A Taste of Rosemary in Marrakech, an Art-Filled Boutique Riad

Discover Riad Rosemary Marrakech, Laurence Leenaert’s LRNCE-designed boutique riad near the Mellah, filled with hand-crafted ceramics and textiles.

The rooftop terrace features whimsical wrought iron Helios chairs and a tiled table adapted from one of Laurence Leenaert’s drawings.

When Wally and I began thinking about where to travel next, we found ourselves drawn back to Marrakech, the Red City, named for the salmon-colored rammed earth walls enclosing its maze of alleys, their blank façades broken only by wooden doors that suggest another world hidden just beyond them. We had visited in 2012 with our friend Vanessa and were curious to see how the city had changed and what remained from our previous trip.

On that visit, we had a digital camera, and after a three-day journey that included an overnight stay among the shifting sands of the Sahara, we discovered the memory card was “frite” (fried) and beyond repair. So the prospect of returning to a place that held such wonderful memories for a full week this time, was impossible to resist. 

The courtyard is the heart of the riad, anchored by a magnificent 40-year-old jacaranda tree and home to the salon d’été, wavy terrazzo tiles, plunge pool, LRNCE boutique and living room.

Like Alice in Wonderland, I enjoy falling down the rabbithole, gathering sites for us to see as well as finding the perfect place to call home during our stay. This was how I discovered Rosemary, an intimate five-bedroom boutique riad built around a courtyard and interior garden, tucked into the quiet residential neighborhood of Riad Zitoun Jdid. 

On the map, it sits in one of the oldest quarters of the southern medina, a stone’s throw from Bahia Palace and within walking distance of the souks and other sites we wanted to explore. 

Leenaert and her husband, Ayoub Boualam, worked with dozens of craftsmen and women from Morocco to rework the interiors with bespoke furnishings and finishes, including zelije tiles and tadelakt, a natural lime-based plaster.

The riad was the former home of Rose-Marie, who happened to cross paths with Belgian artist and designer Laurence Leenaert and her husband and business partner, Ayoub Boualam, at their studio in Sidi Ghanem, an industrial area just outside Marrakech. She was looking to sell, and once the couple toured the space, its faded grandeur made the decision an easy one, and a logical next step in the brand’s evolution.

Leenaert is the founder of the lifestyle brand LRNCE, launched in 2013 and based in Marrakech, where she arrived with little more than a sewing machine and a few hundred euros. She originally specialized in small leather bags before evolving into an internationally recognized label known for its hand-painted ceramics, woven rugs, textiles, clothing and objects deeply rooted in Marrakech’s craft traditions.

Rosemary is a living extension of LRNCE’s aesthetic universe, immersing guests in Leenaert’s creative world rather than simply offering a glimpse of it.

Arriving at Rosemary 

We remembered how easy it was to get lost in the medina, and while that’s part of the fun, we didn’t want to stress over being dropped at the edge of a narrow street and rolling our suitcases down it while navigating pedestrians, donkey carts and weaving mopeds. To avoid this, I prearranged pickup. We were met at the airport and transported to a dropoff point on Rue Riad Zitoun el Jdid. There, one of Rosemary’s accommodating hosts welcomed us, took our bags, and led us down to 25 Rue de la Bahia.

Among the countless handcrafted details, sandstone has been fashioned into sculptural objects, including a chair, pedestal and table base, for the salon d’été.

We were seated at a banquette in the cozy salon d’été (summer salon) in the tranquil central courtyard shaded by a majestic jacaranda tree, and served mint tea and slices of housemade banana bread while we completed check-in. 

Afterward, we were shown our room and given a tour. During our stay, the riad was hosting an event on the rooftop to promote the collaboration between LRNCE and Australian resort wear brand Alémais, and guests could also participate in craft events, including an intimate textile workshop the day before we departed. 

The Clemande suite features a queen-sized bed, built-in shelving filled with hand-painted ceramics and found objects, including a goatskin lampshade.

The Rooms at Rosemary

I had booked the Cocoon suite on the second floor, which overlooks the central courtyard. In-room amenities include wifi, a preloaded iPad complete with a chill rooftop mix, a Sonos portable Bluetooth speaker and shelves lined with art books, along with a queen-sized bed, a bathroom with a stained glass window, a built-in bench with hand-embroidered throw pillows and a handcarved cedarwood sideboard with a marble top. 

The Cocoon suite lives up to its name — a perfect retreat after a day spent haggling in the souks.

The Cocoon suite features a custom stained glass panel, sculptural lighting and a cozy bedroom.

A couple of days later, we were graciously upgraded to the Clemande suite and could hardly believe we had our very own private balcony. We spent most afternoons soaking our feet in the cool water of the plunge pool or relaxing up there. 

A large painting of two octopuses by Belgian artist Lieven Deconinck hangs above the plunge pool where Duke and Wally spent many afternoons relaxing and soaking our tired feet. 

The suite features a queen-size bed, built-in geometric shelving lined with art books, hand-painted ceramics and found objects, including a goatskin lampshade, plus a bathroom with a marble soaking tub and a striking tile mural painted by Leenaert.

The Clemande suite features a marble bathtub and hand-painted tile mural by Leenaertart.

And can we take a moment to talk about their toiletries? The hand soap, body wash, shampoo and silky body lotion are all scented with notes of neroli orange, rosemary and cedar atlas. We ended up buying some to take home.

The onsite boutique carries hand-painted ceramics, embroidered bed linens, toiletries and apparel.

The LRNCE Vision

Laurence and Ayoub’s vision respects the building’s pedigree, and the results are anything but typical. The property had previously been renovated by Belgian architect Quentin Wilbaux, who has spent decades documenting and restoring traditional riads throughout the medina and is widely regarded as one of the leading authorities on its architecture. The couple oversaw every aspect of the intensive three-year renovation, and collaborated with more than a few dozen maâlems, or master craftsmen, drawn from across Morocco’s specialized trades: stained-glass artisans from Meknès, potters from Safi, zellige tilemakers from Fès, marble vendors from Rabat, and a crew of local Marrakchi carpenters, metalworkers and plasterers who handled the riad’s finishes. 

The hotel’s name is a nod to its previous owner as well as the herb used to perfume its in-house hammam.

Hand-painted plates by LRNCE and a vintage brass cobra sconce we coveted, found at the Bab el Khemis flea market

Each detail, from the spontaneous hand-drawn lines etched into the columns framing the plunge pool to the wrought iron door handles and red marble lozenges meticulously set into the staircase, contributes to a space that pulls you fully into Leenaert’s creative world. Her own works are complemented by vintage fixtures and furnishings sourced from their travels. Wally and I were obsessed with the vintage brass cobra wall sconces found throughout, and later learned they came from a seller at the Bab el Khemis flea market.

Located off the courtyard, the living room features built-in banquette, vintage furniture, and tiered shelves lined with art books, ceramics and objects by LRNCE. 

Staying at Rosemary 

Breakfast is served on the sun-drenched rooftop terrace, which is dotted with LRNCE designed tables, whimsical wrought iron chairs and sunloungers. The spread includes homemade yogurt, amlou (almond spread), honey, preserves, sticky date and sesame energy balls, mesemmen (semi-leavened bread), baghir (Moroccan semolina pancakes) and eggs made to order, served from terracotta tagines. The freshly squeezed orange juice is exceptional, as is the nous nous (“half-half” in Darija, Moroccan Arabic), a local café staple made with equal parts espresso and steamed milk.

The kitchen features hand-painted plates by Leenaert and mashrabiya-style cabinet doors.

Rosemary felt less like staying at a hotel and more like being welcomed into a dear friend’s home. The warmth and generosity of everyone who took care of us will not soon be forgotten. Once you check in, you may never want to leave. 

An ornate traditional wrought iron grille looks out upon the interior courtyard.

If you happen to fall in love with the hand-crafted ceramics, linens, rugs or toiletries during your stay — and you will — the onsite LRNCE shop makes it easy to take a bit of Rosemary home with you. –Duke

The hand-carved cedarwood front door was adapted from Leenaert’s sketches, one of the first pieces created for Rosemary, and took over four months to complete.

Riad Rosemary

25 Rue de la Bahia
Marrakech 40000
Morocco

 

Dreamiest Sunsets in Italy and Spain: Top Spots for Romantic Views

Looking for the best sunsets in Italy and Spain? From Venice and Positano to Granada and Ronda, these romantic views are worth planning a trip around.

Some places seem to have been built specifically for sunsets.

Maybe it’s a fishing village tumbling down a cliff. Maybe it’s a medieval city glowing above a river. Maybe it’s Venice, where the sky and water can’t seem to decide which one is reflecting the other.

Whatever the reason, Italy and Spain have mastered the art of golden hour. If you’re willing to linger a little longer before dinner, you’ll be rewarded with some of the most memorable views in Europe.

Positano: Cliff, Color and the Tyrrhenian Light

Positano looks like someone dropped a handful of pastel houses onto the side of a cliff and, against all odds, they landed perfectly. As the afternoon sun begins to soften, the terracotta roofs, lemon-yellow walls and pale pink façades seem to glow from within. That’s why so many people take a road trip along the Amalfi Coast.

For the classic view, head to Fornillo Beach at the western end of town and look back toward the dome of the Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta. Better yet, admire it from the water, where the entire village rises dramatically above the sea in one unforgettable panorama.

Toledo: The Skyline That Time Forgot

Some skylines change. Toledo’s simply refuses.

Perched above a bend in the Tagus River about an hour south of Madrid, the city still presents one of Europe’s most complete medieval silhouettes. From the Mirador del Valle, the cathedral, Alcázar fortress and ancient skyline appear almost exactly as travelers would have seen them centuries ago.

Come during the hour before sunset when warm western light turns the stone golden. Better yet, spend the night. Once the day-trippers leave, Toledo takes on an entirely different personality beneath the evening lights.

