Solo Vagabond CEO

Cost of Living London vs. New York budget

Greetings guys and gals! I just moved to London 7 days ago. I am an American from New York city. I spent a lot of time living on the Upper East Side on 91st Street, in Brooklyn in Park Slope and Bay Ridge so i really know my way around the city. over here in London, I have to say i am quite pleased that the price of life compares favorably to the cost of living in New York City and other places in the United States. Here is my analysis of the Cost of living London vs. New York….

Wilessden, London, UK

I am a budget traveler. So just to tell you a bit more about my goals, I am actually just doing a 3 week layover in London. I want to see a few sites here and there my first time, with a plan to come back later to live in the country awhile as a tourist. Additionally I am going to tell you a few secrets for saving a few bucks in London if you don’t mind roughing it a bit on basic living expenses. Of course, London has a lot of high end expensive places to spend money and it has its share of billionaires and mansions that we see on TV.

Cost of Food London vs. New York … In London you will find that grocery stores tend to be much cheaper than restaurants with the starting prices for 1 meal about 5 GBP ($6.27), in the USA its probably $7 to $10 even for fast food, and just to compare with my previous experience in southeast Asia living in the countries of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, over there you may find 1 meal for sale for $1 to $1.40, meaning a plate of food, with rice, meat and vegetables. The quality is hit or miss but I have to get the nod to Thai food as being the tastiest, most affordable and easiest to obtain in the world I’ve seen so far.

London vs New York, discount food stores

Now here is the good news on London if you are on a seriously tight budget you can use this as your baseline. I did see meals in food stores for less than 1 GBP, or about $1.28 at todays exchange rates. A few examples, a carton of prepared noodles, packet of hot dogs, or 1 can of beans for even as low as 50 pence or 1/1 of a GBP. Sometimes you will find that the local grocery stores at the end of the day will mark down sandwiches and other prepared meals to much below there original prices. Now just to compare with NYC, prices can be much steeper for individual items, such as $3.99 or even $5.99 and its hard to find items for less than $1 or 1 GBP in the States.

Grocery stores in London.. Here are a few of the major chains and they all seem to be of the discount variety… Sainsburys, Tesco Express. Another one is Morrisons, this one is cheaper. A few others are Iceland and Pound Stretcher, as well as B & M home store. The last two are of the serious discount variety with some canned items like sardines, and beans costing as little as 30 pence. Tesco and Sainsburys, of which there are many do have discounted items below 1 GBP. Over in NYC we have places like Whole Foods (aka whole paycheck) and D’agostino, which are definitely not of the budget variety.

London discount store

Rent, hotels & hostels… I personally am not doing a long term stay at present in London, but I did take a look at rooms that were available for rental on Airbnb and Facebook. Of course, the further from the city that you go, the lower the price, and most of all London is safe. One neighborhood I took a look at is Willesden in north London, its more of a working class hood, that is not too far away from Notting Hill, about 2 miles, its also pretty rustic and cool looking with some nice bars. Around here you may be able to find a room for rent for about 400 to 600 GBP and a full studio for perhaps 600 GBP to 800 GBP, which is comparable to cities in the USA, granted this is not a full apartment.

In NYC, Brooklyn, Queens or the Bronx, you can probably find a room for $700 to $900 or a small studio for $1000 to $1500. I was living in Brooklyn for around this price of $1500 a month, which is present exchange rates is 1200 GBP. Hostels and hotel rooms in London are noticeably cheaper with the lowest I saw advertised as $13 a night, whereas in NYC I saw something for $50. NYC definitely has the more expensive real estate.

Cost of transportation London vs. New York .. Here its just more about an equal cost when comparing London to New York. In the NYC the classic subway ride is $2.75 no matter how far you go. The buses in NYC are the same price when you swipe the yellow metro card. You are also allowed one transfer between and subway for free and bus to bus.

Over here in London, in order to save money, I use the Oyster card which is cashless card that i bought that can be used to swipe on double decker London buses and the Tube. The tube is actually a bit more expensive than the subway in NYC because here we go by zones. So for example my airport ride on the tube was zone 6 to zone 1. Zone 1 is the central zone in London.

When im in London i always take the city buses because its only 1.3 GBP per ride one way no matter how far you go. The bus lines are straightforward and i use my GPS on my cell to see where exactly we are on the map. in order to get from central London to Willesden through Notting Hill its about 45 minutes to 1 hours time, but this is also comparable to a NYC subway ride to central Brooklyn.! enjoy London, questions welcome!

