Events in Marrakech

Alongside its storytelling program, Café Clock in the Medina hosts regular live music and jam nights featuring Gnaoua, jazz and fusion musicians on its rooftop terrace, with sessions often open to visiting musicians wanting to sit in.

Café Clock in the Marrakech Medina revives hikayat, Morocco's nearly 1,000-year-old oral storytelling tradition, with evening sessions led by veteran teller Haj Ahmed Ezzarghani and young apprentices. Storytelling nights are typically held on Thursday evenings, with additional Monday and Sunday sessions.

Every December 31st, Marrakech's grand hotels and dinner-show venues stage competing galas: multi-course dinners with live orchestral music at palace hotels, and dinner-and-show programs blending live bands, DJs and dancers at venues like Comptoir Darna and Palais Jad Mahal. Booking two to three months ahead is recommended.

In Gueliz, the Afro-fusion restaurant Mama Afrika hosts a Monday-night jam session blending traditional African instruments with reggae, jazz and soul, where diners are welcome to join the musicians. The alcohol-free venue serves a West, East and North African menu and is open daily from 9am to 2am.

Steps from Jemaa el-Fna, Le Salama's rooftop skybar offers 360-degree views over the Medina and Atlas Mountains and stages a nightly belly dance show from 9pm alongside live oriental music and DJ sets, with the restaurant serving Moroccan cuisine, tapas and cocktails from 11am to 2am.

Housed in a restored 1925 former post office in Gueliz, this heritage brasserie runs a nightly piano bar with a weekly live schedule that has featured soul on Fridays and jazz and blues on Sundays in its upstairs Salon. Programming can shift, so acts should be confirmed before visiting.

A fixture on Rue Haroun Errachid in Hivernage for over a decade, Palais Jad Mahal pairs Moroccan, French and Thai-inspired cuisine with a nightly show combining a live international band, belly dancers, fire-eaters and aerial acrobats building to a main performance around 11:30pm, before a late-night lounge until 2am.

Every Tuesday, Buddha-Bar Marrakech offers an all-you-can-eat sushi menu for 290 MAD per person alongside its usual nightly programme of live performers and DJ sets in Hivernage, with the kitchen open until 1am.

Buddha-Bar Marrakech, an Asian-fusion restaurant and club across two levels in Hivernage, runs a weekly Ladies Night every Wednesday where women receive a free drink, alongside nightly live shows and DJ sets. The kitchen serves until 1am, with the venue closing at 3am.

Attached to the Rotana hotel in the Palmeraie, Nikki Beach Marrakech's beach club hosts a Sunday brunch buffet of local and international dishes with live music, set among its three pools and white-draped daybeds. The brunch runs during the club's daily 11:30am–7:30pm hours.

Kabana's Sunday programming alternates between smooth jazz sessions and Brazilian bossa nova nights on its rooftop terrace above the R'mila quarter, timed around the sunset over the Koutoubia, with dinner and a DJ typically running from about 8pm to midnight.

Overlooking the Koutoubia minaret near Jemaa el-Fna, Kabana's rooftop runs a themed weekly program including Latin Vibes DJ sets every Thursday alongside its sunset cocktail and dinner service. The rooftop is open nightly from around 6pm to 2am, with reservations recommended for sunset seating.

Part of the international Pacha club brand, Pacha Marrakech's Hivernage compound runs Saturday afternoon pool parties from around 3pm to 9pm in the warm months, with house and tech-house DJs on a dedicated poolside stage. Pool access during events runs roughly 150–300 MAD, with sunbed and bottle packages higher.

Set within the Es Saadi Resort in Hivernage, Théâtro is one of Marrakech's longest-running nightclubs, converted from a former theatre and open nightly from 11:30pm to 5am. Resident and international guest DJs play house, hip-hop and Afrobeats to a dance floor equipped with L-Acoustics sound.

Inside a 1930s Art Déco villa in Hivernage, Comptoir Darna pairs a Moroccan and Mediterranean dinner with live Gnaoua musicians and oriental belly dancers performing two choreographed shows nightly at 9:30pm and 11:20pm, before the evening transitions into a late-night party with a resident DJ until 3am.

Operating since 1980 about 12km from central Marrakech, Chez Ali stages a nightly folklore spectacle combining Berber dance, fire-eaters, flying carpets and a fantasia horseback cavalry charge, followed by a traditional Moroccan dinner of soup, couscous and tagine. Coach transfers depart nightly at 8pm for the roughly 4-hour experience.

Yennayer marks the Amazigh (Berber) New Year on January 14th, celebrated across Marrakech with Ahwash and Ahidous dance performances, traditional music and shared dishes like tagoula and couscous. Morocco declared Yennayer a public holiday in 2023, and the city hosts cultural programming highlighting Amazigh heritage.

Oasis is Morocco's flagship electronic music festival, historically staged at a resort in the Agafay desert on Marrakech's doorstep with international house and techno DJs across multiple stages. After pausing in 2025 it is set to return under its parent brand Cultivora, which is also opening a permanent Marrakech venue.

Tyab Bladi ('cuisine of my country') is a Moroccan culinary festival staged on Jemaa el-Fna square, combining cooking contests, animations and exhibitions. Its jury has included prominent chefs such as Chef Moha, judging contestants who reinterpret classic Moroccan dishes.

This annual culinary gathering brings Moroccan and international chefs to Marrakech to showcase dishes like tagine and couscous alongside contemporary reinterpretations, with live cooking demonstrations, tastings and public workshops each October.

Held under royal patronage, North Africa's premier road race draws over 12,000 runners to a flat marathon, half-marathon and 10K course through Marrakech's medina and avenues, run annually on a Sunday in late January.

Sponsored by the Institut Français de Marrakech, MadJazz is a free jazz festival spotlighting fusions of traditional Moroccan music with jazz, electronic and European styles, pairing concerts with exhibitions, acoustic sessions and residencies. It has historically run in April.

1-54 is a leading contemporary African art fair that activates Marrakech each February at the historic La Mamounia hotel, gathering around 22 galleries and more than 60 artists. Programming extends across the city to venues including MACAAL and LE 18.

Created in 1959, Morocco's oldest folk festival brings some thirty traditional troupes to Marrakech to perform Gnaoua rhythms, Ahidous, Reggada and Taskiwin dances. Evenings are staged at Palais El Badi, Medersa Ben Youssef and Jemaa el-Fna square under royal patronage.

The Marrakech Biennale is a contemporary art, architecture and film event founded in 2004 to position the city as a platform for African and Middle Eastern contemporary art, staging exhibitions in venues across the medina and new town. Scheduling has been irregular, so upcoming editions should be confirmed closer to the date.

Founded by Jamel Debbouze, Morocco's flagship stand-up comedy festival returned in 2026 under new leadership and a new name after a four-year hiatus. Held at the Palais des Congrès de Marrakech, it gathers French and Moroccan comedians for a weekend of stand-up galas each June.

The Marrakech International Film Festival brings international and Moroccan cinema to venues across the city, including the Palais des Congrès and free open-air screenings on Jemaa el-Fna square. Held under royal patronage, it remains North Africa's most prestigious film festival, with recent editions featuring 70 films from 32 countries across competition, galas and tributes.