I landed in Marrakesh one December with a suitcase full of linen shirts and an unshakeable belief that North Africa meant heat. By 7pm on the first night I was wearing three of those shirts at once, wrapped in a riad blanket and ordering my fourth mint tea purely for the warmth of the glass. By noon the next day I was eating lunch outdoors in a T-shirt, squinting at snow on the Atlas Mountains. That is Marrakesh in winter in a nutshell, and once you know how the day works, December turns out to be one of the smartest months of the year to go.
Quick Guide: Marrakesh in December
- Primary Recommendation: Yes, December is a good time to visit. Expect sunny afternoons around 19°C and nights that drop to about 6°C, so plan your sightseeing around the warm middle of the day.
- Top Choice for Value: Go between 1 and 20 December. Rooms are cheaper and the big sights are calmer. Prices climb sharply from around 23 December to 2 January.
- Top Choice for Food: Tanjia or mechoui at Chez Lamine Hadj Mustapha in Mechoui Alley. Insider tip: order by weight and arrive early, because the roast lamb sells out.
- Value Pick: A steaming bowl of harira or bissara for breakfast, the cheapest and most local way to warm up on a cold morning.
- The Best Way to See the City: Take a private, personalised walking experience with Lokafy in Marrakesh and discover the winter food stops and quiet medina corners with a local.
Is December a Good Time to Visit Marrakesh?
December is a good time to visit Marrakesh if you want winter sun without summer heat. Daytime highs average around 19°C with roughly seven hours of sunshine, rain falls on only five or six days in the month, and the first three weeks are noticeably quieter and cheaper than spring or autumn. The catch is the cold after dark, which catches out almost every first-timer, and the Christmas to New Year week, when the city fills up and prices spike.
If your idea of a winter break is lying by a pool all afternoon, look further south to the coast. If you want to wander the medina without melting, eat hot food that makes sense for the weather and see snow-capped mountains from a rooftop, December is hard to beat.
What December Weather Feels Like, Hour by Hour
Averages only tell half the story. The temperature swing between noon and midnight can easily pass 12°C, so a December day here has three distinct moods.
Morning (7am to 10am): Sunrise comes late, at around 7:15 to 7:30am, and the first couple of hours are crisp. Locals wear puffer jackets and wool djellabas until mid-morning. This is the hour for a hot breakfast and an early start at the big sights before the tour groups arrive.
Midday (11am to 3:30pm): The sun does its job. On a clear day you can sit outside in a T-shirt, and the light on the pink walls is softer and lower than in summer. Plan anything outdoors for this window.
Evening (from 5pm): The sun sets around 5:30pm, and the temperature falls quickly once it goes. By 8pm you will want a proper jacket, and nights often sit around 6°C. Riads with tiled floors and open courtyards hold onto that chill.
Weather can also swing from year to year. Regulars on travel forums describe Decembers spent in short sleeves and others spent in a winter coat, plus the odd run of rainy days. Check the forecast a few days before you fly and pack for both.
Early December vs Christmas Week
The month splits neatly in two.
1 to 20 December is the sweet spot. Hotel rates sit in mid-season territory, Jardin Majorelle time slots are easier to book and you can walk into most neighbourhood restaurants without a reservation. The Marrakech International Film Festival usually runs in late November and occasionally spills into early December. It includes free open-air screenings in Jemaa el-Fna, so check the dates if you are arriving at the very start of the month.
From around 23 December to 2 January the mood changes. European holiday travellers and Moroccans from across the country pour in, riads and big hotels fill up, minimum stays appear and New Year's Eve dinners in Gueliz and Hivernage sell out weeks ahead. The atmosphere is fun and the square is packed every night, but book your room and your 31 December table early, ideally two months out or more.
What to Pack for Marrakesh in December
- A warm jacket for evenings (a light down jacket folds into a daypack)
- Layers you can peel off at noon: T-shirts, a jumper or fleece, a scarf
- Closed, comfortable walking shoes for uneven medina lanes
- A compact umbrella or waterproof layer for the occasional shower
- Sunglasses and sunscreen, because the winter sun is still strong
- Warm socks or slippers for cold riad floors at night
Modest clothing is also the easiest choice for the medina and souks all year, and in winter covering up is no hardship at all.
Choosing a Riad That Will Not Leave You Shivering
A riad is the classic Marrakesh stay, but the same open courtyard that keeps it cool in July makes it chilly in December. A room can feel colder indoors at 8pm than the street outside.
