Bahia Palace

How to visit without wasting the trip

The Bahia Palace sits on the southern edge of the medina, on Rue Riad Zitoun el-Jedid near the Mellah — a ten-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fnaa or a short petit-taxi hop (agree the fare first, around 20–30 DH). There’s no advance booking and no timed slot: you pay 70 DH (~£5.70) for a foreign adult, 30 DH for a child aged 7–13, in cash, at the gate. Card payment at the entrance is unreliable, so carry small dirham notes.

The decoration is the reason to come. Built in the 1860s and expanded by the grand vizier Ba Ahmed in the 1890s, it spreads across roughly 8,000 m² and about 150 rooms, riads and courtyards. You walk a one-way circuit past painted-cedar ceilings, carved-stucco walls, stained-glass salons and the marble-paved Grand Courtyard. There’s almost no furniture and few signs — it’s a place you look up at, not read about.

How long you need, and Bahia or El Badi?

Timing is the one decision that changes the visit. Be at the gate for the 09:00 opening. The circuit is narrow and the painted rooms are small, so once the coach tours land mid-morning the whole thing backs up into a shuffle. The first 45 minutes are calm and the light in the courtyards is at its best; by 11:00 you’re queuing room to room. The palace closes at 17:00 in winter and around 18:00 in summer, with last entry roughly half an hour before, and runs shorter Ramadan hours if your trip overlaps mid-February to mid-March.

Allow about an hour — 45 minutes if you move quickly. Of Marrakech’s open palaces, this is the one to pay for. It’s far better preserved than the El Badi Palace a few streets south, which is a vast ruined shell that’s more about scale and stork nests than detail. Pair Bahia with the nearby Saadian Tombs for a single Kasbah morning rather than stacking it against the Jardin Majorelle the same day.