Marrakech souks walk: from Jemaa el-Fnaa through the Spice Square, the Ben Youssef Madrasa and Le Jardin Secret to Bab Doukkala, with what is open each day

One of 2 self-guided walks in Marrakech. See every walk.

In this guide

💡 The Short Version: Start on Jemaa el-Fnaa and finish at Bab Doukkala: 3.4 km, about an hour of walking and most of a day with the visits. Leave the square at 09:00 to reach the Ben Youssef Madrasa as it opens, and walk it Tuesday to Sunday: Dar El Bacha is shut on Mondays. The five paid stops come to 390 MAD for a foreign adult, and each sells its own ticket. The one thing that ruins the walk is following a stranger who offers to show you the way: say “la chakrun” and keep going. Download an offline map, because the covered lanes lose the signal. Or book a tour: the Ben Youssef, Secret Garden and souks walking tourad is from 183 MAD (3 hours, GetYourGuide).

The route

Map of the walk numbered stops in walking order

Open the whole route in Google Maps - all the stops in walking order, set to walking directions, which is the version to put on your phone.

The walk goes north from Jemaa el-Fnaa through the souks to the Ben Youssef Madrasa, doubles back west past the Mouassine fountain and Le Jardin Secret, and ends at the north-west gate. The medina walk covers the other half of the old city, from the Koutoubia to Bab Agnaou, and the two meet at Jemaa el-Fnaa. Expect to lose the line twice, between stops 3 and 4 and between stops 6 and 7, where the lanes twist and cover the signal. Head for the next stop’s name rather than the dot, and ask in a shop, not of a man who offers to lead. Prices are the adult rate for a foreign visitor in dirhams (MAD) from each operator.

Guides and scams on this route

The souks are where the false guides work. Is Marrakech safe? has the full list; on this walk:

• A guide needs an official badge and permission from the local authority, the UK Foreign Office’s advice. Otherwise go without one: every paid stop sells its own ticket.
• “It’s closed.” A man tells you the madrasa or the garden is shut, and offers another way. The Ben Youssef Madrasa, the Koubba, the Maison de la Photographie and Le Jardin Secret are open every day; the one real closure is Dar El Bacha on a Monday. Check the operator’s hours below, not his word.
• Say “la chakrun” and keep walking in the direction you planned. A man who leads you to a carpet or spice shop is paid by the shop. If you ask the way and someone walks you there, about 20 MAD is reasonable.
• Check the bag before you leave a shop, because the Foreign Office warns of inferior goods swapped for the ones bought.
• Dress: cover shoulders and knees. Ask before photographing people.

Walk it with a guide

A guide adds the stories and finds the lanes. Read what each booking includes before you rely on it covering the entry tickets. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices, per person.

• Marrakech: Ben Youssef, Secret Garden, & Souks Walking Tourad: from 183 MAD, 4.6 stars from 4,973 reviews, 3 hours.
• Marrakech: Madrassa Ben Youssef, Secret Garden & Medina Tourad: from 160 MAD, 4.8 stars from 2,223 reviews, 3 hours 30 minutes.
• Marrakech: Ben Youssef Medersa, Le Jardin Secret & Souk Tourad: from 133 MAD, 4.7 stars from 538 reviews, 4 hours.
• Marrakech: Colorful Medina Souks Guided Walking Tourad: from 202 MAD, 4.7 stars from 3,149 reviews, 3 hours, built round the souks. Marrakech medina tours and licensed guides compares the operators.

1. Jemaa el-Fnaa

Free · no ticket and no opening time · the food stalls are set up from about 17:00

By day the square is quiet, with orange-juice carts, herbalists and henna artists. The covered lanes of the souks start at its north side. The square is being rebuilt; Jemaa el-Fnaa says what the works change and what to pay for.

• Agree every price first, including henna and photos, and do not pay for a photo with a chained monkey or a snake.
• Start by 09:00, so that you reach the madrasa soon after it opens.

