Marrakech really is a cool city and is great fun to visit. There are lots of things to see and it doesn't cost a lot - if anything - to see them. Here are my tips for enjoying it to its full . . .…Read More

Marrakech really is a cool city and is great fun to visit. There are lots of things to see and it doesn't cost a lot - if anything - to see them. Here are my tips for enjoying it to its full . . .

===My Marrakech Top Three===

1. Jemaa El Fna is the main square and it is a bustling place to go. Enjoy all the traditional activities that take place including the evening markets, watch the entertainers and eat some traditional food.

2. The Souks are a great place to get lost and pick up a great souvenir of your visit. You can enjoy the different sections that include carpets, leather goods, wooden gifts and everything in between.

3. Visit one of the gardens. There are lots of green spaces in the city - a surprising amount really. We went to Jardin Majorelle which is nice but only worth a little bit of your time. There are lots of free gardens to wander around.

===Things to Bear in Mind===

The currency in Marrakech is Dirhams, but it is a closed currency which means that you can't get any before you go and you can't bring any out of the country. The exchange rate is fixed so it doesn't matter where you get it from. I'd recommend getting small amounts because you don't want to be left with any and you can't even spend it at the airport on your way home.

You'll have to pay for everything. When you go to the main square for example and take a picture of one of the entertainers, they will expect payment for it. It is something that you have to get on board with it because it will just ruin your experience if you get into an argument over a few pence - don't feel forced to pay a lot though.

===Tips to Enjoy Yourself===

Wear sun cream. It gets really hot and you tend not to notice when you are wandering round and are distracted by everything that is going on. Don't run the risk of getting sunburn.

Enjoy a cold drink on one of the rooftop bars at the square. It's a great place to watch the entertainment unfold below you without being in the thick of it. The views are great and you can get some good pictures of both the square and the Atlas mountains in the distance.

Get lost in the souks and don't be afraid of just wandering without any aims in mind. We just wandered and it was almost like seeing behind the scenes or Marrakech.

Learn a bit of French. That is the language that most people here speak and it is nice to be able to converse a little bit with the stall holders. They almost always speak good enough English to make a deal with you but it is nice to not feel on the back step.


Most of all you should just go with the flow because it is a great bustling city and you can have so much fun seeing things that you wouldn't see anywhere else in the world.   Close

One of the holiest sites In Morocco is definitely the small town of Moulay Idriss Zerhoun, only 12.000 persons large, on the foot of the around 1100m (3500ft) high Zerhoun mountain. The town is named after Moulay Idriss I, a direct descendant from the Prophet…Read More

One of the holiest sites In Morocco is definitely the small town of Moulay Idriss Zerhoun, only 12.000 persons large, on the foot of the around 1100m (3500ft) high Zerhoun mountain. The town is named after Moulay Idriss I, a direct descendant from the Prophet Muhammad. He fled to this region from present-day Syria when the Abbasid dynasty took power there in the 8th century. He founded this town as well as Fes and made much progress in Islamizing the local berber tribes, a process that started hesitantly a century earlier with Andalusian attempts. Idriss I made this town the capital of his empire, which was due to its military victories bigger than present-day Morocco. He beautified the town with buildings partly made of the stones from nearby Roman site Volubilis. Due to the fact that his son Idriss II moved the capital to Fes, the town of Moulay Idriss remained small during the coming centuries.
The town is located around 25km north of Meknes and 4km east of Volubilis, which receives much more visitors especially on tour buses. Local buses ply the route from Meknes to Moulay Idriss a few times a day or alternatively you can take an Ouezzane-bound bus north and have you dropped off on the main N13 road which only requires a 1km walk and allows you to appreciate the town from a distance. The whitewashed houses are beautifully situated on 2 opposing hills in the middle of the higher mountains of the Zerhoun range. In the valley between the 2 hills is the mausoleum of none less than Moulay Idriss I himself. The town’s main attraction cannot be visited by non-Muslims, something that was valid for the whole town until a century ago. Even recently, only Muslims were allowed to sleep in the town but luckily this has changed now. From the square in front of the mausoleum narrow roads and dead-end passages crawl uphill emulating a bigger town’s medina. You can wander around all by yourself or ask a local to show you around for a small fee. One passage lead to a good viewpoint, but also the hills around town provide full panoramas of the city. If you take the east road from the square, you can spot after about 1km the only cylindrical minaret in Morocco.
Every year, but not on a fixed date as it follows the Muslim calendar, a moussem or religious festival takes place on this site to honour Idriss I. According to local beliefs a six-time visit to this moussem equals the Mecca-bound haj pilgrimage, hence its nickname as a poor man’s Mecca for people without the necessary fundings to travel all the way to Saudi-Arabia. It remains a very religious and pious affair, so take this into account when visiting.
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Mix the grandeur of an ancient imperial city with the hustle and bustle of a sleepy provincial town and combine with a hilly region to make most history buffs jealous. This is the recipe for Meknes. Despite its central location, strategically between Fes (70km)…Read More

