Marrakech, Morocco
I’ve been wanting to go to Marroco for a few years now, but never had the opportunity, this this year for my birthday got given a holiday in Morocco and it was incredible. The people are nice and helpful (too helpful some of them as they offer help hoping for a tip) the food is good (not the street food, we got advised by a local to not eat on the street food stalls) and you can get a pint of fresh juice for less then £2 almost anywhere, what else could you ask for?
WHERE TO STAY
Marrocco being a very tourist city is full of accommodation options, saying that Nyomi got us this incredible Riad, a Riad is a traditional house or palace with an indoor garden and courtyard, usually located in the old part of the city called “Medina”. Most of these properties will have pools and rooftops with panoramic views of the city, a much better choice than a hotel. Our was Riad Bindoo & Spa our room was on the bottom floor right next to the pool and the breakfast was amazing and really fresh every morning. Next door is the Spa, got get yourself a massage is 100% worth it.
WHAT DO TO
Let’s start with the more important, Marrocco is pretty much in the desert so it is extremely warm, saying that if you can spend more warm hours of the day inside.
Medina
Medina is the old part of Marrakech, the more traditional and the more tourist too, with tight streets in every direction full of shops and food places, probably would recommend at least one day just to wander around, one of the ends of these streets you can find Jemaa el-Fnaa, this large square is where everyone comes together, during the day is more quiet with just a few street vendors, juice stands and some horrible animal “enchanters” (just be aware of the snakes) but at night is when the place comes to live, the square becomes a huge street food market (once again we got advise to no eat here, but all the stands were full of both local and tourist) in this street market at night you can also find loads of different street performers and singers.
Jardin Majorelle
A little overrated, it was quite cheap to get in at the time we paid around £9 to get in the gardens but that’s it, if you want to access the building inside you need to pay extra, and also the guards at this place are trying their best to keep people moving inside and not create crowds which sometimes becomes a little annoying.
Bahia Palace
Definitely worth a visit, the architecture in this place is incredible, it costs around the same as Jardin Majorelle, but it is much better, gets s little crowded too, especially during the warmer hours but worth the visit.
Koutoubia Mosque
Being the tallest building in Marrakech it is hard to miss, the building is incredible and the gardens around are usually full of local people trying to hide from the sun.
Desert Tour
I have always a big fan of this type of tours, done one before in Dubai and loved it, our tour had a camel ride (a proper one by the way, we rode for probably 45 minutes) and after we went for dinner and nigth show to one of the desert camps, we did this tour and they picked us up and drop off close to our accommodation. During the tour we also stopped in a woman-only cooperative, where we were given some local products (food and cosmetics) to try, after a small demonstration and taste they took us to the shop, obviously, they wanted us to buy something which we did, this more traditional cosmetics are much better for you as there are almost no chemicals, or so I hope.
Atlas Mountain Tour
Similar to the desert tour we got picked up from near our accommodation by a small bus with a guide and we drove to the Atlas Muntins this tour is usually a full-day tour as the mountains are around 1h30m away from Marrakech, on the way there we stopped again on a local cooperative for some food and cosmetics (pretty much the same as before, only a bigger place), after we stopped at Setti Fadma, a small and remote village in the mountains, from here we walk up the mountain to see some waterfalls and incredible views, this village today lives a lot from tourism, loads of local shops, juice stands, etc. we got most of our souvenirs from the trip here. After coming back down the mountain we had lunch by the river, literally, you could eat your lunch with your feet in Ourika River. This was the tour we took, at the time we paid £25 tour and lunch, can’t go wrong with that.
Walking Tour
We do walking tours everywhere we go, there is no better way of knowing a place than by the mouth of the locals, our tour guide was Mustapha, a great tour full of knowledge of the city and Marrocco in general. These tours are free, don’t forget to tip your guide.
OTHER THINGS & THOUGHTS
Safety
Marrakech seems to me a pretty safe place, I walked around with my camera day and night in every street without any problems, people look at you and sometimes might look at your camera but mostly because they do not want their photo taken, saying that, always be aware of where you are.
Talking about safety means talking about scams too, from day one we were told to always negotiate the price, even locals do so, so always negotiate or will end up paying more than double. Another scam to be aware of is the fact that people will randomly come to you to help you, without you asking, they will help for sure but then will ask for money, this didn’t happen to us because we were aware of it, but it is true that as soon as they see you as a tourist they are always asking where you going and trying to help.
Food & Drinks
Try local food, there are plenty of restaurants for all budgets go and try some Tagine and Marrocco Couscous. Also, get some fruit juices, we had this small place near our Riad that only served juices, and we ended up going there almost every night, just don’t try the avocado and milk, it’s not that great.
Street animals
Be aware of the street animals, no joke there are at least 2 cats per street, even though they look adorable, there is not much health and safety around here, meaning none of them are vaccinated. The same goes for the donkeys, these poor animals are still used for hard work in these streets as some are not allowed cars.
Driving & Crossing the road
There are no rules, that is the conclusion I came up to, they don’t respect crosswalks, traffic lights (cars do, motorbikes don’t) or in some cases, they will do the roundabout in the opposite direction if it is traffic. The same goes for crossing, cars and motorbikes will not stop, they will slow down and go around you, just embrace and get used to it. If your taxi from the airport starts to create an extra lane on the motorway to skip traffic you know you are in the right place.
Money
The local currency is the Moroccan Dirham, apart from your accommodation and some more fancy restaurants, everywhere is cash (some places will accept euros) for that reason get some cash from the cash machine straight from the airport, NOT from the stand after luggage collection you will pay a lot of taxes for this, get yourself a Revolut card and just use it at a cash machine, it’s the same as using one your cards at home with the best exchange rate possible.
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