Walk to Souk Semmarine: 320 m, from the north side of the square into the covered lane.

2. Souk Semmarine

Free · about 09:00 to 19:00 · many shops shut around Friday prayers

The main covered lane of the souks, with the lanes grouped by trade leading off it. Shopkeepers name a price and expect you to negotiate; decide yours before you ask. Carry small notes, because most stalls take only cash. The Marrakech souks explains how to haggle and which lines mean a shop is next.

Walk to the Spice Square: 190 m, further along the lane and then east.

3. The Spice Square

Free · always open · Rahba Kedima

The small square just east of Souk Semmarine, with the Café des Épices on it. Both of the route’s restaurants are a few steps away: Nomad’s own directions are to walk from Jemaa el-Fnaa towards Semmarine and the Spice Square and ask at the Café des Épices, and L’Mida stands in a narrow lane by the spice quarter. See Where to eat.

The lanes ahead are the hardest on the walk to follow. From here they run north to the Ben Youssef Mosque through the trade lanes, with no straight line. Ask in a shop for “Ben Youssef”.

Walk to the Almoravid Koubba: 410 m, north through the lanes.

4. The Almoravid Koubba

100 MAD, 50 MAD for a child aged 7 to 13 · daily 09:00 to 17:00 · bought on the Ministry of Culture’s e-services site or at the gate

The Ministry of Culture dates the domed pavilion to 1117, in the reign of Ali Ben Youssef, and says it is one of the few Almoravid monuments left, a pavilion for the worshippers’ ritual ablutions beside the Ben Youssef Mosque. The dome is carved with floral and geometric patterns and the interior with muqarnas, the stalactite-like vaulting of Islamic architecture.

The Almoravid Koubba, below street level beside the Ben Youssef Mosque. Photo: Adam Harangozó, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

• Friday: Moroccan nationals enter free, as on the first day of national and religious holidays.
• It shuts at 17:00, two hours before the madrasa.

Walk to the Ben Youssef Madrasa: 210 m, on past the Ben Youssef Mosque to the madrasa’s door.

5. The Ben Youssef Madrasa

50 MAD, 10 MAD for a child under 12 · daily 09:00 to 19:00, Ramadan 09:00 to 16:30 · tickets at the door only · Assouel Street

The operator dates the madrasa to 1564 and 1565, when the Saadian sultan Abdallah al-Ghalib built it, and says it was a college for four centuries. The student rooms open off galleries round a courtyard with a long pool, and the operator describes carved cedar, carved plaster and tilework on walls, floors and columns.

The minaret of the Ben Youssef Mosque, beside the madrasa. Photo: Misa.stefanovic.07, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

• Go at 09:00. You queue at the door to buy, because the online ticketing system is under maintenance, and the state says the building is under heavy visitor pressure.
• Allow 45 minutes.
• The Ben Youssef Mosque next door is closed to non-Muslims, and the state lists it among five mosques under restoration after the 2023 earthquake. The madrasa itself is open. The Ben Youssef Madrasa has the ticket details.

Walk to the Maison de la Photographie: 160 m, east along Rue du Souk des Fassis.

6. The Maison de la Photographie

80 MAD, 50 MAD for residents, free under 15 · daily 09:30 to 19:00 · tickets on the spot only, by card or cash · 46 Rue Ahl Fès

The museum shows photographs of Morocco from 1860 to 1960: albumen prints from 1870, glass plates, autochromes and silver prints. The ticket also admits you to the Marrakech Museum of Music.

• It opens at 09:30, half an hour after the madrasa, so it fits after it.
• There are no online tickets, so buy at the door.

Walk to the Mouassine fountain: 670 m, back west by the lanes. This is the second stretch where the dot drifts: ask in a shop for “Mouassine”.

