# Marrakesh: map, what to do and when to go

Marrakech is best explored through its walled medina, where nearly every purchase starts with tea and talk, and prices are open to haggling. A former imperial capital of about 1 million on the Haouz plain, with a 12th-century medina inside 19 km of red walls and a new town from 1913.

Canonical: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/marrakech/
Language: en. Extended author commentary and itinerary notes may remain in Portuguese. Dates below belong to individual sources; this is not live availability.

## Direct answer
- **Marrakech: Should I follow whoever says the square is closed today?** No: whoever says the square or the souk is closed always leads to a detour to a shop that pays a commission, and getting back usually costs a tip negotiated on the spot.
- **Marrakech: How do I get from the airport to the center?** By Alsa bus 19, which links Marrakech-Menara Airport to the Koutoubia for about 30 DH, every 20 to 30 minutes, from 6am to 9:30pm.
- **Marrakech: How do I get to the Ourika Valley and the waterfalls?** By grand taxi, charged by the seat from Bab Er Robb: the Ourika begins 35 km to the south, about a 1-hour drive, and ends at Setti Fatma, where a 1-hour trail leads to the seven waterfalls.

## The imperial medina, from the Koutoubia to the kasbah
Start at 8:30am on the Koutoubia esplanade, with the 77 m minaret finished around 1195; the interior is closed to non-Muslims, but the garden and the foundations of the first mosque are visible.
- Jemaa el-Fna
- Koutoubia Mosque
- Saadian Tombs
- El Badi Palace
- Bahia Palace

## Souks, trades and the north of the medina
Enter the souks at 10am through the Rahba Kedima, the herb and wool square, and follow the Semmarine–Attarine axis with no rush to get anywhere.
- Ben Youssef Medersa
- The souks and the trades
- Marrakech Museum and Almoravid Koubba

## Gueliz, gardens and the Atlas on the horizon
Open the day at the Jardin Majorelle at 8am, with a timed ticket bought in advance, then head to the Musée Yves Saint Laurent, opened in October 2017, on the same street.
- Jardin Majorelle and Musée Yves Saint Laurent
- Menara and Agdal Gardens

## Jemaa el-Fna
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/marrakech/#g-lugar-jemaa-el-fna
Marraquexe
A square of about 4 ha, in continuous use since the 11th century, between the medina and the kasbah. In 2001 UNESCO proclaimed it a masterpiece of oral and intangible heritage, the first time the list protected a practice, the halqa, rather than a building. Go twice: at 10am, when it's a parking lot with juice stalls, and at 7pm, when it turns into an open-air dining hall.
Check access

## Koutoubia Mosque
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/marrakech/#g-lugar-mesquita-koutoubia
Marraquexe · Up to half an hour
Built by the Almohads in two stages from 1147. The foundations of the first version, demolished over a misaligned qibla, are still visible alongside it. The 77 m minaret, finished around 1195, is the direct model for the Giralda in Seville and the Hassan Tower in Rabat. Non-Muslims don't enter; the garden around it is public and no building in the city may rise above the tower.
Check access

## Ben Youssef Medersa
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/marrakech/#g-lugar-medersa-ben-youssef
Marraquexe
Quranic school founded in the 14th century and rebuilt in 1564–65 by the Saadian sultan Abdallah al-Ghalib: about 130 student cells on two floors around a courtyard of marble, zellige and carved cedar. It served as a school until 1960 and reopened in April 2022, after four years of restoration.
Check access

## Saadian Tombs
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/marrakech/#g-lugar-tumulos-saadianos
Marraquexe (prefeitura)
A 16th-century necropolis with 66 graves, including Ahmad al-Mansur's, in the hall of the twelve Carrara marble columns. Moulay Ismail had the entrance walled up around 1672 instead of destroying it, and the site wasn't rediscovered until 1917, by aerial photography. The entrance is a narrow passage beside the Kasbah Mosque and the line forms before 10am.
Check access

## El Badi Palace
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/marrakech/#g-lugar-palacio-el-badi
Marraquexe
Built between 1578 and 1593 with the ransom from the Battle of the Three Kings and the gold taken from the Songhai in 1591; the Italian marble was reportedly paid for in sugar, weight for weight. Moulay Ismail carried everything off to Meknes from 1672 on, and what's left is 8 ha of walls, pools and orange groves, with storks nesting on top. In an annex stands the Koutoubia minbar, made in Córdoba around 1137.
Check access

