Overview to Marrakech: Travel Guide and Tourist Information
Marrakech – the mere mention of the place sends shivers of expectation down the spine of any self-respecting independent traveler. Set against its backdrop of the shimmering Atlas Mountains, there are few more romantic travel destinations.
In terms of recognized sights, however, Marrakech isn't as rich as Fes. The vast minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque is fabulous, while the El Badi Palace is a crumbling and atmospheric ruin that demands a visit. Across town, meanwhile, the remarkable Ben Youssef Medersa is a glorious riot of tiles and carvings.
But it’s the Medina, with its extensive souks, that’s the main draw. Marrakech is one great heaving mass of market. Impossibly colorful fabric stalls, glittering lamp shops and jewelers, rug and carpet vendors, apothecaries… The impact is dizzying.
There’s little point in detailing where the souks start and end – it’s impossible to avoid getting lost. The Berber market place (the Souk Zrabia) is full of spice vendors sitting amongst their colorful piles; elsewhere half-covered streets run endlessly off in every direction.
The great square of Djemaa el Fna is Marrakech’s pumping heart, from which the Souks spread out to the north like arteries. In the square itself, snakes writhe to the reedy whines of snake charmers, acrobats vie with story-tellers for attention, and market vendors noisily hawk their wares.
In terms of what to eat in Marrakech, while a delicious tagine and couscous in one of the many restaurants is hardly expensive, Djemaa el Fna is also perhaps the best (and cheapest) place to eat. What’s more, surrounded by the noisy performers, and with the smoke from the food stalls rising into the night sky, it’s an utterly unique dining experience.
Options for nightlife in Marrakech are a bit limited: alcohol is technically illegal in the Medina, and only the hotels of the New Town are allowed to sell it. However, such is the range of nighttime entertainments, that few will find themselves wanting a drink.
Marrakech is not necessarily the most relaxing city in which to spend a few days. But that’s the appeal of the place: a stay in the city is a full-on sensory assault, occasionally unsettling and unbelievably hectic. Which makes it, like Morocco itself, the very essence of travel.
