DAY 1: Medina Cultural Highlights

Spend the first day finding your bearings and getting used to the lively chaos of the city’s streets. You will find that the main attractions within the Medina (the old city) are all relatively close to each other.

El Badi Palace, the most understated, yet most spacious and peaceful of the cultural collection, is a ruined palace built for the Sultan of the Saadian dynasty in the late 1500s. The main feature of the palace is its huge courtyard with a large pool at the centre bordered symmetrically by four sunken gardens, each containing orange trees bent double from the weight of their fruit.

Bahia Palace is considerably more ornate, with its intricately designed Petit Riad and Grand Riad and of course its show stopper, the marble floored courtyard known as the Cour d’Honneur. Constructed towards the end of the 19th Century, the palace was designed to be the most impressive palace of all time.

The Saadian tombs are a relatively small complex in the centre of the Medina which are worth popping into. There are over 100 tombs, including those of the Sultan and his family dating back to the Saadian dynasty at the end of the 16th Century, each decorated with intricate mosaics.

In the evening head to Jemaa el Fna, the main square and hub of the city. The square is buzzing most of the day but really becomes alive at night when the food stalls open and locals and tourists alike come to soak up some evening atmosphere. You may want to keep your wits about you while wandering through the square as many of the street artists expect some form of interaction from you in return for your Moroccan Dirhams. There are a few snake charmers and monkey trainers dotted around and if you get too close you can end up with a monkey clambering onto your shoulders or even a snake wrapped around your neck and be expected to pay for the experience(!).

There are many restaurants on the perimeter of the square which are a great place to watch the eclectic carnival in the square below and the sun set over the city skyline. Try Cafe Toubkal for an authentic tagine in a low key alfresco environment looking out onto the square.

DAY 2: Marrakech SOUKS

Head to the main square of Jemaa Al Fna, where the famous Marrakech souks (markets) begin. The atmosphere of the souks is one of the main reasons to visit Marrakech. The souks are a clamour of vendors advertising their goods, tourists haggling, the chatter of groups winding their way through the throngs of people and the occasional donkey cart bringing in more trinkets to be sold. Deeper in the souk and it can really start to feel like a labyrinth.

Look out for Place Des Epices (the spice souk), a sunlight filled square in the middle of the souks. The square is full of spice vendors selling traditional Moroccan spices such as ras-el-hanout as well as some more mysterious stores selling herbal concoctions and snake skins. There are also a couple restaurants and cafes here to relax for lunch and break up the day – we had a bite to eat and smoothie at the trendy Café Des Épices.

Exploring the souks properly can take up most of the day, we found it really enjoyable just wandering around them and getting lost in the endless web of covered alleys crammed with all the traditional merchandise, sweets and spices and branded knock-offs you could ever dream of. If you are worried about getting lost, it is possible to hire a guide but a simple map of the souk should be enough, as the main alleyways do have signposted street names.

The souks are generally clustered by trade and this will become obvious if you explore them deep enough. There is a gold souk, leather souk, handicraft souk…you name it. One of our favourites was the extremely colourful textile souk (Souk Labbadine).

Have a break from the souks in the afternoon and relax at your Riad, before heading back into the throng to sample some of the souk’s culinary delights (or frights!).

We went on an evening tour with Marrakech Food Tours, where a small group of us were led around the souks to several different local food stalls by a very friendly and informative guide. This is probably the safest way to explore the local street food!

Definitely turn up to the tour with an empty stomach and an open mind – there are a lot of different courses on the walking menu, and whilst we sampled some delicious slow-cooked lamb, couscous and fresh bread (khobz), there were also snails and sheep’s head (eyeball and all) on the menu! Be ready to embrace the experience and give everything a try – most of it tasted surprisingly better than it looked! If you’re a fussy eater though this tour probably isn’t for you.

Overall, we had at least 8 courses including lamb, m’smen (sweet Moroccan flat bread), couscous with mint tea, snails, sardine burgers, fresh khobz (round Moroccan bread) and finished up with some sweet baklava and Moroccan sweets.

