Marrakech is a busy city and great for tourists, it is safe and there are a lot of things to see.
As we entered Marrakech the first day we came across a very busy intersection with no traffic light/control and it’s everyone for themselves, amazing how it works out but I would not want to be the driver. In the streets, there are cars, taxis, motorcycles (lots and lots of motorcycles), horse carriages, donkeys, and pedestrians. Lots of beeping, honking and yelling.
Most of the Medina is not car accessible. Depending on where to stay make sure to check what is the closest car drop location. We stayed at Riad Dar Essalam and it is in a great location less than 10 mins walk to Jemaa el-Fna square in one direction and less than 10 mins walk to Badi Palace in the other direction. We were able to visit all of the attractions by walking.
Jemaa el-Fna
At night it’s a giant night market with food stalls setup in the main square. They are aggressive in trying to get you to eat at their stand. We’ve learned the trick to say “we just ate” even though we are still exploring, and they will leave you alone and say “maybe next time”. But if you don’t, they will try very hard to get your business, including one person was making a guarantee of “no diarrhea for 2 years”.
Medina
Walking around the medina there are all kinds of shops, some streets are pretty, some not. There are lots of cats everywhere and the occasional sheep and donkey.
Saadian Tombs
One of the main room is the Chamber of the 12 Pillars, it can only be viewed from one viewing door and the line can get long, so plan to view this first. When we got there, the line was about 10 person long but as we were leaving, we noticed the line is all the way around the corner.
Tickets are 70 DH per person, we spent about 1 hour here.
Badi Palace
Badi Palace is just around the corner from Saadian Tombs. Entrance fee is also 70 DH per person. We spent about an hour and a half here. It’s a beautiful palace ruin to visit and walk around. There is an underground section of the palace. During our visit it was White Storks season, there were storks all around the palace walls.
Bahai Palace
Bahai Palace is close by to Badi Palace. Still not sure what happened but the first day we tried to visit right after Badi Palace, either we missed the entrance or it really was closed between 1-2pm. We could not find the entrance and some locals told us it’s closed till 2pm, so we left. Came back to visit on another day. Ticket was 70DH per person, we spend about an hour and a half here.
Le Jardin Secret
A beautiful secret garden in the middle of Marrakech Medina to escape to. Entrance is 80DH for adult, 60 for children. There is extra to go up to the Tower which we did not do. We spent about 1 hour at the garden.
Ibn Youssef School
A former Islamic college with impressive architecture detail. A must visit in Marrakech. Entrance is 50DH per person, we spent about 1 hour here.
Jardin Majorelle – Yves Saint Laurent Mansion
We had originally planned to visit Jardin Majorelle – Yves Saint Laurent Mansion and I read about the long lines online but I was not expecting the LONGLONGLONG lines, there’s one line to buy ticket and another line to get in and the lines were barely moving so after almost 1 hour we decided to give up and instead go to Bahai Palace. If you plan to go buy tickets online before going.
Jardin Majorelle is a little bit away from the Medina. Our hotel said if we take a taxi it should be no more then 70DH for the 4 of us from the hotel. Or we can walk there and it takes about 30-40 mins walking. We choose to walk it was mostly through the medina only the last few blocks were outside.
Hammam – Isis Spa
We wanted to try the Moroccan Hammam. Before our visit I did some research online and read about Isis Spa that offer family Hammam that may be less awkward for teenagers. First day in Marrakech we stopped by Isis spa to ask about the options. Jayden was not interested in the hammam, so we ended up making an appointment for just Abbie and me for the last day. We did the Hammam + exfoliation with black soap + body mask with ghassoul + ½ hour oriental relaxing massage for 1 hour and 15 mins.
Pictures of before and after the hammam
Here’s how it worked, we arrived at out appointment time and were given a locker with robes/sandals to change into (only keeping underwear on, everything else is put in the locker). So remember to bring an extra pair of underwear to change into once done.
Once changed we were taken to the 3rd floor steam room. The steam room was hot and Abbie was not used to the hot steam room and wished she brought some water with her. It was a steam room just for us with benches on both sides to lay down. The ladies asked us to lie down on the benches which were warm and comfortable. She took a bucket of water to dumped water over our bodies then put on black soap front and back. She then left the room and we were to relax for 10 mins to let the black soap be absorbed. After 10 minutes she came back and used buckets of water to clean the soap off then used the scrub to scrub our body front and back, you can actually see the dead skins coming off. It’s then rinse again and we were asked to sit up and she washed our hair.
For the ghassoul mask, she asked us to lie down again and put the ghassoul (looked like muddy water) all over our body and left the room again for 10-15 minutes. After 10-15 minutes she came back to give us a good rinse. Then we were asked to put on the rope and were taken downstairs to the massage room. After half hour very relaxing massage we were taken to another room that has super comfortable lounge chairs and were given Moroccan tea to relax till we’re ready to leave. Overall, we both enjoyed the experience.
Grilled Lamb
While the ladies went to the hammam, the boys went to eat grilled lamb at Chez Lamine Hadj Mustapha. The first time we went by they were sold out of the grilled lamb so they decided to go back again on the last day. The owner said they open at 12 noon and the grilled lamb is usually sold out by around 5pm.
According to Chiming he wasn’t too impressed with the grilled lamb said it was a bit too greasy.
Carrefour market
After dropping off Jayden back at the riad, Chiming ventured out to carrefour market by himself, it was a little far about 30 mins walk. He found some local beer, some juice, fig jam, honey and Aragan oil. Also bought some fresh fruits pomegranate and oranges that were really good.
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