Before booking, ask the riad directly about heating in your specific room. Reverse air conditioning units, electric heaters, a fireplace in the salon and heavy blankets all count. Riads with a fireplace lounge are popular for exactly this reason, and an evening by the fire with tea and a book is one of the nicest parts of a winter trip. If the listing photos show a plunge pool, assume it is cold unless the riad says it is heated.
Winter Food: What Marrakshis Eat When It Gets Cold
Marrakesh food makes the most sense in winter. Everything is slow-cooked, steaming and built to warm you from the inside.
Breakfast: bissara and harira
The working breakfast here is bissara, a thick fava bean soup finished with olive oil, cumin and paprika, eaten with bread and mint tea. Walk through the medina before 9am and follow the steam from the big pots outside small neighbourhood spots. A bowl usually costs well under 20 dirhams.
Harira, the tomato, lentil and chickpea soup Moroccans break their fast with during Ramadan, is sold year-round. In Gueliz, Snack Mac Omar on Boulevard Moulay Rachid, opposite Hotel Almas, keeps one enormous pot bubbling all day and charges a few dirhams a bowl. No decor, no fuss, great soup.
For a sit-down coffee and pastry, Patisserie Amandine on Rue Mohamed El Beqal in Gueliz has been a local favourite since 1997. It closes on Sundays.
Lunch: tanjia and mechoui in Mechoui Alley
Tanjia is the dish Marrakshis claim as their own: beef or lamb packed into a clay urn with preserved lemon, spices and smen (aged butter), then left for hours in the embers of a hammam furnace. Winter is the perfect excuse to eat it.
Head to Mechoui Alley, a short lane off the north side of Jemaa el-Fna, and find Chez Lamine Hadj Mustapha at Souk Ablouh. The owner's photos with Moroccan royalty hang on the wall and the queue is mostly Moroccan. Order tanjia or mechoui (whole lamb roasted in a clay pit) by weight, half a kilo is plenty for two, and it arrives with bread, cumin and salt. Go before the lunch rush because the mechoui runs out.
In Gueliz, Chez Bejgueni and Chez Ouazzani sit side by side and serve grills, tagines and tanjia to office workers and families. On Fridays, couscous is the dish to order. A tagine for one runs about 50 dirhams.
Evening: the square and its snail soup
Jemaa el-Fna's food stalls are at their best on a cold night, when the smoke from the grills hangs in the air and every bench is full. Look for the stalls with the longest queues of locals. Brave a bowl of babbouche (snails in a peppery, herby broth) from the carts around the square. Locals drink the broth as a winter warmer and swear it helps digestion.
The Sights That Are Better in Winter
Winter light, thinner crowds and comfortable walking temperatures make the big monuments easier to enjoy. A few practical notes:
Bahia Palace opens daily from 9am to 5pm and costs 100 dirhams for foreign adults (children 7 to 13 pay 50, under 7 free). Bring cash in dirhams. Arrive at opening, when the painted cedar ceilings and courtyards are at their quietest.
Ben Youssef Madrasa costs 50 dirhams, cash only, paid at the door. The carved stucco and zellige of the main courtyard look best in the low midday sun.
Le Jardin Secret on Rue Mouassine keeps winter hours of 9:30am to 6pm from November to January. Entry is 100 dirhams, and the tower costs an extra 40 dirhams. Pay for the tower. On a clear December afternoon it gives you one of the best views in the medina, with the snow-covered Atlas lined up behind the rooftops. Children under six are not allowed up.
Jardin Majorelle in Gueliz is open from 8am to 6:30pm, with last entry at 6pm. Garden tickets cost 170 dirhams, children under 10 enter free, and tickets are sold online only through the official ticket office, with timed slots. There is no ticket desk at the gate, so book before you go.
Koutoubia at sunset. The mosque is closed to non-Muslims, but the gardens around it are free. With sunset at around 5:30pm, you can watch the minaret turn gold and still be at the food stalls by 6.
Warm Up the Local Way: The Hammam
The hammam is where Marrakshis go to get properly warm in winter, and it is the single best thing to do after a cold morning. There are two very different versions.
Neighbourhood public hammams cost a small fraction of spa prices. You bring your own black soap (savon beldi), a kessa exfoliating glove and a towel, all sold cheaply in the souks, and scrub yourself in the hot rooms alongside local families. Men and women bathe separately, either in separate sections or at different times of day.
