Marrakech has something of a reputation for its nightlife, which covers groovy Ibiza-style discos to belly-dancing. Music is at the heart of cultural life in Marrakech, as it is throughout Morocco. Marrakech is almost certainly the best place to enjoy the fusion of Moroccan music, as the city has been the host to Andalucian, Arab, Berber and African influences for up to 10 centuries.

The medina provides traditional evening entertainment in the form of cafés, food stalls and street entertainment, with everything revolving around Jemaa el Fna, where many of the best performers are often to be found. For happening bars and clubs, head for Guéliz and Hivernage. Clustered along Avenue Mohammed V, particularly around place Abdel Moumen ben Ali, are most of the city's bars, as well as a wide variety of restaurants, bistros and sidewalk cafés. The city's best nightclubs are located in Hivernage hotels or in venues just outside town.

Although Morocco is an Islamic country, there is a laid-back attitude towards alcohol, with bars in most tourist areas staying open late. In the medina, law and etiquette dictate that alcohol should not be consumed openly within view of a mosque, so drink discreetly indoors or on roof terraces.

Théâtre Royal:
More formal cultural events take the form of festivals, although there are some performances of opera and dance in the open-air amphitheatre of the Théâtre Royal in Guéliz.

40 Boulevard Mohammed VI
Tel: (0524) 431 516.

Bars.

Café Arabe:
In the medina, the choice is somewhat limited. The serpentine sofas on the roof of the Café Arabe inspire nights on the cocktails overlooking the mountains.

184 rue Mouassine
Tel: (0524) 429 728.

Café-Bar de l'Escale:
Guéliz has a much greater range of bars, though there's a fine line between characterful and outright seedy. The Café-Bar de l'Escale is the rare relaxed place where beers can be taken out to the pavement tables.

Rue Mauretania, off Avenue Mohammed V

Le Bar Churchill:
All the big hotels also have bars. The most glamorous in the city is undoubtedly Le Bar Churchill, at La Mamounia hotel, which has a sumptuous Moorish and art deco interior and a strict dress code. It is named after the hotel's most famous guest and is the perfect place for an aperitif in jazzy 1930s style.

La Mamounia, Avenue Bab Jedid
Tel: (0524) 388 600.

Piano Bar Ouarzazi:
The piano bar at the Jardins de la Koutoubia hotel has the requisite pianist who gamely plays requests, and provides the perfect place to sip cocktails by the pool.

Jardins de la Koutoubia, 26 Rue de la Koutoubia
Tel: (0524) 388 800.

Clubs.

Diamant Noir:
Although Marrakech has a reputation within Morocco for nightlife, clubs are an expensive extravagance where behaviour doesn't conform to strictest Moroccan codes of propriety. Music tends to be a mixture of Western pop music, Moroccan hits and funky DJ mashups. The slightly camp Diamant Noir has an easy-going party atmosphere and a dance floor where straight and gay mix easily.

Hôtel le Marrakech, Place de la Liberté
Tel: (0524) 434 351.

Pacha Marrakech:
Pacha Marrakech is the nightclub with the magnetic pull to attract DJs away from New York and Amsterdam and playboys and partiers from Casablanca and Ibiza, so on the right night you won't begrudge the taxi ride from town. The place has a capacity for thousands but during the week it echoes. At weekends you'll be lucky to squeeze in, even in your best club attire.

Boulevard Mohammed VI
Tel: (0524) 388 400.

TéatrO:
TéatrO, in the grounds of Hôtel Es Saadi, packs in the crowds for its Saturday DJ turn, where the clothes may be cool and monochromatic but the scene stays hot and colourful until dawn.

Hôtel Es Saadi, Rue Ibrahim El Mazini, Hivernage
Tel: (0664) 860 339.

Live Music.

African Chic:
African Chic hosts live music nightly in Marrakech.

6 rue Oum Errabia, Guéliz
Tel: (0524) 431 424.

Jemaa el Fna:
Anyone with even a passing interest in music should head straight for Jemaa el Fna. The best time to go for music is in the mid- to late evening, as the square gradually empties and the dedicated street musicians take over, playing their repetitive, rhythmic melodies on a mixture of banjos, lutes, guitars, flutes, drums and makeshift violins. The most enchanting of the styles on offer is Gnaoua trance music, best exemplified by the internationally-renowned band Nass Marrakech, which formed in the city. This music, a blend of African styles that derived from freed slaves' songs, combines repetitive rhythms and choric voices to create a trance-like awareness of the present moment in the listener.