Marrakech City Guide - overview

Traversing the alleyways and souks of Marrakech, particularly in the Medina (Old City), it is easy to believe you have been transported back in time or stumbled onto a movie set for a medieval 'Arabian nights' production. It is this enchanting fairy tale quality that brings thousands of sightseers to the most visited of Morocco's three Imperial Cities. The heart of the Medina is Djemaa el-Fna, an irregular 'square' where everything seems to happen and the place to which tourists are drawn again and again to soak up the carnival-like environment. Tourism, though, has not spoilt the atmosphere, but seemingly rather added to it. The modern side of Marrakech with its luxury hotels, banks and streets bursting with motor scooters, blends well with the past in a metropolis made up of the peoples of the Berber Atlas tribes, Mahgrebis from the plains, and Saharan nomads.

Marrakech was founded in 1062 by Youssef bin Tachfine of the Almoravid dynasty, and his son perfected the city by bringing in architects and craftsmen from Cordoba to build palaces, baths, mosques and a subterranean water system. The city walls were raised from the red mud of the plains, with the snow-covered peaks of the High Atlas Mountains forming a backdrop for the city, though they are often hidden by the heat haze.

One of the many ways to soak up the sights and sounds of Marrakech is in one of the hundreds of horse-drawn carriages, known as caleches, that are for hire, but it is also necessary to take in the Medina's souks on foot, plunging into the hurly burly maelstrom of passages where tradesmen ply various crafts, from cloth dying, copper beating, and leather working to herbalists, perfumers and slipper makers, and where shopkeepers cajole passing tourists into taking a look at their glorious array of colourful crafts.

Getting around: Driving in the city of Marrakech is difficult unless you know your way around; the narrow alleyways of the central urban medina area are a confusing warren of one-way streets. Public buses are a bit of a free-for-all, but they are cheap, frequent and cover the entire city. Beige-coloured petits taxis are cheap with metered fares and can be hailed on the streets; Mercedes Benz sedans are called grands taxis and also cover routes between cities and towns.