What are the best markets in Marrakech by type?

Marrakech's souks look like one vast chaotic warren, but they are actually organised the old way by craft, and knowing the quarters turns the maze into a map. The main spine, Souk Semmarine, runs north from the Jemaa el-Fnaa and is the widest, busiest artery — textiles, scarves, lanterns and the larger, more tourist-facing shops line it, and it is where most people start. It is a good orientation route, but the real character is in the smaller specialist souks branching off it, so use Semmarine as your trunk and explore the side lanes.

For colour and photographs, the standout is the Souk des Teinturiers, the dyers' souk, where freshly dyed skeins of wool in electric pinks, blues and yellows hang dripping across the narrow alleys to dry — it is one of the most atmospheric corners of the medina. Nearby, the Souk Haddadine rings with the hammers of the ironworkers and metalsmiths, and the Souk Cherratine is the leather quarter, full of bags, poufs and belts. The slipper-makers cluster in the Souk Sebbaghine and around it, with walls of pointed babouche in every colour — the classic Marrakech souvenir.

The square I send everyone to is the Rahba Kedima, the old "spice square," a wider open space ringed with apothecary stalls. Here are the pyramids of cumin, paprika, saffron and ras el hanout, baskets of dried roses and herbs, traditional cosmetics like argan oil and ghassoul clay, and the slightly eccentric stalls selling dried chameleons and folk remedies. It is the most sensory spot in the souks and a good place to buy spices to take home. From here the apothecaries and the carpet sellers' courtyards are all within a few twisting minutes.

My honest guidance: navigate by craft rather than by map — head for the dyers' souk for colour, Rahba Kedima for spices, Cherratine for leather, and let Semmarine connect them. And remember the greatest "market" of all is the Jemaa el-Fnaa itself, which transforms at dusk into a vast open-air food market of smoking grill stalls, snail vendors and orange-juice carts, ringed by storytellers and musicians — that is the night market, distinct from the daytime craft souks. Haggling is expected everywhere in the souks; the food stalls have fixed-ish prices. Stalls and trades shift over time, so treat this as a guide and let the lanes surprise you.