Marrakech cultural city guide

Things to Do in Marrakech — Culture, Events & Places

Marrakech connects living heritage, popular arts, museums, galleries, photography, cinema and contemporary creation. This guide highlights events and cultural spaces that help visitors and residents move beyond the most familiar tourist routes.

Use this living guide to discover what is happening in Marrakech this week, where to go for art and heritage, and how to build a cultural route beyond the usual visitor circuit.

12 upcoming events 5 this week 16 cultural places
Contemporary art and cultural landscape in Marrakech
Culturama selection · Marrakech

Popular searches

Events and things to do in Marrakech

Jump directly to the city’s cultural calendar, this week, the weekend, free events and the main cultural categories.

Live cultural calendar

What’s on in Marrakech this week

A rolling seven-day selection from Culturama’s published English calendar.

All Marrakech events →

Where to go

Museums, art, cinema and cultural places in Marrakech

All cultural places in Marrakech →

Heritage & context

Understand Marrakech through its culture

Use heritage as part of the cultural itinerary rather than as a separate checklist.

Living heritage · Public space · Medina

Medina & Jemaa el-Fna

The medina is a living urban fabric of markets, crafts, religious architecture, riads and public performance, with Jemaa el-Fna as its best-known gathering point.

Architecture · Decorative arts · Medina

Bahia Palace

A major nineteenth-century palace complex known for courtyards, gardens, carved plaster, painted wood and zellij craftsmanship.

History · Architecture · Kasbah

Saadian Tombs

The royal necropolis offers a concentrated introduction to Saadian-era decorative arts and can be combined with the Kasbah district.

Explore by area

Marrakech by neighbourhood

01 Best for living heritage

Medina

A dense cultural landscape of architecture, crafts, markets, small museums and performance traditions that is best explored on foot.

Heritage · Crafts · Photography
02 Best for galleries and modern city life

Guéliz

Guéliz combines galleries, cafés, cinemas, design and twentieth-century urbanism outside the medina walls.

Galleries · Cinema · Cafés
03 Best for major venues

Hivernage

Hotels, conference spaces and performance venues make Hivernage useful for festivals, large shows and evening programmes.

Shows · Festivals · Night events
04 Best for contemporary art

Al Maaden

This area is associated with MACAAL and contemporary art destinations that require a more deliberate trip from the centre.

Contemporary art · Museums · Design
05 Best for local cultural programming

Daoudiate

Public cultural facilities and neighbourhood activity make Daoudiate relevant for programmes beyond the city’s visitor-facing cultural circuit.

Local programmes · Workshops · Community culture

Practical city guide

Getting around Marrakech

Keep travel practical: cultural venues can sit in very different parts of the same city.

Walking

Walking is the best way to explore much of the medina, where many lanes are not designed for cars. Allow extra time for navigation.

Petit taxi

Petit taxis are useful between the medina, Guéliz, Hivernage and cultural venues farther from the historic centre.

By area

Marrakech works best when visits are grouped geographically. A museum in Al Maaden and a fixed-time event in the medina should not be planned as if they were next door.

Train

Marrakech railway station connects the city with Casablanca, Rabat, Fez and other destinations on the national network.

Check ONCF trains ↗

One-day idea

A cultural day in Marrakech

A flexible route that can be adapted around opening times and the live events calendar.

  1. 1
    Morning

    Choose a museum or foundation in Guéliz or Al Maaden, depending on the exhibition you want to see.

  2. 2
    Lunch

    Move towards the medina and keep the rest of the afternoon within walking distance where possible.

  3. 3
    Afternoon

    Explore a palace, craft district or smaller cultural space before continuing through the medina.

  4. 4
    Evening

    Use the live Culturama calendar for a concert, show, film screening, festival or cultural event.

Plan ahead

Coming up in Marrakech

Full calendar →

Stories & guides

Read more about Marrakech

Magazine →
Patrimoine

National Folk Arts Festival: Morocco’s Living Heritage Reinvented in Marrakech

Marrakech’s 55th National Folk Arts Festival connected Moroccan living heritage, contemporary creation and cultural traditions from around the world.

Cultural context

Go deeper

A cultural city beyond the postcard

The medina remains an essential cultural territory, yet Marrakech’s creative life also extends through Guéliz, Al Maaden, Daoudiate and the roads leading to foundations and residencies. Contemporary institutions engage with craftsmanship, popular narratives and urban history.

This conversation between heritage and current creation makes it possible to visit a museum, see a photography exhibition, attend a performance and discover an independent artistic project in a single day.

Art and culture experiences in Marrakech

Visual arts hold a prominent place through museums, foundations, galleries and residencies. The city’s stages also host theatre, comedy, concerts and major productions, while festivals celebrate popular arts, film and international exchange.

For a more local experience, consult programmes from cultural centres, institutes and neighbourhood spaces. They often offer accessible talks, screenings, workshops and community events.

Build a coherent cultural route

Distances between venues can be significant. Organise a day by area—medina, Guéliz, Hivernage or Al Maaden—and combine flexible long-running exhibitions with performances that have fixed starting times.

The events shown here come from Culturama’s database and link directly to their localized canonical pages. Cultural venues also have permanent pages that extend the discovery.

Explore Morocco

Continue your cultural trip

Move between city guides without leaving the English cultural ecosystem.

Mediterranean network

From Morocco to cultural scenes across the Mediterranean.

Discover institutions, festivals, networks and partners connecting artists, ideas and projects across Morocco and the Mediterranean.

Culturama Med Build connections
Events on WhatsApp Follow our channel