The Jardin Majorelle by Yves Saint-Laurent is an absolute highlight when visiting Marrakesh.

Jardin Majorelle: discover the garden of Yves Saint Laurent

A visit to the Jardin Majorelle botan­i­cal garden is a must in Marrakesh. No matter how short your visit to the city is, the Yves Saint Laurent gardens are a high­light not to be missed.

And with good reason: the lush green of the plants and the unique blue of the build­ings stand in fasci­nat­ing contrast to the dusty red of the rest of the city.

Created in 1923 by French painter Jacques Majorelle, the garden has retained its own special magic for over 100 years. The Jardin Majorelle is now the most visited attrac­tion in Morocco and, with its almost 4,000 square meters, is one of the most beau­ti­ful gardens in the world. It regu­larly appears in the top 10 most beau­ti­ful botan­i­cal gardens. 

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Apart from the lush plants from a vari­ety of conti­nents and the impres­sive cacti, the main reason for the popu­lar­ity of the Jardin Majorelle is prob­a­bly the blue walls of the villa and the pools. 

The bright, deep blue was specially devel­oped by Jacques Majorelle and still bears the name Majorelle blue today. 

The garden, once located at the gates of the city, is now in the north-east­ern new town. From the Riad Selouane it takes just under 20 minutes to walk here or a few minutes by cab. From the Place Jemaa el Fna, you can also take a ride in a horse-drawn carriage, which you can also use for the return journey.

After visit­ing the garden, head to the Yves-Saint-Laurent Museum on the other side of the street. More than 50 dresses by the French fash­ion designer are on display in a modern build­ing. Among the exhibits is the famous “Mondrian dress”.

Tick­ets for the Jardin Majorelle, the Berber Museum and the Yves Saint Laurent Museum are only avail­able online since pandemic times! Either directly at www.jardinmajorelle.com (French or English) or conve­niently via GetYourGuide* in your language. Please make sure you are on site at the spec­i­fied time. If you arrive too late, your ticket will expire! 

This special tour is also very nice: Majorelle Garden and camel ride*. Both the garden and the Berber Museum will be visited, followed by a camel ride in the Palmeraie.

If you’re short on time and want to see all the city’s main sights in one day, you should take a look at this tour: histor­i­cal + cultural sight­see­ing tour*.

However, for all tours that include the Jardin Majorelle, you have to clar­ify in advance whether the tick­ets are included or whether you have to orga­nize them your­self. We have often found that when we arrive at the Jardin Majorelle, it turns out that we don’t have any tick­ets and there­fore can’t visit. 

If you want to delve deeper into the thou­sand-year-old cultural history of Marrakech, you will find more inspi­ra­tion in our arti­cle on the 10 best histor­i­cal sights.

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The refuge of the painter

Jacques Majorelle, born in Nancy in 1886, was a French painter whose work is now clas­si­fied as Orien­tal­ism. From an early age, he was fasci­nated by the light, colors and shapes of the North African world, which he first got to know in Egypt in 1910 and visited on numer­ous trips.

In 1919, he settled in Marrakesh and shortly after­wards began build­ing a villa outside the old city walls of the medina. A garden and studio followed over the next few years.

Finally, in 1949, he opened the garden to visi­tors for the first time.

Jardin Majorelle in Marrakesh - Succulent plant

Majorelle lived in Marrakesh until a year before his death in 1962, during which time he created numer­ous paint­ings that are attrib­uted to Orien­tal­ism. His works can be seen today in vari­ous muse­ums in Nancy, his birth­place in France.

In Marrakesh, by the way, an orig­i­nal by Majorelle hangs in the wonder­ful restau­rant La Table du Palais in the Riad Lamrani in the medina. Other orig­i­nals can be admired at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent.

