For more information and to book please visit www.mrandmrssmith.com or let us arrange your whole trip, by calling +44 (0)20 8987 4312 or from the USA dial 1 866 610 3867.
Marrakech
Morocco
- Cityscape
- Minarets and mountains
- City life
- Mint tea, mules, medina mayhem
Berber, Arabic and Moorish culture, oriental spices, desert landscapes, glamorous hideaways... all with a French accent.
Marrakech is a city unlike any other: nowhere is exoticism better showcased than in this ochre-and-rose-hued North African hive of activity. Indulge in a hammam at your tile-and-tadelakt riad before bartering for treasures in the kaleidoscopic souks, then snack on pigeon pie from a stall in the grand place, amid snake charmers and belly-dancers. To escape the hurly burly of the medina, sup on tajine and couscous in a chic cushion-filled restaurant in the Kasbah, or sip Cristal by candlelight in a hip muslin-draped, after-hours hang-out in the new town of Guéliz. And more adventures await, with the Atlas Mountains, Sahara Desert and coastal town of Essaouira all but a drive away.
Pictured: Jnane Tamsna
Our round-up of the hippest hideaways and boutique hotels in Marrakech
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Planes, trains, automobiles, or maybe even helicopter – we tell you the best way to go.
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Highlights the best Marrakech has to offer, from art and culture to fun-packed activities; we've even found the most inspiring place to enjoy the views from.
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We've tracked down the best cafés for people-watching, the bars with the coolest cocktails, the most accomplished restaurants and the liveliest local nightlife in Marrakech. All you have to do is make sure you've packed your favourite threads…
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We can't guarantee you won't get lost in the souk, but our interactive map of Marrakech will at least help you locate your Smith hotel.
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Local knowledge
- Taxis
- Small cabs (or 'petits taxis') take up to three passengers and stay within the city limits. They are metered; sit in the front seat so you can keep your eyes on the ticker, or make sure you agree a price before setting off. Big cabs ('grands taxis') take up to six people. It's always best to establish a price for your journey regardless of the government's attempts to enforce standard rates. Always have small change on you: it may be hard to get the correct change without hassle. Taxis tend to be pricier after 20h.
- Tipping culture
- In eateries, leave around 10 per cent tip; sling porters and anyone who helps you out along the way maybe five or 10 dirhams. Taxis tend to overcharge, so don’t feel you need to add extra.
- Siesta and Fiesta
- Lunchtimes are slow, with many shops closing between 12h and 15h. Friday is a holy day, and consequently some places do not open, particularly in the afternoons. In Guéliz, timings are more along European lines, with shops closing on Sundays.
- Packing tips
- Leave space in your suitcase for new purchases; take bubble-wrap for fragile trinkets; a French phrasebook; and warm clothes for the evenings, especially in winter, when the temperature can dip surpsisingly low.
- Recommended reads
- Hideous Kinky by Esther Freud; A Year in Marrakesh by Peter Mayne; The Spider's House and The Sheltering Sky, both by Paul Bowles.
- Cuisine
- Mint tea, tajines, couscous, and pastillas – pigeon pies laced with icing sugar and almond – are the ubiquitous dishes here; you'll either love or hate the sweet/savoury combination of spices and fruits, but you should definitely try them at least once. Other fare on offer includes French fusion dishes, often featuring seafood, and the simple but tasty grilled skewered meat, fish and vegetables on offer at stalls all over the Djemaa el Fna square (aka the 'grand place').
- Currency
- Moroccan Dirham (Dh); there are around 16Dhs to £1; euros are also accepted in many places, although you will get a poor cash equivalent of €1 to 10Dhs.
- Dialing codes
- Country code for Morocco: +212. Marrakech: (0)24.
- Do go/don't go
- It’s great to get your Christmas shopping done here, and New Year is fun, but this is prime time, so it's busy, with prices pushed up accordingly. July and August are unbearably sweltering, while spring and autumn are delightfully balmy – October/November and February are wonderful times to visit. Things can be slow during Ramadan, when Muslims fast during daylight hours.
