Experience Taroudant in Morocco - 'Little Marrakech'

It's easy to understand why Taroudant in Morocco is known as 'Little Marrakech'. This historic town is surrounded by a high wall, and within it you'll find a market where you can push your way through carts and bicycles to look at crafts and dates. Taroudant is the perfect excursion from Agadir if you want to experience the 'real' Morocco.

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The city of Taroudant in Morocco

Taroudant, sometimes also spelt Taroudannt, is located in the Sous Valley in southern Morocco, not too far from the famous tourist resort of Agadir. The town is known as 'Little Marrakech' or as the 'Grandmother of Marrakech' because it looks like a smaller version of Marrakech. In the 16th century, the city was briefly designated as the capital of the Saadi dynasty, before this role was transferred to Marrakech.

'Little Marrakech' - A city within walls

Taroudant is surrounded by a six kilometre long city wall with nine gates, which are still in use. Today, almost the entire city is still within the walls, which include a mosque and several squares and markets.

The market in Taroudant

We entered the market "Grand Souk" through the entrance signposted "Entrée al Kharaza". Here we immediately had to take off our sunglasses because it was a bit shady, but at the same time the market provided some much needed rest from the strong sun out there.

We slowly made our way between stalls selling everything from traditional clothes and shoes to modern T-shirts, crafts, jewellery, antiques, fruit and meat. While looking for interesting items, we had to keep an eye on all the cyclists. Despite narrow aisles and lots of people, they didn't seem to slow down!

Restaurant Jnane Soussia

After strolling around the market you get hungry, so we took the opportunity to have lunch at the Jnane Soussia restaurant in Taroudant. This is a very relaxed place where you sit by a pool, surrounded by green trees. Much needed after walking around the intense market!

For starters, we were served some tasty vegetable stir-fries along with good bread. For the main course we shared a large tagine (Moroccan stew) with really tender and tasty lamb and cooked vegetables. For dessert we each got a whole banana and a whole orange. A little unusual to be served whole fruits in that way, but still not so bad to finish with a fruit. The oranges are very good in Morocco!

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