Best Things to Do in Marrakech

Marrakech's sights are small and close together, which makes it easy to overdo. Two or three a day is plenty, with a long lunch in the middle. This is our list, roughly in order of priority.

1. Jemaa el-Fna at dusk. Snake charmers and orange-juice sellers by day, then smoke from a hundred grills and circles of musicians at night. Our Jemaa el-Fna guide explains how to enjoy it without the hassle.
2. The souks. A maze of covered lanes selling leather slippers, lanterns, spices and carpets, each trade in its own quarter. Follow our medina walk.
3. Ben Youssef Madrasa. A 16th-century Koranic school around a courtyard of carved cedar, stucco and zellij tilework, with the students' tiny rooms upstairs. The most beautiful building you can enter in the city. Tickets are sold at the entrance.
4. Bahia Palace. A 19th-century vizier's palace of painted ceilings and tiled courtyards, built to impress and still doing so. Tickets can be bought online from the Ministry of Culture's e-services site. Go at opening time, before the tour groups.
5. Jardin Majorelle. The cobalt-blue villa and cactus garden created by the painter Jacques Majorelle and later rescued by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. Tickets are sold online only, on the official site. It's small and busy, so book the first slot of the day.
6. Musée Yves Saint Laurent. Next door to the garden, with rotating exhibitions of the designer's work. Fashion fans only.
7. The Saadian Tombs. Sixteenth-century royal tombs sealed off for centuries and rediscovered in 1917. The Chamber of the Twelve Columns is exquisite but tiny, so expect a queue to peer in.
8. El Badi Palace. The opposite of the Bahia: a vast ruined courtyard, sunken gardens and storks nesting on the walls. Climb to the terrace for the view.
9. Le Jardin Secret. A restored riad garden in the middle of the souks, with a tower you can climb for a view over the rooftops.
10. A hammam. The local bathhouse, where you're steamed and scrubbed with black soap and a rough glove called a kessa. A public neighbourhood hammam is the real thing. A spa hammam is gentler and private.
11. The Mellah. The old Jewish quarter near the Bahia, with the Lazama Synagogue and a large Jewish cemetery of whitewashed tombs.
12. Maison de la Photographie. Early photographs of Moroccan life in a restored house, plus one of the calmest rooftop cafés in the medina.

Some restoration work on the palaces and ramparts has continued since the 2023 earthquake, so a courtyard may be under scaffolding. Check the official sites before you go. For the mountains, see our Atlas day trip guide.