7. The Mouassine fountain

Free · always · beside the Mouassine Mosque

The Saadian sultan Abdallah al-Ghalib ordered the Mouassine Mosque and the buildings round it between 1562 and 1573: a hammam, a library and this public fountain, with a trough beside it for animals. The fountain was heavily renovated about 1867, but its carved cedar brackets are original. The mosque is closed to non-Muslims. Hammam Mouassine, which Lonely Planet calls the oldest hammam in Marrakech, is beside it: Marrakech hammams says what a visit costs.

The carved cedar canopy of the Mouassine fountain. Photo: Oumaima Loudini, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Walk to Le Jardin Secret: 190 m, through the Mouassine lanes.

8. Le Jardin Secret

100 MAD, 80 MAD aged 12 to 24, free under 12 · the tower 40 MAD extra · daily 09:30 to 17:30 in November and December · 121 Rue Mouassine

A restored palace with two gardens, opened to the public in 2016. The Islamic garden is on a four-part plan, and the second garden holds plants from other parts of the world. Café Sahrij and Café Menzeh serve mint tea, sandwiches, skewers, salads and cakes, and access to them is included with the garden ticket.

• Hours change with the month. The garden is open every day: 09:30 to 17:30 in November and December, to 18:30 from January to March and to 19:30 from April to September. The last entry is 30 minutes before closing.
• The tower is a separate 40 MAD (30 MAD under 25), closed to children under 6 and not accessible to visitors with reduced mobility.
• Tickets: sold at the door, and on the garden’s boutique page, where an online ticket is valid for a year. Bags go in the free cloakroom.
• Allow an hour or more: the garden says visits last from 45 minutes to 2.5 hours. Le Jardin Secret has the full ticket table.

Walk to Dar El Bacha: 450 m, west and then along Rue Dar El Bacha.

9. Dar El Bacha

60 MAD for a foreign adult · Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 18:00 · shut Mondays · 65-69 Riad Laârous, Rue Dar El Bacha

The Musée des Confluences Dar El Bacha, run by the National Museums Foundation, shows Moroccan decorative arts and ethnographic objects in a palace in the medina: ceramics, textiles, jewellery, manuscripts and everyday objects. It reopened on 23 November 2023 after consolidation work following the earthquake.

• Monday is the one closed day on the walk. If you are here on a Monday, walk on to the gate.
• It is the last paid stop, and it shuts at 18:00.

Walk to Bab Doukkala: 760 m, west along the road from the museum to the gate.

10. Bab Doukkala

Free · always open · the north-west gate of the medina

The Almoravid emir Ali ibn Yusuf built the first walls of Marrakech about 1126, and Bab Doukkala kept its original bent entrance, which turns at right angles twice. The city’s main intercity bus terminal stands just outside it. The regional tourism board lists a taxi station at Bab Doukkala. A petit taxi inside the city must use its meter, so ask for it.

Bab Doukkala, the north-west gate of the medina. Photo: Robert Prazeres, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Where to eat

Nomad

1 Derb Aarjane, by the Spice Square · every day 12:00 to 23:00 · reserve for lunch or dinner

A “Modern Moroccan” restaurant built on local, seasonal ingredients, with a 9% service charge added to the bill. Reservations are for lunch and dinner only, and a walk-in for a drink is seated when there is room. Reserve on its site.

L’Mida

78 bis Derb Nkhal, Rahba Lkdima · every day 12:00 to 23:00 · book online for fewer than 9 guests

Moroccan fusion cooking from the chef Narjisse Benkabbou, in a two-level house with a rooftop terrace that looks over the roofs to the Atlas and the Koutoubia. For fewer than nine guests, reservations are online only, through its site.

The garden’s cafés

Inside Le Jardin Secret · the garden’s hours · ticket required

Café Sahrij and Café Menzeh are the easiest lunch at the halfway point, with sandwiches, skewers, salads, smoothies and homemade cakes. You pay for the garden ticket first. Where to eat in Marrakech lists the rest.

