Marrakesh

We took a flight from Eindhoven to Marrakech and arrived to extremely hot weather, with a feels-like temperature of around 40°C. We had planned to take a bus to our accommodation, but the bus never arrived, so we decided to take a taxi instead. Since we picked it up from the bus stop and our accommodation wasn’t too far away, we managed to get a slightly cheaper fare and paid 40 MAD.

We stayed at Riad L’Encens Oriental & Spa, and I highly recommend staying in a riad when visiting Marrakech. This one was in a quieter area away from the busiest part of the city, had a small pool, and included breakfast. After arriving, we dropped off our things, took a shower, and went out to explore the area for the rest of the afternoon.

We walked towards Jemaa el-Fnaa, the main square in Marrakech, passing through the souks and small shops along the way. We had a simple sandwich at a very local place for dinner and then continued exploring for a while. I also bought a bracelet with my name written in Arabic, which was such a nice souvenir. It was originally 100 MAD, but I managed to pay 80 MAD. One tip when shopping in Marrakech is to negotiate prices, as it is part of the culture. We also noticed that prices tend to be higher the closer you get to the city center. After a long and hot day, we went back to the riad to rest and get some sleep before the next day.

We had a slow morning and enjoyed a delicious breakfast at our riad before heading out to explore the souks again. We spent hours getting lost in the narrow streets, discovering small shops and enjoying the atmosphere. At some point, we stopped for an iced coffee, which cost 30 MAD.

For lunch, we asked a local Moroccan man if he knew a good and affordable place to eat. He showed us a small local restaurant serving sandwiches, where we paid only 25 MAD. After lunch, we went back to the riad to relax by the pool, as the day was extremely hot.

In the evening, we went out for dinner and found Darna, where we decided to try traditional Moroccan tajine. It was delicious and a great way to end the day. We then returned to the riad to relax and get some sleep.

We started our third day with another delicious breakfast at the riad. After breakfast, we packed our bags and left them at reception while we went out to do some last-minute shopping before heading to our next destination. One tip I would give is to shop a little further away from the main tourist areas, as the prices are usually much better.

For lunch, we went back to the same small restaurant we had visited the day before. This time, we tried Moroccan-style tacos, which are very common in Morocco but are quite different from Mexican tacos. They are more influenced by French fast food, usually made with a soft tortilla filled with things like meat, fries, and sauce. It was really tasty.

After lunch, we returned to the riad to pick up our bags and then headed to the pickup point for our bus. We were leaving Marrakech and continuing our journey towards the coast, to Tamraght, where we planned to spend the rest of the trip relaxing, working, and surfing.

For getting from Marrakech to the coastal towns, I recommend using Souk to Surf. It was very easy to book our bus tickets through the website, and we paid around €25 for the one-way trip.