Marrakech 2024

Fri 2/2/24

After settling everything at the CMN airport, we drove to Marrakech at about 10 am. The toll charge from Casablanca to Marrakech is 80 MAD. The journey took about 2.5 hours covering a distance of 227km with no really interesting views along the way. We stopped by at a R&R stop by the highway to buy hot coffee and almonds as snacks for MAD 79.

We arrived at our accommodation Riad Sultan Marrakech at 1pm. Yasser from the riad came to find us and directed us to the location to park our car, not too far from our riad. I have messaged Yasser earlier, so he was already waiting for our arrival.

Riad Sultan Marrakech

Riad Sultan Marrakech

We were served with mint tea upon arrival. Our room with breakfast cost RM 173 (EUR 33) booked from booking.com with city tax of 50MAD. We then refreshed ourselves (hot shower is available) and took a nap after almost 24 hours not having a shower and proper sleep. This is our second visit to this city, so this time we are only staying for one night before moving on to Ait Benhaddou.

our simple room

our simple room

rooftop at Riad Sultan Marrakech

We ventured out at 5pm and walked about 15 mins towards Jemaa el-fnaa, a square with market, food stalls and street performers, including snake charmers. We bought orange juice for 20 MAD (used to be only 4 MAD during our first visit 10 years ago). We didn't buy anything at the souk, just taking pictures. The Medina of Marrakech is a Unesco Heritage Site.

jus d orange

labyrinth to Jemaa el-fnaa

Marrakech medina souk

Jemaa el-fnaa

We then walked to Koutoubia mosque, about 500m away. Nowadays there are horse carriages available for rides, at the avenue Jemaa el-fnaa, which I don't recall from 10 years ago. 

horse carriage near Koutoubia mosque

We then decided to have dinner at Dar Chef Restaurant, located on a quiet street, away from the hustle and bustle of Jemaa el-fnaa. We had tagine minced meat (kefta) with egg (MAD 95), orange juice (20 MAD) and mint tea (20 MAD) with total of MAD 135. Food and drinks prices certainly have shot up from 10 years ago.

bread and mint tea

tagine minced meat

After dinner, we went back to our riad and retire for the day to get a well deserved rest after almost 24 hours of travelling from Malaysia. There is no heating in the room, so we had to depend on the blankets to withstand the cold of the night.