Marrakech with a 16th mth old

Take a leaf out of Ortal's book and head for exotic climes with your toddler. Here's her review of a trip to Marrakech with her gorgeous 16 mth old Vincent:

Ortal & Vincent in the grounds of the Koranic School

Marrakech is super baby friendly and accessible, everyone wants to stop you!
You need to know your child as it's very busy and not great to let them out for a run when you are in the market, but if you know they will be distracted by the sights and sounds; horses, camels, motorbikes, cooking smells, bustle etc then it's doable.

Speaking French helps when travelling with a child there but not essential.

Flight & Airport

• Booked flights online with Ryanair to Marrakech
• Checked-in online which was quick and easy
• Priority boarding on plane
• Made to drink the water in Vincent's sippy cup at Security
• Vincent was very well behaved on the plane (pack carefully - have snacks, books, games etc with you)
• Expect a long queue at immigration on Morrocco side

Accommodation

We stayed at the very reasonably priced Riad Marrakech Puchka:

http://www.en.riad-marrakech-puchka.com/

We booked the hotel by email and taxi transfers were provided from the airport.  As there was nobody else at the Riad, we all had our own rooms with ensuite, very large and beautiful design.  The hotel provided a travel cot.

The hotel has a plunge pool and jacuzzi.

There is no official 'restaurant' but you can eat your meals there if you give advance notice.

It is lovely and this was my 3rd visit.  However, having now met the owners, I wouldn't return as they are quite strange and were very rude to my mum!

Things to do

• Check the weather before you go.  I had seen it wasn't going to be great so I found: http://www.kawkab-jeux.com/  We spent 2 rainy afternoons at this play centre, probably Vincent's favourite part of the trip!

• The Jardin Marjorelle continues to be one of my favourite places in the city, it is very good for a child to run about although the attendants did worry about Vincent touching the cacti!

• The Saadian Tombs are a great sight and historicaly fascinating but we didn't linger as it wasn't too child friendly and was very busy
• The best places I visited with the boy in tow were the Koranic school and next door, Marrakech museum which was very safe for him to run and crawl around, there was lots of space and it was safely enclosed so I could drink it all in