Day 3: Atlas Mountains

Book a day trip from Marrakech into the Atlas mountains, a lovely way of getting out of the buzzing city into the beautiful Moroccan countryside. We booked a full day tour from Marrakech to the four valleys of the Atlas mountains with Morocco Attractive Tours.

The tour company picked us up early from our Riad in a minivan and headed out of the city towards the Atlas mountains. The first stop was the Ourika Valley (valley 1). We watched some Berber women extracting Argan oil using traditional tools and methods, there was also some time to browse the cooperative’s stall which was overflowing with Argan oil based products. From here, we hiked to the Ourika falls (not to be confused with Ouzoud falls which are a popular day trip by themselves). The views of Ourika village lighting up in the morning sun were stunning.

The next part of the trip is a winding road which climbs higher into the Atlas mountains and towards the Oukaimeden Valley (valley 2), which offers further photo opportunities and great views. The next stop is a Berber village in Sidi Fares Valley (valley 3). Here we stopped at a traditional Berber house where a local family cooked us a delicious lunch of tagine and couscous, served outside on a terrace with panoramic views of the Atlas mountains and the Sidi Fares valley.

After lunch, we headed towards the Asni Valley (valley 4), which has beautiful views of Toubkal – the highest mountain in the Atlas range and in Northern Africa.

Depending on which day you take this tour, there are a number of different markets which you can visit. We went to the Asni market, but there is also a market in Ourika and in Tahanaout. These markets are great to experience, they are extremely local and many of the Berbers in the area depend on them for their livelihoods.

The final stop on the tour was Lake Takerkoust, a large lake at the base of the Atlas mountains, used to irrigate the crops in the Agafay desert and to provide drinking water to the people of Marrakech. We spent some time skimming stones on the lake in the evening sun before heading back towards Marrakech.

After a full on day, finish up with a delicious Moroccan feast at Cafe Zeitoun.

Day 4: Outside the Medina

Visit Le Jardin Majorelle, a 2.5 acre garden containing a myriad of plants from different continents that surrounds the deep blue cubist villa designed by Paul Sinoir, a regular feature on Instagram. The gardens were saved from being turned into a hotel by Yves Saint Lauren in 1980, who is said to have fallen in love with them when he first visited Marrakech.

In the afternoon, head further north to La Palmeraie where you can go quad biking in the desert and camel riding through the palm groves. We booked the half day quad and camel package with a tour operator near our riad – there are plenty of tours offering similar experiences. We had a great (albeit very dusty) time zipping through the desert in a conga of quad bikes.

After the quad biking we were ushered next door, where a very smiley chap dressed us up in some traditional blue Moroccan dress and popped us on a pair of camels. We were then led on a lovely sunset walk through the palm groves. The ride was the perfect length of time as it turns out camels are not the most comfortable mode of transport!

On your final evening, why not splash out on a traditional Moroccan Show? If the thought of five courses of Moroccan food is not temptation enough, then the traditional Moroccan entertainment should definitely convince you. We booked ours for New Years Eve at Dar Essalam, a traditional and extremely ornate Moroccan restaurant, not far from Jemaa el Fna.

Our dinner started off with a bang – a set of six different Moroccan dips accompanied some fluffy bread and a large lady belly dancing furiously whilst balancing a tray of candles of her head. This was then followed by a very energetic man playing Moroccan hand cymbals in a fez hat with an extra long tassel that he managed to keep swirling around his head the entire act. There were two tagine courses accompanied by more acts – a pair of loose hipped belly dancers and lady dancing with candles on her head. Finally, we were serenaded as we ate our dessert by an entire band of men playing traditional flutes, trumpets, hand cymbals, drums, tambourines and maracas.

It was a totally bizarre but throughly enjoyable experience – the steady flow of wine and good humour of the waiters meant the evening culminated in us all joining in with the dancing and seeing in the new year in style.

Day 5: Flight home

Fly home or continue on your Moroccan adventure.