One of the best things about exploring Spain is how easily you can move between completely different landscapes. The Madrid to Barcelona train connects the country’s capital with the Mediterranean in around two and a half hours, making it simple to build an itinerary that includes Toledo’s golden medieval skyline before trading it for Barcelona’s seaside sunsets.

Ronda: Spain’s Dramatic Balcony

Ronda doesn’t just overlook a gorge—it literally hangs over it.

The famous Puente Nuevo stretches across a 120-meter chasm, creating one of Andalusia’s most dramatic landscapes. During the day you can explore churches like Santa María la Mayor and do an olive oil tasting at LA Organic.

But as sunset approaches, the changing light fills the gorge below while the surrounding mountains slowly fade from gold to purple.

For the best overall perspective, wander through the Alameda del Tajo gardens. Grab a drink at the cliffside café and watch one of Spain’s most spectacular sunsets unfold.

Venice: Where the Water Steals the Show

Everyone has seen photographs of Venice. Or they’ve seen its beauty in movies like Casino Royale.

The annoying thing is that it’s all true.

Few arrivals can compete with Venice. The Rome to Venice train reaches Santa Lucia Station in about three and a half hours, and instead of stepping into another busy city, you’re transported into one where the streets are canals. Hop on a vaporetto, watch centuries-old palaces drift by at water level and let Venice introduce itself the way it was meant to: slowly, from the water.

For sunset, make your way to Punta della Dogana, where the Grand Canal opens into the Giudecca Canal. As the sky changes color, Venice becomes a city of reflections. The churches, palaces and canals seem to shimmer from every direction, making it easy to understand why generations of artists never stopped painting it.

Civita di Bagnoregio: Italy’s Hidden Showstopper

People love calling Civita di Bagnoregio “the Italian Santorini,” but honestly, it doesn’t need the comparison.

Perched atop an eroding tufa cliff and connected to the outside world by a single pedestrian bridge, this tiny village feels almost suspended in time. With only a handful of permanent residents, it remains one of central Italy’s most extraordinary hidden gems.

For the iconic view, head to the opposite side of the valley just before sunset. In spring or early fall, the fading light transforms the cliffs from pale stone into glowing amber.

Cinque Terre: Five Villages, Endless Golden Hour

If your perfect evening involves colorful fishing villages, cliffside vineyards and a glass of wine, Cinque Terre rarely disappoints.

Because the villages face southwest, the sun lingers over the Ligurian Sea before finally dipping below the horizon. One of the best viewpoints is Punta Bonfiglio above Manarola, where locals often gather to watch the day’s final act.

If you’re feeling energetic, hike between Vernazza and Monterosso in the late afternoon. The changing coastal light makes the entire walk feel like one long sunset.

Granada: The Alhambra’s Best Performance

The Alhambra is impressive at any hour.

But sunset is when it really shows off.

From the Mirador de San Nicolás in the Albaicín, the palace glows against the backdrop of the Sierra Nevada. Arrive a little early, settle in and watch the colors shift from warm gold to deep blue as evening settles over Granada.

Street musicians often fill the square with flamenco guitar, adding a soundtrack that somehow makes the entire experience feel even more cinematic.

The Best Part? Sunsets Cost Nothing

The beauty of chasing sunsets is that, unlike just about everything else on vacation, they’re completely free.

Italy and Spain have been putting on this same performance every evening for centuries. The castles, villages and coastlines simply happen to have the best seats in the house.

So don’t rush to your dinner reservation. Stay for one more minute. Then another.

The sunset is worth the wait. –Brayden Sterling

Working Abroad or On the Move: What Can Go Wrong?

Digital nomad safety starts with protecting your data, devices and productivity while working from anywhere.

Work and travel mix well in the modern world — and it’s easier than ever to be financially independent as a digital nomad. Being productive without ever setting foot in an office has finally become normalized. Meanwhile, service-based tools make it easy to do complex tasks or communicate with colleagues from anywhere using just a basic laptop and smartphone.

Here’s what no one tells you about the digital nomad lifestyle, though. Greater accessibility comes with its own risks. Some are travel-related, while others can start to grate on you after you’ve been hopping from country to country for a while. This article covers the most common real-world threats you may come across, their impact on your productivity, and effective strategies for sidestepping the danger.

Common Digital Nomad Risks and Remote Work Security Threats

Unsafe Wi-Fi

Fast and stable internet is non-negotiable for online work. Luckily, you get to access it as soon as you land, from your Airbnb or hotel, and from any self-respecting local venue. The Wi-Fi they offer is legitimate, but can also serve as cover for malicious attacks.

Connecting to a fake hotspot gives its operator a lot of leverage. They can intercept any unsecured data you transmit, capture session cookies, or redirect you to harmful websites. Apart from that last one, you won’t even notice the attack until you get locked out of accounts. Even if you use two-factor authentication, having to reset passwords or clue IT in about a possible threat can cut into work time (and lead to more cybersecurity training).

Device Theft

Having your laptop or phone stolen is the cruelest and most effective way of disrupting your workday. Finding the device is unlikely, and replacing it will take time even in a first-world metropolis.

If you were careless enough to leave the device open, the thief may now have access to open accounts, company secrets, and your personal information. If they’re enterprising, they might use this info to commit identity theft or start scamming your business and personal contacts — even from a locked phone!

Account recovery also gets trickier since losing your phone means losing your main means of authentication. Tech-savvy thieves can reset account credentials and misuse stored authentication measures, locking you out permanently.

Geo Restrictions

Sometimes policies designed to protect users can work against you. Let’s say you’re a digital nomad who arrived in Colombia after having spent the last couple of months in Italy. You log into a payment app to cover a meal, only for it to lock you out because the location difference and unusual login triggered a safeguard.

Depending on what exactly you lose access to, the consequences range from mild inconveniences to lockouts it can take days to sort out.

Decision Fatigue

Working on the go means never running on autopilot. You constantly have to be aware of where you’re staying, nearby coworking options, transportation, etc. And that’s without accounting for work-specific challenges and the expectation of maintaining productivity.

All of this inevitably takes its toll. Slip-ups might start small, like taking longer to complete project milestones. If not addressed, soon enough you’ll be sending files to the wrong coworkers or skipping security steps in place to protect both you and clients. Given enough time, sloppy mistakes might cause your credibility to tank.

Remote Work Security Best Practices for Travelers

What can you do about these threats? Staying safe and productive means using the right tools and strategies to protect your physical and digital safety as well as your mental health.

Connect safely through VPNs.

Public Wi-Fi is too useful to ignore when your livelihood depends on it. Your best bet is to mitigate the danger with a VPN since they’ll encrypt the connection and make it considerably harder for snoops to obtain your data or track your online whereabouts. They’re also a convenient fix for location-based false alerts since IP masking lets you present as working from your home country while traveling.

Maybe you’re renting a laptop in a coworking space and can’t install a full VPN program. Or you only need it for specific tasks like checking marketing dashboards in different regions. VPN extensions for Chrome or another browser are the lightweight apps you should choose.

Help ensure physical security.

Always keep an eye on your devices and don’t leave them out in the open when they aren’t in use. Laptops can also be physically tethered to tables, etc., making them much harder to steal.

Make sure to encrypt the contents of your drives and lock all devices with biometrics. This minimizes the potential fallout even if someone steals it from you.

Beat decision fatigue with standardization.

Save the diversity inherent to the digital nomad lifestyle for after hours. While you’re working, wherever that may currently be, strive to create a digital and physical environment that changes as little as possible.

This can mean different things, from creating and sticking to core workflows and business tools to always staying in the same type of accommodations. The idea is to offload most of the micro-decisions you make when traveling so you can focus on meaningful work instead of stressing over details. –Beatrice Whitmore

Key Takeaways

• Connecting to public or unsecured Wi-Fi networks can allow cybercriminals to intercept your data. Using the best VPN for Android or iOS is crucial for encrypting your connection.

• The theft of a work device can lead to significant downtime and potential data breaches, highlighting the need for physical security measures and full-drive encryption.

• The constant decision-making required by travel can lead to decision fatigue and costly mistakes, which can be avoided by standardizing your work environment and routines.

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RELATED: Bookkeeping and Budgeting as a Digital Nomad 

Svalbard vs. Antarctica: Which Polar Adventure Belongs on Your Bucket List?

From polar bears and Arctic fjords to penguins and towering icebergs, discover the key differences between Svalbard and Antarctica travel. 

Some trips are easy to explain.

A beach week. A city break. A long weekend somewhere warm.

A polar trip is different.

It’s harder to put into words because it isn’t only about where you go. It’s about what happens to you when you get there. The air feels sharper. The sky seems too big. The silence has a kind of weight to it. You notice your own footsteps. You notice the wind. You notice how small you are — but not in a bad way. Winter wilderness travel is intense and mindblowing.

Maybe that’s the real pull of places like Svalbard and Antarctica. They remind you that the world is enormous.

“Svalbard shows you how humans live near the edge.

Antarctica reminds you that the edge might be too extreme for humans.”

Both destinations sit close to the edge of the map. Both give you ice, wildlife, long horizons and that strange feeling of being far away from your ordinary life. But they aren’t the same trip. Not at all.

Svalbard is in the Arctic. It sits north of mainland Norway, deep in polar bear country, with fjords, glaciers, tundra, old mining history and a small but real community in Longyearbyen. Antarctica is the other end of the planet. It’s a continent of ice, penguins, research stations, wild seas and a kind of silence that feels almost untouched.

So, which one belongs on your bucket list? It depends on what kind of wonder you want to come home with.

Svalbard Feels Remote But Not Unreachable

Svalbard has this odd, beautiful mix of wildness and daily life. You can land in Longyearbyen, check into a hotel, order coffee and still be very aware that you are in one of the northernmost inhabited places on Earth. There are streets and shops and guides loading gear. There are people walking home from work. And beyond all that, there are mountains, ice, cold water and animals that don’t care about your travel plans.

That contrast gives Svalbard its character. It doesn’t feel staged. It feels lived in.

You can sense that people have had to adapt here. The weather decides things. The light decides things. The seasons aren’t background details; they shape everything. Even before you board a ship or head deeper into the wilderness, you can feel that this place has its own rules.

