Using an eSIM in Marrakech

What Marrakech is like on a phone

People come to Marrakech for short stays and come back often: weekend arrivals, riad guests who plan to walk the souks, and travellers using the city as a starting point before heading for the mountains or the desert. All of them meet the same thing on day one, which is that the old city cannot be walked by map the way other cities can. Out in the newer districts and along the main avenues the line runs smoothly, much like any mid-sized city. Inside the walls the data still arrives, but finding your way turns into a matter of remembering landmarks rather than watching a screen.

When you land

Marrakech Menara (RAK) is a mid-sized airport with a short walk from aircraft to exit, and it sits close to the walls of the old city. Switch the eSIM on before you reach passport control, because most riads ask you to message ahead with your arrival time. The thing first-time visitors do not expect is that no car reaches the door: the medina lanes are too narrow, so a driver stops at a city gate or the nearest open square and you walk the rest. Arrange in advance who will meet you and exactly where, and save the name of that gate on your phone, because the name of the guesthouse on its own is often not enough to get you there.

Where coverage changes

Across Gueliz and the newer streets, along the roads that ring the walls, and up on a riad roof terrace, the line is good. The real trouble is in the medina lanes themselves: narrow, high-walled, and covered for long stretches with wood or matting, which throws your position around enough that following the arrow stops being possible even though the data is still flowing. What works is downloading the offline map of the whole medina, pinning the riad, and fixing the nearest gate in your head as the anchor. Out towards the Atlas, the roads climbing to the passes have genuine gaps along the valleys, and at the stone-desert and dune camps you should assume it may be silent altogether and have everything saved on the device before you leave.

What a day here costs in data

A day in the medina tends to land around 1–1.5GB, which does not sound like much until you notice the screen is on almost continuously because you keep rechecking the map. Translation gets more use than people plan for, since signage and menus alternate between Arabic and French; camera translation helps a great deal and costs more data and more battery than typing a phrase. Between the souk lanes, the main square and a rooftop at sunset, one day produces a lot of photographs, so let them upload in the evening over the riad's Wi-Fi. The time difference with Thailand is several hours, so calls home usually settle on the evening here, which is late at night there — agree on a slot before you travel.

Districts travellers ask about

• Jemaa el-Fna and the souks — The square itself is open ground and works well; step into the roofed souk alleys behind it and the map position starts to slide. Remember the corner you entered from, and hold the phone with both hands during the evening hours when the crowd is thickest.
• The Kasbah and the Mellah — The southern quarters where the tombs and the old palaces sit close together. The lanes are more open than on the souk side, so a map is somewhat more useful, though it is still worth pinning your nearest way out before you go in.
• Gueliz and Hivernage — The newer districts of wide avenues and clear street names, where the line is good and ordering a car in an app is easier than on the old-city side. The sensible place to handle errands, a transfer or an online meeting.
• The Palmeraie and the outskirts — Palm groves outside the city with accommodation scattered thinly across them. It works around the properties themselves, while the dirt tracks between the plots weaken and all look alike. Save your accommodation's coordinates in advance rather than searching for the name once you are out there.

Day trips out of the city

• The Ourika Valley and the Atlas foothills — A road that follows the stream up the valley, with service coming and going depending on which side of a ridge you are on, and the walk up towards the falls usually quiet. Download the map area and agree a meeting point with your driver before you get out of the car.
• Essaouira on the Atlantic — The road to the coast crosses open plains with villages at intervals, so it is usable for most of the way. The port town at the end is a seaside medina of narrow lanes, but the grid is far straighter than in Marrakech and considerably easier to navigate.
• A camp in the Agafay stone desert — Close to the city but properly desert in feel. Once the vehicle turns off the tarmac the line thins, and at some camps there is next to nothing. Save the camp name, the operator's number and the map beforehand, and tell anyone waiting that you will be back in touch when you return to the city.