Marrakech City Guide | A City of Secrets

Over the next few months Bohemia founder, Jenny will be sharing some of her favourite places to hang out in Marrakech, Morocco. If you haven't been to the city before we highly recommend it! Follow along and read each post in our Marrakech city guide series.

Arriving in Marrakech for the first time in the early 1990’s I was immediately captivated, the scent of orange blossom was intoxicating, it hung heavy in the air wherever I walked in the old medina, it is an experience I will never forget.

Marrakech is a city of gardens, arteries of greenery lead into its heart and hidden behind the dusky pink walls many secret oases wait to be revealed. My favourite of Marrakech's many gardens is Le Jardin Secret and I have been visiting as an escape from the craziness of the medina since it first opened in March 2016.

In the early days it felt like my own personal garden and I was often the only visitor wandering it's green tiled pathways, it is much less of a secret now but no less lovely, although I would recommend visiting early in the morning to avoid the crowds.

Le Jardin Secret has a long and fascinating history which is well told through the exhibition of photographs and film in the pavilions. On entering to the sounds of water and birdsong the first space you encounter is the Exotic Garden filled with sculptural drought resistant plants from Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, Bolivia, Madagascar, Australia and more.



Wandering through into the Islamic Garden the tranquility of the space is quite breathtaking and you begin to understand how the geometry of design and symbolism of planting comes to represent the description of paradise in the Koran.

Tom Stuart Smith, the garden's designer, stayed true to the principles of a traditional Islamic garden. The fig, olive, date palm and pomegranate trees all have religious significance and the planting of soft grasses, rosemary, lavender, jasmine and roses under the trees create a wonderfully scented meadow.

Discover Le Jardin Secret at: Rue Mouassine, Medina, Marrakech

To experience many more of the hidden gems of Marrakech and Morocco join us at Magic Bus Morocco