Have you been to Marrakech recently? Love to hear places you saw, ate, visited

[Surrendertoitall]

We are off for 3 nights in a few weeks. I haven't been in years. Would love some recommendations of where to eat/see/visit/drink etc!

The main square in the old town has a lot of pop up restaurants n the evening. Great place to check out and cheap.

Usually has musicians and often storytellers as well.

Fnaa el-Jamaa

Yes, thanks, I remember the square

We had an amazing hammam and massage at Les Bains de Marrakech. Really recommend. We also did a fab trip to the Atlas Mountains

The Jardin Secret is beautiful and has a lovely cafe-bar for a stop and a drink.

And don't take this the wrong way because I love Marrakech but makes sure that you have nothing in pockets and pickpocket secure bags. They are magicians in that Square and will relocate any of your possessions to being their possessions without you even knowing. And don't support the people with primates - it's a terrible cruel trade.

You could go for a carriage ride - check the condition of horses, some aren't great but most owners pride themselves on you being happy their animals are well treated.

Both the Menara and the Agdal gardens are amazing. The Koutoubia Mosque. The Bahia Palace. The Saadian Tombs and the Kasbah mosque. The Mellah (the jewish quarter).

I loved the perfume museum. It was beautiful and I got to sit with the Nose and have my own perfume made.

I love the kosy bar near the old palace as you can sit on the roof wining and dining watching the storks which nest on the palace walls and fly overhead.

Restaurants

• Point bar
• M rooftop by medina heritage zsunset
• Azar - restaurant and Shisha
• La table de La kasba -

Las Terraza Andalusia

• La traittoria

Nomad M Bacha Le pergola

• Nobu rooftop-
• La sultana
• Kabana

Bacha coffee Otto

Bars

• Kabana rooftop bar
• Le jardin secret

Nomad no alcohol

• Dardar rooftop for drinks
• SO night lounge
• M rooftop
• Kosy bar
• La Pergola
• Rooftop garden at The pearl (sunset)
• Barometer

I was going to say Jardin Secret. Don't need to book and in my opinion nicer as less busy than the jardin marjorelle. We did the ysl museum next door to majorelle and not sure it was worth the admission price. You get to see some of the past collections then there was a few films to watch.

Joining as I go in February.

I'm staying at a Riad. Are there places you can eat and buy alcohol? I've heard you can only drink in hotel bars but others have said there are places. It's not essential but I do like a drink when I'm away.

Restaurants and bars will sell alcohol, not just just hotels.

Amazing! Thanks all. Making notes.

Taken from A Few Days Away on FB.

We just visited Marrakech … here are some things that it would have been helpful to know …

1. The reports of very long waiting times to go through passport / security and other controls … not our experience. Think this might be a very recent change?? There was a bit of a queue at passport control on arrival (about 30 minutes). On departure everything was very smooth … definitely no longer than at a uk airport … probably faster.
2. Print out your return boarding pass and (even if carry on luggage), you need to get it stamped at check in.
3. Don’t rely on getting WiFi in the airport.
4. We booked the Pearl Lounge for departure … a scant hot meal offering. Soft drinks … and definitely not help yourself. Wasn’t worth it at all.
5. On arrival, we got Dirhams out by the ATM. Took me ages to get my head round the currency exchange (I’m getting old 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️😂). I learned to think 100 Dirhams = a tenner (more like just under £8) … but it gave me the rough amount.
6. With steep roaming fees, at airport departure on left hand side by the door, you can buy a local 20gb SIM for 20 euros. But can ONLY buy in cash (assume they also take £). There are 3 companies (inc Orange) we bought from the middle one ‘d’inwi’ Because more people were using them … was told best one. It has worked perfectly, including on our day trip to the Atlas Mountains.
7. Taxis from the airport … if not pre-booked … there’s a booth outside at the car park … you get a standard rate there.
8. We had originally booked a Riad in the Medina … but changed to a hotel (near the station) on my brother’s advice. Am sure a Riad would be beautiful … but can see that not staying in the Medina was a lot easier for us … and if we’d have to wheel our case through the Medina that would have been horrible.
9. If you like an alcoholic drink, make sure where you book to stay has a bar. You can buy alcohol to take out in eg Carrefour Express in a separate space (the cave).