Spa hammams in riads and hotels do the work for you, with an attendant scrubbing you down and a clay wrap or massage to finish. They cost far more but suit first-timers who want privacy and an explanation of what happens next. Either way, plan it for late afternoon so you leave glowing right as the evening chill sets in.
Snow and Sun on the Same Day: Oukaïmeden
Here is the December plot twist most visitors miss. About 74 kilometres south of the city, roughly 90 minutes by car, Oukaïmeden is a ski station in the High Atlas with a chairlift climbing above 3,200 metres.
The ski season usually runs from December to March, with January and February the most reliable months. The resort makes no artificial snow, so early December can bring a full white valley or bare slopes, and you will not know until close to the day. Check recent conditions before you go. If the snow is there, a morning sledging or walking in the snow followed by a tagine lunch back in the sun-warmed city makes a day few other winter destinations can offer. Hire a driver or a grand taxi for the day rather than trying public transport, and pack waterproof gloves and sunglasses for the glare.
A Three-Day Marrakesh Itinerary for December
Day 1: The medina
- Morning: Bissara breakfast near your riad, then Bahia Palace at 9am.
- Midday: Wander north through the medina to Mechoui Alley for tanjia at Chez Lamine Hadj Mustapha.
- Afternoon: Le Jardin Secret, timing the tower for the clearest Atlas views.
- Evening: Sunset by the Koutoubia gardens, then grills and snail soup at the Jemaa el-Fna stalls.
Day 2: Gueliz and a hammam
- Morning: Coffee and pastries at Patisserie Amandine (closed Sundays), then your pre-booked early slot at Jardin Majorelle.
- Midday: Lunch at Chez Bejgueni or Chez Ouazzani. Couscous if it is Friday.
- Afternoon: Hammam session, local or spa.
- Evening: Dinner by the fire at your riad.
Day 3: Snow or souks
- If there is snow: Day trip to Oukaïmeden, back in time for a late lunch and an evening in the square.
- If there is not: Ben Youssef Madrasa in the morning, an afternoon getting lost in the souks with a local who knows which workshops still make things by hand, and harira as a warming nightcap.
Explore Marrakesh with a Local This Winter
December in Marrakesh rewards people who know its timings: which soup pot is boiling at 8am, which lane the mechoui comes out of before lunch, which rooftop catches the Atlas on a clear afternoon. That is local knowledge, and it is hard to get from a guidebook.
With Lokafy, you meet a Marrakshi who builds the walk around you. Want to spend the morning eating your way from bissara to tanjia? Prefer the quiet craft workshops of the souks over the busy main drags? Need help reading a menu at a stall with no menu? Your local plans it with you, so your time goes on the city rather than on getting lost. Tours are private and fully personalised, which makes them a good fit for couples, families and solo travellers alike.
Take a private, personalised walking experience with Lokafy in Marrakesh and see the city's winter side with someone who lives it.
FAQs About Visiting Marrakesh in December
Is December a good time to visit Marrakesh? Yes. December offers sunny afternoons around 19°C, low rainfall and calmer sights for most of the month, which makes it one of the best periods for sightseeing on foot. The main downsides are cold nights, often near 6°C, and higher prices and crowds from around 23 December to early January.
How cold does Marrakesh get in December? Daytime highs average about 19°C, while nights fall to around 6°C and can feel colder inside unheated riads. Mornings before 10am and evenings after sunset, which comes at around 5:30pm, need a warm jacket.
Is Marrakesh busy over Christmas and New Year? Yes. The week from roughly 23 December to 2 January is one of the busiest of the year, with riads and hotels close to full, minimum-night stays and premium New Year's Eve dinners. Book accommodation and any 31 December restaurant table at least two months ahead.
Can you swim in Marrakesh in December? Only in a heated pool. Outdoor pools are too cold for most people in December, so if swimming matters, confirm that your hotel or riad heats its pool before booking.
Is there snow near Marrakesh in December? Often, yes. The High Atlas peaks are usually snow-capped in December and visible from medina rooftops on clear days. Oukaïmeden ski station, about 90 minutes south, opens from December when there is enough natural snow, though January and February are more reliable.
What do you wear in Marrakesh in December? Layers. A T-shirt and light jumper for midday, plus a warm jacket, scarf and closed shoes for mornings and evenings. Modest clothing covering shoulders and knees is the easiest choice in the medina.
Is December or January better for Marrakesh? Early December is slightly warmer and avoids the New Year rush. Late January is the quietest and cheapest, but nights are a little colder. The first half of January stays busy with holiday travellers.
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