Hammam in Marrakech: what to expect, prices and addresses

The hammam, a Marrakech institution

The hammam is a steam bath inherited from the baths of Antiquity and adapted to the purity rules of Islam. For centuries it was the only place where people could wash with hot water, and many houses in the medina still have no full bathroom. People go once a week, often on the eve of Friday or of a holiday, with family or neighbours: it is a place of hygiene as much as of social life.

The layout is the same everywhere: a series of vaulted rooms, each hotter than the last, lit by small openings pierced in the domes and heated by an underground furnace, the ferran, often shared with the neighbourhood bread oven. To see an old hammam without undressing, visit the one in the Marrakech Museum, the former private hammam of the Dar Mnebhi palace, or the one in the Bahia Palace.

Neighbourhood hammam or spa hammam?

Two very different experiences go by the same name.

The public neighbourhood hammam

This is where locals bathe. Entry costs around 10 to 20 DH, the setting is plain (tiles, taps, buckets), and you wash yourself, alongside the other bathers. Men and women are separated: some hammams have two entrances, others separate hours, usually mornings and evenings for men, midday and afternoons for women. These hours vary from one hammam to another and during Ramadan: ask on site the day before.

You can ask for a scrub from a tayaba (on the women's side) or a kessal (on the men's side), the attendant who rubs your skin with a glove; it is paid separately, directly to that person. Nobody will necessarily speak French or English, but gestures are enough. It is the most authentic and cheapest experience, provided you accept a busy, sometimes noisy place where you are not expected.

The spa or riad hammam

The spas of the medina, upmarket riads and palace hotels offer a private or small-group hammam, by reservation, with packages combining scrub, mask, wrap and often a massage. The staff take care of everything, products and towels are provided, and many accept couples in the same room. It costs more, but is more comfortable for a first time, especially if you do not want to wash in front of strangers.

In between, some public hammams offer a package for visitors, with scrub and mask included for about 150 to 170 DH: a good compromise to discover a real neighbourhood bath with someone to guide you.

How a session unfolds

The traditional session always follows the same order, whether in a neighbourhood bath or a spa:

1. The changing room: you change, keep on your swimsuit bottoms or underwear, and leave your belongings with the attendant (or in a locker in spas).
2. The heat: you move gradually from the warm room to the hot room, where you sit or lie for a few minutes on the heated floor to sweat and open the pores.
3. The black soap: you coat your body with savon beldi, a brown paste made from olive oil, often scented with eucalyptus, and leave it on for a few minutes.
4. The scrub: with the coarse glove, the kessa, the tayaba or kessal scrubs your whole body vigorously. Dead skin comes off in greyish rolls: this is normal, and it is the whole point.
5. Rinsing and the mask: a generous rinse with hot then cooler water, followed by ghassoul (or rhassoul), an Atlas clay mixed with rose water, applied to the body and hair.
6. Rest: you get dressed and rest in the cool room or the changing room, with a mint tea in spas.

Allow 45 minutes to an hour for a neighbourhood hammam with a scrub, and 30 minutes to 2 hours for a spa package depending on the treatments chosen.

What to bring, how to behave

For a spa hammam there is nothing to bring: products, towels, slippers and disposable underwear are provided. For a neighbourhood hammam, bring:

• spare underwear or swimsuit bottoms, as the pair you wear will be soaked;
• a towel and sandals;
• black soap, a kessa and ghassoul, sold for a few dirhams at the entrance of most hammams or at the herbalists in the souks;
• a comb, shampoo and something to moisturise with afterwards (argan oil, cream);
• cash in small notes for the entry, the scrub and the tip. Buckets are usually lent or rented on site.

As for dress and behaviour, full nudity is not customary: women usually keep their knickers on, men shorts or boxers. Never take photos inside. Drink water before and after, avoid the hammam right after a heavy meal, and leave straight away if the heat makes you feel unwell. Intense heat is not advised during pregnancy or with heart or blood pressure problems: ask your doctor before you travel.

How much does a hammam cost in Marrakech

Prices vary enormously, by a factor of a hundred. Here are the orders of magnitude observed in October 2026:

• Neighbourhood hammam: entry around 10 to 20 DH; a scrub by an attendant is paid separately, a few dozen dirhams, to be agreed beforehand.
• Visitor package in a public hammam: about 150 to 170 DH with a scrub and ghassoul mask.
• Medina spa: about 250 to 500 DH for a 30 to 50-minute hammam with a scrub; 600 to 1,000 DH with a massage.
• Palace hotel spa: from about 1,200 DH for a one-hour hammam, more with a massage.

The tip is not included: allow about 20 to 50 DH for the person who gave you the scrub, handed over in person. Our guide to money and tipping in Marrakech explains the customs in detail.

Hammam addresses in Marrakech

Public hammams in the medina

• Hammam Mouassine (Mouassine quarter, near the Mouassine mosque and the Mouassine Museum): one of the oldest hammams in the medina, still used by local residents, with one entrance for men and one for women. Entry around 10 to 15 DH; scrub and ghassoul package for visitors around 170 DH.
• Hammam Dar el-Bacha (near Dar el-Bacha, about ten minutes' walk from Jemaa el-Fna square): one of the largest public baths in the city, with separate hours for men and women. Cash only.

Spas and private hammams

• Hammam de la Rose (130, Dar el-Bacha, medina): 30-minute traditional "Beldi" hammam at 300 DH, 45-minute Berber package at 350 DH, 50-minute "Royal Hammam" at 500 DH; double rooms for couples. Booking recommended.
• Heritage Spa (40, Arset Aouzal, Bab Doukkala quarter, and two other addresses in the medina): open from 10am to 8pm, each address closing on a different day of the week; arrive 15 minutes before your appointment.
• Le Bain Bleu (32, Derb Chorfa Lakbir, Mouassine): a spa in a riad, whose 1h30 "gourmet" package combines a black soap hammam, scrub, argan oil massage and a meal for 950 DH.
• Les Bains de Marrakech (2, Derb Sedra, Bab Agnaou, in the Kasbah): one of the first spas in the city to offer private hammams and double treatment rooms, open every day by reservation; "Signature" packages of one to four hours, from about 650 DH.
• Le Spa de La Mamounia (Avenue Bab Jdid, on the edge of the medina): two traditional hammams and a private hammam; the one-hour "La Mamounia" hammam (neroli black soap, scrub, ghassoul wrap) is listed at 1,200 DH on the spa menu. Non-residents can access it by booking a treatment.

When to go to the hammam

The hammam is the ideal end-of-day activity, after hours of walking in the medina: most travellers schedule it on the evening of the second or third day. It is also the best answer to a rainy winter day or to the hottest hours of summer, when the streets are baking in the sun. Spas are in high demand in the late afternoon and at weekends: book the day before, or several days ahead in high season (European school holidays, the end-of-year holidays). Avoid the hammam on the day of a very early excursion or just before a long flight.

Summary table

Prices observed in October 2026, for guidance only.

Further reading

To fit the hammam into your plans, follow our itinerary a weekend in Marrakech or Marrakech in 3 days. The Marrakech travel budget guide prices the rest of the trip, and our ideas for Marrakech when it rains suggest other indoor activities. For the evening that follows, see Marrakech at night.