Morocco in Winter is Always a Good Idea

The view of Marrakech from our riad balcony.

I’ve never really thought about Morocco as somewhere I wanted to travel to. In fact, the entire continent of Africa has remained at the back of my mind, in the sense of “I suppose I’ll set foot on there someday.”

Well, someday crept up a lot sooner than I anticipated. Turns out, the country of Morocco is only a short flight away from the UK. I’m once again completely bowled over by how well-connected London is to pretty much everywhere in the world except from the corner that I hail from. Sigh. Oh well.

Related: The Top 11 Things to do in Essaouria

When a fellow Australian expat asked if I wanted to join her in a quick trip to Morocco, I accepted her invitation eagerly. We discovered shortly after that we’d have cloudless skies and mid-twenties weather for our trip, meaning we’d absolutely made the right decision. Morocco in the winter couldn’t have been anything but a really good idea.

How comfy do these beds look?

These days, I largely stay in Airbnb’s when I travel and we did start off looking at these as an option… before we were told to stop being silly and book into a Riad instead. These are basically the Moroccan version of a BnB, because they do provide you with breakfast, which Airbnb’s across the world don’t so much tend to. The breakfast was not for the gluten intolerant – consisting of bread, pastries and doughnuts, accompanied by the sugary sweet mint tea – a Moroccan staple that I was slowly becoming addicted to.

Not usually one for selfies, but that was a gorgeous bathroom.

I arrived in Marrakech with little to no expectations, which is always the best way to approach travelling, in my opinion (with the exception of Iceland, which blows my mind every time I go there).

My friend Kristy and I could agree on one thing – three days was not enough time in this city (damn it, work). We filled every second we had with adventure and activities – seeing the Jardin Majorelle, visiting a Moroccan spa, shopping in the souk, heading out to a Berber village, climbing a mountain and eating our body weight in cous cous and tajine.

This way to comfort.

I learned the hard way last year that London winters and I simply are not compatible. So, a three day break of strolling through winding streets, seeing the local sights, practising my schoolgirl French with locals and soaking up the sun was more than welcome. It provided the perfect opportunity to come back to London refreshed and ready to face the icy cold 2 degree celsius temperatures (that’s a joke – I will never be mentally ready to do such a thing).

Hey, cat.

Have you been to Marrakech, or somewhere else in Morocco? What were your impressions of it?