The best day to go

The timing that works, on a Tuesday: leave the square at 09:00, be at the Ben Youssef Madrasa by 09:30 and the Maison de la Photographie by 10:15, walk back to the Mouassine fountain for 11:30, and be at Le Jardin Secret by 11:45 with lunch in its cafés. Dar El Bacha comes at 14:00 and the gate at about 15:30. The garden’s last entry is 17:00 in November and December.

What closes:

• Mondays: Dar El Bacha.
• At Friday prayers: many souk shops.
• After 17:00: the Koubba, and from 17:30 the garden in November and December (last entry 17:00). After 18:00: Dar El Bacha. After 19:00: the madrasa and the Maison de la Photographie.
• Ramadan, from February 2027: the madrasa closes at 16:30 instead of 19:00.

What does not close: the lanes, the Spice Square, the Mouassine fountain and the gate.

From 1 January, the garden shuts at 18:30 instead of 17:30.

Getting there and back

• To the start: take a petit taxi to Jemaa el-Fnaa, which is closed to cars from 13:00, or bus 19 from the airport to the Arset El Bilk stop beside it. Marrakech airport to the medina has the fares and the meter rules.
• From the end: the regional tourism board lists a taxi station at Bab Doukkala. Ask a petit taxi for the meter, and agree the fare in dirhams aloud if the driver refuses it.
• In reverse: start at Bab Doukkala and finish on Jemaa el-Fnaa as the food stalls open, but then Dar El Bacha comes first, at 10:00.

What to do with the rest of the day

• The other half of the medina: the medina walk goes from the Koutoubia across Jemaa el-Fnaa to the Bahia Palace, El Badi and the Saadian Tombs. Do it on another day.
• The sights: the souks, the Ben Youssef Madrasa, Le Jardin Secret and Marrakech museums have the ticket and closed-day detail.
• Guided walks: Marrakech medina tours and licensed guides compares them.
• After the earthquake: what has reopened lists the works still under way.
• The days: 3 days in Marrakech fits the medina into a plan, and what to book before you go to Marrakech lists the closed day of every sight.
• Where to sleep: hotels near Jemaa el-Fnaa lists the riads beside the square, and where to stay in Marrakech compares the areas.

Common questions

How long is the Marrakech souks walk?

3.4 km from Jemaa el-Fnaa to Bab Doukkala, measured along the lanes: about an hour of walking. With the Ben Youssef Madrasa, the Maison de la Photographie, Le Jardin Secret and Dar El Bacha it fills most of a day.

How much does the souks walk cost?

The lanes, the Spice Square, the Mouassine fountain and Bab Doukkala are free. The five paid stops come to 390 MAD for a foreign adult: the Almoravid Koubba 100 MAD, the Ben Youssef Madrasa 50 MAD, the Maison de la Photographie 80 MAD, Le Jardin Secret 100 MAD and Dar El Bacha 60 MAD. The tower at Le Jardin Secret is another 40 MAD.

Which day is best for the souks walk?

Tuesday to Sunday. Dar El Bacha is shut on Mondays, and many souk shops shut at Friday prayers. The Koubba, the madrasa, the Maison de la Photographie and Le Jardin Secret are open every day.

Do I need a guide in the souks?

No. Every paid stop sells its own ticket and the route is on this page. If you use a guide, use one with an official badge and permission from the local authority, as the UK Foreign Office advises, and say "la chakrun" (no thank you) to a stranger who offers to show you the way.

Where does the walk finish, and can I get a taxi there?

At Bab Doukkala, the north-west gate of the medina. The regional tourism board lists a taxi station at the gate, and the intercity bus terminal stands just outside it. Ask for the meter.

Will my phone map work in the souks?

The signal drops in the covered lanes, so download an offline map first. Expect the blue dot to drift between the Spice Square and the Koubba, and between the Maison de la Photographie and the Mouassine fountain.