What to do in Marrakech on a rainy day?

First, the reassuring news: serious rain in Marrakech is genuinely uncommon — it's a semi-arid city with most of its modest rainfall in a few winter and spring showers, and downpours rarely last long. But when the sky does open, the unpaved medina lanes get slippery and the open square empties, so it's worth knowing how to pivot indoors. The good thing is that a lot of Marrakech's best experiences are under a roof anyway, so a wet day reshuffles your plan rather than ruining it.

The covered souks are your obvious ally — much of the central market is roofed with cane and slatted wood, so you can browse lanterns, leather, spices and textiles while staying largely dry, and a little drizzle actually thins the crowds. Pair that with the indoor monuments: the Bahia Palace works beautifully under grey skies, and the Maison de la Photographie (the Photography Museum) is a hidden gem — three floors of vintage Moroccan images in a restored riad, topped by a cosy rooftop café where you can watch the rain over the medina with a coffee. The Dar Si Said museum of Moroccan crafts and, over in Gueliz, the YSL Museum and Berber Museum are all happily weatherproof.

A rainy afternoon is the perfect excuse for a hammam, and this is what I'd steer most guests toward. Book a traditional steam-and-scrub or a more spa-style treatment at your riad or a dedicated hammam, and let the rain do its thing outside while you're wrapped in warm steam, black soap and an exfoliating glove. You emerge two hours later glowing and unbothered by the weather. Equally indoor-friendly is a cooking class — most are held in a covered kitchen or courtyard and end with you eating the tagine you made, which is a wonderful way to fill a grey three or four hours.

And honestly, sometimes the best rainy-day move in Marrakech is to do very little. The riads are built around sheltered courtyards, often with a covered salon, a fireplace in the cooler months and endless mint tea — exactly the kind of place to curl up with a book while rain patters on the central fountain. A long lazy lunch on a covered terrace, a leisurely browse through a fixed-price concept store like one of the design boutiques in Gueliz or Sidi Ghanem, and an early hammam make for a slow, civilised day that you'll remember fondly.

My rule for a wet day here: lean into the indoor pleasures Marrakech does best — covered souks, palaces and museums in the morning, a long hammam or cooking class in the afternoon, and a candlelit riad dinner to finish. The weather usually clears within a day, and you'll have banked some of the most atmospheric, sheltered experiences the city offers.