11 Best Shopping in Morocco

Just opposite the Majorelle Garden, this funky concept store stocks a range of fashions and quirky crafts, jewelry, and souvenirs from hip young Moroccan and European designers all working in and inspired by Marrakesh.

This well-established shop has a magnificent array of Imazighen tribal rugs and antique carpets, and owner Mohamed Taieb Sarmi will painstakingly explain their origins and value. 

Walk through a nondescript passageway into a classic 19th-century riad and you'll find the Coopérative Artisanale des Marqueteurs, whose members have been turning out finely decorated boxes, ornaments, tables, and other furniture since 1948. Everything has a tag with the artisan's code number and reasonable fixed prices. At the end of the month, the craftspeople collect their income, and a small proportion goes to the upkeep of the building and the running of the co-op. You won't find tour groups here as guides get no commission, making it a tranquil place to stop and admire decades of craftsmanship.

Popular with the international jet set, the Khalid Art Gallery is a gorgeous riad full of the most sought-after Moroccan antiques, Jewish-Moroccan treasures, and Amazigh pieces. Owner Khalid speaks excellent English and is an authority on most of the art coming out of Marrakesh.

The highly respected Le Trésor des Nomades---often referred to just by the name of its owner, Mustapha Blaoui---extends over several floors and two adjacent properties. Here you'll find antique doors, lanterns, vintage tribal carpets, mats from Mauritania, Amazigh jewelry, and all kinds of crafted furniture, housewares, and textiles. It's so well-known that there is no sign over the door.

Shipping can be arranged for large purchases.

This regional handicrafts center is well worth a visit. There's a large courtyard where exhibitions are often held, a shop selling crafts at fixed prices, and an auditorium. Around the courtyard and upstairs are the workshops of local craftspeople as well as classrooms to teach young people these skills. Look out for the beautiful Azemmouri embroidery.

This riad turned art gallery and tearoom is filled with original artwork by owner Hassan Hajjaj who's known as Morocco's Andy Warhol. True to the artist's pop aesthetic, expect to find colorful portraits blending pop culture and the artist's own fashions. Smaller items include notebooks, posters, and upcycled lanterns made from sardine tins.

To get to the fabric and wool souk, use the Mouassine Mosque as a landmark, and keep the Mouassine fountain on your right while you continue until the street widens out with shops on either side. At the point where it branches into two alleys running either side of a shop selling handmade lamps and textiles, take an immediate sharp left turn. Follow that derb and look for the helpful word "teinturies" in spray paint and then head right. Souk des Teinturiers is also called Souk Sebbaghine. The main square for fabric dyeing is hidden down a little shimmy to the right and then immediately left, but anyone can (and likely will) direct you. Here you'll see men dipping fabrics into vats full of hot dye. Look up to see scarves and skeins of wool hanging all over, in individual sets of the same bright colors.

For the best view, head into the dyers' square and ask to be led into the boutique. A dyer can show you the powders that the colors come from. A lovely bit of magic involves the fact that green powder dyes fabric red; red powder dyes things blue; and yellow powder dyes things purple. Head up the steep stairs and onto the roof if you're allowed—a spectacular view of industry unfolds, with headscarves and threads of every color hanging up to dry in separate color blocks all over the rooftops.

Just a quick turn right and then left out of the Souk Lghzal (via Rue Souk Semarine) is the large square called Souk Rahba Qdima. This square is surrounded by small shops that sell everything from cure-alls to run-of-the-mill salt and pepper and just about everything in between. In the center of the square are lots of woven baskets and hats for sale. You'll also find ladies pounding henna leaves to create henna powder. If shopping isn't your for you, head to the rooftop of nearby Nomad for a glass of tea and a bird's-eye view.

This gallery houses a permanent exhibit of Orientalist paintings, ornate inlaid furniture, and antique ceramics. There is a constantly changing program of exhibitions and works for sale by top-notch Moroccan artists and foreign painters living in the kingdom.