We left off yesterday heading to bed early as we had a 5.30am start to watch the sunrise over the Atlas Mountains… In a hot air balloon.

If you know me well, you’ll know that I am scared of heights so putting my life in the hands of a big ol’ balloon and wicker basket had me quaking in my flip flops, for real. Once we were up though, it was so peaceful. There were some classic tunes, and our pilot, Wafia, was getting allll the angles for people’s pictures whilst keeping us safe and sound at 1,200m in the air. We booked this experience on Viator. It’s pricey but includes a welcome tea & coffee, the hot air balloon ride, a traditional breakfast afterwards and transfers. Also, when am I going to be 20-something again watching the sunrise over the Atlas Mountain with my bestie? Exactly, book the damn experience.

After conquering my fears, we went back to the Riad to chill before heading out to the markets and Jemaa el-Fnaa square. The markets are like a rabbit warren but nowhere near as intimidating as I had been led to believe. Of course sellers want you in their shop, but a simple ‘no thanks’, or ‘la shukran’ with a smile goes a very long way. If you find something at one shop that you like but the price isn’t great, keep it stepping, I promise you that you’ll find another stall selling the exact same thing just a couple metres away. I managed to get some tea and rose water whilst Siham got a teapot and a incense burner.

Our next stop was at the YSL Museum and the Jardin Majorelle. I have to be honest about these, unless you are super duper into fashion, you could probably skip the YSL Museum. The Jardin is cute, (probably better on a cooler day to be able to sit around and chill), and there’s a really great Berber Museum in there. I reckon, if you didn’t go to these two attractions though, you wouldn’t be missing out on much.

We changed hotels for the night, (more on that coming up!), headed for dinner and crashed out. Our following morning was slow, but around lunchtime, we headed to the desert. The Agafay Desert is about 1hr drive outside of Marrakesh and is a sprawling rocky landscape. There are various camps with offerings like over night stays, pool access, camel rides and quad biking. We chose Al Kamar Camp for an afternoon of pure chill. It was a total of ~£36 for pool access, sun loungers, towels and lunch included, (transportation was additional). The lunch was actually pretty good and the vibe of the whole place was immaculate. Cash is really and truly King in Marrakesh though so make sure you have your entry fee in cash.

That night was my favourite night of the trip. As per, I’ll do a brief rundown of everywhere we ate and drank in the separate post. I had an early flight home the following day so we called it a night but not before standing outside on our terrace, gazing at the bright, twinkling stars and the shining moon, being so grateful for having had such a great trip.