Trip: August 2017
Below is our Top 5 Things To Do in Morocco, part of the Just Carrying On – Top 5 Things To Do series. These lists are favorite activities, eats, and drinks from our travels around the world—in no particular order.
We visited Morocco with three of our good friends, Steph, Sergio and Sarah while on our way home from working together for three weeks in Ghana with Rural Health Collaborative. We spent a short and full 5 days in Morocco in August 2017.
1. Visit the Sahara at Merzouga Desert
We chose the 3-day/2-night Sahara desert excursion to Merzouga (book through your Riad) primarily because we couldn’t bear the thought of two full back-to-back days in a van. In some sense we ended up with 3 travel days, but with the driver faithfully stopping every 2 hours for a break, it wasn’t so bad. This also means that while we knew we would end up in the Sahara, we had no idea we would end up at Aït Benhaddou, an amazing ancient village where multiple movies and TV shows have been filmed (Indiana Jones, Gladiator, Game of Thrones, etc.). In addition to being charmed by this stop and the mint tea we were served by an older berber man in his shop, the ride into the Sahara on camels at sunset was epic. It was one of those moments, while unbelievably touristy, when we were pinching ourselves and grinning, wondering how we got so lucky.
2. Le Jardin Secret
Our friends told us it was so hot in Marrakech and I smugly thought ‘Oh I’ll be fine, I lived in Tanzania for a year.’ Wrong. It was really hot in Marrakech in August. Strolling into the secret garden was such a lovely reprieve—not necessarily from the heat itself but from the bustling streets of Marrakech. We strolled through the beautiful and nearly empty gardens before sitting on the terrace above to enjoy an ice cold sparkling water and gaze out over the beautiful tile, foliage and symmetry of Islamic gardens.
3. Night Market at the Medina (Jemaa el-Fnaa)
It is hard to imagine anyone could come to Marrakech and miss the night market in the center of the medina (called Jemaa el-Fnaa) but just in case you were considering skipping it, don’t! It is full of everything—delicious food, hawkers selling shoes and bags and rugs and beautiful lanterns and I could go on. There are also snake charmers, women painting henna, sweet Moroccan treats. It is a place full of life and even if you don’t want to eat or buy anything it is a place to simply be and soak in the city life of Marrakech.
4. Café Des Éspices
Amazing vegetarian food, beautiful views of one of the markets, cool and tasty fruit juices, fans blowing mist, and all at an affordable price. What’s not to love? Our favorite dining experience in Morocco. The sister restaurant Nomad was also good but Café De Éspices stood out as our absolute favorite.
5. Medina for shopping & exploring
If you do want to buy something there are, to me, an unknown amount of alleyways and paths one could take throughout the Medina, the central neighborhood of town. The best way to do this would be without a destination because if you don’t know where you’re going you can’t get lost. We purchased (4!) beautiful Moroccan rugs here and some towels, our friends also bought rugs, towels, lanterns and there were countless other high quality goods we left behind. I admit I’m easily intrigued by beautiful aesthetics and products in other countries but nowhere has come close to Morocco in my desire to have one of each, please.
Honorable mentions
We ate dinner at NOMAD, the older sister to Café Des Éspices. NOMAD is a more formal vibe, also very charming with a wonderful rooftop where you can enjoy the call to prayer and beautiful lanterns. The food was really good but not amazing. We visited the Palace of the bahia and a hammam, which of course is a must. Although the cheap one we picked wasn’t great. So maybe our advice is to not pick a cheap one…
Top 5 Things To Do in Morocco is part of Just Carrying On – Top 5 Things To Do series, which offers our best travel recommendations from around the world.