From the souk-ready sandal to the SPF you actually want to put on.
Marrakesh is three trips in one. There’s the medina, which requires your wits, your most secure bag and footwear you can actually walk in for four hours without developing a personality change. There’s the riad pool, which requires very little beyond a good pareo and the discipline not to check your emails. And then there’s the desert, specifically the kind of glamping experience in the Agafay or further out toward the Sahara where the sky does things you weren’t prepared for and dinner is lit by lanterns and you suddenly need an outfit for all of that. Most packing lists address one of these scenarios. This one addresses all three.
The key to packing Marrakesh well is accepting that the same piece has to work across all three versions of the trip without you having to think about it. A linen dress for the souk that reads as effortless at a riad cocktail hour. A pareo that does pool duty in the morning and wraps around your shoulders at a desert camp in the evening. An SPF you’ll actually reapply at noon because it smells like something you’d choose rather than something you’re obliged to wear. We’ve pulled fifteen pieces that understand the assignment.
The medina will destroy a white shirt. The desert will be colder than you expect after dark. The riad pool deserves something better than whatever you grabbed at the airport. Pack accordingly.
These are the pieces we’d actually pack. We’ve prioritised practicality where it matters (the medina is not the place for open-toed stilettos), splurged where the occasion calls for it (yes, the Tod’s bag) and found the middle ground where both counts. Everything here works in the heat.
Ralph Lauren Logo Charm Raffia Sun Hat
Best for: Every scenario, but especially the Majorelle Garden at noon
Sun hats are one of those things where the difference between a good one and a great one is visible from across a courtyard. This one, woven from warm-weather raffia with a floral belt detail and a small engraved LRL charm at the crown, lands firmly in the great column. The adjustable fit means it actually stays on in the breeze that cuts through the Djemaa el-Fna in the late afternoon, and it compresses into a carry-on without permanent damage. At the riad, by the pool, or shading your face at a desert camp breakfast with the Atlas Mountains in the background: this hat belongs in all three places.
Where to buy: ralphlauren.co.uk
Sea Level Sunset Tie Back Sundress, White
Best for: The riad pool, and everywhere within 500 metres of it
Sea Level is the Australian swimwear brand that worked out what we actually want from a pool cover-up: something that functions as a dress in its own right without announcing itself as a cover-up. This white tie-back sundress from their Sunset collection is exactly that. The cut is clean and flattering; the fabric travels well. Wear it straight from the pool to lunch on the terrace without a second thought. Pair it with flat sandals for the souk on a slower afternoon. One of those pieces that earns its suitcase space several times over before you’ve even unpacked.
Where to buy: sealevelaustralia.com
Saint Laurent Oval Frame Patterned Sunglasses
Best for: Deflecting the medina sun and looking impeccably composed while doing it
There is a sunglasses frame that suits Marrakesh particularly well, and it is a slim oval. Saint Laurent’s version, made in Italy from acetate with logo-print arms and grey-tinted UV-protective lenses, gives you that specific combination of shade and style that the city seems to demand. They come with a protective case, which matters when you’re shoving them into a bag mid-souk negotiation and equally when you’re placing them carefully on a riad side table at the end of a long afternoon. They are, technically, sunglasses. They are also very good sunglasses.
Where to buy: farfetch.com
Tod’s T Timeless Leather-Trimmed Raffia Shoulder Bag
Best for: The riad dinner, the day trip to the palmeraie, the photograph you didn’t plan
This is the splurge piece and we make no apologies for it. The Tod’s T Timeless shoulder bag, woven from hard-wearing raffia with supple leather trims, the signature metal T Timeless pendant hardware and a removable zipped internal pouch, is the rare bag that actively improves whatever it’s slung over. It fits a book, a cashmere wrap and your sunglasses. It holds its shape in the heat. It looks right against carved plaster walls and equally right against terracotta and lantern light at a desert table. Brown is the correct colourway for Morocco. We are certain of this.
Where to buy: net-a-porter.com
Kipling Abanu Multi Convertible Crossbody Bag
Best for: The medina, specifically, and not the riad dinner
Not every situation calls for the Tod’s. The medina, specifically, calls for something you don’t have to think about. Kipling’s Abanu Multi converts in seconds from a crossbody to a waist pack, is made from water-resistant crinkled nylon, weighs almost nothing and has three zip compartments for the kind of organised security that the souks quietly reward. This is the bag for a full morning navigating the tanneries and the spice market. The Tod’s is for when you want to feel like yourself again at dinner.
Where to buy: kipling.com
Poetry Fashion Long Linen Pocket-Detail Dress, Dark Lime
Best for: The medina morning that becomes a souk afternoon that becomes a rooftop sundowner
Poetry Fashion produces some of the best considered linen on the British high street, and this long pocket-detail dress in dark lime earns its spot on the list on several grounds simultaneously. The length is right for the medina. The colour works beautifully against ochre walls, which is an aesthetic consideration but also a completely valid one. The pockets are real. The fabric breathes properly in 38-degree heat, which is not a given. Easy to wash in a riad sink, quick to dry, still presentable by evening. A very good dress.