And honestly, that makes it more interesting.

In summer, the midnight sun changes the whole rhythm of travel. The sky stays bright when your body expects darkness. You may look outside at midnight and see soft light sitting over the fjord, as if the day simply forgot to end.

It’s strange at first. Then it becomes wonderful.

You stop checking the time so much. You stop waiting for evening to close things down. The day stretches out in a way that feels loose and generous. If you’re used to a life of alarms, calendars and constant little deadlines, that can feel almost like a relief.

The Arctic Has Its Own Kind of Tension

For many people, Svalbard starts with one dream: a polar bear. Not behind glass. Not in a documentary. A real one, somewhere out on the ice or moving along a distant shore. Of course, no responsible trip can promise that. Wildlife is wildlife. It appears when it appears. Sometimes it doesn’t.

But the possibility changes the way you look. You scan ridges differently. You watch the shoreline. You listen when guides point out tracks or movement. There’s a quiet tension in it, but it’s not fear exactly. It’s respect.

And you feel that respect in your body.

Svalbard isn’t only about polar bears, though. Walruses may be hauled out together in heavy, noisy groups. Arctic foxes can flash across the ground. Reindeer graze in places that look too sparse to support anything. Seals rest near ice. Whales surface and disappear before you fully process what you saw. Seabirds crowd cliffs and fill the air with sound.

It’s not a single big moment. It’s a collection of small ones. That’s part of Svalbard’s charm. You have to pay attention.

For travelers comparing ships, routes and comfort levels, looking closely at the full Arctic cruise price can make the planning feel less vague. In Svalbard, the details matter. The vessel, the guides, the itinerary, the pace of each day and the way the crew approaches the environment all shape what the trip becomes.

Because you’re not just going there to look at ice. You're going there to experience the landscape, not simply observe it.

Antarctica Feels Farther Than Far

Just saying you are going to Antarctica feels serious. It’s not a casual destination. You don’t tack it onto another trip as an afterthought. Most people have to plan for it, save for it, think about it and then commit. That commitment becomes part of the experience.

Many travelers reach Antarctica by sailing from Ushuaia, Argentina, across the Drake Passage. And yes, the Drake has a reputation. Some crossings are calm. Some are rough. Some make you question your life choices for a day and then reward you with a horizon full of ice.

That’s the thing about Antarctica. It makes you earn the arrival.

And when the ice finally appears, it doesn’t feel like normal scenery. It feels like the world has changed materials. Icebergs rise out of the water like towers, walls, broken sculptures or pieces of some huge unfinished building. The colors are simple, but they aren’t plain. Blue, white, gray, black, silver. Sometimes a little gold when the light shifts.

You may find yourself standing on deck and saying nothing. Not because you’re bored. Because the place is bigger than your reaction to it.

Penguins Make Antarctica Feel Alive

From far away, Antarctica can sound empty. Ice, wind, ocean, silence.

But then there are penguins. And penguins change everything.

They bring noise, movement, awkwardness, determination and a delightful amount of personality. They slip, shuffle, call, argue, gather, wander and somehow make one of the most extreme places on Earth feel full of life.

There’s something oddly touching about watching them. Maybe it’s because they look so small against the scale of the place. Maybe it’s because they keep going, even when the ground is rough, and the weather isn’t kind. Or maybe we just recognize something familiar in their busyness.

That sounds a little sentimental, I know. But Antarctica does that. It catches people off guard.

You may also see seals resting on ice, whales surfacing near the ship, and seabirds moving through hard wind as if the air belongs to them. In the right season, Antarctica can feel almost crowded with life, even though the landscape itself remains vast and severe.

It’s a strange combination. Harsh and tender at the same time.

What Wildlife Are You Really Hoping For?

This might be the simplest question. 

If your dream is polar bears, choose Svalbard. The Arctic is their home, and even the chance of seeing one responsibly, from a safe distance, brings a kind of electricity to the trip.

If your dream is penguins, choose Antarctica. Penguins don’t live in the Arctic, and polar bears don’t live in Antarctica. That one fact clears away a lot of confusion.

But the answer isn’t always logical. Sometimes you already know. Maybe you’ve pictured a bear moving across sea ice since you were a kid. Maybe you've imagined penguins gathered below blue-white mountains for years. That one image matters.

Travel planning often looks practical from the outside. Dates, routes, budgets, flights, gear. But underneath all that, there’s usually one feeling you’re trying to reach. Run with that.

Antarctica Is Bigger; Svalbard Is More Layered

If you want ice drama, Antarctica is hard to beat. The scale is almost unreasonable. Glaciers seem endless. Icebergs look carved. Mountains rise out of the cold in sharp black and white. The whole place feels stripped down to the basics of water, ice, rock and sky.

It can overwhelm you. In a good way.

Svalbard works differently. It does have glaciers and sea ice, but it also has tundra, fjords, beaches, dark mountains, old settlements and traces of human history. It doesn’t hit you with one single grand impression. It unfolds.

One day may feel gray and moody, with low cloud over the water. Another may feel bright and open, with birds moving across the sky and light lingering much too late. You might pass an old mining site and then, not long after, see a seal near a sheet of ice. The place keeps changing its tone.

Antarctica feels monumental.

Svalbard feels intimate.

That’s not a perfect rule, but it’s close enough.

Think About the Journey, Not Just the Destination

Svalbard is usually easier to fit into a shorter trip. Most travelers connect through Norway and fly into Longyearbyen. From there, the adventure can begin fairly quickly. You still feel remote, but you don’t usually need the same long sea crossing that defines many Antarctic itineraries.

That makes Svalbard a strong first polar trip for many people.

Antarctica asks for more time. More patience too. Here’s what to know before you plan an Antarctica trip. You need to reach the departure point, cross the Drake Passage, explore and cross back. There’s more travel wrapped around the travel.

For some people, that’s part of the magic. The distance makes Antarctica feel earned. The long approach gives the whole journey a sense of ceremony. For others, it may feel like too much. And that’s fine. Not every bucket list trip has to be the hardest version of itself.

Comfort Isn’t a Small Thing

People sometimes talk about polar travel as if comfort doesn’t matter. It does.

After hours in cold wind, a warm cabin matters. Dry socks matter. A good meal matters. A quiet place to sit with a cup of tea after seeing something extraordinary matters more than you might expect.

The right ship can change the whole experience. So can the right guides. You want people who know the place, respect it and help you notice what you might otherwise miss. 

You also want a pace that lets you actually absorb things. Because what’s the point of going that far if you’re too rushed or too uncomfortable to take it in?

Adventure doesn’t have to mean pretending you’re not tired. Sometimes the best part of the day is coming back cold, windblown and happy, then warming your hands around a mug while everyone quietly processes what they just saw. That’s part of the trip too.

So, Which Place Feels More Personal?

Svalbard often feels more personal because people live there. You can imagine daily life. Someone walking home under winter darkness. Someone stepping outside in summer when the sun is still up at 2 a.m. Someone checking the weather before making even a simple plan. The Arctic isn’t an idea there. It’s everyday reality. There’s something moving about that.

Antarctica feels less personal, but maybe more humbling. It doesn’t make room for ordinary human life in the same way. It doesn’t feel designed around us. That can be uncomfortable at first, then strangely peaceful.

Svalbard shows you how humans live near the edge.

Antarctica reminds you that the edge might be too extreme for humans.

Both lessons stay with you, just in different ways.

Which Polar Adventure Belongs on Your Bucket List?

Choose Svalbard if you want polar bears, Arctic wildlife, fjords, tundra, settlement history and a trip that feels remote without feeling completely disconnected from human life. It’s varied, atmospheric and easier to imagine as a first polar adventure.

Choose Antarctica if you want penguins, huge ice, the seventh continent, and the deep satisfaction of reaching one of the most remote places on Earth. It’s bigger, farther, more demanding and probably more dramatic from start to finish.

The honest answer is that both are worthy.

But if you’re choosing one, start with the image that stays with you. Is it a polar bear under the endless Arctic light? Penguins moving across ice at the bottom of the world? A quiet fjord near midnight? A blue iceberg rising out of dark water?

One of those scenes probably pulls harder than the others. Follow that.

Because in the end, you’re not only choosing between Svalbard and Antarctica. You’re choosing the kind of awe you want to carry home. –Brenda Wanjiku

Iberia With Kids: Unforgettable Family Destinations You Can’t Miss

Planning a family trip to Spain and Portugal? Discover the best kid-friendly destinations in Iberia, from Barcelona and Valencia to Lisbon, Porto and Seville, with practical tips for stress-free family travel.

Traveling with children on the Iberian Peninsula involves a recalibration that most parents figure out within the first couple of days. Spain and Portugal are deeply family-friendly, not because every attraction caters to children but because children are welcomed into everyday life. Families gather in plazas after sunset, children join restaurant meals and multiple generations often share the same table.

You don’t have to embrace 9 p.m. dinners to benefit from the culture. The real adjustment is recognizing that children are expected to be present, included and engaged. Once you lean into that mindset, the trip often becomes easier for everyone.

Barcelona: Walkable Neighborhoods and Kid-Friendly Adventures 

One of the advantages of Barcelona for families is structural — the city has enough variety within walking distance of most central neighborhoods that a bad afternoon doesn’t require a car journey to fix. 

The beaches at Barceloneta are 15 minutes by metro from the Gothic Quarter, and the water is calm enough in summer for children who are confident swimmers. 

The playgrounds along the Passeig Marítim are well equipped and shaded in the morning. 

Even sightseeing can feel like playtime: Antoni Gaudí’s whimsical buildings, from the colorful mosaics of Park Güell to the fantastical towers of Sagrada Família, will capture your children’s imaginations. 

The Barcelona to Valencia train on the Euromed service takes around three hours and 20 minutes along the Mediterranean coast, and the journey is manageable with children. The seats are wide, the café car sells snacks, and the coastal stretches through the Castellón countryside give enough visual interest to carry the middle section. Booking two facing seats with a table between them (the paired configurations available on most long-distance Spanish trains) makes the journey considerably more civilized with young children who need somewhere to spread out. 

