Food tour or cooking class?
They fill different parts of the day, and many visitors end up doing both.
Food tours
Cooking classes
A food tour is about breadth: in three or four hours you taste a dozen things at stalls you would not have found alone. A cooking class is about depth: fewer dishes, but you learn how a tagine is built and eat the result. The question is less which is better than which part of your stay each one fits.
Pick by your plans
One free evening
A food tour replaces dinner and shows you the stalls you can return to later in your stay.
You want to cook it at home
A class gives you the method and the recipes, after shopping for the ingredients.
Both, with the same operator
Book the evening walk and the class from one company; the morning class is the one with the market.
The formats side by side
| Food tour | Cooking class | |
|---|---|---|
| Time of day | Evening | Lunch or dinner |
| Dishes | Many small tastings | A few, cooked yourself |
| On your feet | Walking for hours | Mostly at the counter |
| Market | Stalls along the way | On some classes |
| Take home | Places to go back to | Recipes |
Doing both in one stay
The food tours run in the evening, the cooking classes mostly around lunch, so they rarely clash. A food tour early in the stay gives you a list of stalls to go back to; a class later teaches you what you have been eating. A class is also calmer than a walk through the souks; one reviewer calls it a perfect chilled activity for a day.
Some operators run both formats. Flavors of Marrakesh has an evening street food tour and a cooking class with a market visit at 10:30 (its 17:30 session skips the market). Reiseführer Abdo, the operator of the Café Argana street food walk, also runs a class in a medina house. Urban Adventures offers a night food tour with dinner and a tajine class in a riad.
When one is enough
With only one evening, take the food tour: it replaces dinner and covers more ground. If walking for hours is hard for you, a class is easier on the legs. Check the listing either way: several food tours and classes say they are not suitable for wheelchair users. In summer the midday heat makes a class with air conditioning attractive, and KECHCOOK states it has one.
How the two formats feel
Food tour guests remember the stalls they would not have found alone and the amount of food; class guests the calm, the cooking and what they learnt. One class guest found too much sitting and too little to do.
“really great experience - lots of food and knowledge, tried lots of places to eat we probably wouldn’t have visited otherwise”
“Cooking class was great and a perfect chilled activity for a day. Guide was very nice and knowledgeable, made sure everyone was involved and knew what was going on. Food we prepared was some of the best we have had in Marrakech. Would definitely recommend.”
“We felt very welcome and learnt a lot about the Moroccan cuisine! We can wholeheartedly recommend the experience.”
“Great hands on experience. Our cooking instructor, Mounia was lovely as was her mum and the riad where the class was held. We collected vegetables from the market and Mounia tried to teach us the Arabic words for the ingredients. She was clear in her …”
“Limited appeal. Too much time sitting with other attendees and not doing anything. Things were done which we didn’t help with . I would not recommend it”
“Great food tour, lots of food, go hungry! Meddy was a really friendly guide & enjoyed the variety of places which seemed to be more local and not the tourist street food traps”
“great tour. our guide was able to switch between English and French to accommodate all on the tour. we went to several stops and were given a brief explanation of the food and it's history. good value and an excellent experience”
Reviews by guests after their food tour or class, from GetYourGuide.
FAQ
Should I do a food tour or a cooking class in Marrakech?
A food tour if you want to taste many dishes in one evening and find stalls to return to. A cooking class if you want to learn how to make a few dishes and take the recipes home. They fit different times of day, so doing both is easy.
Can I do a food tour and a cooking class on the same day?
Yes. Book a class at lunchtime, ideally one with a market visit in the morning, and a food tour in the evening. Leave a few hours in between, because both end with a full meal.
Is a cooking class cheaper than a food tour?
Prices overlap. The large shared food walks and many medina classes cost about the same; small-group tours, private tours and the hotel cooking school cost more.
Both formats in one table
The start page lists every food tour and cooking class.
See the comparison