Morocco Travel

Cheap Hotels in Marrakech

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 21:56:43 +0000

Hotel Aday – 111, derb Sidi-Bouloukate, Marrakesh – Morocco. Tel. +212 524 441 920. A small, well-kept cheap hotel, pleasantly decorated in traditional style; something of an overflow for the nearby Medina and Essaouira, but actually a pretty good alternative to both of them.

Hotel Afriquia – 45 Derb Sidi Bouloukat, Marrakesh – Morocco. Tel +212 524 442 403. Decent rooms off a pleasant courtyard with orange trees. Reasonably well maintained, with one en-suite room and shared facilities for the rest. A good choice for a Cheap Hotels in Marrakesh.

Hotel Ali – Rue Moulay Ismail,…

Marrakesh Accommodation

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 06:33:34 +0000

There’s a choice between staying in the Medina or the Ville Nouvelle (Gueliz), with further options in the hotel-dominated quarters of Hivernage or Semlalia, out on the Casablanca road, and a couple of places even further out, in the palmery.

The Medina has the main concentration of cheap hotels, most of which are quite pleasant, along with a few more expensive places on its periphery. Given the attractions of Place Djemaa el Fna and the souks, these have to be the first choice.

The main advantages of Gueliz hotels are their convenience if you are arriving late at night,…

Marrakesh Map and Transport

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 05:03:08 +0000

Once in the city, and despite its size and the maze of its souks, Marrakesh is not too hard to navigate. The broad, open space of Djemaa el Fna lies right at the heart of the Medina, and almost everything of interest is concentrated in the web of alley ways north and south of the square. Just to the west of the Djemaa el Fna is the unmistakable landmark of the Koutoubia minaret – in the shadow of which begins Avenue Mohammed V, leading out through the Medina walls at Bab Nkob and up the length of the French-built new…

Marrakesh – Getting There

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 04:43:06 +0000

Arriving at the train station, on the edge of the new town Gueliz, a petit taxi is a good idea, unless you fancy a fifteen-minute walk to the Gueliz hotels, or a longer walk or bus ride to the Medina; the taxi fare should be no more than 15dh ($20) to the Medina, less to hotels in Gueliz. The bus stop opposite the station to the Place de Foucauld, alongside Place Djemaa el Fna. The youth hostel, on the other hand, is very close to the station – just five minutes on foot.

The gare routiere (for long-distance bus…

Marrakech History

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 04:22:43 +0000

The original date of Marrakech’s foundation is disputed, though it was certainly close to the onset of Almoravid rule – around 1062-70 – and must have taken the initial form of a camp and market with a ksour, or fortified town gradually developing round it.

The city’s founder (as that of the Almoravid dynasty) was Youssef Ben Tachfine, a restless military leader who conquered northern Morocco within two years and then, turning his attention towards Spain, defeated the Christian kings, to bring Andalusia under Moroccan rule. Tachfine maintained both Fes and Marrakesh as bases for his empire, but under…

Marrakesh

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 01:27:33 +0000

Marrakesh – Known as being a pleasure city, a place where all people come to buy and sell and find entertainment. Marrakesh is a city of enormous beauty and excitement. Djemaa El Fna, an open space in the centre of the city, a place where circles of onlookers gather round groups of drummers, acrobats, dancers, performers, comedians and storytellers. Having said that, the more often you return there, it remains enjoyable. Marrakesh full of architectural sights: from Agdal and Menara gardens,to Granada-style carving of the Saadian Tombs and the Koutoubia Minaret, a perfect Islamic monument in Morocco.

Beside the great…

Tafraoute – Getting There

admin — Sun, 02 May 2010 17:28:23 +0000

Approached by beautiful scenic roads through the Anti-Atlas from Tiznit or Agadir, or on a newly surfaced and less traveled road from Igherm and Tata, Tafraoute is worth all the effort and time it takes to reach. The town is the center for villages built among a wind-eroded, jagged panorama of granite tors – “like the badlands of South Dakota”, as Paul Bowles put it, “writ on a grand scale”. To the northwest lies the Ameln Valley, with its many villages built below or high among the quartz range of the Djebel el Kest. A striking feature on it is…

Tafraoute – Moving On

admin — Sun, 02 May 2010 16:17:29 +0000

Leaving Tafraoute, follow the “new road” out past Agard Oudad, turning left around 3km south of the village. This road climbs over the hills, with superb panoramas back across Tafraoute and the Ameln Valley, to reach TLETA TAZRITE (15km from Tafraoute), which has a souk on Friday – not Tuesday as its name implies.

From here, a new surfaced road leads south to the massive palmery at Ait Mansour, and will eventually continue all the way to Akka. Heading east from Tleta, the road is also surfaced, but quite broken up. Following it past the modern village of TARHAT (Taghaout)…

Tafraoute – Attractions

admin — Sat, 01 May 2010 18:37:42 +0000

To the west of Tafraoute, the road along the Ameln Valley crosses an almost imperceptible watershed into a valley. At Ait Omar, a piste heads north to TIRNMATMAT, a welcoming village. Around 200m beyond it, on the north bank of the river, are numerous carvings in the rocks, depicting hunters and animals (some of these may be prehistoric), along with more modern graffiti (including a VW Beetle of clearly recent vintage).

The ridge walk to the south of this village is taken by some trekking parties and is really special, with Bonelli’s eagles circling below, goats climbing the argan trees,…

Tafraoute – Activities

admin — Sat, 01 May 2010 18:17:56 +0000

The Ameln Villages are built on the lower slopes of the Djebel el Kest, between the “spring line” and the valley floor, allowing gravity to take the water through the village and on to the arable land below. Tracks link the villages, following the contour lines – and frequently the irrigation canals – and most are accessible from the road only by crossing an intricate network of these irrigation canals, orchards and allotments. Many of the villages have basic shops where you can buy drinks, but little else.

Oumesnat to Anameur – and a loop back to Tafraoute

OUMESNAT, like…