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The fascinating mix of North African charm and mystic blended with some of the best hotels and restaurants makes Marrakech a perfect destination for an incentive trip or conference. ATP’s Events & Experiences Manager, Jo Wardle tells us more.
Arriving in Marrakech is like you have travelled back in time. After a three-and-a-half-hour flight you arrive at an expanding and modern airport but once you have left the somewhat chaotic airport you are just a short taxi journey away from the hustle and bustle of a city that has changed little over the past 100 years.
Having enticed many a celebrity, and with a variety of scheduled and low cost carriers offering direct flights to Marrakech, the city has quickly become the new hip and happening place to visit for a short break.
A wide variety of accommodation can be found from clean and basic 3 star properties to large chain 5 star hotels with a wide choice of facilities to small Rhiads (a traditional Morrocan home) exquisitely decorated offering just four or five bedrooms. Once you have checked in and unpacked every travellers first night must be spent in the Medina, whose central focus is its main square the incomparable Jemaa el Fna square. As dusk falls dozens of food stalls are set up enticing customers with a large selection of tajines, spicy sausages and snail stew to name but a few delicacies. Even if you decide not to eat from the stalls the plumes of smoke and stallholders gas lanterns make it a very atmospheric place to be.
Around the square are several cafes and restaurants offering great set menus and with excellent views of Jemma el Fna they are a perfect way to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the sights of the acrobats, musicians, fortune tellers and the snake charmers that entertain throughout the night. During the day the square takes on a different pace and is certainly less chaotic. Marrakech’s amazing souks sprawl north and it is here that your bartering skills are put to the test. Anything and everything can be purchased in the souks from lanterns to crockery, jewellery to food and from slippers to baskets and pretty much everything in between!
To experience the real Marrakech it’s worth jumping on one of the horse and carts that can be found on the edge of the square.
You will be taken along the city walls, down busy side streetstravelling alongside donkeys seeing first hand how the locals go about their day to day business.
Marrakech is such an exciting hustle and bustle city that it’s nice to be able to escape the noise and spend an hour or two in the oasis that is the Majorelle Gardens, a botanical garden created in the 1920’s by painter Jacques Majorelle and is now owned and maintained by Yves Saint Laurent.
Other great places of interest in the city are the Palmeraie, Bahia Palace, The Saadian Tombs and the Koutoubia Mosque. If you have the time it’s definitely worth travelling out to the Atlas Mountains, which are just over an hours drive from the city, with its dramatic mountain scenery and beautiful flora and fauna.
With a wide selection of restaurants and locations such as old sugar factories that are great for a gala dinner; excellent night life with Africa’s largest sound system at Pacha’s night club and a host of activities, including golf, that can be arranged, Marrakech is an ideal city to hold your next incentive or conference.
Sample Incentive Itinerary
Day 1 Arrival and check in at hotel - transfer to dinner at restaurant in Jemaa el Fna Square
Day 2 Activities day, choice from Quad Biking, Golf, Moroccan cooking lessons or simply a day at leisure - Transfer to dinner at the sugar factory
Day 3 Day at the Atlas Mountains - Gala dinner at a 17th Century Palace
Day 4 Morning at leisure before check out and flight home
For prices and availability for your next incentive to Marrakech, or indeed other cities, please contact the Events and Experiences team on 0870 990 6023 or email events@atpi.com
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