Mix the grandeur of an ancient imperial city with the hustle and bustle of a sleepy provincial town and combine with a hilly region to make most history buffs jealous. This is the recipe for Meknes. Despite its central location, strategically between Fes (70km) and Rabat (150km), the place is missed by most coastal day-trippers or by the one-week bottom-priced "tour Morocco" bus trips organized by several European and other tour operators that tend to bring you from one carpet shop to the next silver works. Only the Roman-era Volubilis nearby gets a fair share of them. If you do make it here, try to at least stay one night as the city gets something magical in the night lights.

Just like many other Moroccan towns, Meknes consists of a new town, dating mostly from last century, and a UNESCO World Heritage listed old town, with mostly older buildings. Unmistakably the centre of the old town is Place El-Hedim, a 0.5 ha rectangular square (around 1 acre). The local government is trying to transform the square in the evening in a Meknes version of the famous Jemaa El-Fna at Marrakesh, but so far the tiny attempts are not very successful. At one side of the square you can lose your way in the small streets of the ancient medina. It’s not as impressive as its counterpart in Marrakesh or as large as the one in Fes, but definitely the most quiet and relaxing of the three. Be prepared however for a small "donation" in case you lose your way and you have to ask the locals. The medina contains several beautiful historical buildings, like the green 11th century Great Mosque (off limits to non-Muslims), the wonderful 14th century Medersa (Islamic school) Bou Inania or the 19th century Dar Jamai Palace.

At the other side of El-Hedim is the massive 18th century town gate Bab El-Mansour, one of the greatest sites of the city. The blue-tiled gate changes colours throughout the day. Just behind the gate is the Dar Kebira quarter. It houses the beautiful mausoleum of Moulay Ismail, who made Meknes his capital and constructed several new buildings and quarters. He is sometimes viewed as the founder of the city, although there existed a city here already since long before him. Beyond the mausoleum, the road continues for about 1km between the Dar Kebira town walls and the walls of the non-visitable royal palace to a square with an entrance gate of the palace. Another km south of here you can visit the palace’s old granaries and horse stable (Dar el Ma).

There are a few sights close to Meknes. Most notably the ancient Roman sight of Volubilis, possibly the most visited place in the region, especially by Western tour groups. It’s located about 25km north of Meknes. This World Heritage site boosts one of the most interesting Roman sites of Africa. A few km away is the rarely visited village of Moulay Idriss, named after Idriss I, the founder of Fes, who has his mausoleum here. The picturesque town sits peacefully on two hills and only gets large gatherings of people during the yearly moussem (religious festival).
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Our hiking company paid for us to have a guide round Marrakech for half a day and for some of that time he took us around the souks. If you have a guide, one of the inevitable places you will visit will be a Moroccan…Read More

Our hiking company paid for us to have a guide round Marrakech for half a day and for some of that time he took us around the souks. If you have a guide, one of the inevitable places you will visit will be a Moroccan Pharmacy. Grin and bear it, enjoy the rest from the bustle of the streets and accept the cup of mint tea.

The one I visited was Epices Avenzoar, and it was upstairs away from the noise of the street. A massage was offered for 20 Dirham (about £1.50) but there wasn't a brave soul amongst us to take up the offer. I don't like being poked around by a stranger at the best of times so it certainly wasn't on the cards when there was another group of strangers on-looking.

While the white coat may be similar, the Moroccan version of the Pharmacy focuses upon local herbal remedies. Obviously alternative and herbal remedies have gained an almost respected foothold in Western minds these days, so the group of (invariably) middle aged and overweight punters puffing for breath in the hot Moroccan sun makes for easy pickings.

