I decided to visit Marrakech almost on a whim – I had a few days off work over Christmas, I wanted to go to a new country, and I wanted it to be warm. Marrakech had the cheapest flights from Manchester Airport on the dates I wanted (thanks to Skyscanner’s “everywhere” feature!), so off I flew to Morocco for my first visit to North Africa! I kept track of all the money I spent, so I could give a realistic budget breakdown of how much my one-week trip to Marrakech cost.
Marrakech Budget Breakdown
For this post, all expenses are divided into 5 separate categories: accommodation, food/drink, miscellaneous, sightseeing, and transport. I’ve listed how much money I spent in each destination and my average daily cost in each place. Costs are given in pounds (GBP) and Moroccan dirham (MAD). I traveled with my friend Lisa on this trip, so our accommodation costs were split in half – along with transportation costs like taxis and airport parking.
Originally, our trip was supposed to be 6 days, but our airline rescheduled our outbound flight to 36 hours in advance (on a day I didn’t have off work, thank god for remote working!), so we ended up with almost an entire extra day. We could have visited more cities in Morocco, but we were both in need of a more relaxing itinerary. So, we stayed in Marrakech for the whole trip. Here’s how much I spent in Marrakech!
Interesting Facts From My Trip
Most Expensive Day: 26 December, my daytrip to the Atlas Mountains, where I spent 462 dirham (£37.30)
Cheapest Day: My last day, 29 December, where I only spent 125 dirham (£10.10)
Average Daily Cost (7 days including flights, accommodation, travel insurance, airport parking): £91
Average Daily Cost (7 days excluding flights, accommodation, travel insurance, airport parking): £28
Marrakech Budget Category Breakdown
Wondering how much my costs were for each category? Here is each category’s specific cost:
Accommodation: £120 // 1490 MAD
Food/Drink: £81.50 // 1010 MAD
Miscellaneous*: £69 // 855.60 MAD
Sightseeing: £94.50 // 1172 MAD
Transportation: £272.80 // 3383 MAD
*On this trip, my miscellaneous costs were travel insurance, ATM and bank fees
What about the things I booked in advance – flights, etc? How much did they cost?
Flights with Ryanair and EasyJet from Manchester to Marrakech and back: £229.60
Airport parking at Manchester Airport for one week (my half): £30.50
Travel Insurance: £64
How much does it cost to travel Marrakech for 1 week?!
GRAND TOTAL: £638 // $756 // 7913 MAD
The Takeaway
Overall, this trip cost about how much I expected it to. My flights – although they were the cheapest destination on Skyscanner that ticked my two boxes of new country and warm – were relatively expensive, making up 36% of my entire budget. But I knew that costs on the ground, particularly accommodation, would be low, and make up for the flights.
I originally booked this trip planning to go solo, so it was important to me to go to a relatively affordable destination. I ended up traveling with another person though, as my friend Lisa joined me! So, it helped that some costs like accommodation, airport parking, and taxis were cut in half.
We stayed at a fantastic hostel in Marrakech, Riad Jennah Rouge, in a private room. This was great as we had our own space for the whole week, but was also significantly more expensive than the dorm rooms. Overall, I don’t regret it, as we both felt much more relaxed and safer with our own room.
Our hostel also did an amazing breakfast spread, included in the cost of the room. This definitely helped us keep costs down, as we’d load up at breakfast with eggs, pastries, bread, yogurt, and mint tea. We usually ended up eating just one big meal each day, with snacks and little stuff for the other lunch/dinner “meal.”
One surprise I encountered in Marrakech was just how expensive alcohol is. While this makes sense, as Morocco is a Muslim country and the only people drinking are most likely foreigners, it was a bit of a shock. One glass of wine cost 100 dirham, which was more than my main course. Cocktails at the fancy rooftop bars can be up to 150 dirham – easily more than a meal! So we ended up not drinking much, as it just wasn’t worth it budget-wise.
We did two daytrips, one to the Atlas Mountains and Agafay Desert, and one to Ouzoud Waterfalls. I thought these were really affordable for full-day trips (£30.50 and £22 per person, respectively), and great value for money. Our Atlas Mountains daytrip even included lunch, which was great! You can book the exact tours I did below:
Overall, I had a fantastic trip to Marrakech. I found it to be an affordable destination, from attractions to food – although alcohol was expensive in comparison. For this trip I wasn’t necessarily on a strict budget, but felt like I managed to keep costs down. I hope this post helps in planning a budget trip to Marrakech, Morocco!
Have you visited Marrakech or Morocco before? What was your budget like?
You might also like my posts:
What to See and Do in Marrakech, Morocco
A Daytrip to the Atlas Mountains From Marrakech
How Much Does it Cost to Travel the Caucasus and Istanbul For 2.5 Weeks?
How to Spend 48 Hours in Istanbul
All of my budgeting and money posts!
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