Morocco Days 5-8 Marrakech: The Riad

After four nights in the Atlas Mountains and Sahara Desert we spent four nights in the colourful city of Marrakech. We were all ready to unpack our bags and stay put for a few nights after the mountain desert adventure. Even though opinions on this city are mixed, I knew it was a place I had to see for myself. Plus it's a great cheap flight connection to London so it just made sense.



One of the benefits to traveling with friends is that you can split some of costs. That coupled with our group's size enabled us to rent an entire riad (a traditional Moroccan house) in the heart of Marrakech. Our riad had all the traditional features of a true riad with its open-top inner courtyard, courtyard garden and courtyard water feature (some have fountains; ours had a small pool!). In a riad all the rooms surround the inner courtyard and all windows and doors face the courtyard.



Because of the design all the rooms are fairly narrow, and there isn't a lot of privacy within the riad, but the high, open inner courtyard provides a lot of good open shade during most of the day, important in a hot dessert climate. The only parts of the riad that were proper enclosed rooms were the bedrooms, the dining and living areas were all open to the inner courtyard. The design reflects a lot about the culture and also creates a very different way of life, and I thought a lot about how modern western homes shape the social dynamic of family life. Even among the various homes we have lived in, I think about how each floor plan changes the flow of life. It's an interesting concept. While all the riad spaces except for the bedrooms were open, we were all grateful that each bedroom was equipped with hard-working air-conditioning. It was a life-saver as the temps hovered around 110° our entire stay. While we enjoyed the social atmosphere of central courtyard living, it was so nice to be able to retreat to the bedrooms for a dose of cold air.



Walking around the city you pass many riad doors. Some are prettier than others, but one thing we learned is that these doors don't necessarily reflect anything about the interior of the riad. Stepping by many open riad doors to catch a glimpse of what is contained within can be a surprising experience. Many of the most spacious, opulent riads hide behind shabby, plain doors. You just never know what lies behind a riad door.



Marrakech is a pretty rough city. It's dirty, smelly and as a tourist it can be an intimidating place. I'll share more about our experiences out and about in Marrakech in other posts, but suffice it to say having a clean, peaceful place to retreat to and rest your head is an essential component to any Marrakech visit. We were so grateful to have such a nice riad, our own little oasis in a chaotic, dirty city. It was also really nice being so central, which meant we could pop out and explore for a bit and then zip back to the riad to escape it all.



Each day in Marrakech pretty much followed the same pattern: breakfast, Marrakech exploration, afternoon lunch/rest/swim at the riad, dinner at the riad then evening Marrakech exploration. Our riad was the perfect base.