Markets & medinas

Marrakech, the largest of Morocco's imperial cities, spreads beneath the snow-capped High Atlas at the edge of the plains. Its red-earth ramparts enclose a dense medina of souks, palaces and riads, while the open square of Jemaa el-Fnaa has been a center of trade and performance for nearly a thousand years.

The medina is a UNESCO World Heritage site, a maze of covered souks organized loosely by trade — leather, metalwork, dyed textiles and lanterns. At its heart, Jemaa el-Fnaa fills each evening with food stalls, musicians and crowds, framed by the minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque, the city's tallest structure at around 77 meters and the model for the Giralda in Seville.

Fes is Morocco's oldest imperial city and the seat of its spiritual and intellectual heritage. Its walled medina, Fes el-Bali, is one of the largest car-free urban areas in the world, a dense warren of thousands of alleys, workshops and one of the planet's oldest universities.

Founded in the 8th century, Fes el-Bali is a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to the University of al-Qarawiyyin, established in 859 and often cited as the oldest continuously operating degree-granting institution. The medina's lanes are too narrow for cars, and goods still move by handcart and mule. The Bou Inania and Al-Attarine madrasas showcase the city's finest zellige tile, carved cedar and stucco craftsmanship.

Istanbul spans the Bosphorus strait that divides Europe from Asia, the only major city set across two continents. Once capital of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, it layers monumental mosques, palaces, churches and covered markets across its hills.

The historic peninsula holds the city's grandest monuments: the great domed Hagia Sophia, built as a Byzantine church and later a mosque; the six-minareted Blue Mosque facing it across a garden; and the sprawling Topkapı Palace overlooking the water. The covered Grand Bazaar and the aromatic Spice Bazaar fill nearby streets with one of the world's oldest market traditions.

A frenetic capital of glittering temples, canals, street food and soaring skyline.

Bangkok is Thailand's sprawling capital and one of Asia's most visited cities, a place of intense contrasts where gilded royal temples sit beside glass towers, riverside slums and elevated expressways. The historic Rattanakosin core holds the Grand Palace and the most revered temples, while the Chao Phraya River and a network of canals recall the city's origins as a place of waterways.

Tangier stands at the northern tip of Morocco, overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic and the Spanish coast is visible across the water. Long a cosmopolitan port and former international zone, it blends Moroccan, Spanish and European influences.

The city's whitewashed medina climbs a hillside above the harbor, topped by the Kasbah and its 17th-century Sultanate palace, the Dar el-Makhzen, now a museum. Tangier's position at the meeting of two seas and two continents has long drawn writers and artists, and its faded grand cafés and Art Deco buildings in the Ville Nouvelle reflect its international-zone past in the mid-20th century.