 | Marrakesh Tourist Traps | Tips 41 - 50 of 65 |  |
From my journal:
'We carry on through the medina, and I gain my own personal protector. It is quite useful when the salesmen won’t take ‘no’ for an answer – he would shoo them away, and one particularly persistent young lady gets a bash round the ear. Worth the tip at the end.' Leave a Comment
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I have put this tip under Must See as well as Tourist Trap (and also Shopping), as this could mean different things to different people.
You are taken to a carpte shop, given some mint tea and shown a selection of different carpets.
If you do not want to purchase a carpet, make sure you look uninterested and don't ask any questions. If you show the slightest bit of attention, they can feel a sale coming up and turn up the pressure several degrees. You may have a hard time getting away without a rug under your arm. Leave a Comment
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I live in Marrakech, Morocco. Along with a French female I promote a charming guesthouse with its 3 rooms in Marrakech, 5 minutes walk from Djamaâ El Fna Square. I serve in locating accomodations, arranging buses, and organizing short trips from Marrakech to The Ourika Valley—the Berber country region which sits 66 km from Marrakech—and Essaouira city. I work with a sister guesthouse at each of these locations. I advise my guests on how to truly discover my city and the valley, and on how to share some daily experiences with the Moroccans such as the public bath (hammam), local and authentic meals, Henna body tattoos, and the weekly Ourika Valley market. Also, I guide people on deeper tours of Marrakech. If you have requests about booking here in Marrakech or about addresses or sites you intend to visit, I am very well-suited to help you.
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| | | | Water Sellers / Beggars / Intrusive People: Marrakesh - tips are asked for... | | | | | |
| | | | Water Sellers / Beggars / Intrusive People: Could be a difficult situation | | | | | |
Myself and my husband were looking at some leather bags when a man asked us to go with him. He spoke very broken English saying "I like to show you more bag and leather, and where leather made". Doubting ourselves we walked towards the way he was taking us. We thought it would be interesting but knew there would be a cost involved. So I asked how much it would be, he said free, free, because oyou are good frineds. He then took up to some tanneries, they stunk, were very dirty and unhealth and I was worried that we could have caught something, flies and rotting skin everywhere. He took us to a tiny room where one mad was making bags in crapped conditions which were also very dirty. He then took us onto a shop. Where a man started to display shoes, and everything, it started to becom embarassinf because we didn't want anything.
We explained we were going and the man became angry saying "my things are no good, you say they are bad" etc etc Then from nowhere the origional mad arrived, demanding what equalled about £60.00 we said no but by then we had no idea where we were or how to get back to the main area. Clearly we in back streets where it was only people living, no tourists and therefore everyone staring at us. The man started shouting in arabic, we gave him some small money, and said we didn't have anything else. I was worried my husband would open his wallet and he would then see that we did have £60.00, anyway we got away fine, but for a few minutes I was very scared.
Go on an organised trips of the tanneries, or do not bother. There is nothing that much to see and they are not nice places.
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On a trip out of Marrakesh to Essaouria we went through an area which is home to goats that climb trees (allegedly). A goat may well have climbed an argan tree in the past in order to escape from some perceived threat, but the tree-climbing goats are now so famous, they have no need to go to the effort of actually climbing. I am not sure who is the more exploited – the goats, who are unceremoniously thrust up into the trees by the goatherds, or the tourists, who present a captive market for the lucrative photo-opportunities as their tour buses halt by the roadside. I do not think that the goats suffer as a result of the practice. They just looked very bored. Leave a Comment
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On our way to the Menara gardens, and also in the gardens too, we noticed there were plenty of opportunities for camel hire. Actually, it’s not really camel hire, it’s an opportunity for you to sit on a camel and pretend your in the dessert. Now, Marrakech is not quiet in the dessert so it seems a strange place for a camel ride. It's more of a photo opportunity than anything else, aimed at the many tourists who make it to Marrakech but no further south. Leave a Comment
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Taxis usually try to overcharge. We actually did find a taxi that used its meter once and it cost us 17 MAD to get from the Supratours station to near the main square. This was the cheapest taxi ride we had. At night for a 5min taxi ride they wanted to charge 40 MAD! I read that it should usually cost 20 MAD or less to get anywhere in the city so we would always ask before getting in the taxi. So we would have to ask 2-3 drivers before we could get someone to take us for 30.
I don't know why the city doesn't just enforce meters.
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