While I'm listening to the list of miracle cures for each of the products, I can't help but wonder whether the average Moroccan would rather rely on these products or the expensive western medicines I have access to if they had free choice and I can't help but suspect I know the answer. However, it is not for me to be completely cynical and I have little doubt that for minor ailments or for complementary relief that many of these products will have something in them even if I don't see Moroccan names crowding the list of the 100 longest lived humans.

The Argane nut again looms large for its healing oil and lotions, and fortunately for me they also sold some spices such as saffron and a mixed spice (Ras El Hanout) made from 35 different spices. The cook in me jumped at the chance of buying a couple of packets of these. Having purchased a couple of the cheapest items in the shop for a couple of quid I could relax; my part in the transaction was safely done.

As our man was describing the products on offer, a young assistant came round either sticking said product in our nose or dabbing some kind of oily concoction on our skin. I felt a little uncomfortable but the products certainly smelt fresh and rich. As to whether you open the carrier bag that your goodies are stored in when you get home is an entirely different matter, so you might as well enjoy them here.

To sum up, visiting the herbalist is probably a given if you have a tour guide so just relax and roll with it. To be honest, it is quite interesting an experience and that sit down and cup of tea is invaluable in the busy hot souk.
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Our travelling companions were hoping to find a good quality rug for their long thin hallway and so an afternoon in the Marrakech Souks beckoned. Happily our tour operator gave us the services of a guide for the afternoon, and while we could have found…Read More

Our travelling companions were hoping to find a good quality rug for their long thin hallway and so an afternoon in the Marrakech Souks beckoned. Happily our tour operator gave us the services of a guide for the afternoon, and while we could have found our way round quite easily, I have to say that his services meant we got the measure of the Souk much more quickly than we would have otherwise done. I appreciate that he might have gained a commission, but likewise he directed us to shops that sold good quality items and didn’t obviously rip us off.

The Marrakech Souks are a complete maze, but don't worry too much, eventually you will end up at one of the gates to the souk area or back in the main square. If you are stuck you can just ask a stall holder who will willingly point you in the right direction. The stalls are largely grouped into specific types; thus the stalls selling car tyres turned into various decorative items (mirrors and plant pots a speciality) tend to be in one place, the iron work sellers in another, the wooden bowl and animal stalls in another and so on.

We have visited Marrakech before and so first took a quick wander to the government shops where prices are fixed, just so we got an idea of the price to pay in the souk to make sure we weren’t being ripped off. Obviously the message is that if you think you got a bargain then it was the right price for you.

Only ask the price if you are serious about buying; else you could find yourself followed up the street by some eager seller.

Last time we visited Marrakech for a week my beloved was determined to find her way back to our hotel which was located on the direct opposite side from the main square Djemaa el Fna right through to the other side. At the back of the shops are some workshops making those metal and wood items that are so admired.

There are literally thousands of stores in the souk; some cater more to local tastes while others are aimed firmly at the tourist. The thing I liked the best are the huge metal lanterns; unfortunately I don't think easyJet would be too happy with them as hand luggage, and the cold and wet Yorkshire Moor weather would no doubt turn them to rust in a moment. Instead, I bought a well crafted wall sconce. I'm guessing I was ripped off as I had to buy the thing in a hurry 10 minutes before our airport taxi was due to arrive, but even so at £30 I was happy with the item, and would have paid more in the UK.

Another popular item is the silk scarves but look around before you buy as the quality of the silk is very variable as is the dying. You don't want to find yourself with a coloured neck in the rain. The better stalls have a little pot of water with which you can check colour fastness.

We also bought some cute little enamel handled teaspoons for a pound or so each; we like our expresso and tiny little sweet pots and these are ideal for both.

Also on offer are some fake items; those rather large headphones Dr Dre style were on offer for about £6 a pair. I'm not sure what the sound was like but they looked cool (well cool for those that don't remember similar items in the 1970s and how uncomfortable they are).

While you are gazing around at the treasures in the souk be aware of your surroundings. We didn't have anything taken from us on our travels but we don't wander around with our heads in the clouds. Likewise dreamers in the souk risk being run over by a scooter or hand cart.

