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Cities · Africa · 31°37′N 8°00′W

Marrakech

Gardens, ornament and craft, and the continent's first museum of contemporary African art.

The Saadian Tombs, Marrakech, 16th century · CC BY-SA 3.0
Best monthsOctober–April
Art calendar1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair (February)
This guide4 essentials · 5 places off-piste
EssentialsOff-Piste in MarrakechOne dayNearby

Essentials

Musée Yves Saint Laurent and Jardin Majorelle, Marrakech · CC0
Museum and garden · Gueliz

Musée Yves Saint Laurent and Jardin Majorelle

The designer's museum (2017), in a building of terracotta brick laid like the weave of a fabric, a few steps from the cobalt-blue garden of the painter Jacques Majorelle, which Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé saved in 1980.

Look for: The Berber Museum in Majorelle's studio.
Book ahead
MACAAL, Marrakech · CC0
Museum · Al Maaden

MACAAL

The Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden, the first of its kind in North Africa, founded by the Lazraq family. Reopened in February 2025 after the 2023 earthquake, with its collection rehung.

Look for: The photography and textiles in the collection hang.
Check opening days
Ben Youssef Madrasa, Marrakech · CC0
Monument · Medina

Ben Youssef Madrasa

A 16th-century Quranic school with carved cedar, stucco and zellige around a courtyard pool.

Look for: The students' rooms upstairs.
Daily
Dar Si Said, Marrakech · CC BY-SA 4.0
Museum · Medina

Dar Si Said

A 19th-century vizier's palace, now the national museum of weaving and carpets, with the rural rugs of the Atlas next to the court's.

Look for: The painted cedar ceilings.
Check opening days
Off the list

Off-Piste in Marrakech

Rooms, ruins and curiosities: the city's other museum.

The Saadian Tombs, Marrakech, 16th century · CC BY-SA 3.0
Tomb · Kasbah

Saadian Tombs

The burial chambers of the Saadian sultans, 16th century, walled up and forgotten until 1917: carved cedar, stucco lace and marble.

The Hall of the Twelve Columns.
Le Jardin Secret, Marrakech · CC BY-SA 4.0
Garden · Medina

Le Jardin Secret

A 19th-century palace garden restored in 2016, with an Islamic garden and an exotic one, and its original water system.

The tower, for the roofs of the medina.
Maison de la Photographie, Marrakech · CC BY-SA 4.0
Museum · Medina

Maison de la Photographie

A private collection of photographs of Morocco from 1870 to 1960, in an old fondouk, with the first colour film shot in the Atlas.

Mint tea on the rooftop terrace.
Musée Tiskiwin, Marrakech · CC BY-SA 4.0
Collection · Medina

Musée Tiskiwin

The Dutch anthropologist Bert Flint's collection of Saharan and Berber crafts, laid out in a riad as a journey from Marrakech to Timbuktu: jewellery, textiles, saddles, a tent.

The textile room at the end of the journey.
Dar Bellarj, Marrakech · CC BY-SA 2.0
Art centre · Medina

Dar Bellarj

A former hospital for storks (bellarj means stork) by the Ben Youssef Madrasa, now a cultural foundation with exhibitions around a quiet courtyard.

The courtyard, away from the souks.
Nearby

Anima

André Heller's garden in the Ourika valley, about 30 minutes away.

If you have one day

Ben Youssef Madrasa → Maison de la Photographie → Le Jardin Secret → taxi to Majorelle and the YSL museum.

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