What are rainy-day things to do in Marrakech?

First, reassurance: Marrakech is genuinely dry, with rain mostly limited to a handful of days between November and March, and even then it's usually a short, heavy burst rather than a washout. So a rainy day is rare and rarely lasts — but when one lands, it's actually a lovely excuse to do the indoor, slow things people often skip. My first suggestion is a cooking class: half a day learning to make tagine, bread and salads in a covered kitchen, then eating the result, is the perfect rainy-day activity and one of my favourite things to recommend regardless of weather.

A hammam is the other obvious move — what better time to spend a couple of hours in warm steam being scrubbed and oiled than when it's grey outside? And Marrakech has more indoor culture than people realise. The Maison de la Photographie (with its covered galleries), the beautifully restored Dar Si Said museum of Moroccan arts, the Marrakech Museum in a grand old palace, and the striking Yves Saint Laurent Museum near the Majorelle garden all keep you dry while showing you something genuinely worthwhile. String two or three together and a wet day fills itself.

The souks themselves are a decent rainy-day option too, because large stretches are roofed with slatted cane and corrugated cover — you can browse the covered lanes of the central souk reasonably sheltered, though the open squares like Rahba Kedima will get wet. Failing that, lean into a long, leisurely lunch: Marrakech has wonderful restaurants and rooftop-covered terraces where a slow tagine and a pot of mint tea while the rain passes is no hardship at all. The storm usually clears within an hour or two.

Honestly, my best rainy-day advice is the simplest: use it as permission to enjoy your riad. These houses are built to be cosy inward sanctuaries, and a rare wet Marrakech afternoon spent reading under the covered part of the courtyard, ordering tea, and watching the rain patter on the central pool is its own quiet pleasure. The weather almost always lifts, the streets smell wonderful afterwards, and you'll have had a restful interlude in the middle of an otherwise busy city break.