Five slow days in
Medina · Palaces · Gardens
We arrive on Tuesday, 16 November 2027
Thursday 18 November 2027
All over Morocco, including Marrakech
Morocco’s national holiday, which recalls the end of the French and Spanish protectorates and the speech of Mohammed V on 18 November 1955. Government offices and banks close, while shops, cafés and restaurants stay open. We did not find a published programme for Marrakech, so expect a day to see the city on holiday rather than a scheduled event.
Every year on 18 November. Source ↗
Five days: palaces and gardens, a national holiday in the medina, and time to sit still.
Medina, Marrakech
We arrive, leave the bags and walk out to the Koutoubia as the light turns pink. Then the Menara gardens, where the Atlas can be seen on a clear evening.
The minaret of the Koutoubia has watched over Marrakech since the twelfth century. It is built in the same Almohad style as the Giralda in Seville.
An olive grove around a large rectangular basin, laid out in the twelfth century, with a green-roofed pavilion on its edge. On a clear day the Atlas mountains stand behind it.
The southern medina holds royal tombs, a ruined palace and a vizier’s house, all within a short walk of each other. We go slowly and sit in the courtyards.
The burial place of the Saadian dynasty, made in the sixteenth century and walled up for a long time afterwards. It was only rediscovered in 1917.
Ahmad al-Mansur began this palace in 1578 and it was stripped of its treasures a century later. What remains is a vast open courtyard of sunken gardens and red walls.
A palace of courtyards built in the late nineteenth century for a grand vizier and his household. Its name means brilliance.
A national holiday: government offices and banks close, while shops, cafés and the square carry on. We spend the morning in the souks, the afternoon in a garden and the evening on Jemaa el-Fna.
A web of covered lanes north of Jemaa el-Fna, sorted by trade: lamps, leather, spices, wool. It is easy to lose the way, and that is part of the pleasure.
The painter Jacques Majorelle made this garden from the 1920s, and Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé later bought it. The deep blue of its walls now carries his name.
The big square of the medina, where storytellers, musicians and food stalls take over as the sun goes down. UNESCO recognises its oral traditions as living heritage.
An old college of carved cedar and zellige, then a walled garden in the middle of the medina. A small, still day.
A former Quranic college rebuilt in the sixteenth century, and once among the largest in Morocco. Its central courtyard is covered in carved cedar, plaster and zellige.
A restored nineteenth-century palace in the Mouassine district, with two walled gardens, one Islamic and one planted with exotic species. It is a pause from the lanes outside.
A palace turned museum, a last mint tea, and then the road home.
A museum in an early-twentieth-century palace, with Moroccan art and crafts set around a courtyard under a large brass chandelier. It sits next to the Ben Youssef Madrasa.
Every stop and our base.
What mid-November is usually like.
Marrakech
Typical weather for these dates, not a forecast: the average of 2016–2025, with data from Open-Meteo.com (ERA5). The chance of rain is an estimate.
16 photos from 10 places on our route
On 18 November 1955, two days after returning from exile, Sultan Mohammed V gave a speech that the day recalls. It is also the date of his accession in 1927.
Morocco regained independence from France on 2 March 1956 and from Spain on 7 April 1956. The holiday moved to 18 November at the request of Hassan II.
On the route: Day 3, Independence DayGovernment offices and banks close on the holiday, so change money the day before. Shops, cafés and restaurants usually stay open.
On the route: Day 3, the souksTell us where you’re going. Your draft is free.