Insight Guides - Insight Guides Experience Marrakesh

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Marrakech is arguably the most exotic, mysterious, and enchanting city this close to Europe. The Red City, capital of the Great South, was once a place of such importance that it gave its name to Morocco. Its thousand-year history is rich and turbulent, with an eclectic cast of characters: sultans and nomads, magicians and slave-traders, fortune-hunters and colonialists. Now it attracts movie stars, writers, and artists and tourists looking for something a bit different.

In the 1960s and 70s, Marrakech lured hippies, playboys, rich expats, and the fashion elite. It was one of the coolest and also the most artistically inspiring places to escape to and, often, reinvent yourself in. Today, Marrakech is experiencing its latest renaissance as a city looking to the future. Quirky new boutiques are springing up alongside the medinas colourful ancient souks; an array of restaurants, concept stores, bars, cafs, and thriving modern art galleries have reached Guliz (the new town or Ville Nouvelle); tranquil villa retreats and some of the best boutique and five-star hotels in the world have set up shop; and there are a wealth of adventures to be had on its doorstep from skiing to hot-air ballooning, camel-trekking and horse-riding. This desert city at the crossroads of cultures has reinvented itself yet again as a hip, romantic, adventurous getaway for those who want a little spice in their holiday.

Marrakech is undoubtedly not for everyone. This is a city with edge. It is contradictory and not easily fathomed, but for most people who visit, that is all part of its elusive charm. From the exotic market stalls of the medina to the westernised glamour of Guliz, Marrakech is a riot of contradictions and extremes at once African and Arab, eastern and western, desert town and modern city, religious and secular, elegant and rough-round-the-edges. At times daunting, occasionally maddening, always exhilarating, Marrakech is all about getting lost, letting go, and opening up to whatever experience or encounter comes your way.

In the Mood for

souks, boutiques, and markets

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From the souks filled with exotic treasures and stalls of spices piled high to fabulously chic boutiques selling everything from kaftans to kids clothes, you could be forgiven for thinking that Marrakech is all about the shopping. For many it is, and exploring the magical labyrinthine souks (for more information, ) should be first on your list of things to do in the city. Watch master craftsmen at work and haggle for lanterns, carpets, soft leather slippers (babouches), and Berber jewellery.

For foodies, the colourful Mellah Market (for more information, ).

Vintage-lovers wont be disappointed either. Not only are the main souks dotted with antique stores selling everything from Leicas to 1950s Coca Cola signs, but the northern medina has one of the best flea markets south of Paris. Souk el Khemis (for more information, ) in the medina, where movie producers and celebrities are known to shop.

If you are craving a western hit where things come with price tags, there are dozens of new boutiques in the medina (Souk Cherifia, for more information, ), where you can find Western takes on kaftans, stylish homewares, and contemporary design, and even Moroccan haute couture.

street food

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Western restaurants with price tags to match appear all over Marrakech and its sometimes easy to forget that you are in Morocco, not Paris or London. There is no more vivid reminder of where you are, and no more authentic or unusual eating experience to be had, than through Marrakechs street food. Underrated and often wrongly viewed with apprehension, street food is an exotic taste-fest and a window onto a different world.

The soul of Marrakech street food is found at the food stalls of Jemaa el Fna (for more information, ) should not be missed.

... a spectacle

The whole city of Marrakech is a spectacle and just walking through the medina can throw up a kaleidoscope of experiences. But the soul of the citys theatrical life is the square of Jemaa el Fna (for more information, ), where a thrilling thousand-year-old nightly show (some call it the greatest on earth) unfolds like a magic carpet at sunset. There are acrobats and magicians, storytellers and snake charmers, and all manner of spontaneous entertainment in between.