Mesmering Marrakech

Advantages: Stunning scenery!
Disadvantages: food, a bit of a culture shock

...Marrakech has always been high up on my list of places to visit, so earlier this year I packed my bags and set off with a friend to explore the city. We flew with easyjet from London Gatwick to Marrakech Menara airport, convinently located around 15 minutes taxi ride from central Marrakech. Morrocco has a closed currency system meaning that Morrocan Dirhams cannot be brought into the country or taken out. There are Bureau de Changes located throughout the city and they accept most major currencies including pounds and euros. The two main languages are French and Arabic, although English is widely spoken along with many other languages. A word of warning - Marrakech is a city where you have to haggle and haggle hard. Never accept the first price and be prepared to walk away! Prices quoted are usually 2-3 times as much as...

tecnomars 20.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Marrakech (Morocco)

A Safe Place In Sunny Marrakech

Advantages: good room, nice decor
Disadvantages: staff, breakfast

...This summer, I had been working full time, trying to earn the money in the gap from university but decided that once I'd had a taste of sun on our one week heat wave that I needed to get away myself. I had logged onto lastminute.com to see what kind of deals and destinations were coming up as I was literally looking at anywhere but a great deal came up for Marrakech, however I didn't have the money to pay upfront and new it would be gone by the time I got paid. Since I passed by this I logged onto ebookers.com and had a look at their hotels as a lot of the other holiday deal websites were giving hotels which didn't look as great. They have Ryad's over there which are almost like a bed and breakfast idea they are not the same service as a hotel. I decided to book through ebookers.com for the Hotel El Andalous as my researching after...

ms19 10.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Hotel El Andalous, Marrakech

  48 hours in Marrakech (Morroco)

Advantages: Beautiful climate, friendly + helpful locals,respectful people, great shopping,out of this world! :)
Disadvantages: hassel to buy, quite dusty (not great when you've got a cold)

...Only a 3 and a half hour flight from the hustle and bustle of London to the vibrant, colourful and unique city of Marrakech. As we flew over the city, it looked liked a patch work quilt of green and caramel brown. In some places there is a lot of lush green areas but the majority of the city is dry with a dusty caramel covering the roads and streets. Marrakech is a city in Morocco, North Africa. The two main languages spoken in Marrakech are French and Arabic. 98% of the population are Muslim with the other 2% being mainly Christian. Many Europeans do live in Marrakech and many having holiday homes there. The currency conversion rate is: 1 United Kingdom Pounds (GBP) = 15.84 Morocco Durham's (MAD) The most expenses spent are usually in the UK to and from the airport. I recommend that you book online if you want to park...

Tink27 19.12.2007 (21.12.2007) · Read review
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Review of Marrakech (Morocco)

Marrakech - it's like marmite you love or hate it.

Advantages: The mix of the city and the lovely riads
Disadvantages: The polution from petrol

...My daughter and myself have recently been lucky enough to spend four days in Marrakech in October. It was to me an amazing experience. We had a very early morning flight with Easy Jet, which meant we had most of the rest of the day to spend in Marrakech. From emails that I had been exchanging with the mamagers of The Riad Zolah in whch we were staying I knew we were being met at the airport, and taken as close to the Riad as a taxi can get. We were the last people out of the airport as I had left some things on the plane, and had to wait for it be be boarded before they would go and look for them. Luckily they were still there, and so was the taxi driver. It is an easy 15 minute drive to where we were dropped off, and met by a young lad with a big wooden cart which took our luggage and he guided us through souks and bewildering...

Alison3 01.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of Marrakech (Morocco)

Meanderings in Marrakech

Advantages: Interesting people, different culture
Disadvantages: small amount of hassle

...Useful Information; Moroccan Currency: Durham?s Exchange Rate: £1 to 16 Dirham (dh) Language: Arabic, French, Spanish Capital: Rabat I travelled to Morocco with two friends, Claire and Chris, for a 3 week backpacking trip during the Easter holidays. We travelled around in a figure of eight from Marrakech to Tarradonnt in the south, then to the north where we visited tangier and the other cities, returning to Marrakech via the desert. We travelled by Thomson air which cost £80 return into Marrakech. We arrived early, as we had not pre-booked a hotel, hoping we would be able to find a nice one once we arrived. We took the trusted Lonely Planet with us as I had used this on a previous trip to New Zealand and found it extremely trustworthy, as it has lists of hotels and maps with which to find them. After long queues at passport...

