For us no visit to Marrakech is complete without at least a couple of meals at Chegrouni's.  It is cheap and very cheerful! You can sit out the front which is the perfect vantage point for watching Jma El Fna close-up but from a respectable distance, whilst the roof area is very nice and offers wonderful views across Marrakech and respite from the hustle and bustle of the square.

Salade Marocaine is a very simple starter dish but mightily addictive.

All the main dishes are very good although the couscous can be a little bland.

Djemaa el Fna, the main square, is another world altogether. Here you will find snake charmers, storytellers who attract an enormous and mesmerized crowd, false teeth and ostrich egg vendors, performing monkeys and ladies who insist on painting henna patterns on your hands and ankles. This is the hub of all activity, where everyone meets, eats and watches the world go by. There is Chegrouni, a cheap and dependably good restaurant with a panoramic roof terrace, Le Prince, air-conditioned and crammed with divine cakes and pastries, the Marakchi, a rather more expensive restaurant with a glamorous view of the square and the Koutoubia twinkling by night. Banks, chemists, post offices – and some of the best food, sitting outside in the square itself at night eating fresh, delicious kebabs, tajines and salads by the light of gaslamps.