Marrakech travel guide
Where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Things to do in Marrakech, planned over three days
Best time to visit Marrakech
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best season with October: high 20s afternoons, pleasant evenings, gardens at their best and everything working at full strength.
Late September to mid November is the other best window, with October the single best month and clearest Atlas views.
Summer extreme: 40 degrees is normal and peaks run higher. Sightsee before 11am and after sunset, and use pools and hammams at midday.
Winter: sunny 18 to 20 degree days, the calmest and cheapest city outside Christmas and New Year, but cold nights and under heated riads.
Ramadan is expected roughly 8 February to 8 March 2027: daytime restaurants partly close, hours shorten and evenings are wonderful.
What's on
- Marrakech International Marathon late January
Flat palm lined course in the city's mildest weather, a superb running weekend that also pressures hotels.
- Marrakech Comedy Festival 4-6 June
New francophone comedy festival at the Palais des Congres, reviving the Marrakech du Rire tradition.
- Gnaoua World Music Festival June
In Essaouira, the coast's biggest weekend of the year, worth timing an excursion or second base around.
- Marrakech International Film Festival late November to early December
Fills Hivernage and moves hotel prices across the smart hotel district.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Marrakech
Jemaa el-Fnaa
The medina's living theatre: watch from a rooftop at dusk, then eat at the grill stalls as the drums start.
Ben Youssef Madrasa
The finest interior in the city, with zellij tile, carved cedar and stucco around a marble courtyard.
Bahia Palace
A grand vizier's palace of painted ceilings and orange tree courtyards that rewards the first hour of the day.
Saadian Tombs
Ornate royal burial chambers a short walk from the Bahia Palace, best paired with it and the Mellah.
Jardin Majorelle
Cobalt blue botanical garden saved by Yves Saint Laurent, calm at the first slot and crowded by midday.
Berber Museum
The museum inside Majorelle covering Berber jewellery, dress and craft from across Morocco.
Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech
The museum next to Majorelle devoted to Yves Saint Laurent, best booked as a combined ticket with the garden.
Dar el Bacha - Musée des Confluences
The Glaoui pasha's palace with some of the best tile and carved wood work in Marrakech, and few crowds.
Where to stay in Marrakech
Mouassine and Dar el Bacha
first trip, all-round base
The medina at its most liveable, with the best old town restaurant cluster and good souks on the doorstep.
Kasbah and Mellah
palaces and quiet
Bahia, El Badi and the Saadian Tombs in walking distance, in a more residential and less tout dense south medina.
Gueliz
ease, food and anyone nervous about the medina
Wide navigable avenues, the modern restaurant scene, cafes and wine bars, but it could be any southern European district.
Hivernage
luxury hotels, pools and nightlife
Big pools and bars that pour properly between the medina and Gueliz, expensive, with thin local dining.
Palmeraie
resort-only stays
Superb self contained resorts 15 to 20 minutes out, wonderful if the trip is the resort, poor as a sightseeing base.
Think twice about
- Immediately on and around Jemaa el-Fnaa
Grill smoke, drumming into the night and the densest touts, faux guides and animal handlers in the city at your doorstep. Visit every evening, sleep 10 minutes away.
- Deep north-east medina beyond Ben Youssef toward the tanneries
Hub of the lead you there tannery scam, with darker, narrower derbs after 10pm and no nearby taxi drop off. Fine by day, stressful at night.
- Palmeraie, Agdal mega-resort strip and Route de Fes corridor as a city base
Isolation sold as luxury: a taxi for every single thing, every day, if your trip is the city rather than the resort.
Best restaurants in Marrakech
Al Fassia
Women run since 1987, serving Fassi cooking like a great family kitchen: salads, pastilla, then a tagine.
Sahbi Sahbi
Regional Moroccan dishes cooked by an all female team of dadas in an open kitchen: sit at the counter.
Amal
Non profit training restaurant with a leafy courtyard, a daily menu and the city's most loved Friday couscous.
Nomad
Modern Moroccan rooftop above the spice square, best at an early evening table before it gets slammed.
Le Trou au Mur
Home style and off menu traditional Moroccan cooking in a small Farnatchi owned riad with a roof terrace.
Dar Yacout
The grand Marrakech night: roof drinks, then a fixed multi course feast with live music in a tiled hall.
Mechoui Alley
Whole lamb slow roasted in clay pits, sold by weight and eaten hot with bread, cumin and salt at midday.
Jemaa el-Fnaa
The square's night grill stalls, starting with 14 or 31: fast turnover, mixed crowds, prices agreed first.
Best coffee in Marrakech
Bacha Coffee
Ornate coffee room inside Dar el Bacha: put your name down on arrival, then tour the palace while you wait.
