Marrakech is a city where art and landscape blur together. Terracotta walls warm and cool with the day, color seems to hang in the air, and centuries of craft feed a contemporary scene that keeps getting sharper. Two days here is enough to feel the rhythm, moving from gardens and museums to the city’s best galleries and studios.

Day 1

Start early at Jardin Majorelle, right after opening, when the cobalt buildings glow against the morning light. Created by Jacques Majorelle in the 1920s, the garden is a quiet pocket before the city fully stirs. Inside, the Pierre Bergé Museum of Berber Arts offers an exquisite read on Morocco’s Indigenous heritage through jewellery, textiles, and ceremonial objects. Linger a little longer with mint tea or a light breakfast at Café Majorelle, framed by bougainvillea and birdsong.

A short walk away, the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech is one of the city’s architectural anchors. Designed by Studio KO and opened in 2017, its terracotta façade echoes the old city’s tones. Inside, Saint Laurent’s world unfolds through garments, sketches, and archives, beautifully staged. The museum is currently showing an exhibition on David Seidner through summer 2026, with his refined, sculptural photographs capturing the elegance of Saint Laurent’s silhouettes. Don’t skip the courtyard, where shifting shadows feel like part of the choreography.

From here, head into Gueliz to Comptoir des Mines Galerie, housed in an Art Deco building and widely considered one of Marrakech’s most influential contemporary spaces. The programming is ambitious, often spotlighting Moroccan and pan-African artists across painting, sculpture, and installation. The scale invites slow looking. Break for lunch on a nearby Gueliz terrace.

Spend the afternoon with one more gallery stop, depending on your mood. David Bloch Gallery leans younger and more experimental, with graphic, geometric and street-art threads running through much of what it shows. Galerie 127 is the quieter counterpoint, dedicated to photography and regarded as one of North Africa’s leading photo galleries. Either gives a different angle on the city’s creative identity.

As the light softens, drift into the Medina and end at Café des Épices on the rooftop. It’s the perfect glide into evening, watching the square below shift from daytime bustle to lantern-lit hum as the souk settles.

Day 2

Begin with a short drive east to MACAAL, the Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden. Independent and non-profit, it has become a key platform for contemporary African art in Morocco, with a growing collection spanning photography, sculpture, textiles, and mixed media. Start in the sculpture garden, then move inside for exhibitions that balance political urgency with poetic experimentation. If you want lunch before returning to town, nearby resorts have shaded terraces looking out over open landscapes.

Close by is Jardin Rouge and the Montresso Art Foundation* residency. Visits need arranging in advance, but it’s worth it. Studios open toward the desert’s edge, and the experience feels like stepping into process rather than polish, part exhibition, part behind-the-scenes look at how Marrakech’s art ecosystem is being built in real time.

Back toward the Medina, spend late afternoon at Riad Yima, Hassan Hajjaj’s immersive space that is equal parts gallery, concept store, and tea salon. Bright textiles, bespoke furniture, and portraits in repurposed frames make it feel less like a visit and more like entering the artist’s mind. Book ahead if you can, it’s intimate and often in demand.

If you have energy for one more stop, make it the Maison de la Photographie. Tucked into the Medina’s lanes, it holds Moroccan photography from the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. The rooftop view is an ideal pause to take in the city you’ve just traced, old images below, living Marrakech all around.

Let the evening unfold slowly, in a courtyard restaurant or another rooftop above the Medina. After two days, you’ll feel what makes Marrakech special. Creativity here isn’t confined to institutions. It’s in the streets, the architecture, the craftsmanship, and the way the city moves. The galleries are essential, but the texture and light of Marrakech do the rest.