Ouarzazate, though delays and lost luggage in transit are worryingly common.
A direct three-hour rail service to/from Casablanca links Marrakesh to major northern cities.
Supratours buses link Marrakesh to the southern Atlantic coast, from Essaouira and Agadir to
Laâyoune and Dakhla, plus key Saharan oases and gorges, including Ouarzazate, Zagora,
Boumalne du Dadès, Kelaâ M’Gouna and Merzouga. Similar services are offered by CTM and
local bus companies, though these tend to be more crowded and less comfortable.
Getting Around
Except for the line from Casablanca to Marrakesh, there are no rail links in Central Morocco.
Buses are the cheapest way to get around Central Morocco, but they’re becoming more
expensive to operate as the price of petrol soars. According to bus company officials, current
prices may be expected to rise, so pad your budget if your plans include bus travel.
CTM provides adequate service, but Supratours and other private companies are now
offering more frequent departures, air-conditioned coaches and reserved seating to tourist
destinations. Shared grands taxis are an alternative, since there are good sealed roads to most
destinations in this chapter. Mountain regions are best traversed on foot, mountain bike, mule or
4WD (around Dh1000 to Dh1500 per day). Desert travellers will want either 4WDs or camels
(Dh350 to Dh400 per person per day) for that ultimate experience at the sand dunes of Erg
Chigaga and Erg Chebbi.
MARRAKESH
POP 1,608,100
From the moment you arrive in Marrakesh, you’ll get the distinct feeling you’ve left something
behind – a toothbrush or socks, maybe? But no, what you’ll be missing in Marrakesh is
predictability and all sense of direction. Never mind: you’re better off without them here.
Marrakesh is too packed with mind-boggling distractions and labyrinthine alleyways to adhere
to boring linear logic. If you did have a destination, you’d only be waylaid by snake charmers,
careening donkey carts, trendy silver leather poufs and ancient Berber cures for everything
from relationships to rent.
Start at action-packed Djemaa el-Fna, and if you can tear yourself away from the castanet-
clanging water-sellers and turbaned potion-sellers, head into Marrakesh’s maze of covered
market streets. Dive in headfirst at any street headed north off the Djemaa el-Fna, and with any
luck you’ll emerge exhilarated and triumphant some hours later, carpet in tow.
Marrakesh’s medina is an ideal place to explore palaces, stay in a palatial riad guesthouse,
and sample a dish of piping-hot snails. But it’s worth leaving the old city occasionally for dinner,
drinks, art galleries and fixed-price boutiques in the ville nouvelle (new town). Go with the flow,
and become an honorary Marrakshi bahja (joyous one).
History
Many desert caravans passed through this outpost before Almoravid Berber leader Youssef
ben Tachfine and his savvy wife Zeinab recognised its strategic potential, and built ramparts
around the encampment in AD 1062. The Almoravids established the city’s khettara
(underground irrigation system) and signature pink mudbrick architecture. But when Almohad
warriors stormed the city like a marauding construction crew, they left only the plumbing and
the Koubba Ba’adiyn intact. Almohad Yacoub el-Mansour remodelled Marrakesh with a fortified
kasbah, glorious gardens, qissaria (covered markets), rebuilt Koutoubia and Kasbah Mosques,