Marrakech in January: weather, temperatures and tips
The coolest month of the year: 19°C (66°F) in the midday sun, 6°C at night, sometimes a dawn frost. In return, riads at floor prices, an uncluttered medina and the white Atlas on the horizon. A month for walking and the hammam, more than for the pool.
January is the trough of the year in Marrakech: the coolest month, one of the quietest, one of the cheapest. At midday, the sun carries the air to 19°C (66°F) and you walk through the medina in a shirt. At night the thermometer drops to 6°C, sometimes to freezing at dawn over the Haouz plain. That gap, more than the cold itself, defines the month: you dress for two seasons in the same day. In the background, the white Atlas cuts the horizon from the terraces as soon as the sky clears.
Marrakech weather in January
The average high is 19°C, the low 6°C. The dry air doesn’t hold the day’s warmth: once the sun sets, around 7pm, the temperature can lose ten degrees in two hours. Mornings are sometimes misty over the Haouz, and a dawn frost isn’t out of the question.
January runs six to eight rainy days for about 25 mm, in short spells. The rest of the time, the sky is clear and the sun crisp, seven hours a day. Winter detail that changes everything: from a high terrace on a clear day, you see the snow-capped High Atlas peaks, about thirty kilometres (twenty miles) out.
Your day, hour by hour
| Time | Feel | What you do with it |
|---|---|---|
| 8-10am | 7-10°C, cool | Souks and medina at wake-up, jumper essential |
| 11am-4pm | 16-19°C in the sun | Gardens, terraces, the best of the day |
| 5-7pm | dropping under 12°C | Hammam, mint tea, dinner indoors |
| night | 6°C, sometimes less | Riad heating, otherwise a cold night |
What to pack
January travels in layers. A shirt or a T-shirt for midday, a proper jumper and a jacket for morning and evening, which fall fast and cold. Pisé and tadelakt interiors hold the cool: a riad pleasant in the midday sun can be cold by 10pm. That’s the point most often overlooked. An accommodation listing that doesn’t mention heating is a signal: ask before booking, especially if you feel the cold.
For swimming, a heated pool is essential. Without heating, a riad pool sits around 10-13°C in January, reserved for the brave. On the shoe front, closed comfortable pairs beat sandals on the uneven medina paving, sometimes slippery after a shower.
Crowds and prices in January
Outside the year-end holidays, January is low season. The cool nights put off some visitors, the medina crosses without a scrum, and the riads post their lowest rates. Reckon on £48-£72 a night double in a boutique riad, against £88-£120 in spring. It’s the month for an address that would be out of budget in April.
The exception is a ten-day window: Christmas and New Year bring the crowd back and push rates up from 24 December to 2 January. Past that parenthesis, the city recovers its quiet. To compare addresses, see our riads. No French school holiday falls on the heart of the month.
What to do in Marrakech in January
The high point of January is the Marrakech International Marathon, late in the month: around 15,000 runners on a flat course crossing the palm grove and running the ramparts, in the ideal cool of winter. For the rest, the month goes to walking rather than swimming: the medina at wake-up, the palaces and the Ben Youssef Madrasa in the softer hours. Winter light, low and gilded, rewards photographers around 4.30pm on the ochre of the ramparts.
It’s also snow season. The Oukaïmeden resort, about 1h 30m by road, opens its runs when the snowpack allows, usually January to March. You can ski in the morning and dine in Marrakech in the evening. For walkers, the Ourika valley and the Atlas foothills stay accessible, with waterfalls sometimes locked in frost. The Agafay desert works well by day, but nights under canvas are cold: check the camp’s heating.
On the bill in January
Our verdict on January
January rewards those after quiet, low prices and walking, who accept cold evenings in exchange. It’s a month for the medina, museums, the hammam and the snowy Atlas - not for the pool or rooftops.
If you don’t cope well with cold nights, pick heated accommodation without compromise, or aim for March instead - milder.
To place January in the year, cross this page with our best time to visit and what to pack.