Osprey Travel Backpack

Looking for information on the osprey travel backpack? Farpoint 40 liter? You have come to the right place. The black Farpoint 40 travel backpack was my honorable mention for my choice of backpack and I’ll tell you the reasons why i like it. I chose instead this one, the Pacsafe EXP45 liter backpack.

The Farpoint 40 is just about the same size as the Pacsafe, but the Farpoint is a bit wider from front to back whereas the Pacsafe is a bit taller. Both are just about the max for airline sizes and ill detail the sizing in another blog post. Where the Farpoint has the advantage or in two categories, the Osprey Travel Backpack Farpoint is just a touch lighter at 3 lbs whereas my Pacsafe comes in at 3.6 lbs.

Ill give you some tips on what i saw looking for as a full-time backpacker. For an airline checkable travel backpack the max that you can carry on Ryanair is 115 linear cm and the weight at 10 kg. Some other airlines also have a 7 kg weight limit which is 15.43 10 kg is 22 lbs. The Osprey Travel Backpack gives us a bit more weight for items inside the bag, and in my opinion the harness or straps is better than the Pacsafe, so its a bit better for getting around town and hiking.

Advantages vs the Pacsafe and other brands

Harness/straps: I tried on the Osprey, and the harness feels more like a sport harness, whereas for my Pacsafe the harness does not fit my back as well, however the security features are where the Pacsafe excels. Another key advantage of the Osprey is the price versus the Pacsafe and other backpacks such as the Deuter.

Price: The Osprey Farpoint 40 currently retails for below $100, ive seen it for sale in london for 75 gbp, thats below $100 USD. If you are a hostel backpacker or someone who mostly flies versus hikes, that is who the Osprey travel Backpack is designed for. At present its easy to find the Farpoint for sale on Amazon..

Security Features: Another key feature is the lockable zipper, while not as good as the Pacsafe, which features cut proof material, the Pacsafe still offers this, which is better than say a bag like Deuter and other hiking packs.

Best Neighborhoods in London …

So I just moved to some place called Elephant & Castle.. as an American full-time tourist. Its kind of exciting let me tell you. You really can’t go wrong with neighborhoods in London. They are all safe and scenic and green with some being more urban than others. So let me tell you about the hoods ive seen so far. You may have seen my videos on Youtube of city streetscapes, here you can find one i just uploaded of Notting Hill in the northwest section of London. its the same Notting Hill as in the movie with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts.

Transportation into London neighborhoods from Heathrow

About the best neighborhoods in London, let me tell you how i got here, first. I landed on a British Airways flight from Marrakesh, Morocco around 5pm 4 days ago at London Heathrow. The flight was smooth and it was a great experience with them. London has a lot of airports, let me tell you. I took the tube from Heathrow terminal 5 after passing through the E gates at immigration. This part was easy peasy, they asked no questions just scan your passport and your face.

I jumped onto the Tube which in comparison to NYC we call this the subway. I usually jump on city buses because they are cheaper but slower. The locals i met were kind enough to direct me to the Tube, however there is a bus from Terminal 5 that is cheaper but in this case i just decided to go with the flow. You pay by zones on the Tube so it can get pretty expensive versus the NYC subway. The charge was 3.5 GBP. I took the Tube to near Buckingham Palace then jumped on the 6 bus which is a bus that runs along the side of Hyde Park to north London to a place called Willesden, cost 1.65 GBP. This is a place I spent several nights in. Its a humble working class neighborhood that is about 2 miles north of Notting Hill. Its perfectly fine to stop by here… For transportation make sure to check out the details on the Oyster electronic card that you can use to pay for city buses and the Tube (they do not accept cash). I purchased one of these at the airport using my debit card.

Jumping on the tube from Heathrow

Notting Hill and Hyde Park…

On one of my first few days in London I walked down about 2 miles south of Willesden to Notting Hill. Its as fabulous as they claim. Most of the building are whitewashed and older. There are a lot of trendy thrift stores there as well as places like coffee shops. Notting Hill is fabulous and id love to live there. One of the attractions i saw was the Portobello Road Market, which is a collection of outdoor vendors selling all kinds of things. The local restaurants are also selling things like Indian curry food.

Notting Hill

Hyde Park…

Hyde Park is London’s answer to Central Park. its big open and green. it has some more open spaces and is less crowded than Central, much less. London seems to be a bit more spread out than NYC. Its green let me tell you, with a lot of grass. I walked south through Hydes Park to get to Central London and passed Kensington in the process. Just southeast of Hyde Park is Buckingham Palace which holds some royal and govt offices. Just south of this is the River Thames and if you go along the river youll find other parts of central London.

