What is the best way to get around Marrakech — taxis, walking, or something else?

The single most useful thing to know is that the medina is a walking city by necessity — its lanes are too narrow for cars, so within the old town your feet (and the occasional porter cart for luggage) are how you move. Happily, the headline sights cluster close together: from Jemaa el-Fna you can walk to the souks, the Bahia Palace, the Saadian Tombs and the Ben Youssef Madrasa in minutes. Wear comfortable closed shoes, keep your riad pinned on your phone, and accept that you'll wander off course pleasantly.

For anything beyond walking distance, the workhorse is the petit taxi — the small beige cabs that buzz around the city. They take up to three passengers, they're metered, and they're genuinely cheap: a hop from the medina to Gueliz is a few dirhams if the meter runs. The catch every visitor meets is drivers who 'forget' the meter for tourists, so say 'compteur, s'il vous plaît' as you get in, or agree a flat price before you set off. Keep small notes, as change is a perennial negotiation. There's no Uber-style app operating normally, though a local ride app or your riad calling a trusted driver works well.

Grand taxis — older, usually cream-coloured Mercedes — are for longer journeys: the airport, day trips, or runs to nearby towns. They're shared by default (filling up to six passengers on fixed routes) but you can hire one privately; either way, fix the price before departing. For a one-off scenic treat, the horse-drawn calèches that line up near the square will trot you around the ramparts and gardens — touristy and not fast, but a pleasant, breezy way to see the walls and the Menara, with the fare agreed up front.

What Marrakech doesn't have is a metro or tram, and tourists rarely use the city buses, so don't plan around public transit the way you might in Europe. My practical playbook: walk everything inside the medina, take metered petit taxis between the old city and Gueliz/Hivernage, pre-book a private transfer for the airport and any day trips, and treat a calèche as a fun extra rather than transport. Do that and you'll get around cheaply and easily without the two classic frustrations — meter disputes and the first disorienting walk to your riad, which a pre-arranged greeting solves.