I have now scrolled through all the 1000 photos I took during the trip we did to Morocco last week, and it is impossible to just make one blogpost with the best photos. If you can say that a place is very photogenic, Marrakesh would fit perfectly as an example. There is so many beautiful colours surrounding you all the time, and it just make you want to take photos constantly. I mean 1000 photos in one week might be a bit exaggerated – I know.

So, I will make a few blogposts with the things that I think you should do and visit if you’re planning a trip to Marrakesh. We were staying in Marrakesh old town for 3 nights, out in the desert with the camels 1 night and in the new town of Marrakesh the last 3 nights. It was all in all a super cool trip, also because of the company I was travelling with, which was our 2 very good friends and working colleagues.

Staying in a Riad within the Medina

The Medina in Marrakesh is the old town that is surrounded by a 12 km long wall, where most of the tourists stay. Staying few days within the medina is a must, and I especially recommend staying in a Riad, which is a is a traditional Moroccan house or palace with an interior garden or courtyard. We stayed in a Riad called “Riad Mamma House”, and you can read more about this in the blogpost about the Riad here: https://www.ninasday.com/marrakesh-riad/ 

Getting lost in the Medina and Souks

This is not actually something “you have to plan”, since you will definitely do it anyways and automatically. The Medina of Marrakesh is filled with movement and you will probably get tired of it after a couple of days. Within the Medina you will find small streets (built like a labyrinth), packed with small local markets/shops, also known as Souks. To enter them and to negotiate the price of a product is already itself an experience. Another experience that I will never forget was diving into the madness of Jemaa el Fna (a food market square) at night, my god. You can read more about the marketplaces and the Medina here: https://www.ninasday.com/getting-lost-medina-souks-marrakesh/

Places worth visiting within the Medina

In addition to just randomly walking around in the “Medina labyrinth” there is actually plenty of unique places I recommend visiting a bit outside of the Souks, like the palaces. You can check them all out in this blogpost: https://www.ninasday.com/places-visit-medina-marrakesh/ 

Jardin Majorelle

All right, so this is probably one of the most known and instagrammed places in Marrakesh. Super beautiful on the pictures, and also in the reality, but be prepared, there is a looooot of tourists. Jardin Majorelle is a garden a bit outside of the old town, and I highly recommend you to go in the morning, before 10. Already at 10 there was around 1 hour of queue. It is though, a place that I highly recommend visiting, although it is packed with people. You can check out more pictures here: https://www.ninasday.com/jardin-majorelle/

Zagora desert trip

This is one of the absolute coolest things I´ve ever done, and if you need a break from the buzzing Medina – you should definitely do it if you visit Marrakesh. We did a 2 day, 1 night trip to Zagora desert with a company called “Marrakech Desert Trips” were we visited plenty of unique places on the way, and also were able to chill on Dromedaries (basically a camel but with just one bump instead of 2) on the way to our camp that was in the middle of a desert. Read more about this trip here: https://www.ninasday.com/zagora-desert-trip/

Stay outside of the Medina

Although the Medina is a very unique and nice place to visit, trust me, 2 days was more than enough for us. After the desert trip we stayed in a nice Hotel & Spa called “Grand Mogador Menara” in the new part of Marrakesh. As you can see on the photos, it is nothing like the old town or Medina, it was a nice contrast and I think it is worth doing if you want to see another part of the city.

Good restaurants

We visited several very good restaurants with local food during our stay. I think my favourite of them all was a restaurant within the Medina called Dar Essalam, but I also really liked Dar Marjana and Narwama. They all are restaurants with typical Moroccan food + show within the Medina. Slightly higher prices, but i still think that you get what you pay for.