The garden narrowly escapes destruction

In 1962, Yves Saint Laurent, the great French fash­ion designer, came to Marrakesh for the first time with his part­ner Pierre Bergé and instantly fell in love with the city. He is also capti­vated by the lively life, the vibrant colors and, above all, the light of Morocco. Marrakesh becomes a source of inspi­ra­tion for him and he always visits the Jardin Majorelle during his stays.

Jardin Majorelle in Marrakesh - Cactus garden

In 1980, the garden and the empty villa, which had fallen into disre­pair, were threat­ened with destruc­tion by investors. Saint Laurent and Bergé quickly bought the estate and saved the garden from destruction.

Yves Saint Laurent and his love for Marrakesh

What initially seems more like a creative distrac­tion quickly becomes Saint Laurent’s most impor­tant retreat from the demands of the fash­ion indus­try. In 2002, Yves Saint Laurent retired from the fash­ion busi­ness and spent a lot of time in his Villa Oasis, which adjoined the garden, until his death in 2008.

In 1997, Pierre Bergé founded The Majorelle Trust, which contin­ues to look after the garden and villa to this day. The garden is still open to the public and the foun­da­tion opened the Musée Yves Saint Laurent right next door in 2017, which is also well worth a visit. The Villa Oasis, in whose garden the ashes of Yves Saint Laurent were scat­tered, is unfor­tu­nately not open to the public.

Jardin Majorelle in Marrakesh - green pavilion

The blue villa is simply photogenic

Today, tall palm trees, dense bamboo, large cacti and the element of water domi­nate visi­tors’ first impres­sions of the Jardin Majorelle. Initially hidden and sparsely visi­ble — later domi­nant and immer­sive, the Majorelle blue floods the senses and percep­tion, allow­ing the vari­ous shades of green to fade away, taking over the sensual domi­nance of the expe­ri­ence. Remains in the memory. Defines the photos.

Jardin Majorelle in Marrakesh - blue villa behind cacti
Well hidden behind the cacti, the blue of the villa shines

So it’s no wonder that a large number of visi­tors wander through the garden look­ing for some­thing. Supplied with snap­shots from other trav­el­ers, their search is for the perfect spot for a selfie or post on Insta­gram. They may have enough time for a refresh­ment in the garden’s cafe­te­ria and then their visit is over.

Are you looking for a hotel in Marrakesh?

Our charm­ing Riad Selouane in the Medina offers the best ratings, break­fast on the roof terrace and first-class service!

Riad Selouane Marrakesh: the pool in the courtyard

The Jardin Majorelle is a magical place

But there are also visi­tors who are look­ing for peace and quiet. They get involved in the garden and take their time. 

If you dare to exper­i­ment and take a seat on one of the many benches and let the place take effect on you, you will expe­ri­ence all the magic of the Jardin Majorelle! 

A cool breeze gently caresses the rest­ing viewer, allow­ing the intense heat outside the walls of the garden to fade into the shade of the trees, refresh­ing and invig­o­rat­ing the mind. 

Jardin Majorelle in Marrakesh - Garden
Cool shade and quiet pools of water in the palm garden

The cooing of pigeons call­ing in love for their part­ner at the top of the palm trees can be heard from time to time. The bamboo grove rustles softly, accom­pa­nied by the distant croak­ing of frogs in the water lily pool. Cheeky and demand­ing, the gray bulbul warbles its domi­nant song in the branches of the large trees, accom­pa­nied in the back­ground by the song of a house bunting or a cactus wren.

Anyone who takes the time to enjoy the beauty of the Jardin Majorelle will feel the true power of the garden, the inspi­ra­tion for new ideas, the dreami­ness and the joie de vivre. The garden is a constant inter­play of light and shadow. Shad­ows that move with the sun and its dramatic play of light through­out the day, so that no two places look the same. 

Jardin Majorelle in Marrakesh - Palm garden
The palm garden

The garden is a virtu­oso inter­play of propor­tions and shapes, in which each trunk of the palm trees and the bamboo grove conveys its own sense of space. And it is a game with surfaces. Smooth and shim­mer­ing surfaces of bamboo alter­nate with the rough trunks of the trees. Fluted and with almost symmet­ri­cal surfaces, the palm trunks reach upwards.

