About Marrakesh – Learn all about Marrakech
Location:
Marrakech has become the Moroccan tourism capital in
the latest ten years, so it is quite usual to have tourists all over the year.
Marrakech is known as the red city and is one of the most important former
imperial cities in Moroccan history, with its alleys and minarets. It is inside
the Medina that the life of the people who live there takes place and where the
tourists enjoy to be. Outside the Medina there is the modern city. Thus,
Marrakech turns out to be the perfect combination between the new and the old.
You can leave Marrakech, but you will always remember it by its odors, its
music and its people.
The name Marrakech originates from the Amazigh (Berber)
words mur (n) akush, which means "Land of God." It is the third
largest city in Morocco after Casablanca and Rabat, and lies near the foothills
of the snow capped Atlas Mountains and a few hours away from the Sahara Desert.
Its location and contrasting landscape have made it an enviable destination in
Morocco.
Get
in
·
By plane
Marrakech-Menara Airport is an international airport
with direct scheduled flights coming in from Cairo, London, Stockholm, Paris
and Madrid and many charter flights arriving from all over Europe and Africa.
If you are flying from the US, Canada, Asia or elsewhere, you'll have to change
planes in Casablanca.
Plenty of low-cost companies now fly to Marrakech.
Some companies fly to Casablanca, where a plane change for the 45 min flight to
Marrakech can be made.
The airport is located about 9km (6 miles) from the
city. The best option, if you don't have too much luggage, is by bus (line 19).
Otherwise it's easier to take a taxi which takes about 15 minutes to get to the
center of the Medina.
· By train
The train station is in the recently developed Guéliz
district at Avenue Hassan II. For train times and schedules, check out the
Moroccan Railway website (www.oncf.ma).
Trains from Casablanca (2nd class 84 Dh/ 1st class
150Dh, 3 hours), Rabat and Tangier connect with most domestic rail destinations
in the country, with Marrakech as the southernmost stop. Trains run regularly
between Marrakech and Casablanca (including the International Airport). They
arrive around every two hours and regularly from other destinations like Rabat.
Every day there are 8 direct 7 hour trains to Fez via Casablanca Voyageurs
station and another two direct connections to Tangier.
Djemaa el Fna is the most exciting place to be in
Marrakech, the place where everything happens. It is the main square of the
city, [and a place] where locals and tourists have fun together. As you arrive
in Djemaa el Fna, if it is daylight there are the orange juice stalls, chained
apes so you can photograph them, and sellers of almost everything such as
handbags, shoes and food. The water sellers are a picturesque attraction of the
square with their large hats and colorful clothes. There are also the snake
charmers – you have to pay to photograph them. Everyone tries to sell you
something and you have to bargain.
At night, the square wakes up for another life. There
are more people seeing the dancers, the musicians, the story-tellers with
Berber tales and peddlers. At night, part of the square is occupied by dozens
of food-stalls that are like restaurants in the open air. Djemaa el Fna is Oral
and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, to protect their traditions and
cultural diversity. Near Djemaa el Fna, you will also find the souks that are
like shops to buy everything you want. Djemaa El-Fna is surrounded by
labyrinths and alleys of souks covering all the Medina.
Outside the Medina you have a new city. With hotels
and modern restaurants, bars and discos where tourists have fun. If you want,
you can go on a tour in a caleche (a carriage with horses) and discover the
inside of the Medina. You have to be careful so you don’t get lost inside the
souks when you go shopping.
