Marrakech Travel Guide

Let me give a few tips that will help you improve your experience in Marrakech:

No believe anyone
If you ask to someone about getting to some tourist attraction is likely to tell you that is closed on the grounds that it does not open that day or that is developing an event.

This is generally false and the reason is to try to take you to another site that he recommends. You will have to always check what they tell you.

Everyone wants to make money
Typically, a boy tells you that leads you somewhere without pay, he has money and does not want anything, only coincidentally lives near where you want to go and do not mind lead you, or unless it learns Castilian.

Mysteriously, the road appears the store of his brother / friend / uncle, which as you can have a look of “just looking, not buying.”

They are great business
If you start looking at something at any store, no matter how clever you are very likely to finish inside the store, with the curtain closed, drinking mint tea with the owner while gives you things because you’ve liked.

Needless to say, you end up buying something you did not want.

Dont take a taxi without the meter
You must insist that to the taxi drivers to activate the meter, if he refuses find another taxi. Taxis are everywhere and is better than be cheated.

The girls outside the groups of people
It’s better for girls to stay far from the crowds of people, specially at night in the Jamaa el Fna Square. If you enter the game, is sure to notice many unknown hands.

Use a shuttle service for the first night
If this is the first time you visit Marrakech, arriving at night and go to a riad in the medina, use the shuttle service you provide.

Save lots of trouble and not going to be much more expensive than a normal taxi.

Do not drink non-bottled water
Needless to say that you must not drink non-bottled water. Neither soft drink with ice in places “street”, because the ice is made with untreated water.

For a European it can be said that overall prices are very cheap in Marrakech. The travel budget will be devoted mainly to flight and hotel expenses, any city in Morroco is much less cheaper than visiting European cities.

Sample prices
Here are some examples of prices of Marrakech so that you can make your budget:

• Fresh orange juice in the square: 10 dirhams.
• Dinner for two at an inexpensive restaurant: From 120 dirhams.
• Double room in a riad cheap: from 30 € per night.
• Double scoring highly in riads: From 60 € per night.
• A taxi ride from the airport Menara: Between 80 and 100 dirhams.
• By taxi within the city: between 10 and 20 dirhams.
• Visit a memorial: Between 10 and 50 dirhams.

Tips
Normally leave between 10 and 15% tip in restaurants. In taxis if the driver has fulfilled the meter and the legality, it is not more than 10% leave a tip.

Haggling
As in all Arab countries, haggling is part of the culture of the people of Marrakech. Except in restaurants, you will have to haggle (willingly or not) in each store and position of the city, especially in the souk.

Currency Coverter (Live rates at 2010.02.04 16:43:30 UTC)

British Pounds & Morocco Dirhams
1.00 GBP = 12.8670 MAD

Euros & Morocco Dirhams
1.00 EUR = 11.2388 MAD

US Dollars & Morocco Dirhams
1.00 USD = 8.16730 MAD

While Marrakech is a very safe city, we must warn that if you have never visited a North African countries you may probably have some sense of insecurity because, although there are enough tourists, its labyrinthine medina can become intimidated.

If you stay within the medina, the walk to the riad at night may not be very pleasing to the majority. Main street lights are fairly low, some smaller streets have no lights, & sometimes you even light your way with your mobile phone.

Add to this that there are people lying in the corners, and even a child who will follow you to the riad demanding money, obviously it s not what you are expecting.

No doubt this is the least we like Marrakech. If you want help you can always choosed at a hotel outside the medina and take a taxi at the Place Jamaa el Fna, but missing the experience of the riad is a shame.

During the day things change radically and you feel calmer, with light and a lot more people on the street everything is different.

Plainly speaking, in Marrakesh is not going to happen to you anything bad, many people can you ask for money on the street and sure there are pickpockets around the square, but they’ll never threatened by the fear of the police and their laws.

The Marrakech hotels & Riads section provides our visitors with updated information on the best accommodation in thsi beautiful & enigmatic city, and offers the possibility of instant reservation – free of charge, with no advance payments. Please note that Marrakech is a busy place during weekends, especially in the high season. We therefore recommend that you book your hotel in Marrakech in advance.

For our visitors, many hotels feature up to 75 % discount on standard rates! You can use the availability search below to check out your special offers! The online reservations are provided in cooperation with our partner Booking.com:

After you search for available hotels using the search form above, we offer an option to see the available hotels on the interactive map of Marrakech.

You could say that Morocco is a country with wide open borders. Most visitors do not need to obtain a visa to visit the country.

The countries below can enter Morocco without a visa. Just need a valid passport for the entire stay.

Andorra, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, Congo, South Korea, Ivory Coast, Croatia, Denmark, UAE, Slovakia, Slovenia , USA, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Latvia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mali, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Nigeria , New Guinea, Norway, New Zealand, Oman, Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Romania, Senegal, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey and Venezuela.

However the best option for the citizens of other countries is to ask the Moroccan embassy in their country. They can also find information on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Morocco.