Where to buy: poetryfashion.co.uk
Bimba Y Lola Green Striped Towel
Best for: The riad pool, the hammam, the glamping tent where the hotel towels are inexplicably thin
A good towel is one of the smaller pleasures of a well-packed bag and also one of the things most people forget to pack well. Bimba Y Lola’s striped version, in green, is soft, absorbent, compact enough to fold into a tote without staging a takeover and decorative enough to feel deliberate rather than grabbed. Take it to the hammam. Lay it over the riad sunbed. Bring it to the desert camp, where the provided linens are never quite what you hoped for at that price point. No bad outcomes.
Where to buy: bimbaylola.com
Assouline Marrakech Flair
Best for: The riad daybed, the airport departure lounge and the glamping tent reading hour
Assouline’s Marrakech Flair is the coffee table book that justifies its weight in hand luggage. Part visual archive, part love letter to the city, it moves through the gardens, riads, souks and personalities of the Red City with photography that makes you want to put it down and walk somewhere immediately. Leave it open on the riad bed. Prop it against the tent lantern at the desert camp for the rare quiet hour before dinner. Read it on the plane and feel three steps ahead of everyone else on board.
Where to buy: assouline.com
Me+Em Caged Flat Sandal, Dark Caramel
Best for: Walking the medina for four hours without developing a grievance
The cobblestones of the medina have strong opinions about your footwear, and those opinions are consistently unkind toward anything with a heel. Me+Em’s caged flat sandal in dark caramel is the answer: structured enough to look considered, flat enough to survive a full morning in the souks without incident. Caramel reads beautifully against Moroccan tiles and doesn’t show the dust that will, inevitably, find its way onto everything you’re wearing by noon. The medina sandal. Non-negotiable.
Where to buy: meandem.com
Bimba Y Lola Ivory Cotton Shirt with Stitching and Prints
Best for: Every transition moment: pool to lunch, souk to riad, riad to desert
Every packing list for a hot destination needs a shirt that works harder than it looks. Bimba Y Lola’s ivory cotton version, with its tonal stitching and print detail, is interesting enough to feel chosen without being complicated enough to require planning around. Wear it loose over swimwear at the riad pool; tuck it into wide trousers for a medina morning; layer it over a slip dress when the desert temperature drops unexpectedly after sunset. That last scenario will happen. The shirt will be ready.
Where to buy: bimbaylola.com
Caudalie Vinosun High Protection Glow Oil SPF50
Best for: The riad pool, the open-air desert lunch, the walk you didn’t expect to take
The problem with most SPFs is that reapplying them at noon feels like a chore rather than a choice. Caudalie’s Vinosun Glow Oil, with its lightweight dry-oil texture, SPF50 coverage and a scent of orange blossom, coconut milk and white jasmine, solves this particular problem almost entirely. It absorbs without greasiness, works on face, body and hair, and leaves a glow that reads as healthy rather than shimmery. The CollagenSkinProtect formula and grape seed polyphenols are protecting you while it pretends, convincingly, to be a treat. Marrakesh in summer is no place for skipping SPF. This is the one that makes skipping it genuinely difficult.
Where to buy: cultbeauty.co.uk
Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse Shimmering Multi-Purpose Dry Oil
Best for: The post-hammam glow, the pre-dinner shimmer, the desert evening when you want to look like you tried
Nuxe’s Huile Prodigieuse has answered the question of what to put on your skin after the hammam for longer than most of us care to calculate. The shimmering version adds a fine golden finish to the original blend of six oils, including sweet almond, camellia and macadamia, with a neroli and coconut scent that smells like the best version of a summer trip. Apply to legs before dinner at the riad. Work a small amount through hair for texture in the desert air. Bring more than one bottle. You will use it.
Where to buy: lookfantastic.com
Reiss Bracelet
Best for: The one piece of jewellery that works from souk to desert camp dinner
Reiss does understated accessories particularly well, and this bracelet makes the case for keeping jewellery simple in Marrakesh. One piece, worn consistently, is always going to look more considered than a handful of things you’ve panicked into a jewellery roll. This works against every dress on the list, reads well in the heat and is the kind of thing you forget you’re wearing until someone asks about it. Pack it. Wear it every day. Done.
Faithfull the Brand Sotto Maxi Dress, Notte
Best for: The desert glamping dinner you want to actually remember
Faithfull the Brand has built its reputation on the maxi dress that photographs as well as it wears, in prints and colourways that feel specific to a place without tipping into costume. The Sotto in Notte, a deep inky print, is the piece the desert camp dinner was waiting for. Long enough to work against a chill that arrives faster than expected after the sun drops in the Agafay. Light enough to pack without ceremony. The kind of dress that earns its place in the suitcase on the basis of one photograph taken by lantern light, surrounded by dunes, that you will look at for years.
Where to buy: revolve.com
La DoubleJ Printed Cotton Voile Pareo
Best for: The riad pool in the morning, the desert camp in the evening, everything in between
La DoubleJ does print the way nobody else quite does, and this cotton voile pareo is the proof. Wear it as a sarong at the pool. Wrap it around your shoulders when the desert gets cool after dark, which it will, earlier than you expected. Use it as a blanket on the drive back from the Agafay when you’ve given your jacket to someone else. Bring it to the souk folded into the Kipling. It has no fixed purpose and will find a new one every single day. The most-reached-for piece on the list, and possibly the lightest.
Where to buy: net-a-porter.com
Planning the full trip? See our guide to the best riads in Marrakesh and where to go for a desert escape.