Wander the labyrinthine souks – not just to barter for a rainbow of treasures, but to soak up the sights, sounds and smells of the medina, and to spy all the different craftsmen at work. But it’s not a shopping terrain for the faint-hearted: prepare to haggle your heart out. Good buys include leather bags and slippers, pierced metalwork and spices.
We've tracked down the best cafés for people-watching, the bars with the coolest cocktails, the most accomplished restaurants and the liveliest local nightlife in Marrakech. All you have to do is make sure you've packed your favourite threads…
Cafés
Jardin Majorelle café
Inside the Yves Saint Laurent-owned Majorelle plot is a chic little Bougainvillea-curtained garden café with sage-green Parisian-style metal chairs. Try Thé Vert 1001 (green tea with rose petals) or an Infusion Parfum de Sultan (rooibos with orange zest). You’ll have to pay the entrance fee to gain access, but if you go around midday, you’ll probably get the gardens to yourself and can nab a table for lunch afterwards. Alternatively, have breakfast before you tour the plants.
Jardin Majorelle, off Yakoub el Mansour, Guéliz, Marrakech
(+212 (0)24 301852)
Le Grand Café de la Poste
This Parisian-style bistro is popular with Marrakchi businessmen and European expats, and is a handy stop-off if you're shopping in Guéliz. Have a citron pressé, or a café au lait, and muse over how much the old outskirts of Marrakech have changed since the café's 1920s sorting-office heyday.
Corner of Boulevard El Mansour Eddahbi and Avenue Imam Malik, Guéliz, Marrakech
(+212 (0)24 433038)
Restaurants
Le Foundouk
Guided by men in cloaks and a lantern, down a dusty alley, you'll find this chic purple-hued dining den: a riad eaterie with a cosmopolitan feel, good cocktails and tasty Moroccan/Mediterranean fusion food. Try the grise wine, a very light Moroccan rosé, with Harira soup and seafood, or grilled sardines and tagines with a robust bottle of something red. Nab one of the highly sought-after tables on the first floor overlooking the giant wrought-iron candelabra, and it feels a little like you’re sitting in an art installation. If you’re in a group, swap the super-comfy leather tub chairs for one of the banquette-style cubbies – great for people-watching. Closed Mondays.
55 Souk Hal Fassi, Kat Bennahïd, Medina, Marrakech
(+212 (0)24 378190)
Villa Rosa
The latest addition to Marrakech’s hip dining scene has live DJs, a fashionable Hôtel Costes vibe, Parisian decor with plenty of red velvet and dark corners, and a European menu. Get one of the tables for two facing the terrace through the French windows, or in the library for a more intimate evening. Open till 02h.
64 Avenue Hassan II, Guéliz, Marrakech
(+212 (0)24 449635)
Le Comptoir
This place is well-known among Marrakech’s in-crowd. With less-than-demure belly-dancers and skilled musicians, it has a fantastic energy, making it a great place in which to eat trad Moroccan or international options with a group of friends. (The bar is fun for a pre-dinner drink, even if you are not dining there.)
37 Avenue Echouhada, Hivernage, Marrakech
(+212 (0)24 437702)
Le Tobsil
This traditional restaurant is one of the best-known for multi-course Maroc cuisine, so there are lots of tour-group types and, unless you have an enormous appetite, the set menu works out as a bit of an extravagance. Prices include wine and aperitifs, and performances by traditional gnaoua groups.
22 Derb Moulay Abdellah Ben Hessaien, Bab Ksour, Medina
(+212 (0)24 444052)
Dar Moha
Another trad-Maroc option opposite the walls of Dar el Bacha, set in what was formerly the house of Pierre Balmain. Good, delicately aromatic Franco-Moroccan cuisine: alongside well-balanced tagines and pastillas, there are fusion dishes such as baked scallops and saffron sorbet. Try to get a table in the walled garden by the pool; reservations essential.