Valencia: Where the River Became a Park

The Turia Gardens running through the center of Valencia are one of the more remarkable urban planning decisions in Europe: After the catastrophic Turia flood of 1957, the river was diverted south of the city and the old riverbed — five and a half miles (nine kilometers) of it — was converted into a continuous park that now connects the historic center to the sea. 

Children navigate it by bicycle, rollerskate or foot. The park has playgrounds distributed along its length, a bioparc at the western end, and the Gulliver playground near the eastern section — a 230-foot (70-meter) reclining figure of the fictional giant with slides running down his limbs, an attraction children describe years afterward.

The Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias at the eastern end of the Turia Gardens is where families tend to concentrate, and the Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe, an interactive science museum, and the L’Oceanogràfic, Europe’s largest aquarium, are both standout attractions, offering substance as well as scale.

Lisbon: Hills, Trams and the Age of Discovery

Lisbon with children is primarily a question of logistics. The city’s hills and cobblestoned streets are beautiful and genuinely hard going with a stroller or very small children who tire quickly. 

The solution most families arrive at is to use the historic trams (the 28E in particular, running through the Alfama and Chiado districts) as a form of transport that doubles as entertainment, and to concentrate activity in the flatter Belém district to the west, where the major child-friendly sites are accessible without significant climbing.

The train from Lisbon to Porto on the Alfa Pendular service takes around two hours and 50 minutes and is one of the more manageable long-distance rail journeys in Iberia with children. The trains are smooth and quiet, the seats comfortable, and the stations at both ends are central enough that no additional transfer is typically required before reaching your accommodation. 

For families combining both cities in a single trip, the train is the obvious spine of the itinerary; flying between cities this close together makes little sense in terms of total journey time once airport transfers are factored in, and the rail journey gives children the experience of moving through the country rather than skipping over it.

Porto: Compact, Walkable and Charming

Porto works for families partly because of its scale. The historic center is compact enough to cover on foot over two days and easy to navigate because the Douro River gives children a constant geographic reference point. 

The Ribeira waterfront is where most activity concentrates: The rabelo boats moored along the quay, the cable car crossing to Vila Nova de Gaia, and the boat trips up the Douro through the port wine country offer hours of low-effort sightseeing without requiring much planning. 

The cable car from the Ribeira to the Dom Luís I Bridge upper deck takes three minutes, and the view from the top is worth the wait. Combine it with a walk across the upper bridge deck and down the Gaia side.

The Serralves Foundation in the west of Porto has a contemporary art museum that’s less child-focused than some alternatives, but grounds its exhibitions in a park that’s excellent for families — 44.5 acres (18 hectares) of formal gardens, woodland and a farm area with animals accessible at the park’s perimeter. 

The park ticket is cheaper than the combined museum entry, and for families with children under 8, the park alone is sufficient to fill a morning. 

The Matosinhos seafood restaurants north of the park, reachable by metro from Serralves, are a food spot to eat lunch — fresh fish from the Atlantic grilled simply, at prices that make feeding a family manageable.

Seville: Flamenco, Horses and a Cool Palace

Seville can be one of the easiest cities in Spain for family travel, provided you work with the climate rather than against it. Summer temperatures regularly exceed 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius), making early mornings and evenings the best times for exploring. Plan major sightseeing before lunch, retreat indoors during the hottest hours of the afternoon and save parks, plazas and outdoor dining for later in the day.

Children who have had a proper midday rest are considerably better company for the evening paseo and the tapas bars than those who’ve been dragged through monuments in the afternoon heat.

The Real Alcázar is the family visit that most consistently works in Seville because the combination of the Mudéjar palace rooms, the Baroque gardens, and the Game of Thrones filming locations gives different members of the family reasons to be interested. The garden section in particular — with its pools, grottos and the Mercury Pond, named for the statue that overlooks it — gives children enough to explore that adults can linger over the architecture while the kids remain happily occupied.

The horse carriages that depart from the Puerta de Jerez for tours of the historic center aren’t the most morally defensible experience in Spain but are almost universally successful with young children.

How to Travel Spain and Portugal With Children

Iberia with children rewards the families who adjust to the local rhythm rather than imposing their own. The late evenings, the long lunches, and the cities that treat public space as genuinely shared between all ages make Spain and Portugal among the more welcoming destinations in Europe for family travel. 

Give each city three nights minimum, build in time for nothing in particular, and accept that the afternoon nap isn’t a failure of itinerary planning but the reason the evening works.

Your Essential Travel Vaccine and Safety Guide for Latin America

Plan your Latin America adventure with the right travel vaccines, malaria prevention and dengue protection tips.

Latin America rewards travelers who like variety: rainforests and ruins, high-altitude cities and beach towns, street food and slow afternoons in sun-washed plazas. But before you get too deep into hotels, tours and restaurant tabs, take care of the unglamorous-but-important part: health prep.

A few weeks before you go, talk with your doctor or a travel medicine provider about your route. Depending on where you’re headed, you may need certain travel vaccines, malaria prevention or yellow fever shots. Once you arrive, daily mosquito protection is just as important, especially in places where dengue is a risk. A little planning up front can help keep your trip focused on the good stuff.

Getting Ready: Health Planning Before Your Flight to Latin America

Picture this: You’ve just landed in Cartagena, Colombia, the sea breeze hits your face, and you’re ready for adventure, not a last-minute scramble for vaccine paperwork. Health prep is one of the smartest parts of travel planning.

You should also review your regular shots (MMR, tetanus and influenza), which should be up to date. Some destinations require proof of yellow fever shots, especially if you’re crossing from high-risk countries.

If you’re planning a multi-country itinerary, take a look at travel vaccines for South America. This overview helps travelers understand the requirements by region, so nothing is missed between borders.

Country-by-Country Travel Vaccines Checklist

Latin America covers everything from tropical jungles to high-altitude cities, which means vaccine needs differ by geography as much as by country. For official country-specific guidance, visit the WHO travel vaccines page. 

Brazil 

• Yellow fever shots: Required for many regions and strongly recommended for others, especially the Amazon basin and certain coastal states.

• Malaria prevention: Needed for trips to forested and rural zones; not necessary for São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro.

• Other: Hepatitis A, typhoid and routine updates like tetanus.

Colombia 

• Yellow fever shots: Recommended in many rural departments but not needed for Bogotá or Medellín (high elevation reduces mosquito risk)

• Malaria: Present in the Amazon, Chocó and Pacific regions

• Other: Hepatitis A and standard vaccines are a must

Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador 

• Yellow fever shots: Needed for Amazon regions; optional elsewhere

• Malaria: Discuss tablets for jungle travel

• Other: Consider rabies if visiting wildlife reserves or working with animals

Central America and the Caribbean 

• Yellow fever shots: Generally not required unless you’ve transited through a risk country

• Hepatitis A and typhoid shots: Commonly recommended for food and water safety

• Dengue: Mosquito control is essential year-round, especially in coastal and urban areas

Smart Malaria Prevention for Tropical Zones

The key to preventing malaria is combining medication with bite protection.

Here’s what seasoned travelers do:

1. Start medication early as prescribed — usually before you leave, during your stay and after your return.

2. Pack strong repellent (20%–30% DEET or picaridin) and reapply often.

3. Sleep under treated nets if staying in lodges or rural camps.

4. Cover up at dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active.

5. Avoid scented products, which attract insects.

Your doctor can help you choose the right prophylaxis — options depend on location, duration and your medical history.

How to Avoid Dengue During Your Trip to Latin America

There’s no reliable dengue vaccine for most travelers yet, so bite prevention remains your best defense.

Use these habits daily:

• Apply repellent in the morning and reapply throughout the day.

• Wear light-colored clothing and long sleeves.

• Stay in accommodations with screens or air conditioning.

• Dump standing water around rooms or patios.

• Try permethrin-treated clothing for added protection.

Even short trips can coincide with local outbreaks, so consistency matters. A few small habits can spare you from fever, aches and lost travel days.

After the Journey: Staying Alert Once Home

Returning from a tropical region? Keep an eye on how you feel for a few weeks. Fever, chills or unusual fatigue can be early signs of mosquito-borne infections or malaria relapse.

If you notice symptoms, let your doctor know where you’ve traveled and whether you took malaria prevention medication. Keep your International Certificate of Vaccination (the “yellow card”) in a safe spot, because you might need it for future trips.

Before You Go: Travel Vaccines, Malaria Prevention and Mosquito Protection

A great trip starts long before you step on the plane. Planning your travel vaccines, confirming yellow fever shots and arranging malaria prevention are quick steps that pay off throughout your journey. Combine those with solid mosquito bite protection and simple ways to avoid dengue routines, and you’ll explore Latin America with confidence.

Think of your pre-travel checklist as part of the adventure, something that lets you focus on the food, culture and moments that truly matter. Safe travels and good health wherever your path leads next. –Ethan Walker

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MORE TRAVEL PREP: What to Pack for a Trip to South America

Houston Travel Tips: 5 Things to Know Before Booking Your Trip

Houston travel tips to help you plan smarter, including when to visit, whether to rent a car, where to eat and how to map out your days.

Planning a trip to Houston sounds easy enough at first. You picture NASA, great museums, barbecue, Tex-Mex, maybe a baseball game and a hotel pool you can justify as “recovery time.” Then you open your map app.

Suddenly, your breezy Houston vacation has turned into a geometry problem. The Museum District is here. Space Center Houston is way down there. The restaurant everyone told you to try is in a strip mall 35 minutes away. Your hotel is “central,” technically, but Houston’s version of central may still involve a highway.

That doesn’t mean Houston is hard to visit. It just means the city rewards a little planning. Houston is huge, humid, delicious, spread out and full of surprises. Get your logistics right and you can have an excellent trip. Wing it completely and you may spend more time in transit than you do seeing the city.

