Marrakech: Our Experience in Morocco’s Top Destination

Marrakech is Morocco’s biggest tourist destination, and attracts millions of visitors each year with its history, architecture, traditional culture and, of course, delicious food!

However, over the years Marrakech has also gotten a reputation as being Morocco’s biggest scamming hub, a place where tourists are constantly hassled and followed around, and where some people even claim they didn’t feel safe leaving their hotels.

After reading a few of these stories we’ll admit we were a little apprehensive ourselves, but given we had been dying to go there for such a long time we packed our bags and were off.

This is how our time there went, what we loved and didn’t love as much, and how our experience compares to what you might have read on the internet.

Let’s get started!

Marrakech is amazingly chaotic

During our first morning in Marrakech we took a walk through the city’s medina.

We were immediately hit by the smell of spices and food mixed with the stench of engine exhaust and dirt, while the air was filled with the sound of prayers, vendors call out to passing tourists, people shouting at each other from across the street and the rumble of scooters speeding up and down the narrow alleyways. As we basked in the exotic atmosphere, we weaved through the slow moving crowd and discreetly checked out the heaps of items on display without attracting the attention of the shop owners.

All the while we were also busy constantly dodging vehicular murder at the hands (or wheels more like) of the onslaught of scooters, bicycles and donkey-pulled carts, all of whom did not really seem to care if the unassuming tourist in front of them was aware of their presence.

This was the one thing we had not read about, and even though we were careful and paid attention to our surroundings we came close to getting run over at least a few times on the first day alone.

It’s especially important to pay extra attention if you’re visiting Marrakech with kids, as the drivers zig-zag in between people from all directions, and sometimes appear literally out of nowhere.

Visiting the medina was definitely a hectic experience, but also incredibly fun and exciting. The area around Jemaa el-Fnaa Square is particularly intense since it is the most touristy part of the city, and it’s where you’ll find most of the action, the narrow souks and the most street shops. However, we can see how it’s not for everyone, so if instead you prefer a calmer vibe we recommend staying in the area around Rue Fatima Zahra, towards the right side of the Khoutoubia Mosque, where you’ll get to enjoy more reasonable prices, awesome street food, some shopping and a more authentic experience, all located only a short walk away from Jemaa el-Fnaa.

The city’s medina is a real labyrinth

We’re usually pretty good at memorising streets and finding our way around, but the medina of Marrakech left us completely stumped.

More often than not we would confidently walk towards our destination, only to find after a while that we had been going the complete opposite way. What seem like small distances on the map ended up taking much longer to cover, and the narrow streets twist, turn and all sort of resemble each other, making it extremely easy to get lost.

It also doesn’t help that locations are often slightly off from where they are indicated on the map, and that GPS accuracy tends to be pretty low, especially in the covered souks. and that constantly whipping out your phone in front of everyone to check the map is a surefire way to attract some unwanted attention.

After a while we managed to at least figure out the way between our riad and a few major landmarks, but we still had to regularly hop to a corner and figure out our location in the literal maze of streets!

There’s more to Marrakech than touring the medina

Once you’re done wandering the narrow streets of the medina and checking out a few of the tourists sights worth seeing, such as the Bahia Palace and the Madrasa Ben Youssef, you might want to explore the rest of the city.

Outside of the medina, Marrakech opens up to large streets lined with all sorts of shops, as well as local cafés and restaurants.

While there is less to see in terms of tourist sights, neighbourhoods such as the trendy Gueliz are still worth venturing into to enjoy the local vibes, catch a bite to eat or simply wander around the avenues. You’ll have to walk a while though, so you might want to take advantage of the city’s affordable public transport system. Alternatively you could also take a taxi, but be prepared to haggle hard on the price and to pay more than you might like.

Roads around Gueliz neighbourhood, also known as Ville Nouvelle (New Town).

Also keep in mind that crossing the street in Morocco is an experience of its own, since giving priority to pedestrians is a concept that doesn’t really exist.

If you’ve visited other countries in Africa, south-east Asia and South America you’ll be familiar with how it works, but if that isn’t the case, don’t worry, we’ll show you:

• Make sure you time your crossing and weave around the cars as they pass.

• Confidence is key: once you are committed to the crossing, never walk back, as that can confuse drivers and lead to accidents.

• If you’re struggling to cross the road in a particular situation, try to spot where most locals are doing so, and safely make it across together.

