As of now, Marrakesh is an extremely sought-after tourist destination, famous for its souks (traditional markets), the riads (traditional Moroccan houses), the chaos, and its astonishing mix of colours.
In 2025, the city has scored one more “first” among the most popular destinations in Morocco, followed by Agadir, Casablanca, Chefchaouen, and Fes… and there’s a good reason why!
Marrakesh in fact, is one of those places that, behind the surface, quietly hides many fascinating stories and layers of history.
In addition to that, it is located right in the middle of several natural marvels, which make it the perfect base to explore this gorgeous North African corner. That is also one of the reasons why many Morocco tour packages use Marrakesh as their main hub 🙂
In this article, we will try to bring you beyond the “touristy” Marrakesh, and reveal to you 7 curiosities and fun facts that will surprise you and help you to see this wonderful city with new, more conscious eyes 🙂
A warning before starting: if you’ve never been to Morocco or Marrakesh before, at the end of this article, you will surely feel the urge to add it to your travel bucket list! You’ve been warned 😉
That said, let’s dive right in and start exploring the facts, the trivia, and the landmarks within the city limits and beyond 🙂
7 Curious Fun Facts
in & around Marrakesh! 🙂
1) The Jemaa el-Fnaa Market,
is an UNESCO World Heritage Site
for what happens, not for what stands!
Did you know that most UNESCO World Heritage Sites are protected because of stone, architecture, or ruins that have survived centuries?
Jemaa el-Fnaa is an exception that breaks the rule!
Being the main and most famous square in Marrakesh, Jemaa el-Fnaa earned its UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 2001 for being a living cultural space, recognised specifically for its intangible heritage.
In 2008, the Unesco Committee even gave it the status of “masterpiece” to this square!
What makes this square unique is not a monument or a special construction, but its daily routine: it’s a huge open square, where street food, performers, musicians, storytellers, markets, and chaos collide!
Think about juice stalls, close to snake charmers and henna artists…and then again grills, food vendors, and crowds!
From day-time to evening-time, Jemaa el-Fnaa transforms into dozens of parallel stages: storytellers reciting oral histories, musicians performing ancestral rhythms, street performers passing down traditions that were never written down (and probably never will!) 🙂
The recognition of the UNESCO committee has played a key role in preserving this place, as modernisation was threatening to erase its fragile, human oral ecosystem.
In other words, Jemaa el-Fnaa is protected because people still use it the way they have for centuries!
It’s one of the rare places in the world where culture is not behind glass: it feels alive, loud, it pulses, it vibrates, and most of all, it does it as it has always been!
2) Marrakesh’s “red walls” are an urban system, not just a colour choice
Marrakesh is often called the “Red City”, and if you look around when you are in the city, it is pretty easy to understand why! 😉
What many visitors don’t know, though, is that the red colour was not chosen purely for ornamental purposes!
In fact, the iconic reddish tone of the walls comes naturally from a mix of local clay, lime, and earth; all materials chosen because they were abundant, insulating, and easy to repair back in the days.
The whole city’s defensive walls are built with those materials: they stretch for roughly 19 kilometres, punctuated by around 200 towers and monumental gates, enclosing the historic Medina like a giant earthen ring!
The red of the buildings helped to partially keep the heat out (bounces out red/orange wavelengths of sunlight!), and also was simple to maintain in such a harsh climate.
Extra Fun Fact: What’s fascinating is that this construction method shaped the city’s identity unintentionally. The walls unified Marrakesh visually, making it instantly recognisable long before branding or tourism existed.
As of today, strict regulations are also in place to preserve this chromatic harmony.
That’s why Marrakesh looks cohesive in a way few historic cities do: it wasn’t designed for beauty first, but beauty emerged as a side effect of function, and today it is one of its most loved characteristics!
3) The Menara Gardens are a medieval water-management machine in disguise
The Menara gardens are a historic garden complex just outside of Marrakesh’s Medina.
At first glance, these gardens feel like a peaceful postcard: olive trees, reflections, silence… perfect for taking a stroll and shooting a few memory pictures with the Atlas Mountains in the background!
What most people do not know, though, is the history of these gardens and what remarkably advanced piece of 12th-century hydraulic engineering is hiding within them!
At the heart of the garden,s in fact, lies a large basin that once acted as a water reservoir, fed by several underground channels, all bringing meltwater from the Atlas Mountains to the doors of the city.
This water, back in the days, was not brought until here just for decoration: it was of key importance to irrigate the vast olive groves and stabilise the food production for the whole city!
The pavilion you can still see today overlooking the basin, was also not built for leisure, but it functioned as a monitoring point, allowing rulers to oversee water levels and their distribution.
In a semi-arid region such as the Maghreb plateau, controlling water meant controlling survival!
