Marrakesh

MARRAKESHSTARTER

The Square and the Minaret

≈ 1,600 steps0.7 mi · about 2 hoursStarter · 3 stops · 500 credStart where you live.

Two hours on the three pieces of open ground everyone else only crosses: the square itself, the minaret you will navigate by for the rest of the week, and a walled garden five minutes west of it. Start in late afternoon so you are standing on the square when the food stalls go up.

MARRAKESHSTANDARD

Souks by Trade

≈ 1,500 steps0.7 mi · about 4 hoursStandard · 5 stops · 600 credOne trip earns it.

The souks are not one market but a dozen, each named for what was made in it. Five stops from the arch above Jemaa el-Fnaa to the madrasa square, half a day on foot. You will lose the thread at least once: the minaret and the square are the two compass points that get you back, and anyone who walks up and offers to guide you unasked will want paying or want you in their cousin's shop.

MARRAKESHSTANDARD

The Wall and Its Gates

≈ 8,500 steps4.0 mi · about 4.5 hoursStandard · 5 stops · 600 credOne trip earns it.

Rammed red earth six to eight metres high still rings the medina, cut by gates that are each a different defensive puzzle. Five of them, roughly clockwise; half a day on foot with a taxi hop or two. You cannot walk on top of the ramparts anywhere, but the streets beside them are free and open at any hour, and late afternoon is when the earth turns colour.

MARRAKESHADVANCED

Outside the Walls

≈ 9,500 steps4.4 mi · a full day · + 2 stretches not routedAdvanced II · 8 stops · 800 credGetting there is not the hard part.

Two days and a string of petit taxis for the city the ramparts do not hold: the rose garden under the Koutoubia, the 1913 avenues of Gueliz, the street outside the Majorelle's 170-dirham gate, and the two royal water gardens on the southern plain. Agdal opens only Fridays and Sundays and shuts without notice when the king is in residence, so build the two days around it.

MARRAKESHADVANCED

South of the Square

≈ 6,500 steps3.0 mi · about 7 hoursAdvanced · 6 stops · 800 credGetting there is not the hard part.

A full day in the southern medina, where every famous interior charges at the door: the Bahia is 70 to 100 dirhams, the Saadian tombs and El Badi the same. These six stops are the ground between them — the tinsmiths' square, the kasbah's own plaza, two long shopping lanes and two gates most visitors never reach.