Three days in Marrakesh: an itinerary for a girls' trip

Marrakesh is a good city for a few days away with friends. It is warm and colorful, the food is good, and the flight is about 3.5 hours from Amsterdam, with most of Western Europe similar. The city is also busy and overwhelming, and without a plan you spend half your time lost in an alley arguing about where to go. This three-day route is the one we would walk ourselves.

Arrange in advance

Book a riad in the medina. With four to eight women you can often rent a whole riad, including breakfast on the roof terrace. Choose one close to a main street, so you also get home easily after dinner. Have the riad arrange an airport transfer, which makes the arrival a lot calmer.

Buy tickets for the Jardin Majorelle online. Bring a scarf, shoes you can walk in all day, and clothes that cover your shoulders and knees. Read our guide on what to wear in Morocco beforehand. Also agree on how you will handle money, or all of you end up at one ATM.

Day 1: the medina and the souks

Start around nine on Jemaa el-Fna square, while it is still quiet. Have an orange juice at one of the stalls and then walk into the souks through Souk Semmarine. You pass clothing, leather, lanterns, spices and carpets. Decide beforehand what you want to buy and what you don't, which makes haggling easier. As a rule of thumb, offer about half the first price and meet each other halfway.

Walk on to the Ben Youssef Madrasa, a former Koranic school with a courtyard full of zellige tilework and carved wood. Nearby is Le Jardin Secret, a restored palace garden where you can catch your breath.

Have lunch on a roof terrace near the Place des Épices. After that, feel free to go back to the riad for an hour, by the pool or on the terrace. In Marrakesh that is simply sensible.

Toward sunset you go back to the square. Find a terrace with a view, watch the square turn into an open-air restaurant, and then eat at one of the stalls where lots of Moroccans are sitting. If you would rather do the souks with someone who knows the vendors and takes you to the craftspeople themselves, look at our souks and crafts tour.

Day 2: palaces, the mellah and a hammam

Today you start in the south of the medina. The Bahia Palace opens at nine. If you are there early, you have the courtyards almost to yourself. Then walk to the Saadian Tombs, with the famous hall of twelve columns. The Badi Palace next door is a ruin with storks on the walls, and from the rampart you have a good view.

Around the corner is the mellah, the old Jewish quarter. The spice market is here, and it is quieter than in the big souks. Have lunch near the Place des Ferblantiers.

The afternoon is for the hammam. Reserve a private hammam in a spa or riad in advance, with a scrub and a massage. With friends a shared session is fun, and less daunting than a public hammam where you don't know the customs yet. Allow an hour and a half to two hours, including mint tea afterward.

Eat in Gueliz tonight, the new town. There are restaurants with a wine list and terraces where Moroccan women also sit in the evening. A metered petit taxi takes you there for a few euros. Ask for the 'compteur' when you get in, and there is no argument about the price.

Eating with a group

With six or eight women at the table, reserving is wise, especially on Friday and Saturday evenings. Riads cook for the whole group on request, which is easiest on the first evening. On the roof terraces around the square you can usually get a table without a reservation if you come before seven. Share the dishes. A few tagines, salads and bread for the whole table is more Moroccan than a plate each.

Day 3: Majorelle and the Agafay desert

Go to the Jardin Majorelle at opening time, the garden of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. The cobalt blue, the cacti and the Berber museum are worth it, and so is the YSL museum next door if you like fashion. Then stroll through Gueliz for coffee and the better concept stores.

For the afternoon and evening you can go two ways. The first is a cooking workshop, where you make a tagine and salads together and then eat them. The second is the Agafay desert, about 45 minutes away by car. Don't expect sand dunes there: it is a stony, rolling landscape with a view of the Atlas Mountains. You take a camel ride or a walk, watch the sunset and eat in a camp under the stars. Soukayna drives you there and back, so nobody has to go easy on the wine. How such an evening goes is described under our Agafay desert day trip.

Pace and group dynamics

Three days in Marrakesh with a group is intense. This helps:

• Agree on one fixed meeting point for lunch each morning, so anyone who wants to can wander alone for an hour.
• Keep the afternoon quiet. Between one and four it is hottest and busiest.
• Divide the tasks. Let one person handle the taxis, one keep an eye on the map and one keep track of the shared money.
• Put an offline map on your phone, because the connection drops out in the souks.

Staying longer?

If you have five or six days, combine Marrakesh with a day in Essaouira on the coast or a night in the Atlas Mountains. With a week you can even reach the real sand desert near Merzouga.