Honestly, I thought that seven blog posts about a week’s trip to Morocco would be a bit much. I was a little concerned that by the time the last few posts come up, I would be struggling to write about the trip. Oddly though I now realised I need to cover the best restaurants in Marrakesh as well as the hammam experience in one post – and I haven’t even talked about our trip to Atlas mountains.
The Hammam Experience: this was a must-do in Morocco. In case you do not know, a hammam is a traditional Turkish bath/ massage experience. We visited the Hammam de la Rose which was recommended by one of my friends – I would highly recommend it!
It starts off with changing into a robe in the changing room. We were given a locker to put all our stuff in. We were then led into a huge bathroom, with a number of inner rooms. We did the couples hammam. Honestly, I can’t exactly tell you every stage of it – I seriously don’t remember there were so many!
The last room was a kind of steam room where we left for about 10 minutes. We were then taken to the room next to it which had a shower. Our hair was washed and we were bathed, scrubbed and exfoliated. Then the actual hammam started.
We were told to put our phone into the locker as well so I don’t have any pictures of the actual bathroom but you can see this on the hammam’s website. All of these pictures were taken before and after our hammam was over.
This involves a number of scrubs, pastes and masks. I know argan oil, orange blossom and volcanic mud is used – all of which I managed to buy to add to my beauty stash in the bathroom. The room smells amazing – I remember that well. The volcanic mud is a very important part of the hammam in Morocco. I remember using volcanic mud in St Lucia as well and it really makes your skin feel super clean, smooth and soft. It actually feels like you have a new layer of skin.
We also had a massage after the hammam which in all honesty I would not recommend. Just have the hammam – the massage was a very generic relaxing one and I didn’t feel it really helped me too much. But I walked out of the spa feeling so refreshed and relaxed!
Outfit details: dress was made during my trip to India last August, belt is from Levis.
We ended up eating a lot of meals in Morocco and ended up eating at some really great places and some, well, not so great ones. I have actually tried to include almost every place we ate in with my comments and the ones which I really recommend are starred twice and others I would consider are starred once.
Now I have already admitted that the best food I ate in Morocco was in Essaouira the best restaurants in Marrakesh were not too far behind.
- One of the best places we ate at was Teresse des epices** where we ate the first night we were in Marrakesh. We went there for lunch and couldn’t get a table and decided to reserve for dinner that night to see what the fuss was about. The best chicken tagine I ate was definitely here. I cannot recommend this place enough – the food is great, service was great and so was the place. Its a beautiful large terrace restaurant and they gave us blankets and we sat under a heater. It was such a perfect start to our trip!
The olive paste they served us with the bread was so yum!
2. Oddly although Papa Nero is mentioned as one of the best restaurants in Marrakesh, I can’t say I loved it. It was nice, food was good but it wasn’t very special to me and I personally thought it was quite expensive since I had eaten better food which was cheaper (check number 1 and 3 on this list). The restaurant itself is beautiful and quite a lovely date night place.
3. I think I can say my dinner at Latitude 31** was the best meal I had in Marrakesh. Although it was Moroccan food it was quite different and inventive and I ate and enjoyed things I didn’t expect to enjoy. The restaurant itself is lovely, we sat outside with heaters next to us – super cosy. (Sorry, the pictures look quite horrible in the light!)
4. Cafe Bouganvilla* is a beautiful cafe with a slightly bad attitude. Major disclaimer: we didn’t end up eating there. We went in and sat down. I was taking some pictures of the place and Dj and I were chatting about getting a drink since although I wasn’t very hungry, I was quite tired. The waiter came upto us and the first (and only) thing he said was we only get a wifi password if we order something. I wasn’t actually thinking about the wifi password at all since we were quite tired so it was a little abrupt. I just didn’t want to deal with any drama so we got up and walked out.
5. Exotic Bali* was our break from Moroccan food while in Marrakesh. DJ was craving some Thai and Indonesian food so we ended up here. I wont really recommend it otherwise (of course I have had better Indonesian and Thai food) but if you are looking for a break from Moroccan food it works well.
6. Cafe Arabe* was where we ended up for our first meal in Marrakesh. Its a huge sprawling restaurants and there seemed to be some confusion – we were first directed to the terrace, then told theres no space there and then directed to the courtyard (they refer to it as the patio) which was lovely. I remember I ordered the lamb tagine there which was a hug portion and I could barely make a dent. What I also remember was that the cold coffee I ordered was just perfect.
The place itself is quite colourful and pretty.
7. One of the things you are absolutely supposed to do when in Morocco is eat at a riad. We didn’t end up eating at the riads we stayed in but thought eating at another riad would give us a good chance to see another beautifully decorated riad and have a great meal. We decided on Riad 72 which is a gorgeous place. I mean, see for yourself.
(All the details of the outfit I am wearing included here.)
This place was beautiful, service was great but the food was just not to my taste. Its the sort of restaurant you are really rooting for, I wanted to love it, all the reviews told me its great but I just did not like the food. I do think its also a matter of expectations because I was expecting traditional Moroccan food at the riad while this was a little bit of fusion and inventive which I just could not take to.
8. To sit and drink (slightly overpriced drinks) in a beautiful place go to La Salama*.
The service was a little odd – there seemed to be a lot of analysis required on what is there for happy hour and what isn’t included but we did have some Moroccan beer in a lovely place so I would recommend this place.
9. We went to Bazaar Cafe* twice so would definitely recommend. We didn’t eat a proper meal there but only had drinks and snacks. Its a rooftop place so sitting there with some beer was lovely.
10. Dar Chef was one of our last meals in Marrakech. We had very good chicken tagine here as well – I would definitely recommend this place. We later found out they also hold cooking classes so if that is something you are interested in, it would be great.
Do let me know if you have any questions about Marrakech or Morocco in general. Check this whole list of our ‘Morocco in 7 Dresses Series’ posts on Morocco!
- The Yves Saint Laurent Museum
- The Best of the Riads of Morocco
- The Beautiful Walled City of Essaouira
- Why We Went to Essaouira, What to Do and Where to Eat
- YSL’s Majorelle Gardens – How to Beat the Crowds and Get the Best Photos
- Argan Oil and Other Beauty Haul
Also, are you following us on Instagram yet? We post pictures and updates everyday about what we’re up to. Come say Hi 🙂 Till next time!
– Anisha
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