DK Travel : Marrakech : The Night Market

The Night Market

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Each evening as the sun goes down, dozens of open-air kitchens set up on the east side of Jemaa El Fna. Serving areas are erected and tables and benches are put out to create one vast alfresco eatery. Beneath a hanging cloud of smoke from the crackling charcoal grills, locals and visitors alike tuck into a vast array of Moroccan cuisine. Nearly every stall has its own speciality, from snails in spicy broth and chunks of lamb stuffed into sandwiches to humble hard-boiled eggs.

A dry-fruit stall
Although Marrakech has a very low crime rate, the crowds milling around Jemaa El Fna at night are perfect cover for pickpockets. Be careful with handbags and wallets. If you find the food stalls at the Night Market to be intimidating, you can always opt for the relative familiarity of salads, pizza and pasta at the Terrasses de l’Alhambra instead. More on Moroccan cuisine. During the International Film Festival a large screen is erected on Jemaa El Fna,.

Top 10 Features

1. The food

1. The food

Some of the most popular eatables are the varieties of brochette – grilled lamb and chicken – along with bowls of soup, spicy sausages, grilled fish and bowls of boiled chickpeas.
2. Hygiene

The raw ingredients arrive fresh each evening and the food is cooked in front of you. Plates and utensils are often washed in water that isn’t changed for much of the night, so get your food served on paper and eat with your fingers.
3. Etiquette

3. Etiquette

Walk around to view what’s on offer and when you see something you like, take a seat. You don’t have to speak Arabic – just point to what you want. Prices are usually posted and everything is inexpensive.
4. Entertainers

4. Entertainers

Knots of excited onlookers surround a menagerie of tricksters, sundry wild-eyed performers and fortune tellers. This is where the Moroccan belief in everyday magic is on full display. And it’s not put on for tourists.
5. Storytellers

5. Storytellers

Gifted orators enthral their rapt audience with tales of Islamic heroes and buffoons. Sessions end on a cliffhanger – the outcome is revealed only on the following night.
6. Transvestite dancers

6. Transvestite dancers

You’ll find men who dance wildly while dressed in women’s clothing. It’s an age-old practice – one that lends a slightly surreal, almost cultic air, to the goings-on on the square.
7. Musicians

7. Musicians

A smattering of musicians, often groups of Gnawa, who specialize in hypnotic, thrumming rhythms, entrance crowds of listeners who stand around swaying in far-off reveries, long after everyone else has called it a night.
8. Majoun

The wild-eyed appearance of some of the denizens of Jemaa El Fna is undoubtedly aided by consumption of this mild, hallucinogenic drug. It is basically Moroccan-grown marijuana eaten in a jam- or cake-like form and is easily available.
9. Café Glacier

One of the best places from which to observe the spectacle of the Jemaa El Fna at night is from the rooftop terrace of Café Glacier, located at the southern edge. The best time to visit is as the sun sets.
10. Henna tattooists

10. Henna tattooists

At their busiest as the evening comes on, the ladies with piping bags full of henna paste paint hands and feet with the most intricate of designs. Clients choose the design from a book of photographs; the “tattoos” usually last a week or more.

Practical Information

Although Marrakech has a very low crime rate, the crowds milling around Jemaa El Fna at night are perfect cover for pickpockets. Be careful with handbags and wallets. If you find the food stalls at the Night Market to be intimidating, you can always opt for the relative familiarity of salads, pizza and pasta at the Terrasses de l’Alhambra instead. The Night Market sets up at sunset daily and runs until around midnight, or later in the summer months. Café Glacier 024 44 21 93 Open 6am–10:30pm daily