Thinking of visiting Marrakech? You’ll need to read this post…
Marrakech, Morocco, known as the red city, has for warm weather year round, amazing Souks and delicious food. We visited recently and learnt so much, and I wish I’d done more research before we got on the plane, to really make the most of my trip. So that you don’t have to, this post is your one stop shop for things you really need to know before visiting Marrakech and I hope you find it useful.
Marrakech airport is BUSY, but manageable.
I sort of did know this, in all honesty, but I thought it was a bit of scaremongering. It turns out that the queue for security to get into the country was not that long but it was slow, and it took us around 45 minutes to get through. Not a disaster, but worth knowing, and if you need the loo after your flight you’ll want to go before you get in the security queue. On the way back through to leave, there was a queue to get into the building and I was a bit worried at that point. It moved fast and it was just because they were scanning both passengers (in the walk through scanner) and bags (in a security scanner, no need to remove anything from bags here) on the way in. We were maybe in this queue for 15 minutes.
Morocco doesn’t have the infastructure for online check in so you need to print your boarding pass in advance, and then take it to the check in desk to be swapped for a ticket. They’ll charge you if you didn’t originally print your boarding pass, and hotels in Morocco are happy to do this for you if you forgot. We were the only ones at the check in desk so this part was really fast.
Security was quick too, they just wanted laptops, kindles, liquids and my camera out of the bag. Nothing interesting to report here, the queue was short, moved quickly and we were through fast.
The queue for passport control looked long but we got through it in about 20 minutes, and the queue was being watched and organised by some staff members. We estimate it took us around an hour from arriving at the airport to being sat at a cafe with our lunch, which is really not bad at all.
One thing to be aware of is at Marrakesh airport they may do a bag check at the gate. I was swabbed, my bag was opened and items were swabbed too. I think this was a random check, it took a few minutes and they even helped me repack the bag, so no big deal, but worth leaving time for just in case.
Overall-a busy airport, leave enough time, but don’t stress about it.
Morocco is a closed currency country, and cash is king here
You’ll want to make sure you draw some cash out at the airport, because most places don’t accept cards in Marrakech. Some restaurants do and the supermarkets, but if you want to buy something on the square or in the souks you’ll definitely need cash. We took out £100 worth initially and drew out a further £400, but £250 ish of that went on souvenirs.
Having pounds, euros or dollars can get you better exchange rates at the airport
When you’ve gone through security and collected your bags at the airport, there are two currency exchange desks. We nearly skipped them thinking there’d be an ATM (but there wasn’t, so don’t do this!) and out of the two, one had much better exchange rates. Unluckily for us, you could only buy currency with cash, not card, at the stand with the better rates, so we had to use the other one. It’s worth having a chunk of pounds, dollars or euros to be able to get more for your money at the airport.
The medina is busy and a bit of a maze, but you won’t get lost
I was worried the medina would be a bit much, so we only booked two nights in the middle of the city, choosing to stay outside for the rest of our week. Actually, whilst it’s a bit windy, you’ll soon find your way around the medina.
J is always our navigator as he’s much better at directions than I am, and he downloaded the Google Maps for Marrakech before we left home, just in case. Other than a few specific shops within the souks, where maps takes you nearby ish and you have to figure it out, we’ve found everywhere we wanted to really easily.
If you’re struggling, you can ask a shop or cafe owner for directions and they’ll be happy to help you.
People want to be tipped for showing you around the medina-be aware
We knew in advance that people expected to be tipped if they lead you around the medina, this doesn’t mean shop owners but random passers by, so you’ll need to say no firmly if you don’t want to pay for directions. The first man who guided us we gave 20 dirhams, about £1.50, and we were fine with that. The second, who another man basically insisted should help, took us a really long way, not to where we were actually going, and then when he was about to leave us the initial man appeared and said ‘give him 200’ (around £15!) we handed him 20 and they both started insisting this was too small an amount, the amount you’d give a little boy-and I felt the situation could end badly. In the end we handed him another 50, so 70 dirhams (£5 or so) in total, and left them. It wasn’t a nice start to the trip, so be cautious when accepting help like that.
You should haggle in the Souks
When you ask how much something is in the souks, they are expecting you to haggle. Go in at around a third of what they’ve said, and expect to settle at about half. I find haggling really awkward but did get some good deals, you need to be prepared to walk away if you can’t reach a price you’re happy with. Chances are if a price is displayed, though, you shouldn’t haggle, as this may cause offence.
Pack decent lip balm and moisturiser
Marrakech, perhaps unsurprisingly for a city surrounded by desert, is very, very dry. We’ve both come home with badly chapped lips, my skin is dry and I feel a bit grim. I wish I’d packed a decent lip balm and moisturiser and I’d recommend you do, even if you don’t use it at home. If you’re visiting in the summer, decent SPF is a must, too. We visited in December and didn’t need it, but for most of the year Marrakech is so hot you’ll burn badly if you’re not wearing the correct clothes and covered in SPF.
Jemaa El Fnar isn’t scary
We’d read a lot of horror stories about the square. Yes, it’s busy and yes, there are lots of people trying to sell you things, but a stern ‘no, thank you’ (laa shakaran in Arabic) as you keep walking means they won’t hassle you. Definitely steer clear of the men with the monkeys and the snake charmers around the edge though-the animals are not treated well and we’ve heard of monkeys being placed onto people’s shoulders and then a fee demanded. We didn’t see it, but we did give them a wide berth anyway. If you walk too near the juice stalls they’ll all try to get you to come and try/buy their juice, BUT it’s cheap, and delicious, so I’d recommend doing that anyway, we had a few flavours through the week and paid less than a pound each time.
Dress appropriately for what you’re doing
Morocco is of course a Muslim country, so whilst you can wander around in short shorts over a swimsuit in Spain, you shouldn’t in Morocco. I wore higher necked t-shirts and long, thin trousers for the whole trip, so that my shoulders, knees and cleavage were covered. J did wear shorts a few times but longer ones, and outside of the medina.
If you’re going into the desert on a quad biking and camel riding excursion (which you should!) I would recommend a light jacket to keep the dust off you. Don’t do what someone in our group did and wear a tiny, flimsy bikini top, for a quad bike ride. In a Muslim country. Just be respectful!
Don’t drink the water
Morocco is absolutely not a country it’s safe to drink the tap water in, unless you want to risk a bad belly! Bottled water is very cheap and sold everywhere, and say no to ice in drinks.
Plan your days before you get there
This is not essential but there’s so much to do in Marrakech, you won’t want to miss anything. I made sure to plan everything I wanted to do, and work out what was near what, before I left the UK, so that my days were as productive as possible. We also found we had plenty of down time, because we’d planned well, so didn’t need to rush from one side of the city to the other all the time.
I hope this information helps you plan for your trip to Marrakech, which really is an amazing city. It’s set to be much more popular in 2025 and I’m jealous of those of you who get to experience it for the first time.
Don’t forget your camera
Marrakech is the most colourful city I’ve ever been to, by far. Stalls full of different coloured spices, beautiful leather sandals and all the ceramics you could ever want, you’ll take so many photos. Make sure you pack a decent camera if you use one, and shooting with a professional photographer would be a great idea in the city too. I had a fantastic experience doing this.
Beautiful place, thank you for creating this article