The best time to visit Marrakech
The best time to visit Marrakech depends on what you're after: sun without the crowds, low prices, a festival or the atmosphere of Ramadan.
Crowds and prices: high season, low season
Two peaks of footfall: March-May and September-November. These are the months with the mildest temperatures, so also the ones where riads run full and push rates. Reckon on 30 to 50% more than in summer: a double in a boutique riad, around £48-£72 a night in low season, often climbs to £88-£128 in spring and autumn.
Conversely, summer (June-August) and mid-winter (January) are the low season: the heat, or the cool nights, put off part of the crowd, prices come down and you move through the medina more easily. Year-end holidays make a short exception, over about ten days.
The real question isn't which month to pick, but what you're ready to trade: the crowd for the mild, or the heat for quiet and low prices.
Climate, month by month
Marrakech has a semi-arid climate: hot dry summers, mild bright winters. Rather than raw readings, here's a decision-oriented read by month - when crowds climb, when prices drop, when to come.
Indicative accommodation and flight prices (£ low season → £££ high season). For precise temperatures, rainfall and monthly detail, see the month pages.
Festivals and fixtures
Timing a stay around a festival buys a city that lives differently, but also fuller riads. The main ones:
Around those dates, accommodation tightens and prices rise: if you're coming for one of them, book two to three months ahead; if you want the quiet, avoid them. Our events calendar lists the year's dates.
Travelling during Ramadan
Ramadan shifts its calendar by about eleven days a year. It should run from 8 February to 8 March 2027, the exact start date only fixed the day before by lunar observation. Contrary to a common view, Marrakech stays very workable for a visitor. Sites open, sometimes on reduced hours - often around 9am to 3pm; cafés and restaurants in the tourist zones keep serving in daytime.
What changes is the rhythm. Streets are quiet in the afternoon, then the city lights up at the breaking of the fast, and Jemaa el-Fna takes on a night-festival air. It's a quieter and often cheaper period, provided you accept shifted hours and a bit of restraint by day: no eating or drinking in the street, take a table at a café, restaurant or fast-food.
Our pick by profile
Right now
Weather, 7 days
Frequently asked questions
What we get asked before dates are booked.
