5 day Marrakech Itinerary (and comments)
Marrakech Itinerary Sunday - April 2026
Thought I’d share our exact Marrakech itinerary (with some additional comments) because reading other people’s plans helped me a lot before going.
Day 1 — Arrival & Medina Evening
Arrival
D1.1 Landed in Marrakech @ 12.30pm
a. Security was a breeze as we only had backpacks
b. I recommend getting sim cards from inside the airport (there was very little price difference in and out of the airport). Inside the airport, it was 200 dhs for 20gb of data
c. There are 3 Atms just outside of security, but only 1 was working. Every atm we used had fees of around 35-45dhs. But this city is very cash heavy, so make sure you have enough for 2 days at a time - I think only 3 places accepted card
d. Used inDrive from the airport. Have to wait 10 minutes to get accepted and paid 150dhs to bab aylan. There were 4 of us, and even I found that not all the 4 seater taxis on indrive actually accept 4 passengers, so give them a heads up in the app
D1.2 We went to Cafe Rayhana. It was okay, nothing special
D1.3 Checked into our riad
a. We paid sales tax in cash
b. For those interested, we stayed at "Maison de Standing - Medina de Marrakech." We loved it (although it was a 15/20min walk to the centre, and there was a bit of noise in the night) on booking.com it came to £314 GBP which was a bargain for 4 nights as its a whole house to yourself
D1.4 we walked to the main square using Google maps
a. A lot of the roads leading to the square have shops. The further out you are, the cheaper the smaller items are (e.g., an orange juice right next to our alley was 8dhs versus 20dhs in the square)
b. At the smaller shops near the hotel, there is no need to barter for normal items like large water (6dhs) eggs (1dhs per egg), the shopkeepers are all pretty chill
c. The Souks were nice. No one pressures you when you look at things like other countries. Although if you take pictures of people singing in the square or with snakes / monkeys, be expected to pay (we thought this would be obvious, but a lot of other tourists seemed surprised by this.
D1.5 Dinner at La Fontaine des Espices
a. I should preface this whole thing by saying I wasn't a massive fan of eating tagine so often
b. The food itself was below par in our experience there. We also requested a rooftop table in advance, which I regret now as you can't see the musicians. The middle floor would have been better
D1.6 The trip back to the hotel
a. Surprisingly, I haven't seen anyone mention this, but some routes back in the Souks are closed. Like the door is literally shut. It didn't feel unsafe as there are loads of tourists as lost as you are. We just looked on Google maps for other alleys we could take that got us on track
b. Don't accept any help from locals. We had no issues but did speak to a couple of people who said they did and got intimidated into paying 100dhs and weren't even led to the correct place
Day 2 - Palace / Souks / Nobu
D2.1 Breakfast
a. I previously touched on us, making our own breakfast and ingredients relatively cheap. Our little hidden gem was a place they have called Ferrans (these are little rooms they have in streets that freshly bake bread every morning). we were paying 3dhs for hot local style breads. Bonus points that there was one a few steps from the hotel
b. Our hotel had a terrace where we ate breakfast, so we didn't really bother going out, although we saw quite a few locals dipping bread in tea on small stalls in the street
D2.3 Bahia palace / El Badi palace / Koutoubia mosque
a. Bahia Palace is really pretty and so much to see. El badi was quite empty, sadly. Koutoubia mosque, you can only go in if you are 1. A Muslim & 2. It's prayer times
D2.4 dedicated Souk route
a. We didn't realise this but certain parts of the souks are more famous for certain things. Depending on what you want, it might be easier if you find the area that specialises in it
b. We did travel to this one place near the hotel called poterie abdel, where all they sell is Ceramics. The price is pretty similar to the main bazaar, but the options are endless. If you are staying in the centre it would only be worth it if you are buying quite a few things
c. We grabbed lunch at a random place in the Souks, and some 15dhs mixed meat sandwiches as well (these were so good) we just went for the busiest one because we knew the meat wasn't sat there for ages
2.5. Dinner at Nobu
a. It's a really cool rooftop pool, but sadly, only guests can sit right next to the pool. You can go up there for pics
b. It's a cool dubai like vibe anyways but their reservations only give you a spot for 1 hour, so we booked 2 x 1-hour spots. It has a minimum spend of 500dhs per person, which is easily achieved
c. The sunset was the other side, so I didn't get to see this properly
Day 3 - Ourika Valley
Went with this link on get your guide
D3.1 This was probably our fav experience (especially for my parents). Booked online, and they messaged the day before to confirm pick up. Pick up was on time and in a 15/16 seater comfy minibus (with Ac). With one driver and an assistant who spoke excellent English and French
3.2 The first stop was the argan coop. They showed us all the plants they use in the oil which we could smell etc, the women making the argan oil (both roasted and unroasted) and then we had some tea etc, following this there was a chance to buy some oils which were neither super cheap or extortionate. There was no pressure at all to buy
3.3 We opted to have a 3 course meal by the river. This was a great experience and such a good photo scene. Drinks are an extra 15 dhs.
3.4. From the river, we walked to the waterfall and done the hike. I personally would have liked this to be a proper hike, but it was a gentle 45min up
3.5. On the way back, we visited a berber house for about 15 minutes. It was cool to see how people lived and reminded me of travels to villages in Pakistan / India. They did have a shop here, which in my opinion was very overpriced
3.6. Tips were not included, but there was no pressure to tip. We did, but it's done very discreetly. We did not notice anyone else tipping but could have just missed this
3.7. We were quite tired on the way home, so we got a light bite to eat at a small cafe nearish where we were staying.
Day 4 - Bacha Coffee / Shopping / Spa / Square
D4.1 Our finally full day started with getting to Bacha Coffee at 10. By the time we got to the front of the queue, they said its a 3 hour wait, so we sacked this off
D4.2 Instead, we did some marketplace shopping - we got the majority of our shopping in a place called MusMusBio. I would say one thing that stood out in all the shops is that there's no pressure to buy like other markets I've been to.
D4.3 the spas.. I wish I could comment on the spa I booked (Medina spa), but sadly, even though I confirmed the night before, they didn't write my reservation down and double booked me.
Instead, I went to Bains D'Or (with my dad), which had space. This was 500dhs each (+5% card fee), and we got a hammam and massage. This is a decent experience
Pros:
Well priced
Really good massage (we both fell asleep)
Nice service during it
Cons:
The changing area is just a curtain
There was a language barrier, so we didn't understand why we were being left for a bit during the hammam
We were in the same room
The girls went to a spa called "Riad Nyla," and they loved it
D4.4 we went home to nap and then in the evening went back to the square
Day 5 - Flight out
D5.1 We woke up and had our final breakfast and then went to a teahouse called "1112 Marrakech." This was such a cool experience. They have loads of different types of teas, and you can even try a mix and match selection
D5.2 We then went to our favourite food places again (mine was the sandwiches) for a snack and wandered around the Souks for the last time
D5.3 Flight home - we didn't need to have printed off our boarding passes like we were told. The mobile scan was enough
Although I loved our trip, one thing to highlight is that we were a mixed group of guys and girls. We did notice a pretty big difference in how women were approached when they were without men compared to when we were together as a group. Most interactions were polite, but it’s something worth being aware of.