Moroccan Palaces Walking Tour (Self Guided), Marrakech

The Bahia Palace in Marrakech is one of the finest examples of late 19th-century Moroccan architecture, built to showcase the wealth and status of its owners. Construction began in the 1860s under the grand vizier of Sultan Muhammad IV and was later expanded by his son, Ba Ahmed, who served as regent of Morocco until 1900. The name “Bahia,” meaning “brilliance” in Arabic, reflects the intention behind the palace: to create a masterpiece of beauty, craftsmanship, and luxury. Although much of its original furniture and decoration was removed after Ba Ahmed’s death, the palace itself remains an exceptional expression of power and refined taste.

What makes the Bahia Palace particularly fascinating is not just its scale but its intricate design. The complex includes grand reception halls, intimate private rooms, open courtyards, gardens of cypress and orange trees, and elaborate decorative details at every turn. Carved cedar ceilings, zellige tilework, stucco patterns, and painted wooden panels demonstrate the highest level of craftsmanship of the period. Unlike traditional palaces arranged along a strict central axis, the Bahia consists of multiple irregular wings added over time, giving it a layered and almost labyrinthine character.

As you enter the palace grounds through a horseshoe archway, you are met by a path lined with orange trees, cypresses, hibiscus, and palms. The Grand Courtyard is the highlight of the palace and can be reached by walking straight ahead from the main entrance through a sequence of smaller rooms and courtyards. Once there, you can admire the delicate blue and yellow arches surrounding the courtyard. Together with the central fountain and the marble-tiled floor, the Grand Courtyard blends beautifully with the open sky above.

The palace carries strong cultural resonance, embodying the height of 19th-century Moroccan aristocratic life on the eve of the French Protectorate.

The Museum of Moroccan Arts is a 19th-century palace turned museum that offers visitors a rich blend of architectural elegance and Moroccan artistic heritage. Its story begins with its original use as a private residence: the building was constructed between 1894 and 1900 for the minister of defence. Under the French Protectorate, the palace was converted in 1932 into a museum devoted to Moroccan native crafts, with a particular emphasis on woodwork. Following independence and later restorations, it reopened in 2018 as the “National Museum of Weaving and Carpets.”

Architecturally, the building is a highlight in its own right. It reflects the decorative richness of late-19th-century Moroccan domestic design, featuring carved cedar-wood ceilings, geometric tilework, intricate plaster decoration, courtyard fountains, and a multi-level layout.

The museum’s collections draw from Marrakech and southern Morocco, showcasing a wide variety of traditional arts. Exhibits include carved wooden elements such as lintels, corbels, and doors, as well as domestic furnishings like chests, mirrors, and bridal objects. Visitors will also find jewellery, ceramics, weapons, carpets, and textiles.

One of the most remarkable pieces is a 10th-century marble basin from al-Andalus, the region of medieval Arab-ruled Spain and Portugal. Before its donation to the museum, the basin was used in a mosque, despite its carved imagery of eagles and griffins — motifs that typically conflict with Islamic restrictions on depicting living beings.

Compared to the street bustle of the medina, the museum offers a calmer interior space where you can appreciate craftsmanship in a historic house.

El Badi Palace is one of the city’s most evocative historical sites—less a traditional palace today than a grand ruin that invites the imagination to travel back to Morocco’s golden age. It was commissioned in the late 16th century by Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur of the Saadian dynasty, who ordered its construction after his victory over the Portuguese at the Battle of the Three Kings in 1578. Built with the finest materials available—Italian marble, gold from Sudan, carved cedarwood, and onyx—it took roughly 25 years to complete and was intended to symbolize the sultan’s wealth, power, and refined taste. Its name, “El Badi,” meaning “The Incomparable,” reflects that ambition.

In its prime, the palace featured more than 300 rooms, vast reception halls, sunken gardens, fountains, pavilions, and a massive courtyard surrounded by richly decorated chambers. Diplomats and dignitaries described it as one of the most magnificent residences of its time. However, its glory was short-lived. When the Alaouite dynasty came to power in the 17th century, Sultan Moulay Ismail stripped El Badi of its precious materials to embellish his own palace in Meknes, leaving behind the monumental shell that still stands today.

The enormous courtyard with its pools and orange trees remains the palace's focal point. The courtyard is hard to miss as its size is almost two hectars. A water basin sits at the center and is surrounded by four sunken gardens that can be accessed by stairs. Upon entering the palace, the best vantage point is a terrace immediately on the left that offers sweeping views of the palace's elements and the surrounding old town.

Throughout the palace's ruins, remnants of carved decor, fragments of tilework, and traces of stucco work hint at former splendor. Despite the loss of its former embellishments, the palace is enlivened by a colony of storks who made the ruins' ramparts their home. They truly have some good taste.

El Badi Palace invites you to explore its treasures that have been taken away by time. Fill the gaps by using your imagination and you are in for a memorable experience.

While not open to the public, the Royal Palace is worthwhile going to, as it is perhaps the largest of its kind in the country and has been used as winter quarters by royal families for centuries. It is an enclave within the medina – or a city within the city.

The first palace was built after the Almohad tribe won the city in 1147 following many years of battles against the ruling Almoravides, who had made Marrakech their capital city. When the Almohad Dynasty was installed they pulled down almost all the buildings constructed by their rivals and built the Kasbah within the city walls.

Part of the Kasbah housed military and administrative staff, but most of it was given over to the royal quarters where the sultan lived and housed his harem. The Almohad Dynasty was succeeded by the Marinid Dynasty in 1269 and they enlarged the palace.

The Marinids were succeeded by the Wattasid’s in 1472 who were defeated by the Saadis in 1554. In 1666 the Alaouite Dynasty was installed and their descendants rule Morocco today.

During this time, although most of the buildings in the medina were either destroyed or pulled down so that each dynasty could stamp its name on the city, the palace was simply enlarged and renovated.

Today the capital of Morocco is Rabat, but this hasn’t diminished the importance of the Royal Palace in Marrakech. In 1989 the Unification Treaty of the Arab Maghreb and in 1994 the GATT contracts were signed here.

Marrakech is often very hot and dusty and is always busy and noisy and after a while it’s necessary to escape and relax somewhere calm. Agdal Gardens is an excellent place for this.

The gardens cover an area of 400 hectares to the south of the Royal Palace. Agdal means walled meadow in Berber and the gardens have a pisé wall around them.

They were founded in 1157 as a private orchard for Sultan Abd al-Mu’min. They were renovated and enlarged in the 19th century during the Saadian Dynasty, which was when the wall was erected.

The oblong plots are full of apricot, fig, lemon, orange and pomegranate trees, linked by paths lined with olive trees.

There are several ponds and the whole area is irrigated by khettera – which are ingenious underground channels that bring water from the Ourika Valley in the High Atlas Mountains.

The largest pool is called the “Tank of Health” and was once used for teaching soldiers how to swim. Beside this pool you will see the minzah Dar el Hana, where various sultans would spend a few days during the summer months to escape the heat of the city. Another pavilion in the gardens is the Dar al Baida, which housed the sultan’s harem.