In between, the vari­ous leaves and palm fronds move almost like dreamy dancers in the inter­play of sun and shade, impres­sively recog­niz­able in the palm garden.

There are benches in many places, all invit­ing you to take a jour­ney into the hidden beauty of the garden.

Do you need tickets for the Jardin Majorelle?

You can conve­niently purchase tick­ets for the Jardin Majorelle, the Berber Museum and the Yves Saint Laurent Museum in advance from our part­ner GetYourGuide* .

The Jardin Majorelle by Yves Saint-Laurent in Marrakesh.

The variety of cacti is indescribable

The shade of the palm trees on one side of the central water­course is answered by the tower­ing cacti in their raked beds with a clear view of the blue sky and dazzling sun. A small pavil­ion rests at the end of the water­course, perfectly posi­tioned in the long visual axis along the water. The water clev­erly, almost imper­cep­ti­bly, sepa­rates the palm grove from the cactus garden.

Between the cacti, a shadow play of thou­sands of spines awaits the eye of the beholder.

Lined up symmet­ri­cally, follow­ing nature’s unique blue­print, they protect their wear­ers from unwanted access.

Jardin Majorelle in Marrakesh - Close-up of cactus
Jardin Majorelle in Marrakesh - detail cactus

Every now and then a flower attracts insects, promis­ing nectar and glow­ing in rich, vibrant colors.

The cactus garden is char­ac­ter­ized by shapes and rhyth­mic repe­ti­tions that allow the eye to see new patterns everywhere.

The garden as a canvas

If you spend a little time in this place and let your gaze wander, you can quickly under­stand why it was such an inspi­ra­tion for Yves Saint Laurent.

Shapes, patterns, struc­tures, color grada­tions every­where. As a contrast, the picturesque villa of Jacques Majorelle stands out in blue among this exuber­ant trop­i­cal opulence. 

It seems as if the life-giving element of water springs from the Majorelle blue and breathes life into the garden. Framed in Majorelle blue, the symmet­ri­cal water basin surrounded by plants attracts the viewer’s gaze.

Jardin Majorelle in Marrakesh - Garden
Neatly raked beds in the palm garden

As if Majorelle had just placed them on the canvas with a brush, water lily blos­soms in deli­cate pink and yellow dance on the water as a splash of color, while the blue tones of the house and sky merge in the reflec­tion. The long fronds of the tall palm trees watch over every­thing, form­ing a canopy of leaves flooded with light, provid­ing shade and rustling in the wind with a silvery sound.

A visit in the cool of the morn­ing is mysti­cal, when the first visi­tors are let in and nature still radi­ates this fresh, unspent energy from the night.

Jardin Majorelle in Marrakesh - Cactus

In the evening, as if an opti­cal stock­pile had to be created for the night, the soft light of the setting sun enchants the eye of the beholder. At this time, the blue and the colors of the cacti have a completely differ­ent, intense and unfor­get­table effect. Being one of the last guests to leave the garden is an expe­ri­ence all of its own.

olive twig light brown

Allow your­self enough time in this wonder­ful garden to soak up the magic!

You certainly won’t regret it!

Jardin Majorelle Info

Rue Yves Saint Laurent
Marrakech 40090, Maroc
(+212) 524 29 86 86
open­ing hours 09:00 — 18:00
www.jardinmajorelle.com

For the garden you must buy tick­ets online with a defined access time*.

There is also a small boutique and a café in the garden. 

The blue villa houses a museum with exhibits of Berber culture. You have to pay extra to visit the museum when you buy your ticket.

Directly oppo­site the garden is the Musée Yves Saint Laurent, which is well worth a visit and has a good cafeteria.

Looking for more information about Marrakesh?

Visit our travel guide to learn more about the sights of Marrakesh and Morocco!

Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakesh
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