Marrakech, Morocco

Morocco was easily the most magical place I’ve ever visited. From the scent of local spice markets filling the city air, to the quiet retreat of the Atlas Mountains and back, Morocco is a country I would visit again, and again, and again.

Our journey to Morocco began with an idea. After multiple trips to Europe my husband and I began to feel restless. Where could we go to experience something even more exciting? Where could we find even richer history, culture, and cuisine? We scoured the Internet for ideas and inspiration, and stumbled upon a suggestion: why not visit Marrakech, Morocco?

Morocco. Located in the northwestern corner of the African continent, Morocco boasts some of the world’s best and most beautiful travel destinations (Casablanca, anyone?) We were intrigued... so we dug a little deeper. 

It turns out it’s pretty cheap to fly from Dublin, Ireland to Marrakech. And, coincidentally, it’s just as cheap to fly from Philadelphia, PA to Dublin! (My husband and I *never* pay more than a couple hundred dollars for a round-trip plane ticket. It’s just not going to work with our budget. So cheap is key, here.) 

We began scouring dates when it’s cheapest to visit both countries. We booked a trip for November 2019, which coincided with what us Americans know as the Thanksgiving holiday. Being non-traditional (we hadn’t truly celebrated Thanksgiving in years, always opting to take the cheap vacation rates available at that time anyways) we went ahead and booked our flights. Round-trip from Philly to Dublin with a Dublin to Morocco round-trip sandwiched perfectly in between. We’d have a day in Dublin on each end of our journey (with a lucky layover in Barcelona on our last day— yay!) and a sufficient five days to explore Marrakech and the Atlas Mountain region in Morocco. We were beside ourselves, and *beyond* ready to get out of dodge.

But, wait! There’s more! (Lord, forgive me for the use of that terrible cliché. 😅) Before we set off on our Moroccan adventure, we had to find a place to stay, and things to actually *do* there. Morocco is beautiful and culturally tantalizing all on its own, but we wanted to see as much as we could see and do as much as we could do while we were there. So, the second phase of our research began.

Come to find out, tourists in Morocco can stay relatively inexpensively (yet very comfortably) in local bed and breakfast-like homes, called “Riads”, right in the middle of Marrakech’s Medina, or Old City. We opted to skip the ridiculously priced chain resorts (sorry, Four Seasons!) and stay in a beautiful, family-owned and operated Riad in the heart of the Medina called Riad Chayma. (More on that later— long story short, it was an AMAZING stay!)

Now that flights and accommodations had been booked, we needed to check one more box off of our travel checklist: excursions, adventures, and sight-seeing activities all the like. Luckily, TripAdvisor is nearly 100% community sourced when it comes to rates and reviews of different attractions, so we pretty quickly found some locally-owned tour companies that offered a wide variety of city tours, mountain excursions, and other activities (like almond butter making classes— yum!) We booked an all-day excursion online that listed a pretty impressive itinerary, and decided to take ourselves sightseeing the other days (thanks, Internet) for free to save some cash (which is ALWAYS important to us when traveling). 

Before we knew it (and after all that planning), it was time to board our flight to Ireland, then from Ireland to Morocco.

Since this is already decently wordy, I’ll tell the rest of the tale in photos, below. From our incredible stay in Riad Chayma to the beautiful tour we took of the Atlas Mountains with a local tour guide, visiting Morocco changed my life. Seriously. 

If you have any questions about visiting Morocco (or any of the countries we’ve been to) and would like to learn more, just shoot me a message. I’m always happy to answer any questions friends and family may have about our travels, including budgeting, planning, etc. 

Click through the gallery to enjoy the photos! 

xoxo, MM.