Evening stalls
Street food and grill smoke.
Michal Osmenda from Brussels, Belgium — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Ben Bender — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Miguel Discart — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Miguel Discart — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Houssain tork — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Yair Haklai — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Steven Lek — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Hector Garcia — CC BY-SA 2.0
The great square of Marrakech's old city and its beating heart for centuries, where locals and visitors meet in a scene like nowhere else. In 2001 UNESCO proclaimed its cultural space a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, recognising the storytelling and street performance that come alive here every day. By day the square fills with fresh orange-juice carts, sellers of dates and nuts, henna artists and musicians, ringed by cafés with terraces looking down on it all. At sunset everything changes: dozens of food stalls set up, grill smoke rises, and crowds gather around storytellers, musicians and Gnawa bands in circles that last late into the night. The minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque rises above the square, and from it the covered souk lanes branch into the heart of the medina, selling leather, spices, brass and carpets. The finest view is from a surrounding café terrace at sunset, as the smoke rises and the stalls light up. Wandering the square is free; agree prices before you eat or buy. Be wary of anyone offering a photo with an animal or a henna design without first agreeing the price, and watch your bag in the crowds.
Street food and grill smoke.
Tellers and musicians.
The sunset view.
Heart of the medina, Marrakech
Koutoubia MosqueMarrakech's largest mosque and its best-known symbol, founded by the Almohad cal6 minutes walk
Dar Si Said MuseumA late nineteenth-century palace in the medina, built between 1894 and 1900 by S7 minutes walk
Ben Youssef MadrasaA historic Islamic college in the north of Marrakech's medina, named after the n9 minutes walk
Bahia PalaceA nineteenth-century palace in the medina, begun by the grand vizier Si Musa in 10 minutes walk
El Badi PalaceThe ruins of a lavish palace commissioned by the Saadian sultan Ahmad al-Mansur 11 minutes walkGo twice: by day for juice and the souks, then at and after sunset when the stalls and performance circles begin, its finest hours.