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I'm visiting Morocco for 4 days. Should I spend them in Casablanca or Marrakesh?

I'm planning a trip that will have 4 days in Morocco. I like urban exploration, beautiful photo ops, meeting locals, and local food. I'm gay (consider nightlife). I really like picking a city that is the essence of the culture (I'd pick Rome for Italy and Barcelona for Spain). I like a mix of beautiful spaces (parks, nature preserves, vista, botanical gardens), architecture, musea, shopping and people watching. Any suggestions?

Public Comments

1. Casablanca shouldn't be your number one choice..go to marrakech instead you will find what you're looking for i'm sure, beautiful sighting nice people amazing scenery great public & private gardens etc...just bring a winter clothes cus it's cold right now...good luck.
2. I highly recommend Marrakesh it's very beautiful and colorful city this link has a good information about the city : http://www.lonelyplanet.com/morocco/marrakesh
3. If you're only going to one city, go to Marrakech--hands down, no contest. In Casablanca you have the Hassan II Mosque that you can visit, as well as the ocean. But it's essentially the economic capital of Morocco. So there are a lot of businesses there, but Marrakech has a great deal more culture to it. You can see mosques anywhere in Morocco that you go, but if you go to Casa instead, you'll miss out on Jma Al Fnaa Square with its lively entertainment during the day (monkeys, snake charmers, etc.) and night (open air movable restaurants in the middle of the square and fresh orange juice for 3 DRM per glass--usually with a free top-up). There's also the Majorelle Gardens where Yves St. Laurent's ashes were spread (Yves owned the gardens, which are located in Marrakech), not to mention that the medina is fantastic there. However, if you're really wanting culture, Fes is the widely recognized "culture capital" of Morocco. The medina there has more streets than any other medina in Morocco (almost 10,000), the second largest gate in Africa is in Fes, as well as the famed Granary and fascinating kasbah. Also, Fes is the heart of the rug and ceramic making community within Morocco, so you can visit a rug cooperative or ceramic cooperative there and make your souvenir purchases more authentic than if you were in another city. Wherever you elect to go, I recommend fully immersing yourself in the experience. In the afternoons, take mint tea at a brasserie on a main square. If you eat meat, buy some camel meat in the medina (fresh that day and usually mixed with coriander, mint, and some other spices right before your eyes--tastes kind of like lamb but more tender), then buy some fresh veggies and take them to one of the medina's grills where they'll fix you camel burgers from your groceries and serve you at their table... like a restaurant where you bring your own food and drink. Bargain for everything, and try to learn a little Arabic before you go. The locals appreciate it and you may even get a better price on that souvenir that way. Fes also has Volubilis within about an hour drive (you can get a taxi to take you round-trip for very cheap if you haggle hard-- i.e. I took a taxi from Marrakech to a town about 3 hours away for $20. Of course, I wasn't the only one in the taxi, so it depends on how many people are going in your direction as to how much you'll pay.) In any case Volubilis is an ancient Roman city that's actually been quite well maintained. You can still see the penis-shaped arrows pointing the way to the house of prostitution on some of the stones... excuse the bluntness! Fes is also cool because there are actually two parts to the city. There's the old city and the new city. So you can explore both the medina and the more Europeanized new city. The king also has a palace you can go to in Fes. There are clubs in any of these cities, and you can even find karaoke if you're into that. Often the clubs are inside major hotels. I've spent quite a bit of time in all three of these cities, and I love them all. But for a first visit, you'll get the most bang for your buck if you go to either Marrakech or Fes. Choose one of those and you won't be sorry. And don't forget to go to the hamaam