Marrakech rewards the broke traveller more than the rich one: the Medina's best hours cost nothing, a bowl of harira runs 5 dirhams, and the city bus to the Palmeraie is 4. These three days skip the ticket queues entirely.
The eastern gate into the leather district, where hide pits have worked since the 11th century. Walking the lanes is free; ignore the 'guides' who attach themselves and the 'free mint' sprig, which ends in a 100 MAD demand. Best light before 10:00.
Non-Muslims can't enter the mosque, but the surrounding jardins are public and free, with rose beds, orange trees and the excavated foundations of the first 1147 mosque behind glass. Shaded benches make this the cheapest siesta in the Medina.
The old Jewish quarter south of Bahia. The 16th-century Miaara cemetery's whitewashed tombs are entered on a donation basis, and the restored Slat al-Azama synagogue courtyard asks around 20 MAD. Spice Souk el-Mellah nearby sells saffron cheaper than the northern souks.
Nineteen kilometres of pisé wall circle the Medina and every metre is free to walk. The stretch past the 1185 Almohad gate of Bab Agnaou glows deep ochre at golden hour, and the horse-cart road runs alongside so you're never lost.
The new-town covered market where residents actually shop: olives from 12 MAD a kilo, dates, sheep's cheese and fresh-pressed orange juice at half Medina prices. Cheaper and calmer than the souks, and nobody hard-sells you a carpet.
A row of pit ovens where whole lambs are lowered into clay wells at dawn and pulled out at noon. You point at the carcass, they hack off a portion, weigh it and hand it over with cumin, salt and bread. Half a kilo feeds two.
The neighbourhood bathhouse, not a spa: separate hours for men and women, marble hot rooms and buckets. Entry is roughly 15 MAD, a black-soap and kessa-glove scrub from an attendant about 50-70 MAD. Bring flip-flops and a towel.
As the square's kitchens light up, the cheapest tables are the numbered soup carts: harira (chickpea-tomato-lentil soup) around 5 MAD with a date and a chebakia, and babbouche snail broth for 10-15 MAD, ladled from a copper cauldron.
A 12th-century Almohad olive grove around a vast irrigation basin, with the Atlas peaks mirrored in the water on clear mornings. The garden and the walk around the basin are free; only the little pavilion charges (about 30 MAD).
A walled Almohad-era garden between Koutoubia and Guéliz, replanted with cacti, palms and irrigation channels. Free entry, free wifi terminals, shaded benches and clean public toilets — the best place in the Medina to eat market bread and sit for an hour.
State-run craft hall on Avenue Mohammed V with fixed, labelled prices — go here first to learn what a leather bag or brass lamp actually costs, then haggle in the souks from a real baseline. Browsing costs nothing and no one follows you.
The terraces facing Djemaa el-Fna charge nothing for the view if you order the cheapest thing on the menu: mint tea at 15-20 MAD buys you an hour above the drum circles and smoke as the sun drops behind the Koutoubia.