Medina

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a booking through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Essaouira, Without the Rushed Day Trip We almost did Essaouira as a day trip from Marrakech. Bus out at 8am, bus back at 5, “see the blue town, eat some fish.” A riad owner in the Marrakech medina talked us out of it in about thirty seconds: “You’ll spend six hours on the road for three hours by the sea, and you’ll arrive right as the wind comes up.” So we stayed two nights instead, slept inside the ramparts, woke up to gulls and the smell of the port — and it became the calmest, best-value stretch of the whole Morocco trip. ...

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a booking through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Fes, Without Getting Lost (Or Overpaying) The first time I stepped through Bab Boujloud, the blue gate, I lasted about four minutes before I had no idea which way was out. A boy of maybe ten watched me turn the same corner twice, grinned, and said “tannery? this way” — and an hour later I’d somehow paid for a guided detour I never asked for. That’s Fes. The medina swallows you, and the city makes you decide fast whether that’s a thrill or a headache. ...

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a booking through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Marrakech, Without the First-Timer Mistakes We landed in Marrakech at 2pm in July, dragged our bags through the airport, and walked straight into a wall of heat that made the car park shimmer. By the time we’d argued our way into a taxi and got lost twice in the medina, we were melting. A guy selling water from a cart took one look at us and said, “You came at the wrong hour, and the wrong month.” He wasn’t wrong. We came back the next spring, and the same city felt like a gift instead of a trial. ...