We got inspired this week by a great website called Delicious Baby, which is a blog with tips for traveling with kids, and by our own experience with traveling with kids in Morocco to create a guide for traveling in Morocco with kids. To do this, we sourced expats living with kids in several cities around Morocco to find out their kids favorite places in each city and the parent’s tips on items to make sure you bring with you. We highly recommend Delicious Baby for more in depth coverage of traveling with kids in general.

This is the first installment where we will focus on Marrakech. Again, all of our information comes from expats, living and raising kids in Morocco. If you are looking for a riad, be sure to search our family-friendly riads in Marrakech.

Top Spots By City:

Marrakesh:

Oasiria Water Park: It is open all year round now. Prices vary by season and there is a shuttle bus that runs from town or is easily found on the road to Tahanout if you have acar. At the same place is an amusements park, it’s quite small and parents have to pay entry fee but there are bouncy castles and small amusing things to do.

Afriquia Petrol Stations! Surprise, surprise, but the Afriquia Petrol Stations on the road to Casablanca and on the road to Fez have good sized play parks with climbing frames, zip wire, slides etc., and loads of sand. This place is great for kids from about age 2 until 12. There are cafes adjoining that do reasonable priced tagines and salads, they also have nice desserts and ice cream. It is easy to get to these stations in a taxi, but hard to get back from.

Macdonalds: The sure bet for kids, there are 4 now in the city, but only the one on the roundabout at the
intersection of road to Safi and road to Casablanca has a play place in it now.

Kentucky Fried Chicken: There is one in Gueliz and one in the new train station. Honestly the food is only OK and a bit price, but the kids seem to like it.

Kawkab Jeux: This is a cafe with a ton of amusements for kids. Its near the Royal Tennis Club and Harti Gardens in Gueliz. You pay for tickets for younger kids to go into a big padded play house with slides and balls and swings, or a small park with slides, climbing frames, trampolines and a little train. Or there is a more sedate area upstairs for the under 3s. There are age limits on the equipment but they don’t enforce them! I think the feeling is if you think your child can do it then let them go for it. There is a room downstairs with a circuit to ride on electronic cars and then a whole host of pinball machines, video games and pool tables etc. for older kids. These games range from 1 dh to 5 dh a go. The cafe does pizza and crepes and ice creams.

Harti Gardens: opposite the Poste Office in Gueliz. Its a paved garden with shady walkways and a little park in the middle with some concrete dinosaur slides, its a bit worn looking but free. It does shut it gates if there’s a football match on and on some days at lunchtime. Also, you’re not allowed to walk on the grass !

Cyber Gardens: On the main road into the Medina, the same road as the Mosque. Really nice paved gardens. No play park but nice to walk around, just don’t go on the grass!

Menara gardens: You can probably get taxis from there, if not the walk back towards the Medina is very pleasant as long as it’s not 50 degrees C! You can ride bikes round here (if you bring your own), feed bread to the fish that look like something out of Jurassic Park (I swear they have teeth). There’s a cafe as well but its expensive, and loads of olive groves that Marrkashis sit around in. Its a great atmosphere especially on a Sunday afternoon when loads of families go there for picnics and to play the drums. The trees are great for little explorers to climb.

Majorelle Gardens: The gardens are very small but very beautiful. lots of goldfish and terrepins. There are leaflets for kids to fill out as they go round. These are in French although we were talking to the managers a few weeks ago and they say they’ll print an English version soon. There is a charge to get in.

A Caleche ride: You can get horse drawn carriages from almost anywhere touristy in the city. They have a rate printed on a little lable in the carriage that was 80 dhs an hour last time we looked… but you really have to barter hard to get a price anywhere near this! Agree to a price before you get in and agree on a route and time too, otherwise they’ll take you somewhere boring like the Palmerie and it will take you twice as long to get back and thus they’ll charge you twice as much!

Megarama Cinema: On the road to Ourika, Its 25 dhs a ticket but all films are in French. The kids love it though.

Jmaal Fna: Monkeys and snakes… Need I say more.

Royal Equestrian Centre: Opposite Oasiria, they have pony rides and horse riding lessons, last time we went we just turned up.

Things to do outside the city…

Setti Fatma and the Ourika Valley: As you go out along the Ourika Valley beyond Tnine Ourika you can stop at any of the little tagine places and let the kids mess around on the rocks near the river.
It’s not generally a deep or fast flowing river, and if it is looking dangerous the people living there will be sure to tell you. Setti fatima is a great place for older kids. you can climb up to the waterfalls which is
a bit scary at times but the mom who supplied this information, said that she managed (she is a mother of three) so she said that it can’t be that hard.

Amizmiz: has a weekly market which often has tourists there and is a great place to take kids, see the donkey park, beautiful mountain scenery…

Kasbah at Imlil: You can get a taxi into the town and then it’s a half hour climb up the hill through the trees, over some boulders up to the Kasbah, on foot or on donkey. Lunch is very expensive there but you can sit up there, admire the views, and have cup of tea and some snacks for next to nothing.