Jardin Majorelle, Marrakech

Most of what I knew of Marrakech was dust and orange and dirt and fast, rusty bikes and people yelling at me or pulling on my sleeve, trying to sell me meat, octopus, henna, rugs, lamps…

Very different from our venture, one day during our weeklong visit, into the new side of town. Very different from the peaceful, deep blue, clean, organized, lush Jardin Majorelle.  
  

^^little birdies at the fountain

 

This beautiful garden is swathed in foreign plants, ornate architecture, and most notably a deep, deep indigo paint.
  

It’s the kind of colorful excess I’d been expecting of Morocco before I’d arrived.
  

Jardin Majorelle, or Majorelle Garden, is the brain child of famous designer Yves Saint Laurent, and walking through its colorful paths you can tell it was created by a fashion guru.
  ^^My favorite window/wall.

Overall, the garden was smaller than I was expecting. But there certainly is a lot packed into this small, bright space!  At 70 dirhams (or 35 for foreign students) it’s a wee bit pricy, compared to most of our Marrakech activities (read: sitting for hours in cafes sipping sweet tea, exploring the souks, etc).   However, it’s a way to see that luxurious, colorful side of Marrakech that we’d been missing out on.


  

^^feelin’ fancy

There’s a little museum (read: one room building) dedicated to Yves Saint Laurent’s love designs – every year he sent out New Years cards to family/friends with a new take on the word “love.” I want to steal his idea…


  

^ looking for our birth years…  

It’s definitely a trek to get to the gardens if you stay in the city center (old town) like we did, and like I would recommend, but it was interesting to cross the border and see that Marrakech really isn’t so different from other world cities. Surrounding Jardin Majorelle you can find boutiques, restaurants, even McDonalds… it’s a more familiar face than the overwhelming souks and square.

 

  
^sleeping kitty in the garden. Classic Marrakech.
  

^ Dan & I 

So do I recommend a visit to Jardin Majorelle? At the time, it seemed pricy for its size, location, and compared to how cheap everything else in Marrakech is. But looking back, it’s one of my more distinct memories of the trip, maybe because it was so different… It’s also a classic sight to see, that Marrakech is known for. So yes, I do recommend it, especially if you’re in the city for more than a few days, and are looking for more things to do outside the city center!

Sarah xx

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24 Comments

    1. Ahh wonderful! I’ll be looking out for your post on it too then 🙂 While you’re out on that side of town you should also check out Amal Women’s Training Centre – amaaazing food and the proceeds help out Moroccan women in difficulties 🙂

  1. I visited this garden during my last trip to Marrakech and enjoyed it, although I agree that it felt a little bit pricey at the time considering the size of the garden and museum (somehow I had been expecting both to be much larger!). I think one of its biggest draws is the relaxed contrast to the chaos of the Medina, which, let’s face it – as awesome as it is, does get slightly overwhelming after a while!

  2. I’ve never been here but it seems like a fun place to be, people trying to sell you lamps and such 😉 haha, I also really love your photos, you really captured the feel of it I think. (Also tweeted this on TravelPrayLove on Twitter!)

    1. Aw thanks for the tweet, lovely!! It was such a fun place to be…sometimes the people in my face trying to sell me stuff got to be a *bit* much, but when that happened we’d just take a break with Moroccan mint tea, and all was well again!!

  3. I love your pictures! This place looks so beautiful. It reminds me a lot of places I’ve been to in Southern Spain. Hoping to make it over to Morocco soon!

    1. Yeah I realized (after going to Spain right before Morocco) how much the two countries influence each other! I actually stayed in an airbnb in Spain the night before my flight to Morocco owned by a woman who was born in Morocco!

  4. What a lovely place. I loved that you share it with us, and it helps me plan my future trip there, that I don`t even know when it will be. haha
    Pinned it for later!

  5. I am not sure if I mentioned this to you before, but my sister lives in Morocco. She is studying Arabic and is doing an amazing job at it, she is almost fluent. Sadly, I have not been able to visit her yet, but I love the colorful photos she sends me, the designs and patterns and sights of Morocco, and I love learning about the culture. I ask her so many questions and she has embraced so much of the culture there. I hope to visit her one day soon.

    1. Oh my goodness, that is so cool and I had no idea! You need to get over to visit her ASAP! Although it’s gotta be pretty difficult to get there from Hawaii I’m sure. It would be such an interesting place to learn Arabic – there are so many languages in Morocco overlapping each other, I’m sure the dialect is really interesting. When we went to Morocco I’d just finished a placement where I worked with refugees for 3 months… They’d attempted to teach me Arabic, so I tried out my (minimal) Arabic skills in Morocco and was informed I was speaking “old” Arabic haha.

    1. Yup. Actually, there’s a story behind that. I still recommend their services in terms of it being the best budget/most authentic tour in Morocco, but I never gave them permission to use my photos. I’m all over their facebook and twitter, too. It wasn’t a sponsored trip, either. So…. yeah, I’ve been in some consultations about this and meaning to go to Citizen’s Advice.

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