Marrakech Wall

We spent the last two days of our holiday exploring the Medina and Ville Nouvelle. I was keen to walk around the outside of the Marrakesh Wall, which encloses the Medina.

Leaving by the west gate, Bab el Arissa, (it’s close to our hotel) we turned left following the wall along a modern, wide, pavement. After a short distance the wall bears sharp left and follows Boulevard el Yarmouk for several kilometres. it’s a busy road but the footpath running alongside is wide, smart and lined with orange trees.

Most of the orange trees were loaded with fruit. I found out why when I tried one of the oranges. It was bitingly sharp, making me wince as I bit into the fruit itself. They’re definitely not eaters but would be great for marmalades etc.

There’s not a great deal to see but it’s just a really nice walk, on a wide well kept pavements, away from the bustle and hassle on the other side of the wall. We followed the wall for several kilometres and decided to duck back into the medina madness via the Bab er Robb gate, that’s located by the Royal Palace and the Kasbah. We turned immediately left and made our way back to Jemaa el-Fnaa for a mint tea and coffee on the rooftop of a cafe overlooking the square.

The cafe was a new find for us. Its located on the SE corner of the square, to the right of where the horses and carriages line up. The ground floor café terrace was busy with locals enjoying drink but the roof terrace was really quiet. I was able to move around quite freely to get some nice, high up, pictures looking across the square and back across to The Koutoubia Mosque.

After a chilled afternoon on a sunbed in the hotel, we returned to the cafe in the evening to grab some shots across the square at dusk. The rooftop terrace was busier but we were still able to get a table overlooking the square and move around to get more photographs. Prices were very reasonable as well with a mint tea and coffee costing about £4.

Gare De Marrakech

We set off on our last full day heading for Ville Nouvelle, as I was keen to find Marrakesh train station. I’d read that the building itself was quite impressive, but I was also keen to find out train ticket prices for a trip out to Casablanca for when we next visit. I had tried looking online but the official train ticket website kept crashing as I worked my way through the ticket booking process.

The train station itself was a twenty minute walk from our hotel and easy to find. It is an impressive building and, as a bonus, they had large photo boards outside as part of a photography exhibition on everyday Moroccan life.

We wandered into the main concourse where the really helpful station staff told us a single train fare to Casablanca was 16 Dirhams (about £14). There was no option to buy a return ticket. We thought the train ticket price was good value and we will try and visit Casablanca next time we visit Marrakesh.

We spent the evening wandering around the souks, picking up some colourful ceramic coasters and nougat to take home home with us. Our pick up was at 8.20am the following morning so this was our last walk out into the Medina for this trip.

We really enjoyed our winter holiday. Although it was December we found the temperatures fine for us. We had a sunny week and during the day we were comfortable walking around in shorts and T-shirts. We needed a jacket in the evening but it was warm enough to sunbathe most afternoons. There were also far less tourists around so the souks and main visitors sites were far less busy than our previous visit in October. I left wanting more and I’ve no doubt we’ll be visiting Marrakesh again soon.

All images: ©Stephen Hyde 2007-2025 – All rights reserved.