Let me start off my saying, my experience of Marrakesh was very different from that of a lot of people on social media. Before heading off, my fyp was flooded with accounts of women being harassed, scammed, robbed or just generally being made to feel uncomfortable. I had entirely the opposite experience. I wandered around on my own on our first day in Marrakesh and I found the locals to be nothing but welcoming, warm and actually caring. My offline maps hadn’t downloaded properly so when I was trying to head back to my hotel, I ended up kinda lost. I clearly wasn’t doing a good job at hiding my confusion because someone in a shop literally said, ‘I remember you coming, your hotel is that way’. He didn’t follow me, he didn’t ask for money for the hint, he wasn’t creepy in any way, (and yes my hotel was indeed in the direction that he pointed out).

This is not me saying to visit Marrakesh and walk around blind – you need to have your wits about you anywhere you go, nor is it me trying to invalidate the experiences of others. It is me saying that if you’re on the fence about a trip to Marrakesh and safety is your biggest concern, please rethink. 

If your concern is the ridiculous scenes at the airport, that rumour is 100% fact. The Marrakesh airport is trash. Anyways, let’s get to the good stuff…   

I arrived early on the Saturday morning, waited over an 1hr in arrivals and finally I was out onto the chaotic streets of Marrakesh. I thought driving in London was bad but Marrakesh is an entirely different beast. There are cars, motorbikes, regular degular bikes, horses, donkeys and hella people, all trying to navigate busy, narrow treacherous streets. It’s loud, it’s vibrant, it’s hectic and then I arrived at my home for the night, Dar Darma Riad. The lighting is low and moody and the only sound you can hear is that of birdsong. When people talk about Riad’s being the calm within the Marrakesh storm, they’re all the way right – it really was an oasis of calm as soon as you entered through the door. 

Taking a moment, I explored the place, took some pics and vids, (she’s in her influencer era after all), and gathered myself to head back out. A brief walk away, I found Ben Youssef Madrasa. 

Everything tells you to get there early to beat the crowds, I figured I’d go when I arrived, (by which time it was about noon), thinking ‘how busy could it be?’… There were hordes of people so walking around was actually quite difficult. That being said Ben Youssef Madrasa is a stunning building. 

Constructed in 1565, it was used for 400 years as a school, particularly for the studies of religious science. The 136 rooms spanning across 2 floors, including the rooms for the students, can still be seen today, with gorgeous mosaic tiling, laid out in a perfectly symmetrical way that is so common in Arabic architecture. The whole place was restored by hand (!) in 2018 by artisans from Fez where the original techniques originate.

Although it’s beautiful, I was glad to get away from the crowds. If you’re going to visit, defo go early when it opens at 9am, or else just prepare yourself for it to be rammo busy. 

My next stop was my Hammam – you can’t go to Morocco and not have a traditional Hammam. I chose Marajah Spa but others I shortlisted include La Sultana, Royal Mansour, Les Bains, La Mamounia and Alphais Spa. 

Marajah Spa were so gracious that they managed to fit me in, even though I was almost 1hr late for my original appointment. I had the ‘traditional’ package which consisted of being washed, scrubbed and oiled to within an inch of my life by a lady who had the same name as me. (She dubbed herself Khadijah no. 1 though – as she should). At one point, I was lying there on the tiles with nothing but a pamphlet string bikini bottom covering my long gone modesty, whilst the steam filled the room, relaxed as hell. After my wash, I was taken to a larger room for more relaxing. I was brought a cool towel for my face, Moroccan tea, biscuits and given a foot massage. Then, two different oils were brought out for me to pick which one I preferred for my massage. I can’t really tell you what happened during said full body massage because I fell deadout asleep. It was honestly the most relaxing spa experience I’ve ever had and all that – a total of 1hr30 of being washed, scrubbed, sauna’ed, given snacks and massaged PLUS the scrubbing mit – cost a grand total of £55.

I headed back to my Riad to unpack, and get ready for our night at Comptoir Darna. We had an issue with taxis, (I recommend finding a taxi driver and just liaising directly with them to ferry you around. Drop me a comment if you’d like the name and number of the driver we used), so we ended up being 1hr late for our booking. The restaurant itself is huge and super lively, with 2 outside spaces, entertainment and an upstairs bar where people were shaking a leg. 

We left early though because we had to be up at the ass crack of dawn the next morning for something super exciting…