A visit to the souk can be a little overwhelming but it is part of the soul and experience of Marrakech and one of its must do attractions.
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The Essaouira Fishing Port isn't exactly a tourist attraction, and we were rather anxious not to get in anyone's way as fisherman and traders marched backwards and forwards across the quay in the blistering sunshine. Even the cats are working hard not to miss any…Read More

The Essaouira Fishing Port isn't exactly a tourist attraction, and we were rather anxious not to get in anyone's way as fisherman and traders marched backwards and forwards across the quay in the blistering sunshine.

Even the cats are working hard not to miss any stray bit of small fish lobbed from a tray of catch by the men. It seems that Morocco folk appreciate the vermin catching ability of their cats and so don't begrudge them a small portion of the catch. While I love cats, the fish on the floor can make for a rather slippery moment underfoot, so as well as avoiding bumping into or disrupting the workers we also had to keep an eye out underfoot.

The workers don't particularly appreciate having their photographs taken as they are pulling in their nets and putting their catch onto the quay, so you need to make sure you are discrete. One good way to get some shots of the activities at the port is to visit the nearby historic fort for 10 Dirham (approximately $1). The fort walls overlook the fishing port meaning that you get something of a bird’s eye view.

One interesting part are the food stalls; we watched one busy cook barbeque fish after fish partly for sale immediately to passersby, and also I presume to local families and restaurants in the town. If you don't want to chance your arm at the local stalls (although food is prepared and cooked freshly and quickly), there is a restaurant at the port. We didn't dine there as my beloved was poorly, but I can't imagine a much more convenient location for fresh fish than here.

It is also worth taking a look at the tired old rusting ships that the fishermen put their faith into each and every day. Essaouira is quite a windy city and the Atlantic Ocean is not a kindly soul so rather them than me.

The fishing port area is just a small area which can be walked through in 5 minutes between Essaouira Harbour and the Seafront beloved of surfers and sun lovers.
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I guess that many travellers arrive in Marrakech for their journey to Essaouira. Our High Atlas hike was arranged by KE Adventure in the UK and was based around Marrakech. We fancied a few "chill" days after our hard work and they offered a 4…Read More

I guess that many travellers arrive in Marrakech for their journey to Essaouira. Our High Atlas hike was arranged by KE Adventure in the UK and was based around Marrakech. We fancied a few "chill" days after our hard work and they offered a 4 day extension trip to Essaouira for approximately £200 a person. Given that Morocco shouldn't be an expensive country, my personal challenge was to do it for cheaper. My beloved's additional challenge was to do the trip without hassle.

Checking on a travel booking website, the hotel the tour company used was £46 a night for a room so I booked a similarly priced Riad more to my liking, which meant I had approximately £260 to cover the two way journey from Marrakech to Essaouira. The distance between the two cities is approximately 110 miles or 170 km so it is a fair way to travel.

Unfortunately there are no trains between the two cities although the train company runs a rather handy "Western Style" coach/bus between the two places, which takes about 4 hours with a stop in the middle. This costs approximately £6 ($10) a person each way, and so is a very reasonable way to go. Or, it would be "reasonable" if you had a partner willing to take the coach. One little issue is that ideally you should book your tickets in advance and as the web site wasn't being very user friendly, that would have meant visiting the train station the afternoon before to get the tickets. OK, even I am a bit too old to spend my time messing around organising things.

So, it had to be a taxi and I searched in vain for a reasonably priced taxi firm on the internet to be booked from the UK. Unfortunately the prices that were coming up on the internet were in excess of £90 each way meaning that I hardly beat the tour operators price overall. Tip to some enterprising soul: collate a network of local, cheap and good taxi firms across the world add a 10% premium to the prices, set up a website and you will be clover.

Instead, I contacted the Riad we had booked in Essaouira and arranged two taxi trips with them. Price 65 Euros each way (or approximately £110 in total). Bingo, that meant I had saved £150 on the tour company price and booked something with similar door to door luxury; the result was that both my beloved and my wallet were happy bunnies.

Our trip went very smoothly and I looked out of the window in anticipation as the guide books I had read advised that you could ask the guide to stop for photo opportunities enroute between the two cities. First, the sprawl of Marrakech seemed to go on for miles, with a lot of half finished new apartments, and space being converted to luxury golf hotels miles from the city centre.

