AIBU to think Marrakesh was far worse than I expected?

[LondonLass37]

I'm 40. I went to Marrakesh for a week with a female friend of the same age. Both white, both blonde. Just looking for some warmth, culture, and a proper break.

What I experienced was genuinely awful.

We were harassed constantly , not just persistent sellers, but followed, hissed at, and touched. A man spat at my feet because I wouldn't give him money for directions I never asked for. Later, a drunk local chased us through the medina. We had to hide in a shop for nearly half an hour.

The medina is filthy. In the markets, animal carcasses hang next to food. Live donkeys are visibly mistreated and beaten. I'm still upset about what I saw.

The food was bland and lukewarm. My friend got food poisoning.

I wanted mint tea and beautiful tiles. Instead I felt unsafe and miserable.

So – AIBU? Or is Marrakesh genuinely as terrible as I found it?

Some of the worst and most frequent ’holiday’ sexual abuse I experienced was in kerala so this isn’t necessarily true.
It happened so many times in so many situations, I can’t imagine that I was an isolated case

My experience was a little different from yours. We went to the backwaters in Kerala and found it better than the north of India, definitely in terms of sexual harassment. I felt so much safer there as a woman.

I absolutely love Marrakesh (and I didn't go with a man).
I felt safe even after dark, I loved the food, and found the people I interacted with were warm and friendly with a good sense of humour.
I kept wanting to pinch myself because I couldn't believe I was in such an amazing place.
I would go back like a shot, and I don't say that about many places - it truly captured my heart!

Good for you, obviously. But my experience was far different from yours. And honestly, looking at so many comments, it seems I'm not the only woman who felt that way.

@goldingoose

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Anglo-Saxon_Protestants

My 50 something DH also had an awful experience there when he went with three other males. They were constantly surrounded by men selling stuff and young boys selling sexual services. At one point two of the younger guys got their passports stolen. They stayed at a top hotel, as it was a business trip, but my DH said that the food was lukewarm and inedible!

For balance, I should say that many of the Marrakshis we met were really friendly, kind people.

Ive just remembered we took a bus from the Jardins Majorelles back to the Kasbah but missed our stop as we’re clearly cretins who missed the huge ancient gate that leads to the warren of narrow streets comprising the Kasbah. We ended up on the ring road on the way out to the airport - our bus driver clocked it, stopped the bus and got his colleague who was driving another bus to take us back to where we needed to be.

Maybe just dye your hair then?

My experience was in Goa. We visited Hampi in southern India although we were fine there sadly saw in the news last year was a brutal rape there of two western women. So no I don’t share the optimism about southern India.

What is the motivation of the minimising / defensive posters? I find that intriguing. Do you not believe what you are being told?

Are you a Reform voter, misunderstanding that it's not illegal to claim asylum?

That poster isn't the only woman who loved the place either. It's really odd that we're all talking about the same place. Or at least as it has been in the last few years since the government and tourism police stepped in.

Yeah, I get it, it’s not illegal to claim asylum, I know that. But honestly, it should be for people who really deserve it, not just anyone. And they’ve got to adapt to the culture here, haven’t they? This country’s given them a respite, the least they can do is respect that.
But all we see is this constant influx of people, and then we hear about them preying on women—women from the country that gave them asylum. It’s not right. You can’t come here for safety and then turn around and make things unsafe for us. We’re not horrible people for saying that. We just want fairness and respect.

My mind is blown when I see a migrant has attacked local women. If I had been given asylum somewhere I would be bloody grateful and keen to fit in / put my head down / contribute not attack the hosts 🙄 . Genuinely don’t get it.

@Elishiva yes it's a huge worry isn't it.
We are largely shielded by the reality of what's going on in the world and no I don't want large numbers of men who feel like this here however they get here or what status of legal it is or isn't

Anyone setting foot here from different cultures like these mentioned should be clearly and sternly told our values and laws.

Op re peoples different experiences we have all been somewhere others just had a good or bad time in.

Couldn’t agree more, love! 💯👏

@JuliettaCaeser agree I would feel that whether I was claiming asylum or living in any country

I loved it! Felt genuinely safe and was really surprised at how modern and friendly it was. I was expecting it to be as you described.

Sorry you found it different.

Re black women in Italy - I think it is a bit dependent on location and the locals (like anywhere, really). Italians can be very racist. Against anyone, in fact - there is great dissection of surnames and pulling of faces if someone is from an “unapproved” area.

Regarding prostitutes… donkeys’ years ago the ones I saw were Italian. Then the fashion seemed to be transvestites. Then Eastern European women, then black African women and on my last trip I witnessed black girl children standing by the road - in broad daylight. Girls of no more than 12 in cropped tops and shorts. The sight is seared on my eyeballs. Utterly horrendous.

No I’m not a reform voter what a stupid but typical argument.
you don’t need to be a reform voter to not want to live around thousands of men who display exactly the type of behaviour women are reporting on this thread.
Go see if you can cross the border into France without a passport, the men coming here on boats are doing so illegally, and most are economic migrants not asylum seekers.

I had no issues at all in Rome but it seemed a lot more diverse. I saw Black schoolchildren and when DP overheard them talking he said they spoke fluently with broad Roman accents which suggested perhaps there is a more settled community there.

I’ve found Italians can be very dismissive when it comes to racism generally. Friends of DP from the South said a racial slur is no different to mocking someone’s hair colour and there is “no need to make a fuss” about racism.

@Elishiva eye ball checks ,finger prints and passports into France.

I went last year with DH and really enjoyed it but we did have a few dodgy moments ( people offering directions and taking us through a maze of narrow streets until we felt completely lost and then demanding money to show us the way out, taxi drivers trying to get us to agree a price twice the recommended amount and a man who stopped his bike and started shouting at me for taking photos of him when I was actually holding my camera down while waiting for him to ride out of the shot.

I

I did also have a funny rummy for a week after we got home!

I would still like to go back again one day.

DH and I (middled aged) went with our 20 sonething daughter - dark haired but attractive and dresses for attention. We all stayed together - dd got some comments but she enjoyed those and no one hassled her (might have done if we hadn't there). It wasn't exactly what I expected but I enjoyed it very much, as did DH and DD. We found the locals mostly friendly. We avoided uncooked foods like salads but had no issues with the food- none of us were taken ill, and DH is the one who usually is if any of us are going to be. There wasn't that much of interest to see, I agree with whoever has said that, but we managed to fill 4 days. We found the poverty and begging much more upsetting and oppressive in Egypt but loved seeing the ancident sites.

You are factually incorrect.
Reform voters are less tolerant of asylum seekers.
It is not illegal to claim asylum.
Between 2018 and 2025, approximately 62% of asylum applicants who arrived in the UK via small boats were granted protection- so your made up 'fact' about most being economic migrants is just that...made up.

I went with my daughters and we loved it. Its manic and a big culture shock but we never felt unsafe. The girls did get comments but in a jokey way & we must laughed at them. It was annoying though having people constantly trying to take us back to our Riad despite us knowing the way & repeatedly saying we had no money & didn’t need help.
i would go again though. The animal welfare issue was difficult to see.