The Menara gardens are once more, together with the city wall, a stunning reminder that many of Marrakesh’s most romantic and iconic places were once born from hard environmental logic and not for aesthetics!
Beauty always followed necessity!
4) The Saadian Tombs were erased from history,
and rediscovered centuries later!
Few places in Marrakesh have a backstory as dramatic as the Saadian Tombs.
Built in the 16th century to honour the Saadian dynasty (the family that ruled Morocco between 1549 and 1659, which claimed descent directly from the Prophet Muhammad), the complex was later sealed off and deliberately hidden by subsequent rulers (the Alaouite dynasty).
For centuries, the tombs vanished from collective memory, and nobody knew about their existence: no signage, no access of any kind, nor stories passed down publicly.
In 1917, almost 250 years after the Saadian dynasty ended, the tombs were rediscovered during aerial surveys under the French Protectorate.
What makes this story striking isn’t just the rediscovery, but the intention behind the disappearance: political rivalry was so intense that erasing predecessors became a strategy, even in death.
The erasure of opposition is sadly a topic still very actual in our modern world in many countries around the globe, and the history of the Saadian tombs, I believe, can be a strong reminder to all of us of how despicable, yet easily can be for the powerful to erase places and world-views from existence!
Walking through the tombs today feels like stepping into a time capsule that history tried to delete but failed to erase!
The tombs are not enormous, but the funerary complex is extremely rich in decoration: from zelliji tiles, carved cedar wood ceilings, engraved marble colomns and a classy medieval Islamic geometry: definitely a place to visit if you’re planning a trip to Marrakesh!
5) The Agafay Desert, at the doors of Marrakesh,
is a sandless desert full of surprises!
6) North Africa’s highest peak rises just beyond Marrakesh, and it’s epic!
Did you know?
The Jbel Toubkal, located 60km South of Marrakesh in the High Atlas, is a peak that reaches 4,167 metres, making it the highest mountain in North Africa!
Being so close to Marrakesh, on clear days, the Atlas Mountains form a visible horizon from the city and you can spot even the snow lingering the summit for much of the year!
Despite its height, the summit of the Jbel Toubkal is trekking-accessible (no technical climbing in summer), making it one of the most attainable 4,000-metre peaks in the world.
In winter, on the other hand, it transforms into a true alpine mountain, with snow, ice, and crampons required — an extreme contrast to the nearby desert plains and a direct hit to that common stereotype of “Africa is very hot, everywhere, all the time“…plot twist: it’s not! 😉
7) Aït Benhaddou was built for caravans,
not cameras (although those came too! 😉 )
If you like movies, you’ve probably seen this place before: in “Gladiator“, in “Lawrence of Arabia“, in “The Mummy“, in “Prince of Persia“, and again in “Babel” or even in “Game of Thrones“!
Long before Hollywood discovered it, though, the town of Aït Benhaddou was for centuries a strategic stop on trans-Saharan caravan routes linking Marrakesh to the deep south.
This fortified ksar, conveniently reachable with a tour from Marrakesh, wasn’t designed to be picturesque (it just happened to be!), but instead was designed to store goods, protect traders, and control movement!
Salt, gold, spices, and textiles all passed through here on their way up north.
The thick, earthen walls of the buildings regulated temperature, while layered structures maximised defence by restricting access and movement!
Last but not least, the location of Ait Benhaddou near a river crossing made it unavoidable for caravans moving across the High Atlas.
This marvelous place was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 (14 years before Marrakesh’s main square!),and it survives today as a reminder that Marrakesh’s influence extended far beyond its walls.
The city was not isolated; it was a logistical hub in a continental network of trade 🙂
Conclusions 🙂
And here we are at the end of our article! 🙂
In this post, we’ve seen how Marrakesh rewards curiosity: the more you slow down and ask why things exist the way they do, the more the city opens up!
We’ve seen Jemaa el-Fnaa square become a living archive, as well as the Menara garden hiding an ancient aqueduct.
We’ve seen how the picturesque village of Ait Benaddou was built to protect trade and why Marrakesh’s city walls are mostly red.
We discovered that not all deserts are made of sand (like the Agafay!), that in Africa it’s not always hot (like on top of the tall Jbel Toubkal), and that things can disappear from history if we do not keep our eyes wide open (like the Saadian Tombs!).
Marrakesh, and all the region around it, is a place of wonders that can greatly reward those who treading sofly, wander it! 🙂
So…now the big question: you got it on your travel bucket list yet? 😉
- Have you ever been to Marrakesh before?
- How was your experience?
- Do you know any other curious, fun facts about it?
Let us know in the comments below! 😀
Hereafter, I will leave you a few articles that you might also be interested in checking out:
Thank you for reading, and see you in the next article! 🙂
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