When we think of the best gardens in Marrakech, three of them come to mind, which we will discuss below. But in reality, there are many others, often hidden in private areas, such as hotels. In fact, their surprising burst of greenery and freshness is a real tourist attraction for the city, demonstrating the traditional Arab and Andalusian mastery in this type of space, defying the high temperatures and aridity of the local climate. In this post, we list some of those gardens that give a special touch to the city.
Majorelle Garden
It is the most famous of all. Its fame is mainly due to its cobalt blue building (now also known as Majorelle blue), which provides a very characteristic contrast to the green of its palm trees and xerophytic plants, in some cases impressive cacti several meters high. Its ponds, with beautiful water lilies, also stand out. The aforementioned building, by the way, was the home-workshop of the French artist Jacques Majorelle, in the first decades of the last century. Later, the entire estate was bought by Yves-Saint Laurent and his partner René Bergé, and is currently a museum of local crafts and folklore.
The Secret Garden
This suggestive name is very appropriate for this garden, as it is one of the least known in the city but, at the same time, one of the most interesting. And also one of the purest and most authentic, as it was designed following the precepts of Islamic and Andalusian gardening, with a space articulated in four quadrants by ditches and fountains, around which fruit and aromatic trees are located, symbolizing the Garden of Eden. A true haven of peace in the heart of the medina, which is currently conceived as a venue that can be visited with an entrance fee, which also gives access to the restored palace from the 19th century.
Menara Gardens
Those of Menara enter this list of the best gardens in Marrakech thanks to their history and importance. It is true that its appearance is not comparable to the spectacularity of the previous two, but its centuries-old olive trees, among which palm trees no less ancient stand out, take us back to the time when the Almoravids (12th century) deployed this green space and, above all, to the times of the Saadi and Alawite dynasties (16th-19th centuries) when they built the rest pavilion in front of the pond of the enclosure: it was the favorite place for Sultan Abd ar-Rahman ibn Hicham and his private meetings. Its image, with the Atlas Mountains in the background, is one of the most iconic photographs of the city.
Other green spaces of interest
Although the previous three are the best gardens in Marrakech, there are other green spaces that may deserve your interest. In this sense, one can mention the Agdal garden which, in reality, is a large orchard of fruit trees (orange trees, apricot trees, etc.) south of the Royal Palace and which will surprise lovers of agriculture and history, as they were deployed and expanded by the governments of the Almohad and Saadi dynasties.
But the gardens of Marrakech also arise unexpectedly, inside riads and hotels, making us understand the importance of the private sphere in Arab society. A good example of this are the gardens of the La Mamounia hotel, considered one of the most luxurious in the city, where a space of this type could not be missing, with gazebos, fountains and grass spaces, a detail not very common in the gardens of the city.
So if you like gardens, do not hesitate to include the Secret, Majorelle and Menara in your visit to the city, but do not miss the opportunity to find and enjoy others that will come your way in the most unexpected way.
