Jardin Majorelle is a luminous botanical garden in Marrakech, Morocco, famed for its electric cobalt-blue architecture, extraordinary plant collection from five continents, and its deep connection to painter Jacques Majorelle and fashion icon Yves Saint Laurent.
Morocco: Marrakech – Medina
🌍 Into the Red City: A Morning in the Medina of Marrakesh, Morocco
We were met just after breakfast at our hotel by a man called Mohamed, our guide for the morning, who was ready and waiting to lead us into the famous Medina of Marrakesh. It was a bright, warm start to the day — the kind of morning that makes you feel briefly optimistic about everything, even your knees — and we were keen to get going. Marrakesh is one of those places that travel writers routinely describe as the heartbeat of Morocco, which is either inspired marketing copy or simply accurate. As it turned out, it was accurate. So that was one less thing to be cynical about before nine in the morning.
🏙️ The Red City Announces Itself
Marrakesh does not ease you in gently. It does not offer a quiet preamble or a sensible introduction. It just arrives, all at once, fully formed and entirely confident about it.
The city is known as the Red City, and once you see it, the name makes immediate sense. The walls, the buildings, the very dust in the air — everything is tinged with that distinctive terracotta-pinkish-ochre colour that looks, in the morning light, as though someone has turned up the warmth setting on the entire city. It is a remarkably consistent palette for a place of this size and age, and it glows magnificently when the sun hits it at the right angle. Which, in Morocco, it tends to do quite often.
The streets hum with the throaty buzz of scooters weaving through gaps that look physically impossible to navigate, the measured clip-clop of horse-drawn calèches that have been ferrying people around these same streets for generations, and the rhythmic, unhurried calls of vendors who have clearly been at it since dawn and show no sign of reaching any kind of conclusion. Ancient mosques and crumbling palaces sit comfortably within eyeshot of modern cafés and rooftop terraces where people sip mint tea and affect a look of casual ease. It is a city that never really quiets down, which is either thrilling or exhausting depending on your temperament and how many hours you have been standing in the sun without a hat.
Marrakesh has been an important trading hub for nearly a thousand years. It was founded as the capital of the Almoravid Empire in the eleventh century, and its position made it a critical meeting point for merchants arriving from three very different directions: the Sahara to the south, the Atlas Mountains to the east, and the Mediterranean coast to the north. Caravans loaded with gold, salt, ivory and, less admirably, enslaved people once converged here from across north and west Africa in numbers that made the place one of the most significant commercial centres on the continent. These days it is mostly tourists pulling wheeled luggage across cobblestones and muttering about the wi-fi, but the commercial instinct of Marrakesh has not dimmed in the slightest. It has simply redirected itself.
🕌 The Medina: A Thousand Years of Getting On With Things
The Medina — the old walled city at the heart of Marrakesh — is where we spent most of the morning, and it is, in the proper sense of the word, extraordinary. Not extraordinary in the way that overpriced hotel lobbies claim to be extraordinary. Actually extraordinary, in the sense that it makes you stop walking and simply stare for a moment, which is the honest test.
It was founded in 1070 by the Almoravids, a Berber dynasty from the western Sahara who were, by any measure, remarkably ambitious. In the space of a few decades they had established an empire stretching from what is now Senegal in the south to Portugal and much of Spain in the north, with Marrakesh — a city they effectively built from scratch — as its capital. The Almoravid leader Yusuf ibn Tashfin is generally credited with founding the city, and under his rule it grew rapidly into a major centre of trade, Islamic scholarship, and political power. The dynasty also built the first great mosque at Marrakesh, though precious little of their original construction survives, since subsequent rulers had a persistent habit of tearing things down and starting again, which was apparently a popular approach to urban planning in medieval north Africa.
The Medina’s high reddish walls were constructed from pisé — a technique involving rammed earth mixed with lime and straw, compacted into wooden formwork and left to bake rock-hard under the Moroccan sun. It is an ancient building method that has been used in north Africa for millennia, and it works remarkably well in the climate. The resulting walls have a warm, slightly rough texture that looks organic and weathered rather than monumental, which perhaps explains why the Medina never feels oppressive in the way that some heavily fortified old cities do. It feels inhabited and lived in, because it is.