10. If you know some French … brush up on it … think almost everyone speaks French … so it can get you more information if you can speak some French. 11. We had a kettle in our hotel room … I’d taken sachets of coffee and milk (bought from Amazon) was glad I had taken with me. 12. Taxis … definitely ask the price before the journey and bargain … ideally get someone to tell you how much it should be before you get in. Whatever they say … you likely have to bargain. So for the first trip into town we paid 100 Dirhams, on the way back out it was 70 (and even that was likely more than it should have been). For getting to the airport, I asked, the driver said ‘150 Dirhams’, I said ‘120’ and he said ok. I didn’t add a tip on that, because I was sure it was already a higher than need be price. 13. Getting hold of small denomination (less than 100 Dirhams) is like gold dust. You need the smaller denominations for tipping. Also if the price is eg 120 and you only have 150 … or 150 and you only have 200 … they’ll say they don’t have change. So if you are going to need change back … make sure you know that they’ve said they have the change before you agree to the service. 14. It seems like bartering is for everything apart from Supermarket / restaurants. In the Souks … they say start about a third of their price and don’t go above a half. The Moroccan Leather bag I got was quoted as 400 Dirhams … I got it for 250. I imagine I could have got it for 200 … but I couldn’t be bothered haggling more. 15. We did the trip to the Atlas Mountains and a Ourika valley. We booked through the hotel at about £28 for the day trip including lunch. Was very good value … and the town we had lunch in was fantastic to see. 16. Stopped at a traditional Berber House 🤔 = hard sell on Argan Oil products at a women’s cooperative. I didn’t barter because it was a women’s cooperative … but on reflection the prices were a complete rip off! 17. We didn’t do the Yves Saint Laurent garden … you need to pre-book. Sounds like it would have been great to see. Hope this proves useful to first time visitors to Marrakech.

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We bought a bit (!) at duty free. Mixers from shop.

I'm going on 26th for 3 nights - the bar recommendations are greatly appreciated!

Marrakech airport arrivals was a 3 hour nightmare for us in June 2024 so keep a bottle of water and some snacks handy.

Just come back from 4 nights

eating - le slimana - fantastic food. Be careful about getting ripped off if you eat in the big square

we went on a guided bike ride with Pikala- great way to see bits of the medina and wider marrakech, very relaxed pace and something different. The Pikala cafe is also good for lunch.

if you like gardens and want to escape the bustle, a visit to almina gardens about 30km outside the city is worth it. There is a free bus that leaves from near the Koutbia mosque at 2:30pm giving a couple of hours there (which is plenty)

we stayed in the medina but close to the outside - it’s safe to walk through the medina at night but you will need google maps to navigate

we got e sims that cost about £7 for 5GB

Hi @BTsrule, did you buy on arrival at the airport in Morocco? Cheers

Totally concur. It’s wonderful - and housed in a lovely riad

Same as us in November. Nearly 2.5 hours from landing to getting out of the airport most of that time was queuing for passport control

We went in mid-December, we sailed through customs and were out the airport 20 mins after landing so think it just depends on the time of day! We had drinks on the rooftop terrace at DarDar which was gorgeous and I went to the Hammam Targa for the prestige package which was an amazing experience! I’m already planning our next trip over, have a fab time !

We were there a few months ago. Definitely look up for the storks as you come past the old palace in the Kasbah. Take a guided tour of you want a bit of the local history and some orientation of the Medina. We did a great tour of the mountains and Orika valley (must have been the same one as the previous poster as did the hard sell at the argan oil co-op!) and had a fab lunch prepared by a Berber family.
Have a hamam and scrub. It was an 'experience' seeing my husband in his tiny paper pants!

We had great food in most places. We enjoyed jazz and cocktails at La Pergola, we enjoyed drinks and salads at the sky bar and also Kosy bar.

Bought on line through etravel sim- data only but worked fine

Just to add, if you are a cat lover there are a lot of strays. I found it really upsetting, and it’s actually putting me off going again. Tiny kittens just sitting in the middle of the path.

I took dreamies/cat biscuits with me to feed them but it never feels enough.