City guide · Morocco
Our complete guide to Marrakech organised by stage: palaces and gardens, the historic medina, souks and panoramas, to savour at your own pace.
Marrakech reveals itself on foot, between silent palaces and lively lanes.
Between secret gardens, palaces adorned with a thousand zelliges and terraces overlooking the medina, the red city unfolds in three chapters: the great monuments of the south, the ramparts and Quranic schools of the historic heart, and the souks leading to Jemaa el-Fna square. The distances are easily walkable, with a pause in the shade of a riad or garden between each.
Palais Bahia · Jardin Majorelle · Jardin Secret
Imperial and botanical Marrakech: royal apartments, artists' gardens and the Saadian necropolis, to arrange however the day's energy allows.
A 19th-century masterpiece
Built in the late 19th century for the grand vizier Si Moussa, Bahia Palace unfolds its orange-tree-planted courtyards and its rooms covered in zellige tilework and painted ceilings. The visit is unhurried, moving between the apartments once reserved for the favourite wives and the inner gardens.
Majorelle blue
Majorelle Garden, planted by the painter Jacques Majorelle and later restored by Yves Saint Laurent, combines bamboo, cacti and pools around his cobalt-blue villa. The site also houses the Berber Museum and the YSL Museum, with a stop possible at the Majorelle Restaurant.
Botanical and Islamic
Tucked away in the heart of the medina, Le Jardin Secret recreates two historic gardens — one exotic, the other Islamic — organised around traditional irrigation systems. A green pause just steps from the souks.
Royal necropolis
Bab Agnaou gate, one of the nine historic gates of the medina, opens onto the Kasbah district where the Saadian Tombs lie — rediscovered in 1917 and adorned with Carrara marble and finely carved zellige tilework.
Majestic ruins
Built in the 16th century by the Saadian sultan Ahmad al-Mansur, El Badi Palace is now little more than a vast complex of ruins and rammed-earth courtyards, but its scale still impresses — and storks have made the ramparts their home.
Hammam
Between visits, a stop at a traditional hammam or riad spa makes for a well-deserved break — black soap scrub and steam, in the hushed atmosphere typical of the city.
« The imperial city reveals itself palace after palace, garden after garden. »
Demi-journée · Cœur de la vieille ville
Quranic schools, mosques and riad museums, through lanes where craftsmanship sits alongside the city's religious history.
A former Quranic school
The largest Quranic school in the Maghreb unfolds a central courtyard of rare refinement: carved stucco, geometric zellige tilework and student cells arranged over two levels around an ablution pool.
The city's symbol
Visible from almost every point in the medina, the 77-metre Koutoubia minaret serves as an unmissable landmark. The inside of the mosque remains reserved for worshippers, but its surroundings and gardens are well worth a visit.
An exceptional riad
This former riad of Pasha Thami El Glaoui now houses a museum devoted to dialogue between cultures, set within sumptuously restored Moroccan architecture, patios and fountains included.
« Every lane of the medina hides a secret courtyard. »
Jemaa el-Fna · Souks de la médina
The buzz of the legendary square, artisan stalls, and the terraces overlooking the medina at sunset.
The beating heart of the city
Listed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage, the square transforms throughout the day: snake charmers and orange juice by day, street-food stalls and storytellers after dark. The panoramic terraces surrounding it offer the best view for a mint tea.
Craft and trade
North of the square stretches a maze of stalls organised by specialty: the spice souk with its colourful stands, the craft souk for lamps and pottery, and the leather souk near Bab Debbagh. Rahba Kedima, the former grain square, concentrates traditional spices and cosmetics.
That's the Les Voyagistes principle: tell us your dates, and we'll reveal the destinations that are in perfect season — Marrakech is best from March to May and September to November.
Find my destinations →A city that ends over a shared tagine, once night has fallen.