After that, we spotted a lot of very arid and poor farmland and then plantations of argon trees, before reaching another town with another load of those unfinished housing apartments. Perhaps we had been spoiled by the High Atlas but my finger didn't twitch once over the camera on/off switch.

After a stop at a roadside cafe for a glass of refreshing Tango Orange, we drove on and just at the point where the taxi couldn't stop we suddenly spotted something worth taking a photo of; a herd of goats atop an Argon tree eating shoots and buds! On our way back, we hoped to see more of these nimble goats, but it wasn't to be.

If you book a hotel in the Medina area of either Marrakech or Essaouira then be prepared for a final twist to your journey; your taxi driver will arrange for a porter and trailer to deliver your baggage to your hotel door. Believe you me in that heat and busy conditions it is well worth paying 10-20 Dirham (£1.50 maximum) for your porter to both carry your heavy luggage and to take you through the maze of streets to the front door of your Riad.
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Although Essaouira is quite a large Moroccan city of 70,000, the tourist part of town is really quite small and divided broadly into "Beach" and "Medina". We are fortunate in that in Morocco the French colonists tended to build their modern part of the city…Read More

Although Essaouira is quite a large Moroccan city of 70,000, the tourist part of town is really quite small and divided broadly into "Beach" and "Medina". We are fortunate in that in Morocco the French colonists tended to build their modern part of the city alongside the traditional medina and Kasbah parts, and many Moroccan cities now have both.

I will cover the Medina elsewhere, but I have to say while the surfing is obviously an attraction in this windy Atlantic Coastal city the beach part of town is fairly nondescript. I particularly didn't like the unfinished look to the place with lumps of concrete sticking out on an abandoned strip of land between the beach, road and strip of restaurants. While there are some lively looking places to eat and drink, again it is a pretty undistinguished selection and the local Muslim sensibilities means that the town doesn't feel like it has a particularly stunning night life.

Between the Medina and the Beach is the sea port and fort area which looks out to a rockier aspect and a couple of islands just off shore. The fishing area is a bustling place in particular, and while the place smelt of badly rotted fish (the strong sun doesn't do the catch any favours), it is a fascinating place to have a wander and watch the fishing boats and fish chefs at work (there are some open air booths where locals buy cooked fish). Obviously, the trick is to not get in the way of these busy hard working folks.

From a distance the boats looked pretty, but as we got closer we could see that many of them were coming to the end of their useful life, and I appreciated what a risk these fisherman were taking going out into the rather boisterous and windy waters of the Atlantic. It was nice to see that despite their apparently hard life the fishermen had time to toss the local cats a fish or two from their catch.

While we didn't spend too much time wandering down the beach, we did appreciate it was a long and wide stretch with plenty of sporty activities such as wind surfing, camel and quad bike riding and beach volleyball. There were also a full share of "surfer bums" wandering along the beach with skin like elephant hide, necks like tree trunks and hair of straw with grey highlights; many of them looked like they had been in town a couple of seasons too long. Still if you need an experienced hand to help teach you surfing then I don't doubt it is available.

Although we found the narrow streets of the Medina much more to our liking, it was worth taking a different aspect (and a less hindered breeze off the sea) by strolling down to the beach area, and in particular taking time out to explore the fishing port.
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One of the products fairly unique to Morocco is the production of Argon Oil. This is the oil of a nut that is reputed to have healing and health preserving powers. Why is it that every country seems to have such a product that its…Read More

One of the products fairly unique to Morocco is the production of Argon Oil. This is the oil of a nut that is reputed to have healing and health preserving powers. Why is it that every country seems to have such a product that its residents swear upon and yet is barely heard of in the West?

Whether you choose to believe the claims that a few drops can stop cancer, reduce wrinkles and generally make you live a full and happy life is up to you, but if you spend any time in Morocco then you will see the products of the Argan Oil before too long.

We were invited to stop at a women’s cooperative in the scrub land a little way out of Marrakech and starved of any shopping opportunity beyond bottles of water and fanta for 6 days, we all jumped at the opportunity. To be honest, the Argan is a good tree with deep roots which helps reduce the relentless spread of desert land, and I really don't mind spending a few dirham helping to support a poor local community (and to give our helpful guide a cut too). If you get out into the countryside outside Marrakech, you may even spot goats climbing the tree (they are more like large bushes) in search of Argan nuts to eat.