Hyde Park

Elephant & Castle – my stop

On to my stop on day #4 (today is actually day #5). I decided to take the 6 bus from Willesden to central London near Buckingham Palace, then began walking. I walked across one of the numerous bridges and because of a bike race I had to cut through a neighborhood Lambeth south of the Thames. This a nondescript suburban/urban green hood with a lot of complex streets. About 1.5 miles south of this I arrived at my new hotel at Elephant & Castle which is a fabulous hood that is very walkable, a bit on the grungy side and mostly for students, heres where im at…Ill post updates on other neighborhoods soon, stay tuned.. and check out some other related travel blogs here.

Thats me in Elephant & Castle

Tourist in Albania, my experience …

What is it like to be a tourist in Albania? I will tell you. I am a global nomad/traveler known as Solo Vagabond. Find out more about me here.

Albania is a laid back tourist destination. It has moderate weather, nice grasslands and forests and a scenic coastline. Albania is a very small country with only 3 million inhabitants. It is also kind of an out of the way and not as popular as Greece or Montenegro. I personally came to Albania from Montenegro on a bus. Montenegro, which i previously visited is much more mountainous than Albania, but Albania also has mountains. Near to Tirana, the land is mostly flat. Tirana is a very nice city to visit with enough stores, restaurants and sites to keep you occupied for at least a few days. Albania also has things like coastal resorts at the beach, castle ruins, and mountainous sites to visit. My video from Skanderberg Square is here: Youtube Skanderberg Square

Near Air Albania Staidum Tirana, Albania

Tirana:

The capital Tirana is slightly smaller than Belgrade, containing around 1 million inhabitants. It feels a bit smaller but has some similarities. The weather is very temperate. The city is very well organized around a central square called Skanderberg Square, named after an old war hero. The center square is a flat stone area, that has streets that spiral out in radials, along with some interesting parks, the big one being Grand Tirana Park. It is nicely landscaped with plenty of greenery and a lake at the center. One of the things I like about it are the plethora of well graded bike lanes for cycling around town and around Grand Tirana Park.

grand tirana park
Tirana, Grand Tirana Park

Other sites in Albania…

Saranda is along the coast of Albania along with Vlore, both acceptable beach towns. These spots are not as popular and less mountainous as those of its neighbor to the north, Montenegro. There are many smaller castles that are ruins in Albania. After having traveled around the Balkans and other places in Europe it seems that each small town has its own fortification. One such is Lekursi Castle near Saranda, and probably the most famous in Albania. There is also an abandoned castle near Tirana. its called Fortress of Justinian. The owner has turned this place into a series of restaurants near Toptani Mall.

Things to note about living in Albania… After having lived there a few months, I can highly recommend it has a laid back, low crime country. The people are very friendly towards foreigners and they have a great relationship with the USA. Its definitely considered an out of the way spot. Officially the country is Muslim but this is not noticeable in daily life. Enjoy, and dont hesitate to post a question on my site or contact me. Albania is also very affordable having a cost of living lower than Greece, and at about 30 to 50% that of the USA.

Things to do in Valencia …

things to do in valencia

Looking or things to do in Valencia? You have come to the right place. I am a solo vagabond who travels the world, and i spent a few weeks time hanging around Valencia, looking for things to do. Valencia is a more low key city as compared to Barcelona. Its a bit smaller and more quiet. I took an Alsa bus for 4 hours to make it here, on a nice scenic sunny ride. One cool thing to do in Valencia is to walk along the river walk which was dammed up and turned into a huge park underneath a bridge.

You can also explore some of the Roman ruins. There is a ruin and a museum check these at La Almoina Archaeological Museum, you can see a few photos here. On a Valencia tour site. There are many historic buildings and pathways around the center of Valencia and the buildings are made of stone.

Baroque Museum stone Architecture

Free tours around the center of Valencia… another thing that you can do is take a free tour around the center of Valencia at one of the cheaper hotels and hostels. I recommend that you stop by the River Hostel near the river park. There is a free tour starting at this hostel but you need to tip them a few euros as payment. if you need a place to stay, there are numerous affordable hostels. This one is just great, and a moderate to low price as compared to other European cities. enjoy.

One of the most things to do in Valencia is to visit the center for Arts which is a huge aquarium museum and art gallery that is in the shape of numerous anthropomorphic buildings, in the style of postmodernism. You can find more information here

The Beach – Dont forget one of my favorite destinations! In Valencia the beach is very, very wide. Its one of the widest beaches that i have ever seen. The weather is very sunny and more moderate weather than Barcelona. In fact i saw people getting into the water during January. It was in the 60s f and sunny. The beach is about a two mile walk, or a short bus ride from the River Hostel which is near the river park that i mentioned was previously filled in. Enjoy. if you like, you can view my river and beach walks on Youtube here

Follow me around the world!

