Is the Majorelle Garden and YSL Museum worth it?

I have a slightly contrarian view here, so let me be straight. The Majorelle Garden is genuinely beautiful — a compact, intensely planted botanical garden created by the French painter Jacques Majorelle in the 1920s and 30s, famous for the electric cobalt blue he splashed on the studio and planters, now trademarked as 'Majorelle blue.' Cacti, bamboo, water channels and that vivid blue against terracotta make it very photogenic. Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé bought and saved it in the 1980s, and a sleek YSL Museum and a Berber Museum now sit alongside.

Here is the honest weighing-up. It is small — you can walk it in thirty minutes — and it is one of the most visited spots in Marrakech, so unless you are there at opening it can feel like a slow-moving queue of people photographing the same blue wall. It is also in Guéliz, the modern city, a taxi ride from the medina, so it costs you travel time as well as a not-insignificant entry fee, which rises further if you add the museums.

Who should go? If you are a gardener, a designer, a fashion lover, or someone who simply wants a cool, calm green hour away from the souks, you will adore it, and the YSL Museum is genuinely well done. If you are on a tight two- or three-day trip and choosing between this and, say, the Ben Youssef Madrasa or the Saadian Tombs, I would put Majorelle last — it is the least essentially 'Moroccan' of the headline sights.

If you do go: book a timed entry slot online in advance, because walk-up queues can swallow an hour, and arrive for the first slot of the day. Combine it with a stroll and lunch in Guéliz, where the cafés and concept stores are a nice contrast to the medina. Treat it as a pleasant interlude, not a must-see, and you will come away happy.