Shelby83 27.07.2007 · Read review
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Review of Marrakech (Morocco)

A great Italian restaurant in Marrakech

Advantages: good pizzas, housemade pasta, seafood, clean, WiFi
Disadvantages: no alcohol at the moment

...The Portofino Ristorante Pizzeria has a contemporary architecture, it's completely different from others Marrakech's restaurants. The owner is Italian and the chef too. He worked in Agadir before, at the Restaurent Rugantino. He moved with all is staff to Marrakech in October 2005. The chef told me, that for have a very crispy cooked pizza, you need a traditional wooden oven, and in this way, the oven comes from Modena. Modena is not only Ferrari's city ;-D. This restaurant is situated close at the Koutoubia and a few minutes by foot from the J. Fna square. Portofino is beautiful and the service of the waiters very good. Unfortunatly they have some problems with the English, but the manager speaks a fluent English because he worked in the Usa. If you don't want eat a pizza....no problem, you can choose between spaghetti, penne...

yplon 04.09.2006 · Read review
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Review of Portofino Restaurant, Marrakech

The New Moroccan Role

Advantages: "Colored cottons hang in the air?"
Disadvantages: "?Charming cobras in the square." (Crosby, Stills and Nash)

...It?s your first morning in Marrakech. You?re sitting at a café in the Jemaa el Fna, soaking up the sunshine and the atmosphere while you plan your sight-seeing. I?d like to think you?d decided to start at the Jemaa el Fna by reason of having read my recent review*, but probably you would have found your way there anyway. Most visitors do. It?s well known as the central square and hub of activity in the Medina, Marrakech?s old town, and a sight worth seeing in itself. By no means the only sight worth seeing, though; Marrakech is full of them. It needs to be. These days, tourism is Marrakech?s main industry. For a city set in flat countryside a hundred miles from the sea, this means that it lives on its past ? the architecture, art and ambience accumulated over a thousand years of history. Location...

torr 06.03.2009 (20.03.2009) · Read review
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Review of Marrakech (Morocco)

Pure luxury -and booked through the Co op

Advantages: Superb attention to detail Attentive service
Disadvantages: I had to come home

...of restaurants and bars - reasonably priced with a good menu choice although we only ate in the hotel on one evening choosing to sample the delights of Marrakech instead. THE BARS Morocco is a Muslim country and although alcohol is available it tends to be rather expensive. We found the cost of our large G&T's to be as much as a basic meal. Drinks in the downstairs bar were served with bowls of assorted nuts and nibbles by ever attentive staff. The upstairs bar next to the restaurant was even more upmarket and as well as nuts and nibbles there appeared to be a minor buffet to go with drinks. Very swish and i believe there was a disco later up there but we didn't stay for this. THE POOL Freezing cold in April but absolutely beautiful. Poolside attendants helped you to...

baeswoman 20.08.2007 · Read review
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Review of Sofitel, Marrakech

Watch out for the snake-poo

Advantages: Very different to anything in Europe, but very close to the UK
Disadvantages: You have to haggle over everything

...Marrakech is an interesting city, so close to Europe and yet so different in many ways. The contrast is particularly evident in the Medina, the old walled city, where motorbikes, donkeys and carts and cars jostle for right of way on the narrow dirty streets. I have just returned from a few days staying in the Medina. Getting There We flew with Atlas Blue, from London Gatwick for a mid-afternoon arrival, although Easy jet also has a flight early in the morning. Getting Around We took a taxi to our hotel from the airport and agreed, perhaps a little too easily, on a price of 150DH (£12) it turned out not to be very far, in an old unsafe looking car with no air conditioning or seat belts. We were probably ripped off a little, although the return journey in a slightly safer car booked from the hotel was the same price. Taxis...

AndrewPo 24.09.2008 · Read review
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Review of Marrakech (Morocco)

In Need Of Modernisation

Advantages: organised queues, staff speak english
Disadvantages: noticeboards and shops

...When arriving in a new country, the first thing that you will come across is the airport. In Marrakech the airport was not too far from the city itself so you could see the orange architecture upon arrival. It is just a wide open space the airport with not a lot of other aircraft as cities like this are obviously not quite like Heathrow. Once arriving you could see the other passengers waiting to get on as we got off. The airport was nice and cool, very air conditioned which was good but before doing anything the first thing we had to do was sign an immigration form and wait in a very lengthy queue for our passports to be stamped which is the last thing you need after a long flight. I found this system could have been sped up a lot more. Once passports had been checked the luggage then came out onto the conveyor belts which was all...

ms19 14.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Marrakech Menara Airport (RAK), Marrakech