Holiday to Marrakech

There seems to be limited advice or realistic accounts of travels to Marrakech. Indeed, the majority of blog posts I found prior to travelling there were written by social media influencers whom generally have unlimited amounts of money. This meant that the advice they gave of places to visit and things to expect would not necessarily relate to the experiences I would have.

Street in Marrakech in the early hours of the

morning (before the souks had opened)

Before travelling to Morocco, it is important to remember that it is a Muslim country; whilst you will not be arrested for wearing a pair of hot pants or a crop top, you will most certainly attract some unwanted attention from the locals. In the five days that I spent in Marrakech, I saw many tourists wearing clothes which didn't cover their shoulders or knees and I just felt that was incredibly disrespectful. Whilst the weather may be hot, a long flowing dress or a loose top and capri trousers will suffice. In terms of choosing where to stay, in my opinion, you can't go wrong with a riad. A riad is a traditional guest house and there are hundreds and hundreds of them dotted all around the city. Whilst the majority of hotels are situated towards the outskirts of the city, riads are generally more central and can be reasonably affordable too. From the moment we stepped into our riad, we were made to feel welcome with our hosts pouring us traditional Moroccan tea (a medley of green and mint tea) from large ornate silver teapots.


There was no rest for us during our visit (which was fine by me because I like to keep busy!) We arrived on Monday evening and immediately explored the main square Jemaa el-Fna which was just like everything I had read. A bustling stage with locals walking towards you with their arms laden with gifts and wares. There were crowds of locals gathered around entertainers and monkeys being walked around on chains - a sight I had read about but was still horrified to see. The main square is definitely worth seeing both during the day and in the evening but we found that one visit to the square in the evening was enough for us.

Jemaa el-Fna at nighttime

Tuesday morning came and we met with a local tour guide who took us on a four hour walking tour around the Bahia Palace, Saadian Tombs, Jewish Quarter, the Administrative Area, a bread oven (used by the local families, there are bread ovens in all parts of the city where locals take their bread to be baked), a parfumerie (where we had our first demonstration of the uses of argan oil) before finally ending up in the souks (an endless maze of market stalls and workshops and people trying to attract your attention). Admittedly, I was somewhat concerned about being harassed. I had never been out of Europe before and my understanding was that I would feel uneasy and be harassed frequently which was simply not the case. Certainly, there were sellers trying to attract our attention by complimenting us and asking if we were married, but we quickly learnt to ignore them.

A local bread oven

On Wednesday we headed off to the main square where a minibus picked us up and took us towards the Atlas Mountains. Our first stop was to ride camels - bumpier than expected and not something I would choose to do again but it was an enjoyable experience nonetheless. We were then driven to a women's argan oil co-operative where we had our second argan oil demonstration and began to chat to our fellow tourists. We were then driven to a house where they had prepared chicken tagine. The room we were eating in had long sofas and a communal feel so it created a good opportunity
for us to talk to our fellow tourists who were American. Once we had eaten, we began the long walk into the mountains towards a local waterfall. The path started fairly innocuously walking along paths which weaved through the mountain and passed various Berber houses but before long we found ourselves balancing along the edge of irrigation waterways and trying to ignore whatever sheer drop was to the side of us. An added surprise to this walk came in the scent emitting from the wild mint growing on the mountains. We reached the waterfalls where young couples lay under the hot sun and loud African music played, took our photos and then headed to a Berber house where our tour guide's sister lived. We were treated to Moroccan tea by our hosts before heading back to Marrakech, feeling exhausted but refreshed by what we had seen. There is a strong sense of community in Morocco and throughout the stay I felt very welcomed by almost everyone we met.

Two ladies at the Argan Oil Co-operative demonstrating how argan oil is made. 

It was refreshing to hear from our tour guide Ishmael that tourism in Morocco over the last twenty years had only seemed to have positive consequences in the form of new job opportunities and electricity and technology being made more readily available.

Aside from a headache, Thursday was gorgeous. It involved another minibus ride and our first pit stop was to a goat tree. This was fairly bemusing to see but the goats looked fairly happy so photos were taken. We were then taken to another women's argan oil co-operative before finally arriving in Essaouira - a very pretty sea port town. Cats wandered through the winding back alleys and buildings were white with blue shutters, reminiscent of villages in Italy. It felt a million miles away from the reds and oranges of Marrakech. Our day involved us exploring the local fish market and paying visits to the various shops.

Goat tree.

Boats at Essaouira

Friday was a last minute adventure to the Ozoud waterfalls. The scenery was spectacular although the tour guide was somewhat lacklustre. We also made friends with an Aussie named Matt (hello if you're reading this!) and grabbed drinks with him once we got back to Morocco.

Saturday arrived and we made our way to the Jardin Marjorelle, a beautiful garden originally created by Jacques Marjorelle, a French Artist, before being lovingly restored by Yves Saint Laurent. Bright cobalt blue buildings contrasted with palm trees and instagrammers were clearly in their element.

Jardin Marjorelle

Marrakech was an absolute whirlwind of chaos and order. The locals were incredibly welcoming, and if you haggled (which we didn't do enough of us, and which they expect you to do), then it was reasonably inexpensive. Our booking of riad and flights was in the region of £350 and we spent around the same throughout the week (probably less), resulting in a very affordable holiday when you take into account everything we saw and experienced. Like many places around the world, when lost, Google Maps became our friend and signposts were not to be trusted. I would agree with others that Marrakech is manic but to me it had an organised rhythm. It felt alive and safe and I would definitely go back.