Morocco Day 1 : Casablanca , Marrakech city tour, Jemaa Al Fina Market

As we planned a trip to Morocco, we started doing the usual research on the country.

As we were looking for a comfortable and cheap ticket, visa formalities on 1 side, we also started looking for a tour operator.

After enquiring with many tour operators, we finalized on Unique Morocco tours.

I have written a detailed review on them in TripAdvisor here.

They gave us good customized package according to our needs The tour guide and driver made our trip very memorable.

We booked a round trip tickets from and to Casablanca , even though we did almost nothing in Casablanca  due to the ticket prices to other destinations.

Day 1: Casablanca, Marrakech city tour, Jemaa Al Fina Market

We reached Casablanca around 7 am. We bought  Maroc telecom simcard for   150 Moroccan dirham MAD.

Exchange rate  is 1 Euro =10.343 MAD

Met our driver Hidier and guide Omar .According to the plan, we were supposed to visit the Hassan 2  Mosque  and then leave for Marrakech.

Our guide advised we drive straight to Marrakech, 2 hours drive and then visit Hassan Mosque on the last day of our trip instead.

So, we drove straight to Marrakech.

We first visited the Yes Saint Laurent Museum.

The ticket prices are as below:

Yes Saint Laurent Museum: 100 MAD
Berber Museum : 30 MAD
Garden :70 MAD
Combination ticket to all the 3 : 180 MAD

Garden  was well maintained  with many citrus and cactus plants .Berber museum is inside the Garden  and is  a small hall .Yes Saint Laurent  Museum was not that great   for the price.

We checked in to the Riad Mialalou, refreshed and left for the city tour. The Riad host greeted us with authentic Moroccan cookies and Moroccan tea. The way to the Riad was so narrow, with garbage and  cats. We almost thought we have made a wrong mistake with the accommodation choice. But we were completely wrong. This is how it is in Morocco.

We took a shower and left to Minara Garden. The entry is free and there are fishes in the lake.

We Visited the Bahia Palace. The Palace was very beautiful with gardens, coloured glass windows, tiles, marbles, mosaic, Colourful courtyard .The doors and windows were well carved.The entry ticket was 70 MAD per person.

Then our guide asked us to walk and go through the Jemaa Al Fina. We walked through the narrow lanes and figured our route. Then we walked through the market looking at snake charmers, monkeys, people dressed in traditional clothes,ladies to apply henna, ladies to plait hair in African style,stunt men, jokers and people playing the musical instruments.There were small games conducted, where you can participate for a price ,like to hit a bottle kept far away by kicking the football in 1 kick.

There are horse carriages, sweet and juice shops, hawkers selling lamps, argan oil,t-shirts, shawls.

We were told to be careful while walking in Jemaa Al Fina as there are many pick pocketeers. We were asked to wear our bag on the front side.Also not to look at the eyes of the shopkeepers, as they will push us to buy.I felt the small girls trying to sell roses were very difficult to shoo away. Three girls approached us and 1 girl didnt go without getting anything from us.


We walked through the market and found our route to our Riad.Took some rest and again ventured out to visit the Koutoubia mosque. We also visited the market again, walked through every street possible and tried to have some dinner in one of the restaurants with a view of the market. But everyone was heavily smoking, and I couldn’t stand that.

We returned to our Riad. Our host made some yummy Veg Tagine, tomato  salad, aubergine ,bread, rice even fruits for dessert.


Please read my review on the accomodation here.