Marrakech

The medina's great square, listed as UNESCO intangible heritage, turns into an open-air theatre every evening. With a dog, go in the morning when the square is calm: the evening crowds, snake charmers and monkeys make it a stressful place for an animal.

Jacques Majorelle's cobalt-blue garden, restored by Yves Saint Laurent, is one of Morocco's most visited places. Dogs are not admitted: take turns to visit, then meet again on the wide shaded avenues of neighbouring Gueliz.

This vast 12th-century olive garden surrounds an Almohad reflecting pool with the snowy Atlas as a backdrop. Its wide, calm alleys are one of the few places in the city to walk a leashed dog serenely, preferably early in the morning.

North of the city, 13,000 hectares of date palms planted since Almoravid times, criss-crossed by tracks. It is the best walking ground with a dog in Marrakech: space, relative shade and calm, keeping clear of the quad-bike and camel circuits.

The 77-metre minaret of the city's largest mosque has been Marrakech's landmark since the 12th century. The mosque is reserved for worshippers; the gardens and esplanade around it, pleasant at sunset, can however be walked past on lead.

The 19 km of red-earth ramparts, punctuated by monumental gates including the superb Almohad Bab Agnaou, can be followed on foot or by carriage. An on-lead walk at daybreak, when the light sets the walls aglow, shows the red city at its best.