What to do in Morocco for 4 days
by The Adventure People on 29th January 2019
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Guest Blog
My name is Debbie Petrova, I’m 24 and living in London. I have a full-time office job by day and by night I relentlessly browse the web, planning my next adventures around the globe. The goal? 30 countries visited by the age of 30. Halfway there already! I am a self-taught photographer, travel blogger, website creator and drone flyer – awaiting my first crash! You can read more about my adventures on: www.debbiesdaydream.com Morocco has been on my bucket list for a very long time, in particular, the beautiful city of Marrakech. I’ve always associated this enchanting place with one of my favourites Disney movies; Aladdin. And it really felt like I was in a whole new magical world! …pun intended What made this trip even more special, was that for the first time ever, me and my partner (Marco) travelled to a new destination with another couple (his cousin; Debbie and boyfriend; Aaron).Day 1
10:00 am arrival at the airport: Marrakesh Menara DAYDREAM TIP: Don’t forget to bring your own pen! – Here you’ll have to fill out a form before you can get past border control. We didn’t, so we had to wait a while to get our hands on one. If you’re not here for long you don’t want to waste precious time looking for a pen. Finding a cab to take us to our hotel was easier than booking an Uber on your smartphone! There are dozens of drivers already waiting for you. Remember, here is where the negotiating starts, do not accept the first price they tell you because it probably 3 x more than you should be paying. Once we were settled into our hotel rooms and refreshed for the long day ahead, we arranged for a chauffer to drive us to all the places that were on our list, for the duration of the day. – Yes, I know… LAZY!! But in our defence we were exhausted and did not have enough time to walk to each place. Also, for the rate of 300Dhs per person (GBP23), we could not have refused. (we negotiated for that price, it was much higher). Our driver took us to the following places:MAJORELLE GARDENS
I’d say it’s probably the most stunning botanical garden I have ever laid my eyes on! Entry fee: 70Dhs = GBP 6 per person DAYDREAM TIP: Come here early!! – We waited in a line to get in for about 20min and it was very crowded…. but totally worth it.BAHIA PALACE
Continues with the theme of beautiful gardens. Bahia Palace means ‘brilliance’ – it was intended to be the greatest palace of its time, capturing the essence of the Moroccan style. You can’t help but to feel overwhelmed by the intricate detail involved in everything you lay your eyes on; from the structure to the courtyards. All designed by craftsmen brought in from Fez. Entrance fee: 10Dhs = GBP 0.80pBEN YOUSSEF MADRASA
This is a little bit of a sad story. Our driver had to leave us at one of the many entrances of the Medina because Ben Youssef is situated inside the souks and the only way to get there is by foot. As soon as we got out of the car, we were approached by a very friendly local who insisted on walking us through the souks. We told him where we were headed to and to our surprise he told us that its impossible for us to see Ben Youssef today because it was currently under construction.MEDINA; SOUKS
Although we were unable to visit one of the places on our list, we weren’t disappointed for long because our friendly local completely transformed our trip around. He gave us the most amazing experience we never expected. We went completely off the beaten track and were shown behind the scenes of the trade; from seeing how shoes are made to learning about how carpets are dyed and the different types of fabric that is used for each one. All is handcrafted in the same place that it is sold. It’s worth mentioning that our local friend never asked us to give him gratitude for completely improving our experience in Marrakesh by giving us the best tour of the souks. However, we felt that he deserved a very generous tip for his time and efforts. Please be mindful of this when exploring countries that rely heavily on the tourism industry.Day 2
07:00 am start! We began our 2-day desert tour in a 4×4 with our private driver Karim. The journey time from Marrakesh to Zagora is 7 hours long, however, we stopped many times along the way to rest and view some incredible places; including the ancient walled city of Aït Ben Haddou. These beautiful and unique paintings are drawn using saffron, mint and Berber whiskey. The colours of the painting slowly begin to appear once it is held over a flame. 16:00 pm – We finally made it to the Zagora desert. Our guide Mustafa was waiting to take us to our private Berber camp with our next mode of transport; camels! Each of us climbed onto our designated camel and set off into what seemed to be a never-ending road of sand. Halfway through our journey to the camp, Mustafa suddenly stopped and helped us off our camels. He pointed towards a very high and steep hill and told us to follow him up. We are so glad that we did because when we got to the top, we watched the most beautiful sunset in the Sahara Desert. We cut open a watermelon with a STONE whilst the sun was setting over the Zagora desert. At around 17:30 pm we arrived at the communal Berber camp. The lovely staff welcomed us with mint tea and showed us to our very own (spacious) tents. We ate tagine, told stories of our travels, sang and danced around the fire under an endless diamond sky. It was the most unforgettable experience.Day 3
Woke up at 06:30 am in order to watch the sunrise as we were told by the staff that it is a must do when staying in the Zagora desert. This involved climbing a very steep hill all the way to the top! – and we weren’t disappointed. Once we got down, we ate breakfast, packed our bags and were taken back to our driver Karim, on camelback. It’s worth mentioning that if you are in Morocco for longer than 4 days and want to experience what camping out in a real desert with endless sand dunes is like, Zagora is not the place that can offer that for you. Try Merzouga instead! Another 7 hours later, we were taken to our beautiful riad in the old Medina and said our goodbyes with Karim. DAYDREAM TIP: If you are in Marrakech, be sure to stay at a riad for at least 1 night. A riad is a house that is built around a courtyard, with a central fountain and many plants.Day 4
Our very last day in Morocco. We woke up early and had breakfast in the beautiful courtyard of our riad, whilst listening to the birds chirp. Packed our bags and took a taxi back to the airport. DAYDREAM TIP: Be sure to print out your boarding pass upon your outbound flight from Marrakech. This is because there are no electronic scanners at the airport as it is very old.