UNESCO designated the Medina of Marrakesh a World Heritage Site, which is the international community’s polite way of saying “please don’t knock it down.” The designation recognises not just the architectural and historical significance of the place but the fact that it is still, after nearly a thousand years, functioning as a living city. People are born here, grow up here, run businesses here, argue with their neighbours here. It is not a museum dressed up as a city. It is a city that happens to be old, which is a rather different thing and infinitely more interesting.
🔨 The Artisan Quarters: Smells, Sounds and Things Being Made
Mohamed took us first through the artisan quarters, and the effect was immediate. The air was thick with a combination of scents — cumin, fresh leather, wood smoke, and something chemical and faintly alarming that turned out to be the tanning agents used in the leather workshops — that combined into a sort of olfactory autobiography of Moroccan craft. It was not always pleasant. But it was real.
We paused to watch craftsmen beating sheet metal into delicate lantern shapes with a precision and rhythm that suggested they had done this approximately one million times and were not minded to do it differently now. Nearby, women worked at looms strung with brilliantly coloured threads, producing textiles whose geometric patterns — all interlocking diamonds and zigzag borders — follow traditions that pre-date the city itself. In the woodworking areas, men carved elaborate geometric designs into cedar — the fine-grained, honey-coloured cedarwood that grows in the Atlas Mountains and has been a prized material in Moroccan architecture and furniture for centuries.
These are not heritage demonstrations put on for the benefit of tour groups. This is how things are actually made and sold in Marrakesh, as they have been for generations, using skills passed from one generation to the next through long apprenticeships that begin in childhood. Whether that represents an admirable continuity of tradition or a missed opportunity to retrain for something with better prospects, I leave as a matter of perspective.
🏫 Ben Youssef Madrasa: The Most Beautiful Room in Morocco
Mohamed led us to the Ben Youssef Madrasa, which is unambiguously in Marrakesh and is unambiguously magnificent.
The madrasa — the word simply means school or place of learning in Arabic — was originally constructed in the fourteenth century during the reign of the Merinid sultan Abu al-Hasan Ali, who was responsible for a considerable amount of architectural activity across Morocco. It was then substantially rebuilt and expanded in the sixteenth century by the Saadian sultan Moulay Abdallah, whose dynasty ruled Morocco from the mid-sixteenth to the early seventeenth century and left behind some of the finest examples of decorative architecture in the entire country. The Ben Youssef Madrasa served for centuries as the largest Islamic college in Morocco, housing up to eight hundred students at its peak — an extraordinary number for a pre-modern institution — and offering instruction in Islamic jurisprudence, Qur’anic sciences, grammar, and rhetoric. It remained in use as an educational institution until the middle of the twentieth century and was subsequently restored and opened as a museum.
Stepping into the central courtyard, it is difficult not to make a slightly embarrassing noise. The space is organised around a rectangular pool of still water — a design element common in Islamic architecture, where water represents purity and reflection — and every surface around it is covered in decoration of extraordinary refinement. At the lower level, the walls are clad in zellige tilework: small hand-cut ceramic tiles in rich shades of cobalt blue, turquoise, white, black, and terracotta, assembled into complex geometric mosaics of almost mathematical precision. Each tile is shaped individually and fitted together without mortar in patterns that shift and reconfigure themselves as you move around the courtyard. Above the zellige, intricate panels of carved stucco in dense arabesque patterns rise to a carved cedarwood frieze and then to the open sky. The cedarwood itself — darkened with age to a deep honey-brown — is carved into geometric and floral patterns of a complexity that makes you wonder how long it took, and then how long they trained before they were considered competent to start.
Off the courtyard, small doors open into the student cells: rooms perhaps two metres by two metres, lit by a single small window giving onto a carved wooden balcony above the courtyard. Standing in one of them for a moment, it was easy enough to imagine the austere, studious existence once lived there — reading by morning light, sleeping on a thin mat, spending the better part of a decade mastering the complexities of classical Arabic grammar and Islamic law in a space barely large enough to swing a Hadith. Whether this constitutes a romantic image of scholarly dedication or simply sounds like the world’s least comfortable postgraduate experience probably depends on your attitude to small rooms.
📷 Maison de la Photographie: History in Black and White
A short walk brought us to the Maison de la Photographie, which turned out to be one of the genuine highlights of the morning, and one that I had not particularly anticipated.