El Medano Beach …

Looking for information on El Medano Beach?!?! you have come to the right place. I am an American backpacker who spent 55 days or so staying locally near El Medano Beach, which is a small surf town on the southern end of the island Tenerife which is owned by the government of Spain.

Transportation… getting there!

Let me tell you first how to get to El Medano Beach… stay tuned. El Medano is about 800 miles south of the mainland of Spain so you will need to take a flight most likely from the mainland. I took a flight from Madrid via Ryanair that lasted about 3 hours time. The official language is Spanish and the island is very organized just like the country of Spain, so its not a wild island. In order to get to El Medano Beach, i personally flew into Tenerife North Airport, near Santa Cruz de Tenerife, but Tenerife South airport is not more than 2 miles from El Medano. You can even hike or walk from this airport to El Medano! There are also tons of flights and a very organized green Alsa bus on Tenerife that leads to El Medano beach. I personally took the bus from the north of the island south to San Isidro via 111. Then you need to take the local bus or even walk from San Isidro to El Medano.

El Medano Beach

El Medano wind surfing and beach activities..

El Medano is a windy little beach town that is just great for windsurfing, regular surfing, and para surfing! its very windy let me tell you. Its also a great place to hang around the boardwalk in some small beach facing restaurants and cafes. You can also view my walking tour of El medano on Youtube here:

Montana Roja

Montana Roja!

The red mountain in Spanish. Montana Roja is a very distinctive volcanic rock formation that is very recognizable around Tenerife. its very easy to hike. There are several rocky trails that are great for hiking and climbing! This site is about 1 to miles south of El Medano Beach. A tourist or hiker can walk along the Sand dunes and enjoy the sites! Make sure to bring some suncreen and hat as well as hiking shoes. Enjoy! Along the coast near El Medano beach there are numerous small coves and rocky beach formations that are fun to explore and even many caves.

La Tejita Nude Beach

La Tejita Beach Nude Beach

La Tejita and the cove are near to El Medano beach. They are a clothing optional and one is a full nude cove beach. If you want to get more naturalistic, the Spanish have a more relaxed attitude towards nudity. You will find that some of the people around are wearing swimsuits while others are nude, just go with the flow. its upto you. There are also some rock hideaways for added privacy if you need some cover from prying eyes. Also just keep in mind that the wind can be pretty strong here also so you may need to seek cover near the rocks.

Wild Camping … on Tenerife, Canary Islands

Looking for tips on wild camping or backpacking tents??!?! You have come to the right place to see advice on camping! I am a solo vagabond/traveler who does some camping across the globe, although by no means a professional or full-time outdoorsman.

Why wild woods camping and which brands? I came up with the idea to cut down on my spending for housing on my world tour and also because i dont mind the outdoors versus a crowded hostel. Previously, I did not own a tent so this is my first time camping as an adult. A few brand choices for the tent that i considered, Big Agnes, Nemo, MSR, REI and Kelty. Some of these brands have some fantastic lightweight bikepacker and backpacker setups, but most these are hella expensive! Kelty is a brand that is a bit less expensive but also a bit too heavy for my requirement. The volume was also a consideration.

What did I choose? Instead of the high end brands, I settled on buying a Naturehike Cloud up 2 person tent from Amazon.com that weighs only 3.6 lbs and is approximately 17 inches by 6 inches in volume, priced at $120. I ordered this while I was staying at a hostel in Valencia, Spain and it arrived in 2 days. The tent is small enough to fit inside the 45L Pacsafe backpack – space is at a premium! It is also budget-oriented so the price is low enough just in case I change my mind and buy a more expensive one! See some more of my story down below…

NatureHike Tent

What is included in the NatureHike 2 person tent setup kit? Tent stakes, a ground cover, the inner tent, the double shelled outer tent or rainfly, some guidelines, two small stuff sacks, and pre-attached tent poles. As I said the total weight is only 3.6 lbs so this is just perfect for a two-person tent (I am solo but needed some extra space for gear). Now the material is a bit on the thinner side, however it is waterproof and does hold upto the wind, strong enough to withstand one month’s straight camping. Setup takes around 7 to 10 minutes time and condensation is minimal. Good luck out there!

Where to camp? Wherever, but make sure its a hidden spot away from too many buildings or roads.

