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Marrakech, Morocco - Guide

Marrakech - General Information

Marrakech is a relatively small, low-rise provincial city in Morocco. But every year it plays host to huge numbers of visitors, who are attracted to it not by the usual tourist landmarks, but by its beautiful ochre-coloured architecture, its unique spirit and the stunning backdrop of the snow-capped High Atlas Mountains. Though not far from Europe, it is none the less inescapably exotic and you’ll love wandering through its souks (markets) and soaking up its very special Franco-Arab culture.

Marrakech’s two most famous attractions are the Koutoubia Mosque and Djemaa el Fna. The former, though not especially tall at 77 metres, towers over the rest of the city, none of whose buildings are reputedly allowed to rise higher than a palm tree. The design of its beautiful minaret – floodlit at night – has been copied all over the world. The mosque is Marrakech’s symbol and its name derives from el koutoubiyyin, the Arabic for bookseller, reflecting the fact that sellers of manuscripts used to throng the surrounding streets.

Much less spiritual, Djemaa el Fna is a spectacular open-air market and the focus of daily life in Marrakech. Throughout the day it is packed with groups of acrobats, drummers, snake charmers, pipe musicians, magicians, storytellers, comedians, youths with chained Barbary apes, water sellers in colourful costumes, Chleuh dancing-boys and peddlers of traditional medicines. There are also lots of stalls selling orange juice and at night the air is filled with mingled aromas from dozens of food-stalls. It’s an amazing, unthreatening stew of humanity and there’s nowhere else quite like it anywhere in the world.

Marrakech city centre