Marrekesh would you go on your own?

[Eggybreadwithnuts]

DS is going trekking for 4 days. Hotel 1st day then off on his guided trek tjen back to hotel. Im wondering whether to go with him on the plane but stay in the hotel and chill and enjoy the sites.

Few friends have said not safe for lone female. Now not sure

I stayed in a riad, just a couple of hundred yards from the main square. I loved it. My hosts were wonderfully hospitable and kind (as seems to be the norm for riad hosts, when you read the reviews of the various places).

I really don't see the point in staying in a modern hotel outside the centre, when you have such incredible, beautiful places to stay.

Same here.

I absolutely would and also felt safe at night.
One of my favourite places ever.
The people are great and the food delicious.
Totally ignore the ones snake charming or with chained monkeys. Let them know tourists will not fund this.

We stayed in Es Saadi Palace which was beautiful but it was the only good thing about the trip

Yes, I second the recommendation for the Capaldi. I used to go there as a lone woman for a long weekend every year (at least) when I was burnout from work and needed to rest and relax. Tara and Ed the owners are lovely, the food is fabulous and it’s so peaceful. They also have a riad (called unsurprisingly Riad Capaldi) in the medina and the manager Marwan is a complete sweetheart. He grew up in the medina and has worked his way up to manage the riad (when I first met him, he was a waiter there). I like to do a few days at the hotel to chill out and then either a few days at the riad or I just book the hotel car and driver to take me into Marrakesh for the day from the hotel. Out and about in Marrakesh I always book a licensed guide (the Capaldi can do this for you) as you get pestered a lot less but also learn so much and see a different side of local life.

You two sound like Douggie and Jeanete (the Mancunian couple) in Shirley Valentine 😆

We went in June this year.
Females are not respected at all. In fact they are treated completely disrespectfully.
I travelled with my husband and if out in public area I felt unsafe even when with husband.
No for me.

Not my experience as a single woman traveller, at all.

The only issue I had was in the souks, where I found it impossible to spend time looking at an item without being pushed to buy. But that wasn't because I'm female. Men were getting the same treatment.

The government action in increasing the tourism police presence has made a huge difference.

This site has the stats that show that Marrakesh is safer (including at night) and has less crime overall than London.

Marrakesh does score more highly for bribery and corruption though!

https://www.numbeo.com/crime/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Morocco&city1=Marrakech&country2=United+Kingdom&city2=London

To be strictly accurate, those stats seem subjective, in that it appears that local people were asked to rate how concerned they were about crime in thosecities. The stats don't seem to be about the actual crime numbers.

Having said that, I felt safer in Jemaa el fna at midnight then I would in central London.

"I'll take 'things that never happened' for 400 points please Alex"

🤣🤣🤣