go; and a good guide turns a quiet collection into a vivid story. Whatever your interest — couture, Berber craft, modern art, photography, Judaica, archaeology — Morocco has a first-class museum for it.