So my mother an I went to Marrakech this summer. This is a map of our walk from our accommodation. (Included so anyone staying in the similar area will give it a go instead of getting a taxi! :) )
It was quite pleasant walk and we never felt unsafe. Having said that my mother did have her purse taken from her bag but that was possibly in the souks, and mostly her fault as she had it in a backpack pocket! It probably only took 30 mins if that.
The main square, Jemaa el-Fnaa, is bustling and slightly intimidating, lots of people trying to get your attention to buy their goods or eat at their stall. Our first day we just chilled out and explored the pool on the complex. 
We enjoyed chatting to the other people on the course and getting tips from the host about purchasing Argan oil and Saffron. Then we moved onto some cooking, all the difficult parts were done by the staff so even though our dish (Tajine of Lamb with Prunes) was marked on their website as difficult, it really wasn't. It was extremely well thought out, with colour coded pots so you knew you were adding the correct thing. I can't leave a recipe alone so I was adding half of anything I didn't like the smell off ;) Whilst the tajine cooked we were shown how to make the bread which we got to do the whole process for. Once cooked we all sat to eat together with some salads (which we were shown how to prepare and given the recipes for but didn't actually do ourselves)
Quite a small place tucked away, the locals were happy to help you find your way but did try to talk you into their shops. I don't know why they think that's going to help them, maybe not everyone is a stone cold as I ;).
The Tombs were very picturesque and game me an opportunity to test out my camera, mum bough her DSLR with her but I think we agreed that mine was better suited to being a tourist, too many lense changes required to get the shots as mine had a better range of zoom available.
El Badi Palace (10Dhs - 80p approx.)
On entering we got accosted by a 'tour guide' trying to persuade us to have him give us a tour, mum seemed tempted but I was already fed up of the haggling culture and decided anyone that keen was trying to rip us off, turns out he wanted to charge us 300Dhs to give us a tour and started trying to call me selfish for not taking it when my mother was interested (before she heard the price that is!), at £26 I'd suggest everyone give this man a wide birth even in a bartering culture that seem like a high starting point. He then went on to postulate that if we dared follow him around and listen in on him giving another tour then he would beat me up. There is no signage but you can probably figure out most of what's going on, and it's just interesting to look at. Over to the left there is a building with some stairs to get up for a roof view, and across the courtyard from that there is a section with some underground tunnels. Worth noting although there are signs for toilets they are still under construction ;)
To mark the middle of our holiday we went to the new town area to an asian restaurant, Katsura - Trip Advisor, Sushi for me, Thai for mum and nutella pancake wraps for desert (okay they look better than they tasted but it's the novelty that counts ;) ).
Not a lot to look at, especially if you don't know french but there was more lovely architecture and I enjoyed the local art work.
Above is mum and I on what we thought was our last morning in Marrakech don't we look relaxed and ready to leave ;) After this very nice breakfast we went to Jardin Majorelle (the restaurant/cafe was just on the corner along from the road you go down to get to the garden.)The Garden was very nice but the price had gone up from what it said in the guide book. Not entirely sure it warranted the price, I just hope they do something good with the money.
We then went back to the apartment and chilled for a bit before getting a taxi in good time to get to the airport... or so we thought, little did we know that we were in one of two countries that change the clocks for ramadan, so we were actually an hour later than we thought :/ In England this would have been fine as we still got to the airport 50 mins before the flight, but not in Marrakech, their check in desks close an hour before the flight. Even a woman with only hand luggage was unable to get on and she only needed to get through the departure gate as she had already been stamped at the desk and had just been filling in the obligatory 'same info you gave us on the way in' form so even the departure lounge can't be accessed with less than an hour remaining... Nothing like making sure all the tourists have time to shop hey! Once our error had been pointed out to us, I was distraught, I'd never missed a plane! Why did no one tell us about the time change! We got told to go to the desk. Off we went hoping to beg our way on... no one at the desk... back to the line, they insist someone is at the desk... definitely no one on the desk, then some other helpful mislayed passenger informs us they are referring to the swiss air desk, even thought there is an easy jet desk and we were flying with easy jet. Got told next flight was the following day... and we couldn't be booked on for another 40 mins, until our plane had actually departed, and it would be significantly cheaper if we paid in local currency cash... I have no idea how that can be the case as surely tickets cost a set price, apparently not! Fortunately we were able to stay another night in our accommodation and our host very kindly gave us the night free, so it could have been a lot worse.
All in all, a great holiday but I don't think it's the place for me. Cultural differences being too much hehe.
