Tourist Attractions in Marrakesh

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You either like them or you don't. For all the warnings I gave hubby, he couldn't walk past without stopping to grab a pic whilst I continued on. No cranned finger silently requesting hubby to come on and avoid the big con stopped him.

So after taking a stack of photos and hubby kissing the snake for good luck, we departed minus 200 dirhams.

Tip - decide before hand if you are going to stop at the Snake Charmers umbrella and if so, be prepared to pay for the privilege.

If you are staying at the medina in a town/city in Morocco, your taxi/car will only be able to deliver you to the medina wall, (or just inside.) From here its all on foot - and the streets are incredibly narrow, small, and not named.

Before you have gotton out of the cab, you bags are already in a bag boys barrow who will take you to your hostel/hpotel/riad. You are in their hands because with out them you have no hope of finding your accomodation. They expect to be paid, and sometimes ask for more than the cab fare to get you to the medina. They have you over a barrel and they know it.

Pay up (it's cheap enough anyhows,) you won't need them again, and you will be wanting to check in and relax.

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I read the reviews here and i was concerned that it wil take long at the passport control,I was wrong I am Dutch it did not take us that long max 10 min .
Believe me is quicker than The UK passport control.

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Theres an advertised bus service of 20 dirham per person which would be a great price if it was a regular service and if anyone knew anything about it! There was no sign of any bus and no timetable - just a general direction that those I asked kept pointing to where the bus stops at!
There is also a well displayed list of prices for services into the city at the exit out of the airport which is designed to put some sort of boundary against the desires of taxi drivers to take tourists for all they can - which Ive seen well enough at Tangier - pity Im not an unsuspecting tourist but have been travelling in and out of Morocco so many times and with various Moroccan friends and family that I have had plenty of cause to know better!

It doesnt mean that it necessarily makes it easy for me to haggle and have the success Id desire to get the prices that I think that I should be it at least helps....!

Unique Suggestions: Be aware that 150 dirham is not a good price to get into the city for 15 minutes of driving - despite it being comparable with whatever country you come from!

Why make it easy for sharks to be sharks! (sure there are many trying to make a living but these guys are taking 'opportunism' to extremes - especially when I think of many other hard working people elsewhere in Morocco working a lot harder and honestly to get a lot less and would still help a person in need for free!)

Check out the board that lists prices which is at the exit as you leave the arrival terminal and have a determination - a polite but firm one - that you have an idea of the price. There are both grande taxis - the large 6 seater taxis that generally would prefer to fill up a bit or can charge a little more if its just one set of customers with their big bags and then theres the small 'petite' taxis which can fit 3 or really squeeze in 4 but with bags and so on even 2 can be a squeeze! so they generally are a little cheaper to get into town - around town they run on meters and generally only about 15 dirham for a trip.

The last time I took a friend taxi drivers were offering me prices of 150 dirham which to me was - are you joking!?- im almost a local and that price is for dummies!
My friend went back to the board and she got so upset with me when I accepted 70 dirham instead of getting the driver down to 50 dirham - at that point I think its fair enough to say that it doesnt warrant wasting any further time for the extra 20 dirham or £1.30 - which then is peanuts between the two of us to get going and get into the city!

Ive just got back from another visit - Feb 09 - and the taxi drivers at the airport are just sharks - I am adamant! catch the excellent and reliable bus service if you can and avoid these dreadful rip off extortionists - I couldnt even get them down to 100 this time - and it truly is only a 10-15 minute drive into the city if that.

Fun Alternatives: For Moroccans that are opportunists they offer a price to see if they will get it - if a tourist agrees to pay too much then so be it its the way a lot of it is - otherwise we dont have to accept the any price verbalised - nicely haggle - you care about your money and realise that the price is higher than it should be - so haggle it down.

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Yes. That is a picture of me wearing a snake. This is one of the tricks they use to get money out of you. “Hello – I will put a snake on you and take your picture”. Now they want money! Of course they do! And they want a lot of money!

Unique Suggestions:
Go ahead and get your picture and give them $1. They want $20. Forget it. You will get pleading and shouting from them, but just walk away. Or don’t bother in the first place.

Fun Alternatives:
Throw the snake to the ground and walk on it. Run away.
I really wanted to do this.
Go for it.

We booked a daytrip into the Atlas Mountains with a Tour Company, although I cannot remember their name (which begins with an H) and they have a stall situated on the top floor of one of the main restaurants in the square. We thought it sounded like a good deal as they picked us up at our hotel entrance and included various activities and sights. Although we had a good day, we feel like we've been ripped off:
- They did not provide us with a guide, only a driver who obviously did not want to be there, only spoke French and made no effort to ensure we understood anything. He just drove, stopped the car, waved briefly at *sight* and expected us to take a few pictures before being herded back again into the car.
- He stopped at this restaurant for lunch with outrageous prices - what I paid for myself could have bought a dinner for two anywhere else.
- When we finally reached the mountains and was about to climb them to see the waterfalls, he told us that he was not coming with us and we would need to hire a guide separately, paying extra.
- When speaking to the other couples on the tour with us, it turned out we paid the lowest price for the tour (200dirhams) through sheer luck as it had not occurred to me to haggle for a daytrip! Another couple was told they were being given 50% off and still paid 250 dirhams.

Unique Suggestions: Although I would recommend going to the Atlas Mountains, I would be extremely careful when going with a tour company - try to lower the price and make sure you know exactly what you are getting for your money. We basically paid 200dirhams for a driver.

On another note, as we climbed the Atlas Mountains a little boy offered to be our guide for 15dirhams per person. We saw the first waterfall and as we trekked up higher and higher was on a ledge, he suddenly stopped and demanded more money if we wanted to see more sights. After arguing for a long time, he still refused to budge or even lower the price (being aware that we were stuck on the side of a mountain with no one else anywhere near). Once again, negotiate carefully beforehand so you know exactly what you are going to get.

in the souks the sellers try to create a friendely sfere but asking 10 times the price, they talk very good, they are masters in psychological manipulation,they say it's authentic,old,real ,mostly is false,you have to be very wake to reduce the price of walk way,it's almost robbery,
at the ensemble artisanal it's relaxed and nice and you can look, and see the prices and is a very good place to buy.
the bar of the ensemble artisanal is also nice but the person working there 'forgets' to give the change back of give wrongely lesser,be wake

Unique Suggestions: see first he price at the ensemble artisanal,you have to know wat you want to buy and how much you want to give before you engage talks at the souk

Fun Alternatives: buy at the ensemble artisanal and even the shops at the airport are sometimes better than all the hassle at the souks

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Among the “attractions” on offer in the Djamaa el Fna are several men or groups of men with monkeys on chains who will approach you and attempt to perch the monkey on your shoulder. If you allow this, they will expect a fee for the resulting photo opportunity. Now I think monkeys are really cute and would love to have got closer to one of them, but there was no way I was going to condone this practice by giving them a penny. It is obvious that the monkeys cannot live in the best of conditions, i.e. in something approaching their wild state as they might do in a good zoo or safari park. The cages in which they are transported to the square are tiny, and even if they have a larger one for their off duty time I would be surprised if it were much bigger given how crowded a city Marrakesh is, and their owners not likely to have large homes.

Fun Alternatives: If you want a photo grab one with a zoom lens and refuse to pay for the privilege.