Here are five Houston travel tips to know before you book.

1. You’ll most likely want a car.

Houston is a driving city. For most visitors, especially anyone hoping to see several parts of the city, a car makes the trip much easier.

Think of Houston less like a compact weekend city and more like a collection of mini-trips. One morning might take you to the Museum District. Another day might be built around Space Center Houston. Dinner could be in Montrose, the Heights or Chinatown.

Rideshares work well for shorter hops, but they can add up fast if you’re crossing town multiple times a day. Before you book your hotel, look into rental cars in Houston. You may find that having your own wheels gives you more freedom and less schedule stress.

Take the weather in Houston seriously — especially during hurricane season.

2. Houston weather can be more intense than you may expect.

Houston doesn’t do “a little warm.” In summer, the city can feel like it’s been wrapped in a wet towel and placed under a heat lamp. The humidity is real, the sun is serious, and the air conditioning indoors can be aggressive enough to make you wish you’d packed a sweatshirt.

If you’re planning lots of outdoor time, spring and fall are generally more comfortable than peak summer. If you’re visiting in summer anyway, build your days accordingly. Do outdoor activities early, drink lots of water, pack breathable clothes and bring a hat you actually like enough to wear. 

Weather should also factor into your hotel and car choices. Make sure your room has reliable air conditioning. If you’re renting a car, good AC isn’t a luxury. It’s a survival tool with cupholders.

And while Houston is famous for heat and humidity, sudden storms can be part of the package too. Heavy rain can affect roads, traffic and plans, especially during the wetter months and hurricane season. Keep an eye on the forecast, take flood warnings seriously and give yourself extra time when weather looks messy.

3. Plan by area, not by theme.

This may be the most important Houston travel tip: Don’t plan one “museum day,” one “shopping day” and one “food day,” unless everything on each list happens to be near each other. Houston is too spread out for that.

Instead, plan by geography. Pick one anchor activity for each day, then build around it.

If you’re going to the Museum District, pair it with Hermann Park, the Houston Zoo, Rice Village or dinner nearby. If you’re heading to Space Center Houston, treat that as the centerpiece of the day and look for stops in the Clear Lake or Galveston direction. If you want to explore Montrose or the Heights, give yourself time to wander, eat, shop and linger instead of trying to sprint across town afterward.

And if you’re planning to visit Meow Wolf’s Radio Tave, Houston’s gloriously weird immersive art experience in the Fifth Ward, treat that as its own anchor too. It’s the kind of place where you don’t just pop in, snap a photo and move on. You wander through portals, poke around strange rooms, follow whatever mystery is unfolding and eventually wonder whether you’re still in Houston or have been gently abducted by an interdimensional radio station. Pair it with nearby food, drinks or a Downtown stop rather than trying to wedge it between attractions on opposite sides of the city.

A good Houston itinerary might look like this:

Day 1: Downtown, Theater District, Discovery Green and a game or show
Day 2: Museum District, Hermann Park and Montrose
Day 3: Space Center Houston, Kemah or Galveston
Day 4: Fifth Ward, Meow Wolf’s Radio Tave, the Heights and Buffalo Bayou Park

That kind of planning saves time, cuts down on backtracking and makes the city feel much more manageable. It also leaves room for the best kind of travel moment: the unplanned stop. In Houston, that might be a taco truck, a tiny Vietnamese bakery, a mural or a cocktail bar.

Sure, you can get great Tex-Mex and barbecue in Houston — but make sure you venture out and try other cuisines as well.

4. Take the Houston’s food scene seriously.

Houston is one of the great American food cities, and the best advice is simple: Be curious.

Yes, you can get excellent barbecue and Tex-Mex. You should. But don’t stop there. Houston’s food scene reflects the city itself: Mexican, Vietnamese, Nigerian, Indian, Chinese, Cajun, Creole, Pakistani, Korean, Thai, Ethiopian and many more cuisines all have a place at the table.

Some of the best meals in Houston won’t announce themselves with dramatic architecture or velvet ropes. They may be in a strip mall, next to a nail salon, under fluorescent lights — a setting that looks unbothered by Instagram. Go anyway.

That’s part of the fun of visiting Houston. The city isn’t always polished in a traditional tourist-brochure way. It sprawls. It surprises. It hides some of its best food in plain sight. Ask locals where they eat, not just where visitors go. Search by neighborhood and cuisine. Leave at least one meal open for a recommendation you get after you arrive.

And if you’re building an itinerary around food, remember the previous tip: Group restaurants by area. A lunch reservation across town can quietly eat an entire afternoon if you don’t plan for drive time.

The rodeo can be fun — but prices go up when it comes to town.

5. Timing can change the price of your trip.

Houston hotel prices can shift dramatically depending on what’s happening in town. A week that looks mysteriously expensive may overlap with a major convention, concert, sporting event, college tournament, energy conference or rodeo season.

Before you book, check the event calendar. Look at what’s happening at NRG Stadium, Toyota Center, Daikin Park and the George R. Brown Convention Center. Also check dates for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which brings huge crowds in late winter and early spring.

If your dates are flexible, click around. Moving your trip by even a week can sometimes make a big difference in hotel rates and availability. If your dates aren’t flexible, book early and choose a hotel based on the area where you’ll spend the most time.

The same goes for restaurant reservations, museum tickets and special attractions. Houston is a major city with a major visitor economy, so don’t assume you can always glide in at the last minute. A little advance planning can save money and prevent the “Why is everything sold out?” panic spiral.

The Saturn V rocket on display at Space Center Houston

FAQs: Visiting Houston

Is Houston worth visiting?

Yes. Houston is worth visiting for its museums, food, sports, neighborhoods, performing arts, NASA connection and easy access to Gulf Coast day trips. It’s especially rewarding for travelers who like big, diverse cities and don’t mind planning around distance.

Do you need a car in Houston?

Most visitors will find Houston easier with a car. Public transit can work well in specific areas, including downtown, the Museum District, NRG Park and the Texas Medical Center, but many major attractions and restaurants are spread across the city. If you don’t rent a car, choose your hotel carefully and group your itinerary by neighborhood.

What is the best time to visit Houston?

Spring and fall are usually the most comfortable times to visit Houston, especially if you plan to spend time outdoors. Summer can be very hot and humid, while late winter and early spring can be busy because of rodeo season and major events.

How many days do you need in Houston?

A long weekend gives you enough time for a first taste of Houston: one day for museums, one day for food and neighborhoods and one day for Space Center Houston or another major attraction. Four or five days is better if you want to add Galveston, shopping, sports or a slower-paced food crawl.

Is Houston walkable for tourists?

Some parts of Houston are walkable, including pockets of downtown, the Museum District, Montrose and the Heights. But Houston as a whole isn’t a city where most visitors can rely on walking alone. Plan for driving, rideshares or public transit between neighborhoods.

What is Houston known for?

Houston is known for Space Center Houston, NASA’s Johnson Space Center, world-class museums, major sports teams, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, diverse neighborhoods and one of the most exciting food scenes in the U.S.

Houston is a big city, but you can group your adventures by area to maximize your time.

Houston Is Big. That’s Part of the Fun.

Houston isn’t a city you conquer by accident. It’s too large, too spread out and too full of detours for that. But with a little planning, those detours become the point.

Rent a car if it makes sense. Respect the weather. Build your days by neighborhood. Eat widely. Check the calendar before you book. Do those five things and Houston becomes much easier to love: a big, bold, generous city where the best part of the trip might be the thing you found between the itinerary you planned. –Abigail Walters

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GIDDYUP! MORE TEXAS: 

Quirky Dallas

Artsy Marfa

What Seasoned Travelers Check Before Booking

Discover practical travel booking tips, money-saving travel hacks and ways to find better travel deals before your next trip.

A booking screen can feel like the finish line, but expert travelers treat it more like a checkpoint. It’s the moment where small details either get caught … or quietly slip through.

You know that feeling when everything looks good, you’ve found the perfect flight or charming boutique hotel, and you’re ready to hit “Confirm”? That’s usually when people miss things.

“Saving $30 a night rarely feels worth it if it costs you time, convenience and energy every single day.”

The difference is simple. Experienced travelers pause — not because they’re indecisive, but because they’ve learned where problems tend to hide. Usually from discovering them firsthand. There are some simple tricks to mastering budget travel.

The Real Cost Behind the First Price You See

The first number you see is almost never the final one. It sets expectations, but it doesn’t tell the full story.

Airlines are the obvious example. That bargain fare somehow transforms once you’ve added a carry-on bag and chosen a seat that doesn’t require yoga-level flexibility to access. But hotels do it just as often. You move through the booking process, and suddenly the total looks very different from where you started.

It usually comes down to a few common additions:

• Baggage and seat selection on flights

• Taxes and resort fees on hotels

• Payment or service charges at checkout

None of these are surprising on their own. The issue is how easy they are to overlook when you’re moving quickly or already mentally sipping cocktails on a rooftop terrace somewhere.

Take your time here. Click through the full process once before deciding. That alone can save you from choosing something that only looked cheaper at the start.

Timing Isn’t Random. It Follows Patterns

Travel prices aren’t as unpredictable as they seem. Once you start paying attention, you begin to notice a rhythm.

Flights in the middle of the week are often cheaper. Early morning departures and red-eyes usually cost less because, frankly, most people would rather not set an alarm for 3 a.m. Hotels follow similar patterns, especially in destinations popular with weekend travelers.

Then there’s timing across the year. Traveling just outside peak season often gives you the best of everything: lower prices, better availability, and the ability to admire famous landmarks without accidentally becoming part of someone else’s family vacation photos.

If you have flexibility, even shifting your trip by a few days can make a noticeable difference.

Location vs. Transport Trade-Offs

This is where a lot of “great deals” fall apart.

A hotel that looks like a steal on the map can become significantly less appealing when you’re spending 45 minutes commuting into the city each day, trying to decipher public transit schedules in a language you don’t speak, or paying for taxis every evening because the metro stops running at midnight.

Think about how your trip will actually play out.

