Long Weekend in Marrakech

Holiday Ratings
Recommended days	3
Budget	£
Difficulty	Easy

This was my second visit to Marrakech, the previous visit was in 2013 so I was looking forward to seeing what had changed. This long weekend in Marrakech city break was with my eldest daughter who had done lots of research so we were bound to see some different and new places.

The trip was a package deal with BA holidays as they are incredible value and you can still do your own thing when you get there.

The plane landed about 30 minutes earlier than expected on the Friday which was great. Unfortunately the queue at passport control was over an hour. Transfer to the hotel was quick but we then had to wait just over an hour in the hotel for them to sort a twin bedded room. On the plus side, I did get 2 pieces of birthday cake as it was the owners birthday and Nat was being a health freak so didn’t eat her piece.

Our Accomodation

The room at Riad Africa was lovely – small but pretty. I had a stinking headache by then so I went to bed before 8PM and slept until almost 7 the next day!

I left Nat asleep and went to the breakfast terrace to watch the sunrise, a gorgeous pink sky. We then had breakfast and played with (and fed) the resident cats and dog. Breakfast was great, a mix of French and Moroccan and it was lovely to eat outside, despite being a bit chilly! 

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Our Tours

For this break I’d booked two tours, both with Instyle Travel and booked through Viator. I know this is lazy but Viator have an app so it makes it easy to browse options. We decided on tours as I thought it’d be a good introduction for Natalya to this chaotic city.

City Tour

Our first tour was a city tour booked for 10 so we met our guide, Hassan, and headed to the Koutoubia Mosque for a quick circuit before visiting a traditional bakery and then the Saadien Tombs.

Koutoubia Mosque and Saadien Tombs

A lot of these places I’d been to before and the guide was happy to just amble and give us the odd snippet of info rather than a constant lecture.

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Badi Palace

Next stop was the Badi Palace and then back through the Jewish quarter and souks to Djemaa el Fna square. We headed back to the hotel to freshen up before getting a very enthusiastic taxi to Jardin Marjorelle. This was packed and there was a 20 minute queue outside but once we got in we sat down for lunch to warm us up.

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Jardin Majorelle

Once we were out of the sun it was freezing – my hands were actually blue! After lunch we had a quick wander round the gardens before heading to Starbucks for a proper sized coffee and then a longer than expected walk back to the hotel. 20km walk today and we were finally able to watch the sunset from the hotel terrace.

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Djemaa el Fna Square

We than had to endure the obligatory trip to the night market at Djemaa el Fna and get some crappy food in one of the tourist traps overlooking the square. It’s all an experience and the square was as exotic as ever.

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Ait Ben Haddou with Road of the Kasbahs Tour

On Sunday we had an early start as we were being collected at 7.10 for our trip to the Atlas mountains and kasbahs. The weather was beautifully clear but damned cold! We were expecting a small tour but there were actually 16 of us on the minibus – next time it’ll be a private tour! 

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Taouririt Kasbah

I had taken travel sickness tablets so was able to doze a lot of the way but we stopped a couple of times at roadside restaurants for coffee and the view. The roads were decent, where they existed, but in a lot of places were being dug up or improved but we made good progress and arrived at the first proper stop, Taouririt Kasbah, late morning.

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This was a very impressive fortified residence, made from mud brick, but we didn’t get to see much of the exterior. We were taken inside (where it was damned cold) and given lectures on various bits until I wandered off to explore. Some of the rooms were impressive but not compared with Andalusian architecture, very poor imitations.

From here we headed to a lunch stop. This was the obligatory place located miles from anywhere else so you were totally captive and serving overpriced crud. I just had soup and Nat coffee but it still wasted nearly an hour. 

Ait Ben Haddou Kasbah

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The last proper stop was the most famous – Ait Ben Haddou Kasbah – the backdrop for the Mummy, Gladiator etc. Very impressive and well worth the walk to the top of the hill, especially with the views we got over the snow capped mountains.

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It was then back in the coach for a short drive to the camel place as a couple of people had booked camel rides and then the long trip home. On the way home the weather got worse and it began to rain which was no fun for the driver on mountain roads at night. It seemed to take forever but we eventually got back to the Riad just after 9PM.

We were both tired but also damned hungry so had a decent meal in the salon whilst drinking mint tea. There is no chance of a lie in whilst staying in a riad – because everything is organised around a central courtyard all the noise travels. We were woken by the call to prayer at 5 and then breakfast preparations from about 7. We eventually surfaced for a shower about 8 and then had a leisurely breakfast.

The Secret Garden

The weather was pretty overcast and drizzly but we headed up to The Secret Garden, a restored 16th century islamic garden that was only opened to the public in 2016. The garden was excellent and the guide for the tower tour was superb – witty and tri lingual and helpful in his assistance for where to go next.

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Marrakech

The weather was wet by now but we headed off towards the photography museum and got completely lost in the maze of streets and ended up in some weird modern art museum. After a brief visit there we carried on looking but gave up in the end and headed back to the main square and then the Earth Cafe.

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This was another of Nat’s finds and excellent – the best food we had all holiday and decent prices! Back to the hotel to chill before getting a taxi to the airport.

Another lovely city break and a long weekend in Marrakech gave us extra time. It was nice on this occasion to travel outside the city, the Atlas mountains were impressive and there was certainly a lot to see.

In hindsight we’d have been better off taking a 2 day tour to get more of a taste of that region. The city is still a great destination though and a good introduction to the chaos of north Africa without being too alien for European tastes.

2018