Majorelle Garden and the Yves Saint Laurent Museum

What it is

The Majorelle Garden is the garden that the French painter Jacques Majorelle created in Gueliz, the new town of Marrakesh, around his studio, painted an intense blue that now bears his name. Decades later it was bought and restored by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, who saved it from a property development. Today it is a botanical garden of cacti, palms, bamboo, bougainvillea and ponds with water lilies, with that blue on walls, pots and fountains.

In the grounds and next door there is more to see, each with its own hours:

• The garden, the main visit.
• The Pierre Bergé Museum of Berber Arts, in the former blue studio: jewellery, textiles, weapons and objects of Amazigh culture from all over the country.
• The private garden of the Villa Oasis, the house where Saint Laurent and Bergé lived.
• The Yves Saint Laurent Museum Marrakech, in a building of its own on the same street, devoted to the couturier.

Hours

Open every day:

• Majorelle Garden: from 8:00 to 17:30; last entry at 17:00.
• Museum of Berber Arts: from 8:30 to 17:00; last entry at 16:30.
• Private garden of the Villa Oasis: from 8:00 to 16:30; last entry at 16:00. Closed on Wednesdays.

The Yves Saint Laurent Museum has its own website and its own hours: check them there.

Tickets

Tickets are only bought online, at tickets.jardinmajorelle.com, the only official website. Those sold elsewhere may not be valid, and they are not sold at the door. There are tickets for the garden alone, for the garden with the Berber museum and combined with the Yves Saint Laurent Museum; the price changes depending on the combination and nationality, and you see it when you book. Book a few days ahead in high season.

Allow an hour to an hour and a half for the garden and the Berber museum; half an hour more for the Villa Oasis and another hour for the Yves Saint Laurent Museum.

When to go

At 8:00, when it opens. By mid-morning the groups arrive and the paths, which are narrow, fill up: it is hard to take a photo without people. The first-thing light is also the best for the blue. In summer, too, at that hour it is still pleasant.

Getting there

It is in Gueliz, on Rue Yves Saint Laurent, outside the medina. From Jemaa el-Fna it is about 20 minutes by petit taxi, depending on traffic: ask for "Jardin Majorelle" and agree the price or ask for the meter. If you go by car, park in the surrounding streets, with an attendant.

With children and accessibility

The garden and the museums are accessible for people with reduced mobility, and it works well with a pushchair. With small children it works as a short walk: the ponds, the colour and the shade. Don't let them touch the cacti.

Nearby

In the same Gueliz area you have Al Fassia Gueliz for Moroccan cooking, and Riad Yasmine if you sleep in the north of the medina. To return to the centre, Jemaa el-Fna is a short taxi ride away.