Before you book, check:

• Real travel times to the places you’ll visit most

• Transport options at the times you’ll actually use them

• Whether taxis become the default, especially late at night

For short trips, this matters even more. Saving $30 a night rarely feels worth it if it costs you time, convenience and energy every single day.

Where Discounts Actually Make a Difference

Discounts aren’t about luck. They’re about developing a habit of checking one more place before booking.

Most people find an option they like and move on. Experienced travelers tend to open one more tab, just to see whether there’s a better deal hiding elsewhere.

Aggregated deal sites make this easy because they collect offers that aren’t always visible during booking. For example, checking the Expedia deals page on Discoup can reveal discounts that apply directly at checkout. It’s a quick step, but it can make a real difference to the final price.

And if you’ve ever discovered a better deal immediately after paying full price, you’ll understand why seasoned travellers take those extra 30 seconds.

Loyalty Programs: Useful or Overrated?

Loyalty programs can absolutely be worthwhile, but mostly if you’re traveling enough for the points to add up into something meaningful.

The bigger trap is letting points dictate your choices.

It’s surprisingly easy to convince yourself that a more expensive hotel or inconvenient flight is “worth it” because you’re earning rewards. Sometimes it is. Often it isn’t.

Many experienced travelers settle into a simple approach:

• Use loyalty programs when they align with good pricing

• Ignore them when better value exists elsewhere

That balance tends to work better over time.

The Restaurant and Tourist Zone Markup Trap

You’ll notice this quickly once you’re traveling.

Restaurants directly beside major attractions almost always charge more. Sometimes significantly more.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the food is better. Often, you’re paying for proximity to the landmark and the convenience of not having to decide where else to eat. It’s the classic tourist trap.

I’ve learned that walking just a few streets away can completely change the experience. Prices become more reasonable, the atmosphere feels less rushed, and you’re more likely to find yourself surrounded by locals rather than fellow tourists clutching guidebooks.

One small habit helps more than anything else: Pause before sitting down.

Look at the menu posted outside. See who’s eating there. Compare one or two nearby options.

It takes two minutes and often leads to a much better meal.

Reading Between the Reviews

It’s easy to rely on an overall rating, but that number rarely tells the full story.

What matters more is consistency. When the same comments appear again and again, they usually point to something real.

Focus on recent feedback, especially around things that directly affect your stay: cleanliness, noise levels and service tend to be the most reliable indicators.

Traveler photos help, too. Professional photography shows a property at its absolute best. Guest photos reveal what you’ll actually encounter after checking in.

The truth usually lives somewhere between the two.

Flexibility Can Be Worth Paying For

Travel plans change. Flights get canceled. Work obligations appear unexpectedly. Sometimes life simply has other ideas.

Flexible bookings exist for that reason.

They often cost a little more up front, but they can save a lot of money and stress if something shifts.

The important part is understanding exactly what “flexible” means.

Check:

• How close to your travel dates you can cancel

• Whether changes come with fees

• What type of refund you’ll receive

For short trips with fixed plans, you may not need the added flexibility. For anything booked well in advance, it’s often worth considering.

RELATED: How to Handle Travel Emergencies Like a Pro

Ready to Book Smarter Next Time?

Most travel mishaps aren’t dramatic disasters. They’re small details that get missed in a hurry.

Fortunately, that final booking screen gives you one last opportunity to catch them.

Next time you get there, slow down for a moment. Look beyond the headline price. Think about how the trip will actually work. Check the details that are easiest to overlook.

It’s a simple habit, but after enough trips, you realize it’s often the difference between a good travel experience and spending your vacation wondering why you didn’t look just a little closer before clicking “Book.” –Alexandra Frunza

RELATED: Understanding Your Rights When Your Flight Is Delayed

The Best Lisbon Souvenirs: What to Buy in Lisbon, From Tinned Fish to Portuguese Soap and Chocolate

Wondering what to buy in Lisbon? Skip the forgettable trinkets and seek out authentic Portuguese souvenirs, including tinned fish at Conserveira de Lisboa, Arcádia chocolates, Claus Porto soaps and Bordallo Pinheiro ceramics.

Lisbon has plenty of great shops, but A Vida Portuguesa is one of our faves, with a large selection of heritage brands from around the country in a historic space.

If you’re like Wally and me, you understand there’s something special about a souvenir that captures the spirit of a place. These can take many forms, from humble refrigerator magnets to regional crafts. We also collect foreign coins and currency, which we’ve found to offer a small but meaningful link to the places we’ve been.

That said, we have one rule: We won’t buy it unless it adds something of value to our home — though chocolate, clothing and spices enjoy a generous loophole. With that in mind, our Lisbon itinerary focused on shops emblematic of Portugal itself: A Vida Portuguesa, Arcádia Chocolates, Claus Porto, Conserveira de Lisboa and Oficina Marques — places that celebrate heritage, craftsmanship and national identity.

If you’re unsure what to get at Conserveira de Lisboa, the patient and knowledgeable staff is happy to help.

Conserveira de Lisboa

For: Portuguese tinned fish, vintage packaging, sardines, tuna, mackerel and other edible souvenirs

My earliest memory of canned seafood is of my dad prying open tins of Neptune-brand sardines in olive oil and eating them straight from the can. As a kid, I turned up my nose and swore I’d never touch the stuff. That changed years later in Málaga, when Wally and I visited our friends Jo and José, and I began not only eating sardines (fresh and preserved), but genuinely enjoying them.

A sign at the store reads, “In the countryside, on the beach… everywhere you should always have canned fish.”

Today, specialty grocery stores and supermarkets offer a broader selection of tinned fish than ever before, but none rival the variety found in Portugal’s conserveiras, shops dedicated primarily to preserved seafood. Sardines, mackerel, cod, anchovies, tuna and more fill their shelves. Like bacalhau (salted codfish), the humble sardinha (sardine) is woven into the country’s cultural and economic fabric, its image appearing everywhere from market shelves to souvenir shops.

After visiting Praça do Comércio, in the Baxia neighborhood, we made our way to Conserveira de Lisboa, one of the city’s most historic tinned seafood shops. Founded in 1930 as Mercearia do Minho, it began as a general grocery carrying sweets, beans, sausages and an assortment of tinned goods before narrowing its focus to canned fish. One of its earliest employees, Fernando da Silva Ferreira, had arrived from Figueiró dos Vinhos, a small hill town in the Leiria district some 90 miles north of Lisbon, at age 15 to work as a shop boy. He saved money through his mandatory military service, sold land back home, and by the late 1930s had acquired a third of the business. By 1942 the shop had taken the name it carries today. It has remained family-run ever since, still operating from its original address on Rua dos Bacalhoeiros (Codfish Sellers Street) and is celebrated for its house brands: Tricana, Prata do Mar and Minor.

Inside, the interior feels largely unchanged, its shelves stacked high with colorful, paper-wrapped tins. The space is small and fills quickly, but the wait is part of the experience — and well worth it. Everything is sold by the tin from a compact counter, where the focus remains squarely on what made the shop famous: high-quality preserved seafood from Portuguese waters.

The shelves of Conserveira de Lisboa are lined with a dazzling array of colorfully packaged tins of sardines, mackerel, tuna and more.

The young woman behind the counter was unhurried and patient, guiding us through the dizzying array of options. Left to our own devices, we likely would have walked out with tins featuring a wide-eyed, Felix-like black cat, its tongue hanging out in anticipation of devouring what’s inside, only to learn that the brand, Minor, specializes primarily in mackerel — decidedly not my jam.

Instead, we chose several tins from the Tricana line, including sardines and tuna packed in spicy olive oil. The label depicts a tricana poveira dressed in the traditional shawl and apron of Póvoa de Varzim, a nod to the distinctive attire of this northern Portuguese fishing town. Our selections were wrapped neatly in brown paper and tied with red and white string, ready for easy transport and feeling more like a gift than a purchase.

The shop took the name Conserveira de Lisboa in 1942 and has been a fixture in the Baixa neighborhood ever since. It's been in the same family — the Ferreiras — for three generations.

📍Conserveira de Lisboa
Rua dos Bacalhoeiros 34
1100-071 Lisboa

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You’ll know you’ve arrived at the Lisbon location of Claus Porto by the blue and white azulejo tiles and matching awnings adorning its façade.

Claus Porto

For: Portuguese soaps, fragrances, candles, body care and gloriously designed packaging you’ll want to display at home

Our next stop was the Chiado boutique of Claus Porto, a heritage soap and fragrance house founded in Porto in 1887 as Claus & Schweder by two German entrepreneurs, Ferdinand Claus and Georges Schweder, who built Portugal’s first soap and fragrance factory. 

I’m a sucker for good design and had fallen for their Banho Citron Verbena soap years ago — its vivid orange and blue packaging inspired by Portugal’s azulejo tiles, and of course the scent itself. So when I learned Claus Porto had a boutique in Lisbon, it went straight onto our itinerary.

Their guiding idea was progressive for the time: to create well-made products for everyday use, rather than luxuries reserved for a select few. When Schweder stepped down in 1903 for health reasons, Achilles de Brito joined the company as a bookkeeper, becoming a partner five years later. Claus departed in March 1916 as Portugal entered World War I. In 1918, de Brito founded his own company, Ach Brito, acquired what remained of Claus & Schweder, and chose to run both brands in parallel: Claus Porto as the luxury line; Ach Brito for the domestic market. Under his stewardship, artisanal production and richly illustrated packaging became the brand’s hallmark.

Now guided by Aquiles de Brito, the founder’s great-grandson, the brand has expanded into perfumes, colognes, hand creams, body care and candles, each crafted with the same careful balance of heritage and contemporary refinement. 

The original wood and glass cabinets that line the walls are a remnant of the space’s former life as a pharmacy, now showcasing Claus Porto’s distinctive soaps and toiletries.