The museum, housed in a restored traditional riad building in the northern part of the Medina, holds a substantial collection of historical photographs documenting Morocco from the late nineteenth century through to approximately the middle of the twentieth. This was a period of extraordinary and often violent change in the country. France established its protectorate over most of Morocco in 1912, following the Treaty of Fez, with Spain controlling a northern zone. Over the following decades, the colonial administration transformed much of Morocco’s infrastructure, building roads, railways, administrative buildings, and modern quarters alongside the old Medinas — a policy of deliberate urban separation that left its mark on Moroccan cities in ways still visible today. The protectorate period also brought sustained resistance: Abd el-Krim’s Rif War against Spanish forces in the 1920s, and the broader nationalist movement that eventually resulted in Moroccan independence in 1956.
The photographs in the museum capture all of this, though often obliquely. There are images of city streets in which djellabas and European suits appear side by side without apparent discomfort. There are pictures of landscapes that look essentially unchanged — the same mountains, the same light — and others of cities in the middle of rapid construction. There are portraits of Berber tribesmen, of Jewish merchants, of French officers, of women in elaborate traditional dress. Taken together, they amount to something more useful than a conventional history: a sense of what things actually looked like, and how strange and familiar a country of a hundred years ago can simultaneously appear.
The rooftop terrace offered a fine view over the Medina rooftops — a jigsaw puzzle of flat roofs, satellite dishes, solar water heaters, and the occasional taller minaret — and for a few minutes the incessant bustle of the streets below felt pleasantly remote. It was, briefly, very peaceful. Then we went back down the stairs.
🟠 Jemaa el-Fnaa: The Square That Never Really Stops
We finished the guided portion of the morning at the Jemaa el-Fnaa, the vast main square that has served as the social and commercial centre of Marrakesh for about as long as the city has existed.
The name is usually translated as something along the lines of “Assembly of the Dead” or “Congregation of the Departed,” a somewhat ominous title that derives from the square’s former use as a place of public execution during the medieval period, when the heads of criminals and defeated rebels were occasionally displayed on spikes around its perimeter. These days it is considerably more festive than that description implies, though it retains an anarchic energy that you suspect was always the point.
By day it is a chaotic spectacle of juice stalls pressing fresh orange juice with tremendous efficiency, snake charmers with cobras that may or may not be as dangerous as they look, henna artists offering to decorate your hands with geometric patterns that will take three weeks to fade, acrobats performing to small crowds, storytellers maintaining an oral tradition that goes back centuries, and men with trained Barbary macaques who will sit the monkey next to you for a photograph and then expect considerably more money than you had anticipated and show little sign of accepting anything less. It is a performance on a vast scale, with the audience and the performers entirely interchangeable depending on which direction you happen to be facing.
By night the square transforms into an enormous open-air food market, with dozens of grills firing simultaneously and the smoke from charcoal-cooked meats and spiced sausages drifting magnificently across the square in the orange light of the lanterns. Even at mid-morning, when we were there, it was buzzing with an energy that seemed to have its own internal logic, as if it runs on some kind of perpetual engine whose fuel source has simply never been identified.
The square has been designated a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO — a rather unwieldy title for what is, at its most fundamental, just a very good place to watch humanity getting on with things. Which is, when you think about it, not a bad reason to give something official recognition.
💭 Reflections
Marrakesh was not what we expected, and we mean that as a compliment.
We had expected something that felt more like a living theme park — a place that had learned to perform its own history for the benefit of people like us with cameras and sensible shoes. It is not that. The history and the everyday life are genuinely mixed together, and nobody seems particularly bothered about making the distinction.
The Ben Youssef Madrasa was the standout for us. We have seen a lot of old buildings over the years and developed a fairly robust resistance to being impressed by them, but that courtyard got through. The Maison de la Photographie was the pleasant surprise of the morning — the sort of place we would have walked straight past without a guide, and been poorer for it.
The business with al-Qarawiyyin and the wrong city remains unexplained. Mohamed was otherwise excellent.
The square is as advertised. Loud, chaotic, relentless, and oddly compelling. Worth seeing, though we would not recommend standing in the middle of it for too long without a clear exit strategy.
By the end of the morning our feet had strong views on the matter, and we found a café and sat in the shade with mint tea until everyone calmed down. It was a good morning. Marrakesh is worth the fuss.