81 rue Dar el Bacha, Medina, Marrakech
(+212 (0)24 386400)
Kosy Bar
Set on the palm-lined Place des Ferblantiers, this trendy sushi and Maroc-Asian fusion restaurant and bar near the Mellah district is spread across three floors. Whether you’re in the mood to lunch on pasta and salad or feel like picking at Japanese for dinner, if it’s balmy, definitely get a ringside spot on the roof terrace overlooking the square. The cigar/piano bar on the ground floor can be a romantic setting at night, and is usually rocking a jazzy soundtrack.
47 Place des Ferblantiers, Kzadria, Marrakesh
(+212 (0)24 380324)
Dar Yacout
Fine Moroccan dining at a splendidly grand restaurant that is part of the Marrakchi night scene and has entertained the King of Spain and Will Smith; this place is all about the architectural wow factor. The set tasting menu costs €70 a head, including drinks.
79 rue Sidi Ahmed Soussi, Arset Ihiri, Medina, Marrakech
(+212 (0)24 382929)
La Maison Arabe
Originally a restaurant dating back to the 1940s, and now a hotel, this is still a quiet, grown-up spot for lunch: excellent stock-drenched couscous, tender tagines, fresh juices and fantastic coffee. Get a table in the courtyard or in the little ante-room.
1 Derb Assehbe, Bab Doukkala, Medina, Marrakech
(+212 (0)24 387010)
Dar Zellij
Up in the Sidi Ben Slimane quarter, this small, intimate, relaxed Moroccan restaurant is set in a 17th-century riad. Set menus consist of salads, briouats, pigeon or fish pastilla, chicken, lamb or vegetable tagine, then desserts and mint tea with traditional sweets. It’s also open for Moroccan brunch from 10.30h–15h (www.darzellij.com).
1 Kssour Sidi Ben Slimane, Medina, Marrakech
(+212 (0)24 382627)
Dar Marjana
Fun, long-established Moroccan restaurant built around a plane tree in the centre of a courtyard more than 25 years ago and still run by the same family. No reservations? No chance – book well in advance or see if your concierge can wangle one for you. Wave after wave of Moroccan food, a great atmosphere and traditional belly-shaking, foot-stamping gnaoua entertainment. Although increasingly a tourist hangout, locals still have a soft spot for Dar Marjana.
15 Derb Sidi Ali Tair, Bab Doukkala, Medina, Marrakech
(+212 (0)24 385110)
Lolo Quoi
If you’ve tired of tagines and can’t face couscous anymore, you can get oven-fired pizzas and pastas in this modern lounge bar cum restaurant.
82 Avenue Hassan II, Guéliz, Marrakech
(+212 (0)72 569864)
El Fassia
Rather uniquely for Marrakech, this traditional Moroccan restaurant is run entirely by women, and serves up spot-on tagines and fluffy couscous.
232 Avenue Mohammed V, Marrakech
(+212 (0)24 434060)
La Tanjia
This stylish brasserie on Derb J’did in the medina has excellent tagines, couscous and fish dishes. The rooftop terrace is a great place to relax at sunset with views over the ancient alleyways.
(+212 (0)24 38 38 36)
Bars and clubs
Bô Zin
Mojitos, delicious Thai and French fusion food, leather banquettes, cala lilies, moody lighting and minimalist fireplaces – you could almost be in New York. Almost. The elegant, slightly could-be-anywhere decor is the natural result of an aesthetic born in Marrakech, farmed out to stylists in London and LA, and flown back.
Douar Lahna, Route de l’Ourika, Marrakech
(+212 (0)24 388012)
Pacha Marrakech
Go for lunch and lounge by the pool, or for dinner at one of the two restaurants (pierced-lantern lit Jana for Moroccan food; deco-fabulous Crystal for international fusion), followed by drinks and dancing at the club (www.pachamarrakech.com).
Nouvelle Zone Hôtelière de l’Aguedal, Boulevard Mohamed VI ex Avenue de France, Marrakech
(+212 (0)24 388400)
