Marrakech holds a special place in my heart – it’s where I met my boyfriend/travel partner/best friend/room-mate, known on the blog as the Dutch Hunk. Find out more about how we met here.
From riding camels, sleeping under the stars and dancing and bongo drum dance parties in the Sahara Desert, to seeing my best friend naked in the Hammam, throwing up in the night market in full view of everyone, getting hit on 5000 times by men of all ages, finding a love of Moroccan mint tea, hunting for bargains in the depths of the Souks, to getting wild moustache henna tattoos on our fingers, it was all amazing and the photographs do not do it justice.
I had 3 days in Marrakech during the 6 days in Morocco and this thriving, bustling city blew me away!
Here’s a couple of important things you need to know before you go to Marrakech!
It is best experienced with all 5 senses
For travelers to Marrakesh, it certainly is a place for experiencing with all five senses: it is loud, it smells like all the spices, the streets are always bustling, everything is colourful, and the food is divine.
As a female you WILL be objectified
Every male I saw made comments like “I love your booty, come here I give you good deal cos of your breasts, if you can’t afford – I let you know I am single!” etc. I noticed many females find these comments appalling and offensive. Obviously they are offensive, especially when coming from a 12 year olds mouth.
But it’s something I chose not to let bother me. This is the best piece of advice I can give for your time in Marrakech. Should a 12 year old boy tell you that you have a sweet ass really detract from such an exciting and amazing place? I really hope it doesn’t!
How to Get To Marrakech:
My friend and I took a flight from London with Ryanair after work, and arrived into Marrakesh airport at 11:30pm. The 3.5 hour flight on Ryanair is not ideal – we purchased exit-row for a bit more space, which was a great idea!
After the flight, we spent another 2 hours in the customs line at Menara Airport. As we had pre-booked with our hostel to be picked up, once we had finally gotten through customs, we were then greeted by a guy with no sign, but he knew our names. We took this as the high of legitamacy for Marrakech and jumped intp his car. We zoomed down the highway, wide-eyed, exclaiming “We are in Morocco!” until our taxi finally pulled up at the large public square around 2am. From here, the owner of the hostel was waiting for us and walked us through the puzzling streets to the hostel.
Where we stayed
We stayed at the Rainbow Marrakesh hostel which was only a couple of minutes away from the souks. At £6 per night, I was impressed with the set up! The only thing the hostel could do with is air-conditioning. Those rooms can get hot. But, with fans, it’s not so bad. Our room however, was on the rooftop, with a breeze, so no fan needed!
MARRAKESH Sights
The Souks are so much fun! I love a bit of banter, so the Souks were right up my alley! I was able to snag some flat leather sandals for my mum and I, a head scarf for the dessert (needed to look like a local!), and some fun Moroccan pants!
Within the Souks we found a Pharmacy which was more like an apothocary with things like powder deoderant and perfume sticks, as well as strange creatures is tubes and Moroccan natural VIAGRA!!
The Leather Tannery we visited smelled to high heaven – if you have a queasy stomach this one is probably not for you! However, being able to see how cow hide becomes a foot poof is quite a sight.
An experience in itself is going to the Night Market for dinner. There are 100 different stalls with chairs and tables in front of them, in rows. Everyone is hawking at you to come and eat at their restaurant – so the best part of the adventure is bartering for your group to have a discount or extra food or drinks for free, etc.
After dinner, we went for henna tattoes, smoked shisha on the rooftop of our hostel, and called it a night around 3am.
Tips for Morocco
- Do NOT in any way drink the water.
- Do not try to handle the local fruit you see which you don’t know what it is, they have invisible stingers that’ll get ya!
- If you want to ride into the sunset Sahara, bring a bum-pillow
- But most of all – ENJOY! It’s a remarkable place!
Morocco Video
I created a video of my time in Morocco with the Magiston App, see it here: My Morocco Video
Australian expat, married to a Dutch guy, living in Amsterdam. Previously lived in London for 3 years, too! Lover of travel, coffee, brunch, beaches, fresh flowers, and family. Now a new mum, navigating life with a baby!