It can be a little intimidating at first, but if you’re careful and copy the locals you should get the hang of it in no time!

Marrakech is also the perfect hub to experience a huge variety of activities in the surrounding regions, such as visiting the Ourika Valley, the world-famous Ouzoud Waterfalls and even travelling all the way to the remote Agafay Desert.

Our favourite activity was definitely flying in a hot-air balloon at sunrise over the desert. On top of that, the starting point is located just thirty minutes away from the centre of Marrakech, and includes a pick-up and drop-off from your accommodation.

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Your experience with vendors can be completely different

Marrakech has a reputation for having extremely aggressive vendors that will go out of their way to shake down tourists.

This seems to be the most common worry for new visitors and we’re not going to lie, after everything we read online we were a little apprehensive ourselves!

That’s why we were very surprised when our experience turned out to be very different from what we had anticipated: Instead of constantly getting shouted at, pushed into shops and followed around like we had expected, the vast majority of vendors just seemed to ignore us.

The few that pitched their wares would stop after we lifted a hand to our heart and replied with a simple “merci” (thank you in French) or “shoukran” (thank you in Arabic).

That’s not to say that the reputation of vendors in Marrakech is completely overblown either. A lovely Scottish couple we met along the way received a very different treatment from ours; they were constantly called out, grabbed, inked with henna without their consent and overall hassled to no end. They still enjoyed themselves, but all of this definitely impacted their overall experience. Other tourists we saw along the streets of the medina were also receiving considerably more attention than we were.

We can’t say for sure why things went this way for us and not for others. It might have to do with the fact that we both have pretty strong Mediterranean features, which perhaps helped us blend in a little more with the local crowd.

Or perhaps it was the fact that we dressed a bit more low-key than many of the tourists in the medina, or maybe that we replied to vendors in either French or Arabic.

All of this to say that despite what you’ve read online, you’re not guaranteed to have the same experience as everyone else. Dressing modestly and knowing a couple of basic French and Arabic words can definitely help you pass under the radar and avoid attracting too much attention of the vendors, so that you can have a more fun and relaxing time while exploring Marrakech.

Avoid Jemaa el-Fnaa’s animal performers

While Jemaa el-Fnaa is without a doubt an extremely interesting location that showcases various facets of Moroccan culture, it is also home to one of the most egregious cases of animal abuse we have ever seen during our travels.

Every single day, street performers show up dragging chained Barbary macaques, sometimes dressed up in costumes, which are made to perform for the entertainment of tourists who then pay to interact with the monkeys and to take photos. While this in itself is cruel beyond belief, it’s made worse by the fact that Berber macaques are also endangered, with only small populations remaining in Morocco and Algeria.

Despite the fact that owning monkeys is illegal, the Moroccan government insists that these acts are part of their cultural heritage and that the owners have permits to own the macaques, reason for which this happens in full view of police officers who do nothing to stop the show.

There are also “snake charmers” who sit on mats and play a flute to seemingly hypnotise an unfortunate reptile, usually an Egyptian Cobra, again charging tourists a hefty fee to hold them and take pictures.

The poor snakes are usually drugged, starved or half-dead, otherwise how would you explain an extremely dangerous, 4.5 feet long cobra simply sitting there and not making any attempt to strike or get away? Some charmers apparently go as far as removing the fangs and venom glands from their snakes, or even brutally stitching their mouths shut to prevent them from biting.

In the end, cultural or not, the only reason these shows happen is because tourists continue to take an interest and actually pay to interact and take photos with the animals. That’s also why ignoring these people is the only way to get them to stop, so if you see any during your time in Marrakech be sure to keep your distance and please do not give them a cent!

The busy Jemaa el-Fnaa square, the city’s main hub and where you’ll find most animal performers.

Overall, we had an unforgettable time in Marrakech.

People were incredibly friendly, we enjoyed amazing food, and wandering through the city’s congested streets and the tiny alleys of the medina was an absolutely wild experience.

With that said, for some it might be an intense introduction to Morocco: The overcrowding, the pollution and and the heavy traffic can be a bit much, and the interactions with vendors can become overwhelming if they get their sights on you.

Also, while it is limited to one location and doesn’t reflect on the rest of Marrakech, we could also have done without witnessing blatant animal abuse every time we crossed Jemaa el-Fnaa. However, when everything is said and done we can’t wait to go back and experience more of what the city has to offer!

What about you, have you been to Marrakech, and what has your experience been like?

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