## Bahia Palace
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/marrakech/#g-lugar-palacio-da-bahia
Marraquexe · Up to half an hour
Built between 1866 and 1900, first by Si Moussa and then expanded by the grand vizier Ba Ahmed, who bought house after house until he had 8 ha and about 150 rooms. It's the best place in the city to see painted cedar ceilings and 19th-century zellige; under the protectorate it served as General Lyautey's residence.
Check access

## Jardin Majorelle and Musée Yves Saint Laurent
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/marrakech/#g-lugar-jardim-majorelle
Marraquexe
The French painter Jacques Majorelle bought the plot in 1923, planted the garden of cacti and bamboo, and registered the ultramarine blue that bears his name; it opened to the public in 1947. Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé bought the estate in 1980; it now houses the Musée Berbère, from 2011, and next door the Musée Yves Saint Laurent, opened in October 2017. It's the busiest spot in the city: buy a timed ticket in advance.
Check access

## The souks and the trades
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/marrakech/#g-lugar-os-souks
Marraquexe
Organized by guild since the Middle Ages: Semmarine (textiles), Attarine (perfumes and spices), Rahba Kedima (herbs, wool and apothecaries), Haddadine (blacksmiths, and the noise tells you the street), Cherratine (leather) and Sebbaghine (dyeing, with skeins of wool hung up to dry). The tanneries of Bab Debbagh, to the northeast, still use lime and pigeon droppings in the process; you go in with a sprig of mint under your nose, and the price is agreed beforehand.
Check access

## Marrakech Museum and Almoravid Koubba
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/marrakech/#g-lugar-museu-de-marrakech
Marraquexe · Up to half an hour
The museum occupies Dar Menebhi, the late-19th-century house of vizier Mehdi Menebhi, with a covered courtyard and a central chandelier weighing 1,200 kg. Fifty meters away is the Koubba Ba'adiyn, from the 12th century: the only Almoravid building still standing in the city, a survivor of the 1147 demolition, with the repertoire of interlaced arches and ribbed dome that gave rise to all later Moroccan architecture. It was only identified in 1948, under four meters of rubble.
Check access

## Menara and Agdal Gardens
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/marrakech/#g-lugar-jardins-menara
Marraquexe
The Menara basin, about 200 by 150 m, was dug by the Almohads in the 12th century to irrigate a 100 ha olive grove; the green-roofed pavilion at the water's edge dates from 1869 and reflects the High Atlas on clear days. The Agdal gardens, south of the kasbah, cover about 400 ha, share the same 12th-century origin and remain a working orchard. They open only a few days a week.
Check access

**Marrakech: Should I follow whoever says the square is closed today?**
No: whoever says the square or the souk is closed always leads to a detour to a shop that pays a commission, and getting back usually costs a tip negotiated on the spot.

**Marrakech: How do I get from the airport to the center?**
By Alsa bus 19, which links Marrakech-Menara Airport to the Koutoubia for about 30 DH, every 20 to 30 minutes, from 6am to 9:30pm. The petit taxi covers the trip in 15 minutes for about 100 DH by day and 150 DH by night, per the table posted at the terminal door, and it's the only option after 9:30pm.

**Marrakech: How do I get to the Ourika Valley and the waterfalls?**
By grand taxi, charged by the seat from Bab Er Robb: the Ourika begins 35 km to the south, about a 1-hour drive, and ends at Setti Fatma, where a 1-hour trail leads to the seven waterfalls.

**Marrakech: What's the climate like throughout the year?**
It's hot semi-arid: winter is dry, with highs of 18–20 °C and cold nights; March to May and October to November stay between 22 and 30 °C, and July and August go above 37–40 °C, the months to avoid.

**Marrakech: Does accepting the vendor's tea obligate me to buy?**
No: the tea is a courtesy, not a promise to buy. Refusing it outright looks worse than leaving without buying, once you've talked.


## In the Nilo app
- Plan these 3 days on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/guide/marrakech/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-itinerary
- Mark your hotel on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/map/marrakech/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-stay

## Full editorial guide (Portuguese)
https://nilopelomundo.com/llm/marrakech.md