Marrakech Itinerary: 2, 3 or 4 Days, Day by Day

Two full days are enough for the medina of Marrakech, three let you add a day in the Atlas Mountains or an evening in the Agafay desert, and four or five leave time for the ocean at Essaouira or the kasbahs of Ait Ben Haddou. Give the first day to the south of the medina and Jemaa el-Fna, the second to the north, the souks and the Jardin Majorelle, and spend the following days out of the city.

Our team lives in Marrakech, and this plan follows the way our guides pace a day here: monuments when they open, the riad in the afternoon heat, the square as the light goes. Each stop gets one line here; for what it is and why it is worth your time, see our guide to things to do in Marrakech. The days work as blocks: if you land in the afternoon, start with the evening of Day 1 and do its morning the next day.

How many days do you need in Marrakech?

2 days is the minimum: the palaces, the souks and Majorelle, on foot and without too much rushing.
3 days is ideal for most people: the city, plus a day in the Atlas or an evening in the Agafay desert.
4–5 days adds the coast or Ait Ben Haddou, or simply slower mornings.

If your whole trip is a week or less and you want a night in the Sahara, keep Marrakech to two or three nights. The dunes of Merzouga are 9 to 10 hours' drive away, and a desert trip needs two days for Zagora or three for Merzouga (more under "After Marrakech" below). To share out a longer trip, see how many days you need in Morocco.

Day 1: the south medina and Jemaa el-Fna

The palaces and tombs of the south medina open at 9 am and stand within a quarter of an hour's walk of each other. See them in the cool of the morning, before the groups arrive.

Time	Stop	Walk to the next stop
8.30 am	Koutoubia gardens	15 min, through Bab Agnaou
9.00 am	Saadian Tombs	10–15 min
10.00 am	El Badi Palace	10 min
11.30 am	Bahia Palace	5 min
12.30 pm	Lunch and the Mellah	15 min back to the square
Early afternoon	Your riad
An hour before sunset	Jemaa el-Fna, a terrace, then dinner

Koutoubia gardens. Start under the city's landmark minaret while the gardens are still quiet; the mosque itself is open to Muslims only.
Saadian Tombs. Be at the gate at 9 am: the main mausoleum is seen from a doorway that holds only a few people at a time, and the queue grows from mid-morning.
El Badi Palace. The ruins of Ahmad al-Mansur's 16th-century palace: vast courtyards, sunken gardens and a view from the walls.
Bahia Palace. Painted ceilings, carved cedar and the courtyards of a 19th-century residence.
Lunch and the Mellah. Eat around the Place des Ferblantiers, then walk through the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter, and the spice stalls of its covered market.
Your riad in the heat. From early afternoon the lanes are hot and the monuments busy: rest, swim, have tea on the roof.
Jemaa el-Fna at dusk. Morocco now keeps GMT all year, so the sun sets at about 5.30 pm in December and 7.40 pm in June. Arrive an hour before, have a mint tea on a terrace while the food stalls light their grills, then eat on the square or back at your riad. Our guide to the Jemaa el-Fna food stalls explains how not to overpay.

Check before you go. El Badi and the Bahia have both been under restoration since the 2023 earthquake. They are open, but parts of each are closed off behind scaffolding, and visitors' reports in 2026 change from month to month. Ask at your riad, and if one of them is mostly closed, give its time to the other. The Bahia and the Saadian Tombs cost about 100 MAD (about €9) each.

Day 2: the north medina, the souks and Majorelle

Ben Youssef Madrasa at 9 am. The old Quranic school, restored and reopened in 2022, is a 15-minute walk north of the square and quietest at opening (daily 9 am–7 pm, 50 MAD).
Le Jardin Secret. Eight minutes away on Rue Mouassine: restored gardens and a tower with a view over the rooftops (from 9.30 am, 100 MAD).
Mouassine. The quarter's old fountain and its lanes of craft shops, on the way into the souks.
The souks. From Rahba Kedima, the old spice square, through Souk Semmarine and the craft souks back to Jemaa el-Fna. Walked straight through, that is 7 minutes; with a guide who knows the dyers', leatherworkers' and lantern-makers' lanes, it easily fills an hour and a half.
Lunch, then a taxi to Majorelle, about 10 minutes away, or a 30–40-minute walk out of the medina.
Jardin Majorelle and the YSL Museum, mid-afternoon. Tickets are sold only online, on the official website, for a time slot, and popular slots sell out days ahead in spring, autumn and at weekends: book as soon as your dates are fixed. The garden is open daily from 8 am to 5.30 pm (last entry 5 pm); the museum from 10 am to 6 pm, closed on Wednesdays. Expect about 150–170 MAD (€14–16) for the garden, about 300–330 MAD (€28–31) with the museum.
Evening. Dinner in Gueliz, the new town next to the garden, or a hammam back in the medina.

