What are the best photo spots in Marrakech?

Marrakech is a photographer's playground, but it punishes the unprepared because the medina at midday is harsh, crowded and full of deep shadow. My single best tip for the city is to shoot Jemaa el-Fna — the great square — from a rooftop café terrace at dusk. Le Grand Balcon du Café Glacier is the classic perch: nurse a mint tea, set up as the sun drops, and watch the square transform as the food stalls light up, smoke rising into the golden then blue-hour light, the snake charmers and crowds swirling below. It's the defining Marrakech image and you get it in comfort.

For architecture and tile, go early. The Ben Youssef Madrasa has the most jaw-dropping carved-and-tiled courtyard in the city and it gets packed, so be there at opening to shoot the reflections in the central basin before the crowds. The Bahia Palace rewards the same dawn-raid approach — endless painted ceilings, zellige, and courtyards with beautiful light. The Jardin Majorelle with its cobalt villa and the quieter Le Jardin Secret both shine in soft morning light before the queues build. The Saadian Tombs and the Koutoubia minaret (you can't go inside, but it's gorgeous from the surrounding gardens at golden hour) round out the classics.

The souks are where Marrakech gets its colour and grit. The spice markets, the dyers' souk with skeins of wool drying overhead, the metalworkers throwing sparks, the carpet shops stacked with pattern — these are wonderful, but they're dim, so I shoot wide apertures and embrace the shafts of light that pierce the slatted roofs. The tanneries in the Bab Debbagh area can be shot from a terrace as in Fes. A local guide is invaluable here: they know the photogenic corners, can ask permission to photograph an artisan on your behalf, and keep you from getting lost while you're looking through the viewfinder.

Don't overlook the rooftops and gardens for breathing space. Many riads have terraces with views to the Atlas Mountains (snow-capped and stunning on clear winter mornings), the Menara Gardens with their pavilion and reflecting pool framed against the mountains make a serene classic shot, and the new-town cafés around Gueliz offer a different, modern Marrakech. For people and street life, dusk around Jemaa el-Fna and the surrounding lanes is electric.

My honest rhythm for a photographer's day in Marrakech: architecture and gardens at dawn, souks in the brighter mid-morning when light pierces the alleys, a long midday rest (the light is bad and the heat worse), then back out for the late-afternoon souks and a rooftop at dusk. Tell me you're shooting seriously and I'll pair you with a guide who knows the light and the angles, and arrange the riad and rooftop access to make it effortless.