Planning your visit to Marrakech
🕌 Marrakech Medina, Morocco
The Marrakech Medina is the ancient walled heart of one of Morocco’s most captivating cities. Founded in 1070–72 by the Almoravid dynasty and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, it is a labyrinthine world of narrow alleys, traditional riads, bustling souks, magnificent mosques, and ornate palaces. Home to around 200,000 people, it hums with the energy of a living, breathing city that has changed relatively little in centuries. It is loud, colourful, occasionally overwhelming, and utterly unforgettable.
📍 Location
The Medina sits at the heart of Marrakech in central Morocco, at the foot of the Atlas Mountains. It is enclosed by roughly 19 kilometres of terracotta-pink ramparts, over nine metres high and studded with around two hundred towers and nineteen gates — known in Arabic as “babs”. Jemaa el-Fnaa, the great central square, serves as the geographical and social heart of the Medina, with the souks spreading north from it and the Kasbah quarter lying to the south. The Koutoubia Mosque minaret, the tallest structure in Marrakech, is visible from most parts of the Medina and makes a useful landmark for orientation.
✈️ Getting There
Marrakech Menara Airport (IATA: RAK) lies approximately six kilometres southwest of the Medina and is well connected to many European and African cities by airlines including Royal Air Maroc, Ryanair, Air France, and Turkish Airlines. The journey from the airport to the Medina typically takes between 15 and 25 minutes depending on traffic.
A pre-paid taxi system operates at the airport: upon exiting arrivals, head to the taxi desk where fares are fixed by destination and paid in advance by cash or card. This removes the need to haggle and is the most straightforward option for first-time visitors. Official taxis are available around the clock. Alternatively, Bus Line 19 runs between the airport and Jemaa el-Fnaa square roughly every 20 to 30 minutes and is significantly cheaper, though it is less practical with heavy luggage or on late-night arrivals. Ride-hailing apps such as InDrive and Careem also operate in Marrakech, offering fixed, app-confirmed fares without negotiation.
Marrakech also has a train station in the Gueliz neighbourhood (the modern new town), connecting it to Casablanca, Rabat, and other Moroccan cities. From the station, a short petit taxi ride or bus journey brings you to the Medina.
🚶 Getting Around
Walking is by far the best — and often the only — way to explore the Medina itself. The narrow alleys cannot be navigated by car, and even scooters and donkey carts can appear suddenly, so pedestrians need to stay alert. Getting lost is part of the experience and is practically unavoidable on a first visit. Downloading an offline map such as Maps.Me before you set off is strongly recommended, as mobile data can be unreliable in the deeper alleys. Your riad’s address, noted in Arabic script as well as English, is handy to show to locals if you need directions.
For travel between the Medina and other parts of the city — such as the Majorelle Garden in Gueliz, or points further afield — petit taxis are the go-to option. These small red vehicles carry up to three passengers and operate on a meter, though drivers sometimes need prompting to switch it on. Always confirm the fare before you get in. Grand taxis, which are larger and seat up to six, are unmetered and are more suited for longer journeys or trips out of the city. Fares with grand taxis are negotiated in advance.
Horse-drawn carriages called calèches can be found near the Medina walls and offer a more leisurely way to travel around the edges of the old city, though fares should always be agreed before setting off. Bicycle tours are also available and give a different perspective on the city.
🗺️ What to See and Do
Jemaa el-Fnaa is the unmissable centrepiece of the Medina and one of the most extraordinary public spaces in the world. By day it hosts orange juice stalls, spice sellers, henna artists, fortune tellers, and the occasional snake charmer. As the sun sets, it transforms entirely: the food stalls ignite, smoke billows from the grills, and musicians, acrobats, and storytellers take to the square. Watching it all unfold from a rooftop café terrace with a glass of mint tea is one of the great pleasures of any Marrakech visit. Be mindful that performers and animal handlers around the square will expect payment if you photograph or interact with them.
The Souks fan out northward from Jemaa el-Fnaa in a vast, covered labyrinth. Morocco’s largest souk, it is divided into specialised sections: Souk Semmarine for textiles and ceramics, Souk el-Attarine for metalwork and lanterns, Souk Cherratin for leather, Souk Haddadine for ironwork, and the dyers’ souk — Souk des Sebbaghine — where skeins of brilliantly coloured silk and wool hang overhead. Bargaining is not merely acceptable but expected. Start below what you are willing to pay, keep a smile on your face, and if the negotiation stalls, walking away often brings the vendor back with a better offer. The souks are generally open from around 9am to 9pm, though many stalls close briefly during the five daily prayer times.
