Marrakech behind the stalls: a museum terrace, a local bakery
A photography museum with a terrace, a spice apothecary, and a bakery the neighbourhood brings its own dough to — Marrakesh behind the stalls.
- Where
- Off the main axis of Jemaa el-Fna
- When
- In the morning
- How long
- Half an hour apiece
The medina has a thousand lanes and ninety per cent of visitors walk through twenty of them. What stays with you about Marrakesh is not the lamp stall but what is behind it — and it is usually free or nearly so.
Le Jardin Secret
A garden inside the medina walls, restored in 2016 after half a century of neglect, with its original irrigation from the khettara — underground channels that bring water from the Atlas. Two gardens, one Islamic and one exotic, and a tower with a view over the medina. Ten minutes from Ben Youssef and three times quieter.
The photography museum and its terrace
A small private collection of photographs of Morocco from 1870 to 1950, in a restored house in the northern medina. The collection is interesting, but the real reason is the roof terrace: from it you see the whole northern medina with the Atlas behind, and up there it is almost always empty.
The communal bakery
Several ferran still work in the medina — bakeries the neighbourhood brings its own kneaded dough to in the morning and collects as bread at noon. They do not sell bread; they bake other people's. They are unmarked and do not receive visitors as an attraction; if you come across one and the baker nods, it is the best free moment Marrakesh offers.
Four more
- A herboristerie — a spice apothecary selling spices, oils and teas with an explanation of what each is. You buy little and learn more than in the souk.
- The tanneries — leather pits in the north of the medina, worked as they were eight hundred years ago. The smell is strong and you are handed a sprig of mint; do not go with a „guide“ who intercepts you in the street.
- The Mellah — the former Jewish quarter with a synagogue and cemetery, beside a spice market cheaper than the souk.
- Roof terraces — almost every small café in the medina has one. Mint tea costs the same up there as down here, and the difference is the whole city at your feet.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
What is the best free thing in Marrakesh?
The roof terraces of medina cafés, the communal bakery if you find one, and the square itself after sunset. None of the three charges entry.
Are the tanneries worth it?
Yes if the craft interests you and you can take the smell. Do not go with a man who stops you in the street insisting you need a guide — your riad can arrange a proper visit.
Can I take photographs on the square?
Yes, if you agree first. Ask the price before you shoot, not after — after, it climbs, and you get an argument instead of a picture.
Ready for Marrakech?
Where to next
Marrakech in 3 days
→The medina in the morning, gardens at midday and the square only after dark — three days that respect the…
Ait Ben Haddou · 105 km
→A mud-and-straw village with more film credits than most actors
How well does Marrakech suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
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