Travel Tips
What to Wear in Morocco: A Practical Dress Guide for Women and Men
What to wear in Morocco's cities, the desert, the mountains and the coast, with season-by-season advice for women and men.
Explore Marrakech's medina with a licensed local guide: Koutoubia, Bahia Palace, the souks, craft quarters and Jemaa el-Fnaa in one easy morning walk.
The medina of Marrakech, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985, is a maze of lanes, derbs and covered souks that can feel overwhelming on your own. On this three-hour walking tour a licensed Marrakchi guide leads you through its landmarks and back alleys at an easy pace, explaining the history of the Almoravid, Almohad and Saadian dynasties that shaped the city.
You start beneath the Koutoubia Mosque, whose 12th-century Almohad minaret (around 77 m) remains the medina's tallest landmark. From there you walk south into the kasbah district and the old Jewish quarter, the Mellah, before visiting the 19th-century Bahia Palace, famous for its carved cedar ceilings, zellige tilework and courtyards planted with orange trees.
The second half of the walk winds north through the souks: the spice square of Rahba Kedima, the dyers' lane, and workshops where metalworkers, leatherworkers and woodcarvers still use hand tools. Your guide explains how to judge quality and how bargaining works, with no obligation to buy anything. The tour ends on Jemaa el-Fnaa, the great square whose storytellers and musicians earned it UNESCO recognition as intangible heritage.
This is the ideal first activity in the city: you finish with a mental map of the medina that makes the rest of your stay far easier. See our Marrakech travel guide for more ideas, or return to the square after dark on our guided Marrakech street food tour.
Meet your guide in the gardens beside the Koutoubia. A short introduction covers the medina's layout and the dynasties that built it.
Walk through the kasbah quarter and into the Mellah, the historic Jewish district, with its spice market and distinctive balconied houses.
Tour the courtyards, reception rooms and gardens of the Bahia Palace, built in the late 19th century for the grand viziers.
Head north through Rahba Kedima and the covered souks, stopping at workshops of metalworkers, leatherworkers and dyers.
End on the main square with recommendations for lunch, museums and the rest of your stay.
In front of the Koutoubia Mosque, at the entrance to the Koutoubia gardens on Avenue Mohammed V. Your guide will hold a Ouirgane Marrakech Guide sign.
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