Marrakech for families

Best museums

Marrakech's museum map is not the polished, climate-controlled circuit of a European capital: it is a city of historic houses, palaces and converted riads where the building is half the exhibit. Most of the ten below sit inside the medina's walls, within a slow walk of one another, which is the honest reason to plan a museum day here at all. Expect carved cedar ceilings, zellij courtyards and small, focused collections: Berber jewellery, Marrakchi textiles, devotional photography, twentieth-century couture: rather than blockbuster hangs. Two outliers are worth the taxi: the Yves Saint Laurent Museum on the edge of the Majorelle gardens, and a contemporary-African and a water-themed museum on the city's southern and northern margins respectively. The list is opinionated and ordered: the palaces and the YSL museum carry the day for first-time visitors; the Mouassine and Tiskiwin houses reward a second or third trip, when the souks have stopped feeling like a test. Bring small bills, comfortable shoes, and patience for doors that open later than you expect.