How to navigate Marrakech’s souks like a pro

You haven’t really been to Marrakech until you’ve gotten lost in the city’s souks. It’s inevitable. I’ve been shopping here for over two decades and I've been lost a million times. I know it can be nerve-wracking when you don’t know the place but, rather than panicking, take a moment and look around. Notice the sunlight filtering through the sun shade, likely highlighting a craftsman carving wood or cutting a brass lantern. Treat yourself to a glass of ruby red pomegranate juice from a makeshift stall on a donkey cart. As you sip it, you’ll probably notice a helpful sign for the Jemaa hidden behind a curtain or a kind stall owner will point you in the right direction. Either way, you’ll realize you’re among friends and can continue through the labyrinth refreshed.

Once you get the hang of it, exploring the souks is endlessly entertaining. No matter how many times I visit—and I have the carpets to prove it—there are always new things to see, new products to admire (lately, for me, it’s hand-stitched leather footballs in honor of the Atlas Lions 2022 victories), and new shops that you somehow missed a hundred times before. Consider it the Bermuda Triangle of shopping: if you emerge with fewer than five shopping bags, you’ve done well.

This vast plaza sits in the middle of the medina, with souks shooting off in all directions like the spokes of a wheel. The Jemaa was once Marrakech’s main marketplace but is now largely an alfresco stage full from dawn til dusk with potion purveyors, henna tattoo artists, astrologers, acrobats, and Gnaoua musicians, who steal the show at night with their syncopated rhythms and ecstatic trance dances. Grab a smoothie from one of the extravagantly decorated fruit stalls in the morning, then return in the late afternoon when the storytellers start spinning their yarns—you’ll spot them by the circle of listeners around them. As night falls, the market gives way to more than 100 food stalls, serving up grilled kebabs, merguez sausages, harira soup (a spicy tomato-based vegetable soup full of chickpeas, lentils, and herbs), and fried fish.

Tip: Keep a stock of small change for tipping performers. For the best photo ops of the epic scene, head upstairs to one of the surrounding cafes—my favorite views are from Le Grand Balcon du Café Glace and Café Argana.

This is the medina’s most expensive shopping street—a long, wide, covered alley that merges into Souk el Kebir (also known as Souk Nejjarine). Souk Semmarine is a great place to start your explorations as it’s easy to navigate. While there’s a focus on traditional clothing here, you’ll find a little bit of everything: pottery, textiles, carpets, lanterns, belts, bags, and babouche. And, if you look closely, past the hanging fabrics you’ll spot deep doorways that lead into huge emporiums stacked high with rugs or hung with lanterns. It’s a fantastic place to get an overview of different crafts and trends, just be judicious with buying as you can find similar things at better prices elsewhere.

Tip: One of my favorite spots here is the sunlit cul-de-sac of Souk Ableuh, just east of Souk Semmarine. This is the olive market, where traders arrange mountains of multi-colored olives in plastic tubs, alongside all manner of pickled and preserved veg. Next door is Mechoui Alley, where they slow-roast lamb in underground ovens and serve it on newspaper accompanied by bread, cumin, salt, and mint tea.

One of my regular ports of call is the “magic market” of Rahba Kedima, a little square off Souk Semmarine. It’s full of elderly Amazigh (Berber) ladies selling spices as well as other locally used ingredients: aphrodisiac roots, cochineal, dried petals, snake skins, lizards, scorpions, and bird talons. They’re all used as natural remedies for general well-being, sickness, and other troubling ailments caused by djinn (bad spirits). The ladies manning the stalls often sit weaving or knitting cute straw bags, sun hats, and woolen caps, all of which make great gifts. Off the south side of the square, there’s a wholesale wool market in Souk Larzal in the morning, while down a kilim-draped passage on the northern side is Souk Zrabia (the carpet souk). It is piled to the rafters with colorful hand-loomed carpets.

Tip: An oldie but a goodie, Café des Epices is one of Medina’s best cafes and has great views over Rahba Kedima. It also serves fresh juices and a great avo and tomato sandwich, as well as traditional glasses of mint tea. For more fancy fare, opt for the stylish terrace of nearby L’Mida for a fab modern Moroccan meal courtesy of Moroccan cookbook author Nargisse Benkabbou.

Probably the prettiest souk is Souk Smata—the slipper souk—where you’ll find yourself surrounded by hundreds of pointy-toed Moroccan babouche and round-toed belghas. They are made from the softest calf and goatskin and come in a myriad of candy colors. To make more of a statement consider options decorated with gold embroidery or sequins. Next to the slipper merchants is Souk Cherratin, the leatherworker's souk. Here, newly tanned hides are stacked beside workshop doors where you’ll find craftsmen cutting out new bags, belts, handbags, and sandals.

Tip: Moroccan leather is some of the best in the world because the entire process is done by hand. The skins are softened and soaked in vats of natural dyes in the tanneries in the north of the medina before being hung out to dry in the sun and sold to craftspeople who make the shoes. These are an artisanal product and it's best to buy them here, where they make them, rather than elsewhere in the medina.

No doubt you’ll be captivated by the cut-brass lanterns that hang in every Marrakech hotel. They are fabulous pieces of craftsmanship and their intricate backlit patterns cast atmospheric shadows at night—I love having them in my dining room or garden to help create a magical evening mood. You can see them being made in Souk Haddadine, the blacksmith's souk, near the Ben Youssef Mosque. You’ll hear it before you see it—a constant staccato of hammers as metalworkers bash out their creations. It’s a dark, sooty place full of workers in blackened overalls lit by the occasional flare of blow torches. To me, this is the medieval heart of the souk.

Tip: If you’re feeling adventurous, exit the tangle of lanes to Place Ben Youssef, the square beside the Ben Youssef Mosque. Here you’ll find an array of street food stalls, serving up tagines, snails, and meat skewers to hungry workers. Afterward, I like to stop at Chez Bismilah, which serves the most delicious spiced Turkish coffee, heated in sand. It’s delicious with a cheeky chebakia (a fried honey & sesame swirl).

On the western side of Souk Semmarine is the bougie neighborhood of Mouassine. While not a distinct souk, this area shows the changing face of the medina. Its main alleys—Rue Mouassine, Rue Sidi el Yamani, and Rue Dar el Bacha—are lined with small boutiques tucked next to traditional craft shops. Many are run by designers, local and international, and sell clothes, ceramics, homewares, kaftans, and leatherwork in modern Moroccan styles. Mouassine is also the place to see the traditional funduqs and caravanserai where merchants would stay, store, and sell their wares when they returned from desert trade trips. You’ll find Founduok el-Amri and Founduok Kharbouch opposite each other on Rue Dar el Bacha.

Tip: Souk Sebbaghine, the Dyers Souk, is buried in the Mouassine neighborhood. The area is strung with wires covered with brightly colored wool hanging out to dry, while the walls are covered in multicolored hand prints. Both change color every day as dyers swap out the dry wool for freshly dyed ones.