SHOPPING: Survive the souks

You won’t go far wrong if you are as kind and polite as you would be in your home town. Nine out of ten Moroccans prefer having a laugh with their customers than being patronised or snarled at...

To get your shopping trip off to a good start, have a freshly squeezed orange juice from the stalls in Djemaa el Fna. Our advice is to ask the vendor to wring those citrus babies in front of you — otherwise you risk getting the watered-down version.

The first person to buy from a stall in the morning is considered lucky. If you are starting early morning, you may get a better price by being the first person at a stall. Well, maybe.

Start early to leave yourselves lots of time for rooftop unwinding later on. Saturday and Sunday evenings are rush hour in souksville — try to avoid.

Try not to look interested until you are. To haggle, decide how much you want to pay, try halving the price offered, then stop increasing when you feel it’s a good price. Alternatively, just name your price and don’t be afraid to walk away.

Rumour has it, shopping just after lunch is a good time as the stallholders tend to be a bit more drowsy. Although we’re not convinced by this one.

When you see exactly what you like, chances are you should buy it. since you might not find that stall again. If you feel you must check out the competition, make a careful mental note of where you are — amazingly enough, you may not see that exact item in the same colour or size, again.

It’s a reliable rule of thumb that the further away the stall is from the main square, the better the prices and quality tend to be.

Taxis after 20h are more expensive. Small cabs are metered — sit in the front seat so you can see the meter

Always have lots of small change on you — it may be hard to prise the correct change out of someone and it’s much less hassle.

When it comes to snacking in the night market, stalls 14 and 65 are great for meat.

At sunset, enjoy a mint tea on the first-floor terrace at Café Argana on the square and watch the Djemaa El Fna transform into a caffeinated night-time food market.

Photograph by Jethro Clunies-Ross