Ben Youssef Madrasa is a stunning 16th-century Islamic school, considered one of the finest examples of Moroccan architecture. Its courtyard is covered in intricate carved plasterwork, geometric tilework, and cedarwood panelling. Non-Muslim visitors are welcome here, unlike most of the city’s active mosques.
The Bahia Palace is a 19th-century palace complex of elaborately decorated rooms and serene courtyards, offering a vivid impression of how the Moroccan elite lived in that era.
The Saadian Tombs are a cluster of royal mausoleums dating from the 16th century, rediscovered only in 1917. They are remarkably well preserved and elaborately adorned.
The Mellah is the old Jewish quarter adjacent to the royal palace complex. Its covered market, the Souk el-Mellah, and its distinctive architecture make it a quieter and often overlooked part of the Medina worth exploring.
Hammams are a cornerstone of Moroccan culture and an ideal way to unwind after days of walking. Traditional public hammams exist throughout the Medina and are inexpensive; many riads and tourist-oriented hammams offer a more comfortable experience for first-time visitors.
Riads are traditional Moroccan townhouses built around a central courtyard, often with a fountain and garden. Many have been converted into guesthouses and are the most atmospheric and popular choice of accommodation within the Medina. Staying inside the walls allows you to experience the neighbourhood as it quietens in the mornings and evenings, after the day-trippers have gone.
The best time to visit Morocco
🌸 Spring (March to May)
Spring is widely regarded as one of the finest times to travel to Morocco. Temperatures across the country sit at a comfortable 15–25°C, the landscape is green and flowering, and the famous Dadès Valley bursts with roses during the annual Rose Festival in May. The Atlas Mountains are still capped with snow in early spring, providing a dramatic backdrop to the warmer valleys below. Coastal cities such as Essaouira and Agadir enjoy pleasant breezes, while Marrakech and Fès reward explorers with long, warm days without the crushing summer heat. Crowds begin to build from April onwards, but the overall atmosphere remains relaxed and the light is exceptional for photography.
What to pack: Light layers and a cardigan for cooler mornings and evenings, comfortable walking shoes for the medinas, a sun hat, sunscreen, and a lightweight scarf — useful for visiting mosques and souks alike.
☀️ Summer (June to August)
Summer in Morocco is intense. Inland cities such as Marrakech and Fès can reach 40°C or above, making midday exploration genuinely challenging. That said, summer has its own rewards for the heat-tolerant traveller. The Sahara Desert offers extraordinary overnight camp experiences and star-filled skies, and accommodation prices drop noticeably compared to the peak spring and autumn seasons. The Atlantic coast — particularly Essaouira and Agadir — remains refreshingly breezy and rarely exceeds 25°C, making it a popular escape for Moroccans and visitors alike. The Rif and Atlas mountain villages stay cool and are worth seeking out. Those planning a summer visit should schedule outdoor activities in the early morning or evening and embrace the slower, shaded midday rhythm of local life.
What to pack: Loose, breathable linen or cotton clothing (long sleeves are practical and culturally appropriate), a wide-brimmed hat, high-SPF sunscreen, sandals and one pair of closed-toe shoes, a large lightweight scarf, and a reusable water bottle.
🍂 Autumn (September to November)
Autumn rivals spring as the most enjoyable season to visit Morocco. Temperatures ease from the summer extremes to a more manageable 18–28°C, and the Sahara Desert becomes genuinely inviting once again as the fierce heat fades. The date harvest in the southern oases — particularly around Erfoud and the Tafilalt region — is a spectacular sight, with palms laden with fruit and local festivals celebrating the season. October brings golden light and quieter roads, making it ideal for a road trip through the valleys and gorges of the south. The Atlas Mountains are accessible before the first winter snows arrive in November, and the cities of Marrakech and Fès are lively but not overwhelmed.
What to pack: Light layers with a jacket or mid-layer for cooler evenings, comfortable shoes suitable for uneven medina streets, sunscreen, a small daypack for day trips, and a light pashmina or scarf for versatility.
