Visit Djemaa el Fna - One of the Best Things to do in Marrakech

Going off the beaten track requires a sense of adventure and bravery. Not for everyone admittedly. Every once in a while however, you’ll find a beaten track that caters to tourists and locals alike. Djemaa el Fna, Morocco’s main square ‘of dreams’ as it has come to be known, transforms each time the sun rises and sets over historical Marrakech. By day, the hustle and bustle of locals going about their daily lives, buying spices, fresh ingredients, clothes, shoes, bags, etc. takes over the square, with tourists sidelining the action sipping fresh orange juice from the thousand and one stalls set up to quench national thirst (or perhaps to make a bob or two).

As dusk begins to settle in you can witness what is near enough a stage set change. The locals running errands, scurry out of Djemaa el Fna square pushing past another wave of Moroccans, who have waited for the cooler night time temperature of 35 degrees, entering the square from every street and alley way that links to it for the evening entertainment that is available every single night of the week. Tourists mingle amongst them stepping into Aladdin’s world with snake charmers and story tellers, monkeys performing acrobatics, musicians, dodgy watch salesmen, smoke that seems like it’s arising from nothing but the magical atmosphere until you follow your nose and find yourself a foot at the massive open air market place that’s catering real Moroccan cuisine to real Moroccan locals, dotted with copycat tourists stretching their necks over to see what everyone else is ordering.

No doubt this experience will be overwhelming to most first time visitors. If this is the case, you can find many roof top cafes and restaurants where you can watch the magic unfold from a ‘safe’ distance, though it’s well worth remembering that keeping your distance means escaping the real Morocco.

To avoid this, there are Walking Tours of Marrakech, Souks and Medina Tours and Marrakech Discovery Tours that are available to book before you travel and offer an itinerary that will cover not only the epic Djemaa el-Fna but also the surrounding Medina and the breathtaking atmosphere of Marrakech that won’t fail to tickle every one of your senses. Whichever tour you choose you will not run out of things to do in Marrakech.