We originally planned to stay in Marrakech for a month.
Before we arrived, we heard several nerve-wracking stories – so many stories that we actually altered our plans!
Now we’ve been here a week and a half, play the Marrakesh Express on repeat, and wish we had more time here!
Before we get started, here are a few keywords we added to our vocabulary!
Riad
a traditional Moroccan home with an interior garden. Luckily for us, some larger Riads were converted into mini-hotels.
Medina
“city” in Arabic, but in Marrakech, the Medina specifically refers to the old, walled part of the city. Most of the Medina is off-limits to cars, and roads are less than 8-feet wide.
Souks
the labyrinth of markets in the middle of the Medina where you’ll be mesmerized by the handmade Moroccan goods.
The Riad of all Riads
First off, our home base, the Riad Porte Royale, is absolutely amazing. If you are coming to Marrakech, we think this place is step number one for having a good time. There are only 5 rooms so the diligent manager, Adam, and chef, Nagat, have time to get to know the guests and help them plan just about anything. The room rate includes an insanely big breakfast and upon special request, we even had a home-cooked dinner here by the pool for about $20/pp.
When we first arrived, Adam sat down with us to tell us about the city while Nagat prepared mint tea for us. This was one of the best introductions we’ve ever had to a city. Adam patiently showed us a map of the Medina, circling the best places and drawing an X on places to avoid. He talked to us about getting around, avoiding scams, and his favorite restaurants. We couldn’t live without the app he asked us to download called HereWeGo. This is similar to downloading an offline map on Google Maps or Maps.Me, but this app actually works here in the city! A lifesaver.
The smaller sized Riad makes it possible to get to know the other guests as well which has been a lot of fun for us. We spent a couple of nights with the other guests, all of us with our feet in the pool after a long day exploring the Medina. There are also plenty of private lounge spaces tucked away if you’re looking for some alone time to read a book or take a nap. On Friday night, a group of us decided to save some money on a camel ride and dinner excursion by going together. That wouldn’t have happened at a typical hotel!
The location of the Riad is also important. Here at Riad Port Royal, we are in the Medina, but we are only a 5-minute walk from the city wall where we can exit the Medina and hail a taxi. There is a lot to do outside of the Medina, so access to taxis is helpful. Being in the Medina is key to having an authentic experience in Marrakech, but being too far into the Medina would present its own set of logistical issues. So again, this place is perfect.
Souks
Integral to the fabric of the Medina are the souks, where artisans offer (often) handmade goods. One of our favorite daily activities has become perusing the crowded souks and mingling with the locals.
The souk owners are often personable, convincing men, and at this point we’ve seen just about every trick in the book in terms of sales tactics. Avoid the guys who seem desperate for your business or go out of their way to make physical contact with you. No thanks!
Despite the fact that the souks can often become chaotic, we still highly recommend checking them out. There are countless Moroccan treasures hidden within. Just remember – always negotiate!
Our rules for the souks:
We act uninterested, even if we LOVE something
Don’t point at items (this is a quick way to start a conversation with the shop owner)
Ask for a price before making an offer
Start the back-and-forth negotiation around 10-20% of the owner’s number
Always have a fixed price in mind. Don’t mind walking away if the seller won’t come down on their price!
The owners normally won’t let us walk away, and if they do, the product might be worth their number!
Day trip to Essaouira
From Marrakech, there are several options for day trips to nearby cities. About a week into our stay, we were ready for a change of scenery and chose to visit Essaouria, a gorgeous beach town about 2.5 hrs to the west by car. We took a private driver which our riad manager, Adam, helped arrange. Known as The Windy City of Morocco, some of Game of Thrones was set in this little port city (we think the scenes from Slaver’s Bay). We spent the whole day walking around the Medina and people watching on the beach! Oh – and on the drive out there, we took a quick roadside pitstop to see the famous goats in trees!
Camel riding and dinner in the desert
The desert scenery and the company were by far the highlights of our desert excursion, not necessarily the camels themselves. We felt a little bad for the camels; they were all tied together during our ride so they couldn’t roam free at all and they didn’t seem especially well taken care of by the tour group. Nonetheless, we got a kick out of riding the camels and enjoyed a wonderful dinner in a luxury tent set up in an old Berber village.
Again, Adam from our Riad coordinated this trip for us!
Rug shopping
We took orders from family and had fun negotiation for some high-quality rugs in a shop called Kasr Ben Hayoune , which felt like a palace. The shop is located in the Jewish Quarter and is managed by an animated salesman named Hassan. Be prepared to stay for a long time and don’t let him make you feel bad for negotiating! They’ll also show you 20+ rugs, but don’t feel bad to walk away with just a few or none at all. Seeing all of the rugs is part of the fun! We liked this shop because we trusted the quality of the rugs and the integrity of the business. The best part was that shipping to the USA was included in our negotiated price and handled by the shop, making that process more streamlined than expected.
Moroccan cuisine
Some of our favorite food so far has been eaten at the Riad, thanks to Najet! We’ve also found ourselves at a group of restaurants with the same owner: Nomad, Le Jardin, and Cafe des Epices. Last night we went to a place called Exotic Bali Food. If you’ve been to Bali then you’ll understand our excitement over a plate of Nasi Goreng. Our favorite Moroccan staples include mint tea, kefta sandwiches, chicken or meatball tajines, a variety of salads, and fresh bread.
What’s left in Morocco?
Believe it or not, there are a few things we haven’t done (yet!). For starters, we’d like to try some street food. We were a little intimidated after a few days with upset stomachs when we first arrived, but we’re feeling brave with adjusted stomachs of steel, so street food is on the docket this week. We still want to visit a hammam, similar to a public bath, for a traditional Moroccan spa treatment. Lastly, we are getting better, but we’d also love to get to and from our Riad without a map. That might be asking too much of ourselves, though.
Update on our travel plans:
We’ll be moving around quite a bit over the next few weeks, straying away from our one month in each country itinerary. Here’s where we’re heading through the first week of October.
We’ll spend one more week in Morocco before we head to Spain. In a week’s time, we’ll visit Marbella, Seville, Ciudad Real, and Madrid. This leg of the trip was planned because of Morocco’s proximity to Spain and because of a good flight we found from Madrid to our next stop, Entebbe, Uganda.
We’re going gorilla trekking in Uganda, which involves hiking deep into the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest to witness silverback gorillas in their natural habitats and communities, and then traveling to the Serengeti in Tanzania for a safari. This portion of the trip means tons of crazy animal pictures headed your way! Then we’ll have about two weeks in Europe before taking off for India, where we’ll be back on our month-to-month schedule!
Thanks so much for reading. As always, send comments or messages to hello@thedailywax.com. Until next time!