Our private guided tour of Marrakech covers the essentials of Days 1 and 2 in one full day, or in a morning (palaces and tombs) or an afternoon (the square and the souks), with Majorelle as an option. With only three days, it frees one of them for the mountains.

Days 3 and 4: day trips from Marrakech

By the third day most people want air and space. All the trips below pick you up at your riad, and our comparison of the best day trips from Marrakech weighs them up in detail.

Day 3, the Atlas or the edge of the desert:

Berber villages and waterfalls at the foot of Toubkal: Imlil and the Atlas Mountains in a day, about 8 hours, with lunch at our guide's home.
The green Ourika valley, an hour from the city: lunch by the river and the waterfalls above Setti Fatma, about 8 hours.
A cooking class in a Berber home in the Atlas, about 7 hours, ending with the meal you made.
A slow morning, then the Agafay desert, 45 minutes away: camels or quads, sunset and dinner in a camp, back in the evening.
A sunrise hot-air balloon flight: picked up before dawn, back by mid-morning, with the afternoon free.

Day 4, the ocean or the kasbahs:

Essaouira, about 3 hours each way, for the medina, the port and the sea walls: a day of about 11 hours.
Ait Ben Haddou over the Tizi n'Tichka: about 4 hours each way on a winding mountain road, leaving at 7.30 am. A long day.
The Ouzoud waterfalls: 110 metres of cascades and Barbary macaques on the trails, about 10 hours in all.

Keep the long drives away from the day before an early flight. A note for Spanish passport holders: Imlil, the Ourika valley, the village of our cooking class and part of the Agafay desert are in Al Haouz province, where Spain's foreign ministry still advises its citizens not to travel since the 2023 earthquake (advice updated 9 July 2026). Other governments give no such advice; if it applies to you, read it and check your travel insurance.

Only 48 hours, or one day?

With 48 hours, combine the essentials:

Day 1: Koutoubia gardens, the Saadian Tombs and the Bahia in the morning; lunch; Ben Youssef and the souks in the afternoon; Jemaa el-Fna at dusk.
Day 2: Majorelle at 8 am, when the first slot is the quietest, then Le Jardin Secret, Mouassine and time for shopping or a hammam.

Drop El Badi first if the Bahia is open, then Majorelle if you couldn't get a ticket. With one day, or half a day on arrival, the guided tour above is the most efficient way to see the essentials.

Adapting the plan

Our when to go guides cover the weather month by month. For this itinerary, these are the changes that matter:

Summer: afternoons reach about 37–38 °C (around 100 °F) in July and August. Sightsee before 11 am and after 5 pm, spend the hours in between by the pool, and choose the Atlas for your day out: it is cooler.
Winter: afternoons of about 19–20 °C are good for walking, so skip the siesta, but the sun sets around 5.30 pm and nights drop to about 6–7 °C. Riads can be cold: ask about heating when you book.
Fridays: some souk shops close around the midday prayer, a few for the afternoon. Do the souks on another day if you can.
Wednesdays: the YSL Museum is closed; the garden is open.
Ramadan (expected about 8 February to 9 March 2027): monuments close earlier (Ben Youssef at 4.30 pm instead of 7 pm), so sightsee in the morning. Afternoons are quiet, and the city wakes up after sunset, when the square fills.
With children: short walking blocks, the pool after lunch, camels in Agafay or the macaques at Ouzoud. Our family tours are built around a child's pace.
A rainy day: Dar el Bacha (Musée des Confluences) and the Maison de la Photographie in the medina, or MACAAL, the museum of contemporary African art, a taxi ride out of town. A hammam suits a grey afternoon too. Check opening days before you go: some museums close one or two days a week.

Where to base yourself

A riad in the medina, near Jemaa el-Fna, in Mouassine or in the Kasbah quarter, keeps Days 1 and 2 on foot. A hotel in Gueliz suits you better if you prefer wide streets and a big pool, with a taxi to the medina; our guide to where to stay in Marrakech compares the areas.

After Marrakech

For most of our travellers Marrakech is the start of the trip, not all of it. The Sahara is the usual next step: our desert tours from Marrakech take 2, 3 or 5 days, and our article on the route from Marrakech to Merzouga explains the road over the Tizi n'Tichka and what you see on the way.

Send us your dates and arrival time on WhatsApp or through our contact page, and we will fit the guided tour and the day trips around them.