Eating, lounging and soaking up the souks in Marrakech
Summary
Cracking spot for a short break, especially to escape the European winter. I’m writing this a few years later so only a very short entry, but my key tips after spending 3 days there:
- Marrakech has 2 sides – the first side is the mayhem of it all, with the markets and busy streets. The second is the hidden and private residences that often sit behind the non-descript walls in what appear to be super dull streets. You can be walking down one of these streets and then suddenly knock on the right door and find yourself in a little contained oasis paradise. Very much part of the allure
- So, it pays to do a bit of research to see which of these little hidden paradises you’d like to check out
- Get yourself lost in some of the narrow chaotic medina lanes – you’re going to get lost anyway, so just embrace it!
- See if you can arrange yourself a day trip into the nearby mountains, which feel a world away from the business of Marrakech. This was probably our highlight
highlights
#1 Wandering through the famous souks, trying to find a bargain and trying to come out the same way you came in
#2 Taking a trip to the gorgeous nearby mountains and to see the baked terracotta villages
#1 Finding that mini oasis roof tucked away from the madness
#3 Getting lost in the tiny medina lanes that are so famous in Marrakech
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Other Narrow Street Experiences around the World
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone