Where to have coffee near Dar el Bacha, where to eat and drink, where to get a massage or a hammam, and what to see: our address book for the streets around Dar Estran, from Bab Doukkala to Mouassine and the souks, for the winter.
Checked in October 2026. Most of these are places we go to ourselves; the others were checked against the place's own website or a recent listing. Hours change, and they change a great deal during Ramadan (expected from about 8 February 2027), so check before you go.
Breakfast at Dar Estran will be included, so this address book starts at the second coffee. From door 80, at the end of Derb Snan, you are in the old quarter of Dar el Bacha, between the palace that gave it its name, the market of Bab Doukkala and the lanes of Mouassine. As I said to the camera in September, standing in the derb, "the souks are going to be just some steps away".
Most of the list is within walking distance, grouped by need: coffee, lunch, dinner, a drink, a massage, what to buy and what to see. At the end, a few addresses for the days when a taxi is worth it, starting with Farmers, one of the best meals I have had in Marrakech.
Coffee near Dar el Bacha
Still × Kaizen, a few steps from the house, and the first address we give everyone. It is a small coffee shop that is also an antique shop. The team is full of energy, they have only just opened, the coffee is delicious and the objects for sale are extraordinary. Stay a while, and play a game of chess. We recommend it without hesitation.
Dar el Bacha, a few steps from Derb Snan.
Bacha Coffee, for something grander, and another neighbour: the coffee room inside the Dar el Bacha palace. The brand traces its story to this building, put up in 1910, which it says stood closed for more than sixty years before its restoration. You drink your coffee in the pasha's own salons, and the coffee is delicious. Go as early as you can, as there is often a queue. And see the museum while you are there: it is fascinating.
Our best tip: take a guide for a few hours, or longer. With a guide you skip the queue for the coffee, you see the museum properly, and you hear the real story of the pasha's palace, which is quite a story. Most people come only for the coffee and miss all the rest. Have your coffee afterwards.
Dar el Bacha, Rue Fatima Zahra. Tuesday to Sunday, closed on Mondays with the museum. You need a museum ticket to get in.
Henna Café, a non-profit café and henna salon founded in 2011. Its profits pay for free classes, and the henna is natural, so a mint tea here does a little good as well as tasting good.
93 Arset Aouzal, Bab Doukkala. Every day, 10:00 to 19:00.
Café des Épices, a café on the old spice square of Rahba Kedima, from the same family as Nomad and Le Jardin. Order a spiced coffee (cardamom, nutmeg, ginger) and watch the square do its business below.
Rahba Kedima. Every day, 9:00 to 23:00.
Where to eat near Dar el Bacha: lunch
La Famille, for a quiet lunch without any fuss: a garden in the middle of the medina, under palm and fruit trees, and simple, good food, vegetarian, with a menu that changes every day.
34 Derb Jdid, Riad Zitoun el Jdid. Lunch only; it closes one day a week, so check before you go.
Yazel, in the same spirit: simple and good, Mediterranean and Moroccan plates to share, with a roof terrace.
131 Rue Mouassine.
Le Jardin, a restaurant in a planted courtyard in the middle of the souk. When the lanes get loud, this is where we would go to hear ourselves think, and the Norya Ayron boutique (see below) shares the address.
32 Souk El Jeld, Sidi Abdelaziz. Every day, 10:00 to 23:00.
Nomad, modern Moroccan cooking on terraces above Rahba Kedima. Come for the view over the spice square and the slow-cooked lamb shoulder.
1 Derb Aarjane, Rahba Lakdima. Every day, 12:00 to 23:00.
La Terrasse des Épices, an open-air rooftop restaurant above Souk Cherifia. It does lunch and dinner, and it is licensed: champagne and seasonal cocktails, if the souks have been thirsty work.
15 Souk Cherifia, Sidi Abdelaziz. Lunch 12:00 to 17:00, dinner from 18:30.
Dinner in the medina
La Table du Palais, for an easy dinner right next door: French and Moroccan cooking in the garden courtyard of the Palais Lamrani.
63 Rue Sidi el Yamani, Mouassine. Closed on Wednesdays.
El Fenn, another neighbour, for a drink and a dinner that is not necessarily Moroccan. It is hardly a secret, but it remains a reference, and it remains wonderful: I was there not long ago, and it is as good as ever. The roof terrace takes no bookings for drinks, and space is limited; book the restaurant well ahead.
Derb Moulay Abdellah Ben Hezzian, Bab El Ksour.
La Sultana, for classic Moroccan cooking that never misses, in a setting that is a little more chic: the table of a hotel in the Kasbah, beside the Saadian Tombs. A little further from the house, and worth it.
403 Rue de la Kasbah, beside the Saadian Tombs. Book ahead if you are not staying there.
Dar Yacout, which calls itself one of the oldest guest tables in Marrakech: dinner served in the rooms of an old house, among them a patio of trees and arches. The pastilla has to be ordered ahead, which is reason enough to plan. It is at number 79, like one of the two riads that became Dar Estran, and we have decided to take that as a sign.
79 Derb Sidi Ahmed Soussi, Bab Doukkala. Dinner, 19:00 to 23:00, every day except Monday.
Café Arabe, Moroccan and Italian cooking on Rue Mouassine, with a licensed bar and a roof that looks towards the Koutoubia. It works for a late lunch, a long dinner or simply a drink, and it serves through the afternoon.
184 Rue Mouassine. Every day, from late morning to late evening (hours vary by season).
A drink at sunset
Alcohol is served only in licensed places in Morocco, and never in the street. Three roofs within walking distance:
El Fenn, as above: drinks on the roof terrace, no booking needed.
Kabana, a rooftop restaurant and cocktail bar facing the Koutoubia minaret, on the same street as the Dar el Bacha. Go for sunset; from Thursday to Sunday there is usually a live band.
Kissariat Ben Khaled R'mila, 1 Rue Fatima Zahra. Every day, 11:00 to 02:00.
Café Arabe, as above, for something quieter.
A massage, a hammam, a day spa
Two addresses in the medina, within walking distance:
Riad Laz Mouassine, right next to the house. Its spa, on the roof, has a formula that combines a massage with the use of the pool, which is a very good way to spend an afternoon in the medina; the pool is heated.
1 Derb El Ouartani, Rue el Yamani, Mouassine. Book through the riad.
Heritage Spa, towards Bab Doukkala: hammam rituals and massages, each one chosen after a short consultation, and excellent reviews.
40 Arset Aouzal, a short walk from the house. Book the day before.
And three for a whole afternoon, worth the taxi:
Les Deux Tours (@hotel_les_deux_tours), in the Palmeraie, exceptional for a massage as much as for dinner. The architect Charles Boccara designed it in a three-hectare Andalusian garden, and its spa, Les Bains des Deux Tours, is a hammam under a dome, in the Ottoman style, with a hot pool. Stay on for lunch at La Pergola or dinner at Salammbô.
Douar Abiad, Circuit de la Palmeraie. Book everything ahead and say that you are not staying at the hotel.
Maison Brummell Majorelle, opposite the Musée Yves Saint Laurent, for a day spa I loved: a marble hammam with a plunge pool and a heated stone. The Majorelle garden is next door, which makes a very good afternoon.
7 Rue Al Madina. Book at least 24 hours ahead.
The spa of the Mandarin Oriental, outside the city on the golf road: a very large spa, with two hammams and an indoor pool, and the best excuse to arrive early for dinner at Ling Ling (see below).
Route du Golf Royal. Open from 9:00 to 21:00; ask whether it takes outside guests when you book.
And at Dar Estran
From the opening, Dar Estran will have a traditional hammam and a massage room of its own, and probably a day-spa formula. We will tell you more about it soon, as we will about Bouchra's table: if all goes to plan, you will be able to come for dinner at Dar Estran too, at a table d'hôte with very few seats.
Bab Doukkala market
Bab Doukkala, the western gate of the medina, gives its name to the quarter next to ours, and its market is the everyday kind: fruit and vegetables, fish, olives, bread. When we filmed there in September I tried to describe it: "known for its food markets and merchants … a lot of fresh fish, veggies". And then, a little helplessly: "I wish you could smell it." Go in the morning, when the stalls are full; by midday the market is said to wind down. Bring small change, and a bag.
Rue Bab Doukkala. No opening hours published.
Mouassine, Marrakech: craft, design and Moroccan labels
The souks start a few lanes away, and you will find your own way through them. The addresses below are the ones worth looking for: small labels and studios that make things in Marrakech, with local craftspeople.
By Faissal, scarves and woven textiles on Rue Mouassine, with a second shop on Souk Ahl Fès. A good scarf weighs nothing in a suitcase and is the best thing to bring home from a Marrakech winter.
119 Rue Mouassine.
Ourika The Label (@ourikathelabel), accessories by Charlotte, a French designer, made in Marrakech with local artisans and a women's cooperative: shopping bags, clutches and clogs in Berber rug and haik fabric.
80 Rue Amsefah, Sidi Abdelaziz.
Hanout Boutique, the ready-to-wear label of the designer Meriem Nour, a label born in Marrakech: structured shirts, dresses and kaftans that mix tradition and modernity.
90 Route Sidi Abdelaziz (a second shop on Riad Zitoun El Jdid). Every day, 10:00 to 19:00.
Norya Ayron (@noryaayron), the Marrakech label known for its printed kaftans, tunics and kimonos. The medina boutique is inside Le Jardin, so lunch and a fitting can be the same outing.
32 Souk El Jeld, Sidi Abdelaziz (flagship in Gueliz, 17 Rue Tariq Bnou Ziad).
Museums and fountains
Dar el Bacha, Musée des Confluences. The palace was built in 1910 as the residence of Thami El Glaoui, pasha of Marrakech, and it has been a museum since 2017. Its courtyard is a textbook riad garden in four parts, with fountains and orange trees (we explain why that matters in Dar or riad?). Dar Estran itself sits against the gardens of the royal palace, which is why our mornings sound of birds.
65-69 Riad Laârous, route Dar El Bacha. Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00, closed on Mondays. 60 dirhams for visitors from abroad.
Le 18 (@le18marrakech), a cultural space and artists' residence founded in 2013 by Laila Hida: exhibitions, talks, screenings and workshops in a house of the medina. It is part of the 1-54 art fair's programme around the city, and it is very nearly our neighbour.
18 Derb El Ferrane, Riad Laârous. Opening times are announced on its Instagram.
The Mouassine fountain, built in 1562 and 1563 by the Saadian sultan Abdallah al-Ghalib: a basin for people, flanked by vaulted troughs for animals, about eighteen metres long. It was one of the public fountains that once watered the city, and it costs nothing to stand and look.
Beside the Mouassine mosque. A street monument, always open.
The Bab Doukkala mosque, begun in 1557 and 1558 for Lalla Mas'uda, mother of the sultan Ahmad al-Mansur, and finished around 1570, with its own public fountain. We admire it from the street, on the way to the market.
Bab Doukkala.
Musée de la Musique (@museedelamusique_marrakech), the music museum in a Saadian douiria of the 1560s, a guest apartment once attached to a grand house. If you can, time your visit for one of its short early-evening concerts.
4-5 Derb El Hammam, Mouassine. Every day, 10:00 to 19:00; concerts from 18:00 on set days, so check the programme. One ticket (80 dirhams for adults) also covers the Maison de la Photographie.
Maison de la Photographie (@maisondelaphotographiemaroc), a private museum founded by Hamid Mergani and Patrick Manac'h, with photographs, glass plates and postcards of Morocco. "Morocco, views from yesterday and today" runs until the end of April 2027.
46 Rue Ahl Fès. Every day, 9:30 to 19:00. 80 dirhams for adults, ticket shared with the music museum.
Worth the taxi
Outside walking range: these are in Gueliz, around the Majorelle garden and just outside the city, a short taxi ride from the medina.
Farmers (@farmersmarrakech). If you take only one taxi, take it here: it is one of the best meals I have had in Marrakech. It is not typically Moroccan, but it is wonderful, and very carefully done; the team is great and the room is lovely. Most of what arrives on the plate comes from Sanctuary Slimane, a permaculture farm just outside the city that belongs to Aziz Nahas, who founded the restaurant with Benjamin Pastor, so the menu follows the farm. It is number 49 on the 2026 list of the Middle East and North Africa's 50 Best Restaurants.
96 Rue Mohammed el Beqal, Gueliz. Lunch and dinner, closed on Mondays. Book ahead.
Sabo, at the Selman, outside the medina: the evening table of the chef Jean-François Piège, with French savoir-faire and Moroccan produce in a Belle Époque setting by Jacques Garcia. Not typical, and wonderful.
Selman Marrakech, Km 5, Route d'Amizmiz. Tuesday to Sunday, from 19:00.
Ling Ling by Hakkasan, at the Mandarin Oriental, and I think it is brilliant: modern Cantonese plates to share and cocktails on a terrace, with a DJ as the evening goes on. Nothing Moroccan about it, and that is rather the point after a week of tagines.
Mandarin Oriental, Route du Golf Royal. Dinner from 19:00 to midnight. Book ahead.
Jardin Majorelle and the Musée Yves Saint Laurent, side by side. The garden opens every day, 8:00 to 17:30, and tickets are sold online only, on the garden's own ticket site. The museum is closed on Wednesdays; "Yves Saint Laurent en scène" runs there until 5 January 2027.
33 Rue Majorelle (@33ruemajorelle), a concept store of young Moroccan brands and designers, a few steps from the garden: clothes, tableware, jewellery, stationery.
33 Rue Yves Saint Laurent. Every day, 9:00 to 19:00.
Comptoir des Mines Galerie, a contemporary art gallery founded in 2016 in a 1932 building in Gueliz, with exhibitions and artists' residencies.
62 Rue de Yougoslavie, Gueliz.
La Galerie 38, a contemporary art gallery with spaces in Casablanca and Marrakech, which showed at the 1-54 art fair in Marrakech in 2026.
64 Rue Tarik Ibn Ziad, Gueliz.
Quick answers
Where can I eat near Dar el Bacha? For lunch, La Famille or Yazel, simple and good. For dinner, La Table du Palais right next door, El Fenn for something less Moroccan, or La Sultana for the classics. And if you are ready to take a taxi, Farmers.
Is the Dar el Bacha museum open every day? No: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00. It is closed on Mondays, and so is the Bacha Coffee room inside.
Where can I have a drink in the medina? Only in licensed places: El Fenn, Kabana and Café Arabe all have bars on their roofs.
Where can I get a massage or a hammam near Dar el Bacha? At the spa of Riad Laz Mouassine or at Heritage Spa, both within walking distance. For a whole afternoon, take a taxi to Les Deux Tours, Maison Brummell Majorelle or the Mandarin Oriental, and stay there for dinner at Ling Ling. From the opening, Dar Estran will have its own hammam and massage room.
Good to know
- Mondays: the Dar el Bacha museum, Bacha Coffee, Dar Yacout and Farmers are closed.
- Wednesdays: the Musée Yves Saint Laurent and La Table du Palais are closed.
- Tickets: Jardin Majorelle, online only. Musée de la Musique and Maison de la Photographie, one ticket for both.
- Ramadan: expected from about 8 February to 9 or 10 March 2027. Expect shorter hours everywhere.
- Getting here: how to reach Marrakech is in our guide to getting to the houses, and the season itself is in Marrakech in winter.
We will keep this page up to date, and add to it as we get to know the quarter better. If you run one of these places, or think we have missed one, tell us. And if you want to know why we fell for this corner of the medina in the first place, start with Becoming Dar Estran, Ep. 01 and why Marrakech.
Dar Estran opens at the end of 2026, behind door 80 at the end of Derb Snan: eight bedrooms, which you can book one at a time or all together. Bookings open soon, and there is a list on the Dar Estran page if you would like to hear first.
Lola
The house
Dar Estran, Dar el Bacha, Marrakech. Eight bedrooms around two patios, against the gardens of the royal palace. Opening at the end of 2026. Be the first to know.