I'm sure the process is the same in the countless number of Argon Oil producers and show rooms up and down the south of Morocco. The building is a quite attractive traditional ryad with central open courtyard and attractive plants, pottery and tiling. Inside, a line of women demonstrate the cultivation and harvesting of the nut; using a traditional stone grinder to extract the paste from which the oil is produced. Of course, much of the Argan Oil is now extracted under factory conditions although that is less attractive to display, and you will soon spot the women stopping their "grinding" once you have passed the "show".

The oil is processed into a mind numbing number of products, from moisturisers, lip balms (actually really good for sorting out our dried lips after 6 days in the sun), lip sticks, fragrant oils and the like. Then there is the food stuffs including cooking oil (where only a drop or 3 should be added to cooking or salads for flavouring) and in a peanut butter type substance. Our travelling companion happened to pick up a bottle of this stuff and found the lid to be loose; her husband was wearing Argan butter on his shorts for the remainder of the trip.

If you buy your goods from the showroom then prices aren't particularly cheap; our small little plastic bottle of oil cost around £7, the perfume oil around £10 and so on. However, in UK terms they don't exactly break the bank and you are getting a good quality product (whereas in Marrakech market who knows?). As I said, in any case I don't mind spreading a little wealth in the rural community; it looks to me like life there is tough enough.

Whether the claims of a long and healthy life are true (and some studies do suggest a health benefit) or not, we enjoyed the look around the production and shop and didn't begrudge spending a few pounds on some unusual nic nacks to take home.
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One of the things I have been asked most is about the food during our hike. I have to say that Breem our chef for our Mount Toubkal tour is a king amongst cooks and that we ate very well indeed. Breakfast was the only…Read More

One of the things I have been asked most is about the food during our hike. I have to say that Breem our chef for our Mount Toubkal tour is a king amongst cooks and that we ate very well indeed.

Breakfast was the only disappointment; Breem tried plying us with porridge but it had all the consistency and taste of wallpaper paste, so even he gave up making it after a couple of days. Apart from that it was mint tea, tea or coffee and bread with jam, smiling cow processed cheese and some uninviting looking bran flakes. I was quite happy with a bit of cheese or jam on bread until the bread got too stale up the mountain.

The procedure was that while we prepared for our walk, Breem and the porters started to dismantle the campsite and pack all of the kit and our belongings onto donkeys. We usually met up with our donkeys and porters again as they passed us by during the hike. Obviously, as folks used to the altitude and the hard climbs they could get across the mountain in less than half the time we could.

Each lunch time, Breem and the porters stopped and prepared the meal for our arrival. Each day’s lunch was a huge salad served in a large communal bowl and served with tinned fish and bread. Unfortunately, the bread got more stale as the trip went on, but Breem managed to revive it by toasting it after a couple of days and towards the end of our trip he made some excellent fresh and tasty flat bread for us.

The salad comprised of fresh onion, peppers, tomatoes, carrots and perhaps boiled potato, beetroot along with two kinds of yummy olives and either pasta or a spice flavoured rice. After lunch was a piece of fruit; usually a banana, orange or apple, and all served with mint tea.

Mohammed also had a snack or two up his sleeve, and would offer us dates or a mix of nuts and things that we called dog biscuits. While they didn't look anything special they were certainly tasty, and kept our coasts shiny and our noses wet.

By the time we had finished our hike Breem was well on the way to preparing the evening meal in his special cooking tent. Moroccan food is pretty standard fare although it is very healthy. Our main meal comprised of cooked carrot, courgette and aubergine either as a tagine or with couscous. The food is only very lightly flavoured with herbs or spices meaning that although the food was good, it wasn't the most exciting.

Early on during our walk we had lamb (and Moroccan lamb is really tasty as I guess it is slow grown in the hard conditions), and at the end of our hike Chicken, but meat was really only a minor part of the meal.

Before we ate our main meal we had a vegetable soup served with little shreds of noodles. I'm guessing our soup came preprepared but it was very tasty and filling. Again at the end of the meal we were offered a piece of fruit to finish. A final ritual was to have a glass of herb tea, or "sleepy tea" as Mohammed described it.

Overall, we had a healthy and fairly varied diet up the mountain and no one came down with Morocco's Revenge during the trip.
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