❄️ Winter (December to February)
Winter is Morocco’s most underrated season. While Marrakech and Fès can be surprisingly chilly — with temperatures dipping to 8°C at night — the days are often bright and crisp, and the souks and medinas have a relaxed, unhurried quality that is difficult to find during busier months. Prices are at their lowest, and popular sites such as the Bahia Palace and the Majorelle Garden can be enjoyed without queuing. In the High Atlas, skiing at Oukaimeden is a unique experience, and the snow-dusted mountain villages are extraordinarily photogenic. The south of the country — Ouarzazate, Zagora, and the Drâa Valley — remains warm and sunny during winter, making it an excellent destination for those escaping the grey of northern Europe.
What to pack: Warm layers including a wool jumper and a proper jacket, a scarf and hat for mountain areas and cold nights, waterproof shoes, and thermals if you are heading into the Atlas Mountains or sleeping in a desert camp.
The Overall Best Time to Visit
For most travellers, spring (March to May) and autumn (September to November) offer the ideal balance of pleasant weather, manageable crowds, and access to the full range of Morocco’s landscapes — from the Sahara to the Atlas peaks to the Atlantic coast. Of the two, October stands out as perhaps the single best month: the summer heat has passed, the desert is at its most inviting, the date harvest is in full swing, and the quality of light is exceptional. Those willing to visit outside these windows will find real rewards: winter brings remarkable value and solitude in the imperial cities, while summer opens up the coast and the desert night sky to those who can bear the heat.
Where to stay in Marrakech
1. Upscale: Riad l’Oiseau du Paradis
Tucked into the Medina, Riad l’Oiseau du Paradis is a small, traditionally styled property about a ten-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fnaa square and within easy reach of the souks. The riad was renovated by local artisans using a mix of traditional and contemporary materials — carved wood, wrought iron, tadlakt plasterwork — and the result is a space that feels authentically Moroccan without being overdone. There are around eight rooms, each with a private bathroom, air conditioning, and Wi-Fi. Common areas include a courtyard with a pool, a hammam, a solarium, and a rooftop terrace with views towards the Koutoubia Mosque. Breakfast is served daily, and Moroccan meals can be arranged on site. Guests consistently mention the helpfulness of the staff as a highlight. It’s a solid, well-located choice for anyone who wants to stay inside the old city without spending a great deal. Rates are competitive for what’s on offer.
2. Mid-Range: Riad Anya & SPA
Sitting in the heart of Marrakesh’s medina, Riad Anya & SPA is a four-star property with 11 individually decorated rooms that blend contemporary design with traditional Moroccan style. It sits roughly a 10-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fnaa Square and the souks, making it a practical base for exploring the city, whilst the interior courtyard keeps things calm once you’re back inside. The spa facilities are a genuine draw — there’s a hammam, a Turkish steam room, a rooftop Jacuzzi, and a 15-square-metre pool in the patio. Massages and wellness treatments are available on site, and the terrace offers views of the Atlas Mountains. Moroccan breakfast is included each morning, and the kitchen turns out traditional dishes including tagines and couscous. Staff are consistently praised in reviews for their attentiveness and willingness to help arrange tours and transport. Rooms include air conditioning, en-suite bathrooms with walk-in showers, and tea and coffee-making facilities.
3. Riad dar sahrawi
Riad Dar Sahrawi is a small, budget-friendly hostel tucked into the Medina district of Marrakesh, sitting at 98 Rue Oqba Ben Nafaa. With just 15 rooms, it operates on a modest scale but earns consistently strong reviews, particularly for its location and staff. Djemaa El Fna square is roughly a seven-minute walk away, and the Koutoubia Mosque, Bahia Palace, and Saadian Tombs are all within easy reach on foot. Rooms are air-conditioned with private bathrooms, and some have balconies with garden or city views. Free Wi-Fi, a shared kitchen, a sun terrace, and luggage storage are among the practical amenities on offer. A halal à la carte breakfast is served daily, featuring local Moroccan dishes, pastries, and pancakes. The owner, Ayoub, is frequently mentioned by guests as being especially helpful and knowledgeable about the city. For travellers wanting a clean, well-located base in the Medina without paying boutique-hotel prices, Riad Dar Sahrawi is a solid choice.
More to Explore