Its Lisbon boutique on Rua da Misericórdia occupies a former pharmacy, designed by architect João Mendes Ribeiro, who preserved the original wood and glass vitrines lining the walls and a stucco ceiling adorned with geometric and botanical motifs. A gleaming brass cube anchors the space, reflecting its surroundings and serves as the checkout counter. Interior designer Joana Astolfi contributed site-specific archival installations including historic photographs, vintage objects and original packaging that invite shoppers to spend time learning about Claus Porto’s history.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Soaps, candles and diffusers are grouped by collection, their bright, varied colors and handwrapped vintage packaging creating a richly layered visual experience. The Musgo Real men’s range goes a step further, wrapped in rough-textured paper designed to evoke the tactile feel of unshaven skin. 

Each bar is 100% plant-based, enriched with shea butter, and milled a minimum of five times, resulting in a dense, long-lasting bar. I left with two from the Deco line: Banho Citron Verbena and Deco Encens Eucalyptus. 

📍Claus Porto
Rua da Misericórdia 135
1200-272 Lisboa

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A Vida Portuguesa’s flagship location occupies the former Livraria Férin, Lisbon’s second-oldest bookshop, preserving its original wooden display cases and cabinetry.

A Vida Portuguesa

For: Classic Portuguese products, Bordallo Pinheiro ceramics, pantry goods, textiles, books, stationery and one-stop souvenir shopping

Like the Claus Porto boutique, A Vida Portuguesa inhabits a historic space in Lisbon’s Chiado district — the former Livraria Férin, founded in 1840 and what was the city’s second-oldest bookshop, which closed in 2023. The flagship store retains original cabinetry and architectural details from that era.  

The concept was launched by journalist-turned-entrepreneur Catarina Portas, who, while researching historic Portuguese brands, realized many were at risk of disappearing. What began as a pioneering effort to champion legacy goods culminated in the opening of the first A Vida Portuguesa shop in Chiado in 2007, preserving traditional Portuguese craftsmanship while introducing heritage brands to a new audience.

Beyond stationery, textiles, toiletries and tableware, you’ll find an extensive assortment of artisanal olive oils, wines, liqueurs, jams, cookies and traditional pantry items from across Portugal. 

In addition to helping traditional brands thrive, Portas serves on the advisory council for Lojas com História, a city-backed initiative dedicated to preserving the historic shops and commercial spaces that give Lisbon its distinctive character. 

Inside, you’ll find a carefully curated mix of Portuguese-made goods — from playful yet functional Bordallo Pinheiro ceramics and toiletries (including Claus Porto) to food, books and design objects — all presented with meticulous attention to detail. The upper floor focuses on books, stationery and personal care, while the ground floor houses textiles, homeware, tableware and a grocery section featuring products from across Portugal. 

A wooden table displays terracotta and glazed pottery by Sam Baron x Maria, from the Porto de Mós region of Portugal.

These cabbage designs, created by Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro, have been produced in the same factory in Portugal for nearly 140 years.

It’s the perfect place to find authentic, high-quality souvenirs and a must-visit for anyone wanting to experience Portuguese culture beyond the usual tourist shops.

We picked up an assortment of packaged cookies from Paupério and a tube of Príncipe Real Antiga Barbearia do Bairro shaving cream, which I’ve since become mildly obsessed with.

I regret not buying a set of Bordallo Pinheiro ceramic swallows, but I’m well aware that our luggage can only hold so much.

📍A Vida Portuguesa
Rua Anchieta, 11
1200-023 Lisboa

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An inviting display of chocolate bars arranged by color and flavor at Arcádia Chocolates’ Chiado confectionery

Arcádia Chocolates

For: Portuguese chocolate, Línguas de Gato, port wine bonbons, truffles and edible gifts that won’t survive long after the trip

As mentioned earlier, chocolate enjoys a generous loophole, and when I read about a chocolatier whose speciality was a confection known as Línguas de Gato — cat’s tongues — we had to go.

Long before it became a stop for chocolate lovers in Lisbon, Arcádia began its story in 1933, when Manuel Pereira Bastos opened Confeitaria Arcádia on Praça da Liberdade in Porto. From those early days crafting sweets and pastries, the chocolatier has grown into one of Portugal’s most enduring chocolatemakers and remains family-owned, with the third and fourth generations of the Bastos family still overseeing production and preserving the traditional recipes and methods that have defined the brand from its beginning.

Aside from its dark blue awnings bearing Arcádia’s logo, the shop on Rua da Misericórdia was unassuming from the outside but warmly inviting within. Our eyes were first drawn to a tiered display of chocolate bars, their wrappers arranged by color and flavor in neat rows beneath a framed vintage advertisement of a toddler abandoning their toys for a box of Arcádia bonbons — a whimsical nod to the irresistible pull of chocolate.

Wooden shelves hold an array of packaged chocolates filled with Cálem port wine, artisanal truffles and Línguas de Gato (cat tongues).

Opposite the display, wooden shelves held a tempting array of beautifully packaged chocolates — from milk and dark chocolate bonbons filled with Cálem port wine to boxes of artisanal truffles and the curiously named Línguas de Gato. These delicate, paddle-shaped chocolates, which sort of looked like cat tongues, were filled with flavors from peanut butter to salted caramel and hazelnut cream. I like peanut butter, but I like Wally more, so I compromised on caramel. 

I was the very definition of a kid in a candy store — wide-eyed and indecisive — but managed to exercise restraint. We left with one chocolate bar, a box of Línguas de Gato and a box of truffles chosen as a gift.

📍Arcádia Chocolates
Rua da Misericórdia 72
1200-334 Lisboa

We took a detour to Pull & Bear where Wally purchased a marled cardigan sweater that came in handy during the morning hours when the air was cool. 

The Best Lisbon Souvenirs Come With a Sense of Place

In a world fueled by instant gratification and same-day delivery, Lisbon still feels wonderfully unhurried, a city where artisans still thrive and a deep respect for craft endures. –Duke

Ben Youssef Madrasa Is Beautiful — Even When Someone Is Blocking Your Shot

Once home to hundreds of theology students, Ben Youssef Madrasa in Marrakech is now a hypnotic maze of cedarwood, tilework, tiny dormitories and tourists trying to stage the perfect Instagram reel.

En route to Ben Youssef Madrasa, you wind through the medina past scooters, cats, more cats, hanging lanterns, leather bags and shopkeepers trying to lure you into buying everything from slippers to saffron. The alleys feel compressed and chaotic — until suddenly they open up. Around a corner: a doorway. You’ve arrived.  

You step into the entrance, pay for your ticket — and then!

“There were moments when the madrasa felt less like a historic site and more like the set of multiple simultaneous influencer campaigns.”

The courtyard is almost absurdly intricate. Cedarwood curls across the ceilings in impossible patterns. Geometric zellige tilework climbs the walls with mathematical precision. Light bounces off the reflecting pool while visitors slowly circle the space trying to take it all in.

Or, in many cases, trying to take themselves in. During our visit, there were moments when the madrasa felt less like a historic site and more like the set of multiple simultaneous influencer campaigns. One woman posed dramatically at the edge of the reflecting pool while her friend shot video from approximately 14 different angles. Another visitor appeared to be filming a luxury perfume commercial involving slow-motion twirling. At one point, someone became visibly irritated that tourists were daring to walk through a public building during her photoshoot.

Which is unfortunate, because this place deserves your actual attention.

Planning Your Visit

Ben Youssef Madrasa

Address

Rue Assouel, Marrakesh Medina, Morocco

Hours

9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Ramadan: 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Admission

50 dirhams (~$5) — foreign adults

20 DH — Moroccan adults

10 DH — children under 12

30 DH — groups of 21+

Time Needed

Plan for at least 45 minutes to an hour.

Dress Code

Modest clothing is best — shoulders and knees covered out of respect for the site.

Long before it became one of the most photographed spots in Marrakech, Ben Youssef Madrasa was one of the great centers of Islamic learning in North Africa. Built in its current form during the 16th century under the Saadian dynasty, the school once housed hundreds of students studying theology, law and philosophy within these walls. And despite the crowds, despite the cameras and despite the occasional accidental appearance in a stranger’s TikTok, there are still moments where the building completely silences you.

Especially once you wander upstairs into the tiny student dormitories and realize the people who lived here were just young scholars sleeping in cramped little rooms beneath some of the most astonishing craftsmanship in Morocco.

The History of Ben Youssef Madrasa

Before it became one of Marrakech’s most photographed attractions, Ben Youssef Madrasa was built for something far less glamorous: studying.

The madrasa was connected to the nearby Ben Youssef Mosque, which was originally founded in the 12th century during the Almoravid dynasty under Sultan Ali Ben Youssef, the ruler the complex is ultimately named after. At the time, Marrakech was emerging as a major political, religious and intellectual center, and institutions like this helped establish the city as one of the most important hubs of Islamic scholarship in the region.

What visitors see today, however, mostly dates to a later reconstruction ordered by the Saadian Sultan Abdallah al-Ghalib in the 1560s. And the Saadians, to put it mildly, weren’t interested in subtlety.

The rebuilt madrasa was enormous for its time. Historians believe it housed as many as 900 students living in its 130 dormitory cells, and shared a single communal bathroom. Young men traveled here from across Morocco to study Qur’anic interpretation, theology, law and other religious sciences. Some likely arrived after journeys that took days or even weeks by foot or caravan, only to end up sleeping in rooms roughly the size of a walk-in closet — just three square meters, or about nine by nine feet. 

Which is part of what makes the place so fascinating today. Every visible surface seems carved, painted or tiled. The cedarwood ceilings resemble something pulled from a fantasy novel. The geometric mosaics are so precise they start to make your brain hurt if you stare too long. Yet the actual student quarters upstairs are tiny and more austere, built for discipline rather than comfort.

It’s a striking contrast — and very intentional. Islamic madrasas often placed beauty in communal and sacred spaces rather than personal luxury. The architecture itself became part of the educational experience, reflecting ideas about harmony, mathematics, craftsmanship and divine order.

