Marrakesh 2023
After a a few years, we returned to Morocco again and this time our destination was Marrakesh again.
Flight to Morocco
Marrakech’s location in central Morocco is quite ideal for visiting other places outside the city, but of course staying in the city itself and visiting its market is always exciting. I mentioned the Marrakesh market because we are very keen on using Moroccan spices and take every opportunity to renew our stock with fresh ones.
Although this time we flew from London Gatwick Airport and not from Glasgow as previously, we flew with EasyJet again. The reason is quite practical – the flight times offered by EasyJet are much more convenient than those offered by Ryanair. If you search hard enough and find the best offers, the price differences between airlines are minimal. Another interesting observation – London Gatwick airport costs are lower, so even when flying from Riga to England, we first look to see if AirBaltic offers competitive prices. Unfortunately EasyJet does not fly to Riga.
Hotel
So we arrived at Marrakech Menara airport around midday and after relatively quickly passing through all the controls, we went to the chosen hotel. It should be noted here that this time we wanted to simply relax, so we had booked a hotel that offers an all-inclusive option. To be honest, the hotel transfer and, as it turned out, some other things (one bar, restaurant and also SPA treatments) were for a separate payment.
But, in the end, it was not a problem, because all what was included in the price was quite enough for lazy holidays (three meals, relatively good Spanish drinks, beer, alcoholic cocktails, pool bars with snacks and drinks, various activities, etc.).
A few more words about the hotel Kenzi Club Agdal Medina. It is located in the south of Marrakech, closer to the airport than the city centre. The buildings and surroundings are very interestingly designed – people thought well when designing. There were, of course, some cons as well.
For example, when we go to Morocco, we always plan to go to the hammam at least once (it’s a kind of Moroccan sauna, where the body is thoroughly soaped, then the old skin is scrubbed off with a scrub, washed and finally the process ends with relaxing tea drinking). However, the hotel’s SPA complex was obviously much too small compared to the number of visitors. As a result of all this, we could not find free time to visit the hammam during the week – either everything was booked or we had something else planned.
Marrakesh market
As I said, we love Moroccan spices, so a trip to the Marrakech Central Market was a must.
There was a free bus service from the hotel to the Marrakesh city centre (round trip), which we decided to use. To be fair, it must be said that the bus does not take you to the centre itself, you have to walk at least a kilometre or so. This does not cause any problems if you do not mind walking around the city.
We even took a route a little off the tourist trail and found more secluded market squares. It must be said that tourists are everywhere in Marrakech, but there are places where there are more locals.
They call the market “souk” and there are a lot of them in the city (Arabs are traders, so that’s not a big surprise). There are markets like Souk Fekharine (pottery), Souk Attarine (spices), Souk Zrabi (carpets), Souk Dhabia (jewellery) and so on.
Bahia Palace
On the way to the central market (Jemaa el-Fnaa) we decided to visit the Bahia Palace. This palace (built between 1866 and 1867) is one of the best preserved and most interesting historical sites in Marrakech. The castle has a total of around 150 different rooms and some of them also have small exhibitions.
Tourists have different opinions about the price of the entrance fee (it costs about 7 euros per person, which seems to be quite a lot compared to Moroccan prices), but I think you should not be a nerd and go inside to see it if you are interested in the architecture of other cultures.
Visiting the castle doesn’t take much time, about half an hour plus expect at least a 10-minute queue for entrance tickets if you’re there in the morning; the wait time can be longer when everyone is awake and in the mood to enjoy the culture. Remember – everywhere the payment is only in cash – even in such a popular tourist destination!
Well, that’s all this time, I hope you got a little more interested in Marrakech. You can also read other travel notes I have written after visiting and even living for a while in Morocco.