Before this year I had never been to Marrakech before and in fact I had never even thought about going there. It wasn’t until my sister happened to mention what a great time she had had when she visited a couple of years ago and how amazing the hotel was she stayed in.
During our time in Marrakech we opted to stay in an all-inclusive 4* resort which was close enough to the city centre, luckily our hotel put on a shuttle bus during the day which was perfect as it took us right into the centre of the Medina.
Medina
We visited the Medina in the day time arriving at roughly 11 o’clock, we headed straight to the square where there were a large selection of drinks stalls selling fresh juices for about 20p we couldn’t get over how cheap they were when in London you would be paying at least £4.50. The juices were amazing they were so fresh and made to order we got one orange and the other mango and they were both so delicious.
The Medina in the day time was fairly quiet, there weren’t many tourists walking around instead it was locals trying to sell fresh local produce. We did notice however, there were a number of snake charmers in the square which was quite scary (especially if you are terrified of snakes) so we avoided them like the plague.
When we returned to the Medina one evening the atmosphere was COMPLETELY different, as you can see from the title of this blog post it is literally the city that comes alive a night. The atmosphere was buzzing, there were hundreds of people walking around the Medina visiting the different performers, it was amazing and the hustle and bustle was exactly what we were expecting to see when we went in the day time.
Souks
Visiting the souks in the day and night were two completely different experiences and we would definitely urge everyone to visit in both the day and night. The souks are under cover keeping you out of the heat in the day which is amazing as it would be far too hot otherwise.
During the day time the souks were basically deserted, apart from the market stall holders and a few stray cats roaming around. Every stall and shop we passed would try and entice us in telling us all about their products. It is a known fact that you should barter with the shop keepers when in Marrakech so that is exactly what we did, it was so much fun and you could see the happiness in their eyes when you agreed on a price and purchased the item.
In the evening the souks are literally as busy as Oxford Street the shop keepers are occupied by customers who are already in their shops as this is obviously prime time for them to make their money. During the day we noticed locals riding through the souks on their mopeds and bikes which was something we kept having to dodge, we didn’t expect to still see this happening in the evening but I guess they have got to get home somehow.
As we were browsing the souks during the evening taking in the atmosphere and culture we happened to notice the young boys working in the souks all had their phones out watching something very intensely. We wondered for a moment what they were watching when we noticed it was football it’s funny that you can be in the middle of Marrakech and there are still young boys obsessed with football- the sport that speaks one language.
Food Stalls
When we first visited Marrakech in the day time we were looking for the food stalls as we had been told we had to visit them during our stay. We couldn’t for the life of us find the food stalls and it wasn’t until we returned back in the evening that we realised they were only set up at night.
The food stalls were such an experience and something we would definitely suggest everyone visit during their time at Marrakech. The men working on the stalls were hilarious, they were coming out with some hilarious English phrases; ‘M&S simply the best’, ‘you are well skinny minny, you must be starving marving’, ‘where are you from Wembley, Hackney, Chelsea Essex?’.
We decided to go back to the first man we spoke to as the food on their stall looked so delicious. We were seated at the table and all the staff behind started to sing ‘….’ It was hilarious and they were all so full of life.
We decided to try the mixed skewers, chicken tagine, vegetable cous cous and of course some of the traditional bread we saw being sold. It’s safe to say we were so full after so it was nice to finish the meal with a Moroccan tea (fresh mint) although they seem to like putting sugar in their mint tea in Morocco so it is incredibly sweet, I wasn’t a massive fan but that’s probably because I am not used to it.
Transport
We were lucky to have a shuttle bus at our hotel but we happened to notice lots of other hotels did as well. We would definitely recommend the shuttle bus/coach so if you are thinking of booking a hotel a bit of the way then find out if your hotel puts on this service.
If you want to use a taxi we would suggest using a taxi that your hotel recommends. We found that the same taxi drivers often sat outside the front of hotel. One evening we had to get a taxi back from The Medina as the last shuttle bus was at 8pm, all I can say is that if you want a real life experience of Grand Theft Auto then by all means go ahead and take a taxi because my gosh we did and it was the scariest taxi ride of my life. We might have just been incredibly unlucky with our taxi driver but just be careful when you do get into a taxi as health and safety goes completely out of the window.
There are lots of horse and carts in The Medina that will take you around the city, we didn’t do this so we are not sure how much it would cost but everything in Marrakech is so cheap so it probably wouldn’t set you back too much.
Marrakech is an amazing city and like nowhere we have visited before, we would 100% recommend visiting!