Café des Épices
Unfussy spice square cafe for mint tea, a sandwich and people watching below the Nomad rooftop.
Outdoor things to do in Marrakech
Imlil
Trailhead village under Jebel Toubkal for a guided walk to waterfalls and a Berber village lunch in cooler air.
Jebel Toubkal
North Africa's highest peak as a genuine two day trek, with a refuge night and a pre dawn summit push.
Scarabeo Camp
The original Agafay camp, authenticity first, for a sunset dinner or a candlelit night under serious stars.
Inara Camp
A smaller, couples leaning Agafay camp for a quieter overnight in the stone desert south west of the city.
Ouzoud Waterfalls
Morocco's tallest falls: walk down past viewpoints, take the boat into the spray and swim in season.
Essaouira
Fortified white and blue port with ramparts, grilled harbour fish and surf, better slept in than day tripped.
Ourika Valley
The closest Atlas valley: a scramble to the Setti Fatma waterfalls, then lunch at a riverside cafe.
Aït Benhaddou
UNESCO listed earthen ksar reached over the Tizi n'Tichka pass, extraordinary but a very long day.
Best hotels in Marrakech
El Fenn
The medina boutique benchmark: a sprawling art filled riad hotel near the Koutoubia with a great rooftop.
Riad Farnatchi
Ten suite connoisseur's medina address with serious service and its own small spa hammam.
La Maison Arabe
Marrakech's original riad hotel from 1946, with riad looks, hotel systems and a famous cooking school.
La Sultana
The south medina grand splurge: carved plaster, a serious spa and a rooftop facing the Saadian Tombs.
Maison Brummell Majorelle
Small design led stay in a former artist's studio, a short walk from Majorelle and the YSL museum.
La Mamounia
The legendary city hotel: vast gardens, a stage set pool terrace and several smart restaurants and bars.
Royal Mansour Marrakech
The King's hotel, where you get a private riad with plunge pool and butler service, plus the benchmark spa.
Amanjena
Rose pink pavilions around a great basin in total quiet: book it as a retreat after medina nights.
Is Marrakech expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | MAD 355 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | MAD 975 a person |
| Splurge | MAD 3,800 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Jardin Majorelle: a few days ahead
- Berber Museum: a few days ahead
- Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech: a few days ahead
- Les Bains de Marrakech: a few days ahead
- Hammam de la Rose: a few days ahead
- Amal Women's Training Center and Moroccan Restaurant: a few days ahead
- Royal Mansour Spa: a few days ahead
- Imlil: a few days ahead
- Jardin Majorelle is online only and timed, booking out 2 to 3 days ahead in season. Buy the YSL Museum combination in one go.
- Reserve Al Fassia days ahead, plus Sahbi Sahbi, Dar Yacout, Le Trou au Mur and any Nomad or L'Mida sunset rooftop table.
- Book Les Bains de Marrakech and the Amal cooking class 1 to 3 days ahead in season, and Friday lunch at Amal early.
- March to April and October are the crunch: good small riads go first, months out for Easter and Christmas to New Year.
Is Marrakech safe?
- Violent crime against visitors is rare; the main property risk is pickpocketing in crowded souks and the square. Use a zipped cross body bag.
- Solo women should expect verbal harassment in the medina: modest dress, sunglasses, do not engage, and step into a shop if someone persists.
- Stick to lit main medina routes after about 10 to 11pm, or take a taxi. Police 19, ambulance 15.
- Alcohol is served only in licensed venues and public drinking is illegal. Drones are effectively banned without authorisation.
- Check your government's current travel advice before you go.
Marrakech travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- The tannery detour: a stranger says your route is closed or today is a special tannery festival, then a shop terrace and a large guide fee follow.
- It's closed, said about whatever you named, almost never is. Smile, say la, shukran, and check your own map.
- The henna grab near the square: hands in pockets, say no early, and do not negotiate afterwards.
- Monkey and snake handlers expect payment the moment a camera rises. Agree a small price before any photo, or do not photograph them.
- Caleche carriage rides: agree the full price and duration before anyone moves, and pay at the end.
- Cheap Atlas and Agafay tours routinely bundle argan cooperative and carpet stops. It is the business model, not a reason to buy.
Getting around Marrakech: public transport and more
- Walk the medina and taxi everything else: cars cannot enter most of the medina, so agree a gate meeting point with your riad.
- Petit taxis are metered by law: insist on the compteur or agree the fare first. Gueliz to medina runs about 20 to 30 MAD.
- Download an offline map before you arrive, since medina alleys defeat live navigation and phone signal.
- The dirham is a closed currency and cash is king in souks, stalls and petit taxis. ATMs cluster around Jemaa el-Fnaa and in Gueliz.
Who Marrakech suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Marrakech your trip
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