Rooftop Riads & Hidden Bars: A 6-Day Nightlife-Focused Marrakech Itinerary for December

The first morning in the medina arrives with metal shutters clattering open and the faint smell of charcoal and orange peel drifting up to your terrace. You step into Rue Assouel while the air is still cool, heading toward Madrasa Ben Youssef, where carved cedar and green-and-white zellige catch the slanting December sun and every footstep echoes softly off stone. By late morning the lanes around Kaat Benahid wake up, and you climb toward Rooftop Restaurant El Kennaria for lunch above the hum—tagine steam mingling with the smell of dust and cumin from the square below. Afternoon is for getting pleasantly lost, then letting Le Slimana Restaurant & Rooftop anchor you: a calm perch above the medina where the city’s terracotta roofs glow and the muezzin’s call rolls over everything like a low, steady chord. As the sky bruises into indigo, you cross toward Riad Zitoun Lakdim, climbing to La Pergola. Jazz slides through the air, candles flicker against tile and plaster, and the night feels soft-edged and generous. Tomorrow, you’ll trade this maze for the clean lines of Koutoubia’s gardens and the wider avenues beyond the walls—but tonight belongs to rooftops and the slow realisation that Marrakech after dark is a vertical city.

Morning in December around Koutoubia feels almost theatrical: the minaret rising pale against a washed-out sky, palm trees rustling, and the crunch of gravel underfoot as you walk the gardens where locals cut through on their way to work. The call to prayer reverberates off the stone, and the air smells faintly of damp earth and orange blossom from the nearby hedges. By midday, you slip into Safran by Kôya, where the soundtrack shifts to curated playlists and the plates remix Moroccan flavors with a cosmopolitan wink. Afternoon carries you along Rue Jbel Lakhdar toward the new town’s edges, then out again to Four Seasons Resort Marrakech, where the palm-lined paths, calm pools, and manicured gardens feel like a deep exhale from the medina’s tight lanes. As the light softens, you cross into Hivernage proper: wide boulevards, glossy hotel facades, and Rooftop Garden above Avenue Echouhada, where sunset comes with live entertainment and a skyline of lit-up resorts. The night peaks at Comptoir Darna—two levels of red velvet, carved wood, and dancers swirling through candlelit aisles—before you spill back onto the street, ears ringing pleasantly. Tomorrow, the focus tightens: smaller dining rooms, a wine bar, and a club that feels more like an insiders’ salon than a show.

By day three, the medina feels less like a maze and more like a neighborhood. Morning in the Kasbah quarter comes with the smell of baking bread and the soft thud of carpets being beaten in side alleys as you slip out from Riad Shemsi. You walk past weathered walls and laundry lines toward Derb Chtouka, the city moving at a slower, local pace here than around Jemaa el-Fna. Lunch pulls you out toward Gueliz, where Restaurant La Sonate Chez Pablo greets you with warm lighting, guitar music, and plates that taste like someone’s perfected home cooking. The afternoon stretches along Rue Mohammed el Beqal, a street that feels like everyday Marrakech: barbers, corner groceries, and Farmers, where the design is crisp and the food quietly ambitious. As evening folds in, you drift back toward Rue de la Liberté, slipping into Le 68 Bar à Vin—a wine bar that feels like a secret living room, all soft lamplight and low conversation. Night caps off at MY Kechmara, just down the street, where the vibe shifts to louder music, a mixed crowd, and the sense that you’ve graduated from tourist to temporary local. Tomorrow, you pivot back toward spectacle: casinos, nightclubs, and a club that treats the dance floor like a stage.

By day four, you’ve earned a slower morning. The city’s edges call, and you head out toward the Palmeraie, where Jnane Tamsna hides behind simple walls and a tangle of palms. Inside, it’s all filtered light, bougainvillea, and five pools scattered through gardens that smell of damp earth and citrus—more country house than hotel. Lunch there stretches, the clink of cutlery softened by birdsong and the soft slap of water against stone. Afternoon is a good time to reset back at your base, then dress up with intent. Evening slides into Hivernage again, but this time with more edge: you start at Nessma rooftop, a medina terrace with a more intimate feel, before crossing town toward the Es Saadi complex. Dinner is a prelude, then Theatro Marrakech takes over—part club, part stage show, with performers and DJs treating the night like a production. Tomorrow, you’ll change gears again: karaoke, locals’ bars, and a club that feels like a high-gloss fever dream.

By day five, Marrakech at night feels less intimidating and more like a playground. You ease into the morning with a slow breakfast at BÔ Riad, all white walls, tiled floors, and the soft echo of voices off stone. The day stays deliberately light: a casual lunch in Gueliz, an afternoon coffee at Addict by Gatsby where café culture bleeds into nightlife, and time to wander the new town’s streets that film-festival insiders use as their off-duty backdrop in December. As darkness falls, the energy shifts to performance. Dinner at Cantobar comes with the implicit promise of later karaoke, the room buzzing with regulars and staff who know everyone’s name. You sing (or just watch) under colored lights at Back to the 80's Marrakech, a neon-drenched time capsule where the playlist leans shamelessly nostalgic and strangers cheer each other on. Tomorrow, you close the loop with a guided pub crawl through the city’s after-dark underbelly and a final rooftop sunset that tastes like goodbye.

Your final day starts in a place that understands ceremony: Royal Mansour, where even breakfast feels choreographed. The air smells of polished wood and orange blossoms as you sit in a courtyard that looks like a movie set, watching light move across carved plaster. Lunch is deliberately understated at The SUN-SET ROOFTOP, an easygoing spot where December’s soft sun and an open horizon give you a last, wide-angle view of the city. Afternoon stretches out at La Mamounia, a hotel that has become shorthand for Marrakech glamour: deep sofas, mosaic corridors, and gardens that smell of roses and citrus. This is where you let the week sink in, fingers tracing cool tiles, the murmur of other guests a soft backdrop. As evening falls, you meet up with the Marrakech Nightlife Adventure pub crawl, letting a local guide thread you through bars and neighborhoods you wouldn’t have found alone. The night ends at BABOUCHKA, a high-gloss, high-energy club where bottle service, lasers, and a small but intense dance floor send you out of Marrakech on a high note.