And the craftsmanship here is genuinely staggering. The zellige tilework was assembled by hand, piece by piece. The carved stucco contains Arabic calligraphy and religious inscriptions woven into floral and geometric patterns. Massive cedar beams from the Atlas Mountains were transformed into intricately carved ceilings that somehow still look delicate centuries later.

The madrasa continued operating as a school until 1960 before eventually closing and later undergoing restoration. Today, instead of students memorizing scripture by oil lamp, the building is filled with tourists whispering “oh my God” while trying not to accidentally walk into someone’s selfie shoot.

The Courtyard: The Big Reveal

There’s a very specific moment that happens when people enter the central courtyard of Ben Youssef Madrasa.

They stop.

Not politely. Abruptly. Like their brains need a second to process what they’re looking at.

The courtyard is the heart of the madrasa and the space most people picture when they think of Ben Youssef: the reflecting pool stretching down the center, the carved cedar balconies overhead, the walls wrapped in geometric tilework so intricate it barely seems possible that human hands made it. Every surface appears obsessed with detail. Even the empty spaces feel designed.

And somehow it never quite becomes visual overload.

Part of that comes down to symmetry. Islamic architecture often uses repeating geometric patterns to create a sense of balance and harmony, and Ben Youssef Madrasa leans into that philosophy hard. Your eyes keep finding echoes of shapes and lines repeating across the courtyard — arches mirroring arches, tiles reflecting tiles, carvings folding endlessly into themselves. It creates this strange feeling where the space feels both calming and hypnotic at the same time.

Then there’s the reflecting pool, which anchors the entire courtyard. Water plays an important symbolic role in Islamic architecture, representing purity and paradise while also helping cool the surrounding space. Here, the pool acts almost like a visual pause button amid all the detail. Of course, today it also serves another important function: becoming the exact spot where every tourist wants their photo taken.

At one point during our visit, there was an unofficial queue forming for people to stand dramatically beside the water while their companions directed increasingly elaborate poses. Gazing up thoughtfully. Turning slowly toward the camera. Looking over their shoulder. Touching the brim of their sun hat. It’s a terrible trend, and you’ll see it all over Marrakech. 

Meanwhile, the actual architecture remains the real star of the show.

It’s the kind of place where you keep spotting details long after you think you’ve fully taken it in.

And honestly, the best thing you can do here is occasionally stop trying to photograph every inch of it and just stand still for a minute. The courtyard was designed to inspire awe long before anyone invented Instagram. Sixteenth-century students probably walked through here every day and still found themselves impressed by the craftsmanship.

Though thankfully, they were less likely to block an entire archway for a slow-motion video.

The Prayer Hall and Ablution Basin

Off the main courtyard is the prayer hall, though “hall” may make it sound grander than the visitor experience actually feels. You can look into it, but you can’t fully wander through the space, so it reads more like a richly decorated room just beyond the courtyard rather than a major stop on its own.

The entrance is framed by two finely decorated marble panels, while the arch leading into the entrance bay is embellished with palm leaves and pineapples. The mihrab, which indicates the direction of Mecca, has a pentagonal plan and an arched frame supported by four marble columns, with palm leaves and intertwining floral motifs worked into the design.

Dominating the space is the ablution basin, which once served as a fountain for ritual washing before prayer. Its faces carry a partly legible Kufic inscription naming its patron, Abd al-Malik, son of the powerful Andalusian vizier Al-Mansur. The basin was imported from Andalusia by the Almoravid sovereign Youssef Ben Tachfine — a reminder that medieval Marrakech and Islamic Spain were deeply interconnected worlds, with artistic styles, craftsmen and ideas moving back and forth across the Strait of Gibraltar. Visitors who have explored places like the Alhambra in Granada or the Mezquita in Córdoba will likely recognize some of the same geometric motifs, carved stucco work and architectural sensibilities here.

The basin itself is decorated with floral and geometric motifs, along with carefully depicted animals including birds and fish. That detail is especially interesting because people often assume Islamic art avoids animal imagery entirely. 

Upstairs in the Dormitories

A surprising number of visitors to Ben Youssef Madrasa never spend much time upstairs. I’m not even sure we ventured up there on our first visit more than a decade ago. 

Most people walk through the courtyard, take approximately 400 photos in front of the reflecting pool, glance into the prayer hall and move on. Which is a shame, because the upper level changes your understanding of the building.

The staircase leads into a maze of narrow corridors lined with tiny student rooms, and the contrast is immediate. Downstairs feels grand and ceremonial. Upstairs feels practical. Human. A bit severe.

Some of the dormitory cells are shockingly small — little more than sparse chambers with enough room for about six young boys to get packed in like sardines to sleep and study. After the extravagance of the courtyard below, the simplicity is almost startling. These students lived surrounded by extraordinary beauty without actually living luxuriously themselves.

The architecture downstairs wasn’t designed to pamper students. It reflected larger ideas about knowledge, faith, harmony and discipline. Meanwhile, the dormitories emphasized modesty and focus. You can easily imagine young scholars sitting cross-legged in these tiny rooms late into the evening, memorizing religious texts by lamplight while the sounds of the courtyard drifted upward through the open galleries.

The upstairs level also gives you some of the best views in the building.

From the balconies, you can look down into the courtyard and see the geometry of the madrasa as a complete composition. The reflecting pool stretches like a spine through the center while visitors below move slowly through the space like pieces on a game board. 

And I hate to say this since it could draw more influencer wannabes upstairs, but there are some nice photo opps up here. Station a photographer in one arched window while the subject poses on the balcony across the way. 

For now, the upper floor feels calmer overall. Fewer people linger there for long, which means you occasionally get rare moments where the building becomes quiet. It’s upstairs that Ben Youssef Madrasa stops feeling merely impressive and starts feeling inhabited.

Fascinating Details Most Visitors Miss at Ben Youssef Madrasa

It’s easy to walk through Ben Youssef Madrasa in a kind of architectural daze. But beneath the obvious beauty are dozens of small details that make the madrasa even more fascinating once you slow down enough to notice them.

The student rooms were intentionally austere. 

The contrast between the lavish courtyard and the tiny dormitory cells upstairs wasn’t accidental. Islamic madrasas often emphasized communal beauty and spiritual reflection over personal comfort. Students lived simply even while surrounded by extraordinary craftsmanship.

The cedarwood ceilings are functional, not just decorative. 

Many of the carved cedar elements came from Atlas Mountain cedar, prized not only for its beauty but also because cedar naturally resists insects and rot. Which means the ceilings weren’t just stunning — they were practical engineering.

The tilework is assembled piece by piece. 

The geometric mosaics, known as zellige (or zellij), are not painted patterns or prefabricated panels. Artisans individually cut and placed tiny pieces of glazed tile by hand into elaborate mathematical designs. Looking closely at the edges makes the craftsmanship feel even more impressive.

The reflecting pool was never meant for swimming. 

This may sound obvious, but judging by modern tourist behavior worldwide, it apparently needs to be stated occasionally. The water feature was symbolic and architectural, helping reflect light, cool the courtyard and create a sense of harmony.

The calligraphy is saying something. 

Many visitors admire the carved Arabic inscriptions without realizing they contain Qur’anic verses, blessings and religious phrases woven directly into the decoration. The building itself is essentially layered with sacred text.

The architecture manipulates your experience on purpose. 

The medina streets outside are noisy and enclosed. Then the madrasa suddenly opens into a bright symmetrical courtyard. That dramatic reveal is part of the experience. The building was designed to create emotional impact from the moment you entered.

It remained an active school until surprisingly recently. 

Ben Youssef Madrasa only stopped functioning as a college in 1960. Which means this isn’t some distant medieval relic disconnected from modern history. People were still studying here within living memory.

Upstairs is quieter because many tourists skip it. 

The dormitories tend to thin out the crowds significantly. If you want a calmer experience, go upstairs and linger longer than everyone else.

The acoustics are incredible. 

Even small sounds carry through the courtyard and hallways in unexpected ways. Footsteps echo softly across the tile. Conversations drift upward into the galleries. 

Visitor Tips for Ben Youssef Madrasa

Go early. 

This is one everyone’s must-see list. 

By mid-morning, Ben Youssef Madrasa can become extremely crowded, especially in the central courtyard. Arriving earlier gives you softer light, slightly cooler temperatures and at least a fighting chance of seeing the reflecting pool without six simultaneous photoshoots unfolding around it.

Keyword: slightly.

But maybe not right at opening. 

We haven’t tested this out, but I wonder if maybe it’s not actually wise to go right when these attractions open. Because inevitably there are other others with the same idea, and you guarantee you’re entering with a crowd. 

I’m wondering if maybe it would calm down even just a bit a half an hour or an hour after opening. But again, it’s just a theory.

Don’t just do the courtyard. 

Some of the best details are actually around the edges: carved doorways, quieter side chambers, shadow patterns in the hallways and the transitions between rooms.

The madrasa rewards wandering.

Go upstairs — seriously. 

A surprising number of people barely explore the dormitory level, which is unfortunate because it completely changes how the building feels. The upstairs corridors are quieter, more atmospheric and far more revealing about what daily life here might actually have been like.

Plus, the views overlooking the courtyard are fantastic.

Look up constantly. 

This is good advice for Marrakech in general. Duke is obsessed with Moroccan ceilings, and for good reason.

The walls get most of the attention, but some of the most astonishing craftsmanship is overhead. The cedar ceilings are unbelievable and easy to miss if you stay focused at eye level.

Your neck may eventually resent you for this advice.

Be prepared for the influencer culture. 

You’re going to encounter people filming elaborate content. It’s sadly unavoidable.

Some visitors behave as though they’ve rented the entire madrasa for a private campaign shoot. You can roll your eyes, but getting frustrated will only ruin your own experience.

Pair the madrasa with other nearby sites. 

Ben Youssef Madrasa works especially well alongside other attractions in the vicinity:

• Dar El Bacha Museum of Confluences

• Le Jardin Secret

• Rahba Kedima spice square

• The surrounding souks

Together they create a fuller picture of Marrakech beyond just checking famous landmarks off a list. –Wally