Tenerife seemed like a great place to start camping due to the weather and also the natural areas of the island. It is very warm there. During the month of March the nighttime temp was somewhere between 58F and 65F, so plenty warm enough – I wanted to be comfortable while sleeping outside. I also brought a coat and a hat, and bought a small blanket that weighed 11oz, and all 3 were needed. The NatureHike 2 person cloud up tent setup was just about big enough to fit myself inside of plus my backpack, shoes, and some food. They do offer free spots to do wild camping on Tenerife, but unfortunately these were still closed due to Coronavirus restrictions. Instead I found a wild spot, near to El Medano, Tenerife, Adeje and Tenerife Airport south. Some people do go up to the mountains or near to Mount Teide forest to camp but up there, it is much colder so its necessary to take some winter gear.

montana roja wild camping
Montana Roja on Tenerife near my spot

The spot I chose was hidden so it was hard for passers by to see the tent. I was a bit concerned for my safety but this is where the security features of the Pacsafe bag came into play. When i was asleep I had the Pacsafe steal cable security to my pants and my wallet and phone locked inside, but the good news here is that I didn’t have anyone bother the tent while I was asleep. The oddest thing that happened was that a woman was calling out to her dog that had wandered away, it was about 4am, and she was speaking a language besides English, so at first i didn’t know what she was saying. Other than this nobody came by the tent at night. It was perfectly safe.

A few tips for wild camping…

Over in south Tenerife, there’s a lot of wind, so I decided to use some extra rocks to weigh down the tent rainfly and straps to keep the windy conditions from blowing it away and if you need even extra wind security, you may buy some extra safety pins to secure my tent for camping. The wind can get pretty bad down there; upto 30 mph. The Naturehike is also really easy to set up and take down. Heres a pic of myself enjoying my hike and camp time near Montana Roja near El Medano, Tenerife… good luck! questions welcome.

wild camping tenerife
wild camping on tenerife

Backpacker in Spain …

backpacker in barcelona

Looking for a backpacker who traveled to Spain? That would be me! I am US citizen who flew/bussed it/ hitchhiked and camped around Spain! it was a lot of fun! I visited the cities of Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, Madrid, El Medano, Tenerife in the Canary islands and a few others on my backpacker tour of Spain…

My overview of Spain: Spain is a very safe country and very well organized. The weather is also warm and more on the moderate or temperate side, so its great for backpackers in Spain! I have a backpack, the Pacsafe EXP 45 which is a carry-on size medium backpack that i used on Ryanair. It also fits my small 2 person tent, the Naturehike Cloud up. I’ll be doing a separate post on that tent, but it is very compact and weighs only 3.6 lbs. It was small enough to carry around the country of Spain as a backpacker in Spain. See more info below about my trip.

An American in Barcelona

Accommodations and Price: I started my trip by flying from a second home base in Albania to Barcelona Spain via Wizzair. The cost was very cheap with my backpack it was only $30. I then took a city but from the airport in Barcelona to central BCX where i walked to my youth hostel, The Loft Hostel in Barcelona. The Loft was a standard hostel with beds covered by curtains. The price of the hostel is moderate, about $15 to $25 usd or about $13 to $18 euro. They also have a courtyard where you can sit outside and enjoy the moderate weather and a kitchen where you can cook your own food to save money. I usually bought a potato that cost less than 1 euro and also bananas for 20 euro cents. There is a store where you can buy cheap packaged foods in Barcelona, its called Coaliment…

Sites: Barcelona is a fabulous town with a lot of panache, let me tell you. Above you can see my photo of the fantastic church, Familia Sagrada, which is a church designed by the architect Gaudi. The architecture is one of my favorite things about being a backpacker in Barcelona. The second is the parks, you can check out the most famous Parc de la Ciutadella. Make sure to check out the fountain at the center of the park.

About 2 miles away from the park you can take a city bus for a cheap price of under 2 euros to the beach! The beach is close and pretty nice. It has benches, and some buildings, playgrounds, swingsets, and plenty of sand! The temp is also pretty good for December. i even took a swim as it was around 60 to 65 F, other people were swimming in wetsuits.

Make sure to check out my packing list for backpackers in Spain in the site here!

Here’s a video on Youtube, A walking tour that filmed of the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona, which is something else let me tell you! Its very narrow medieval looking street and buildings with no cars, and some interesting looking boutiques! Enjoy the tour here on Youtube.

Safety Tips for Travel and One bag backpacking

Hey travel guys and girls. Here are a few tips ive discovered in my travels around the world.

Tip #1: make sure to get references for every service you hire to avoid scams. For example, hotels check the reviews online and book through major sites you should stand to avoid any overcharges at your hotel. You can also book through Airbnb long term lodgings because they protect both the tenant and landlord.

For taxis, my advice would be to book a private vehicle from the airport if you have a lot of luggage as many cabs are rip off artists, especially for tourists. They may attempt to negotiate a rate that is above the metered rate. For me in Bangkok my cab driver tried to charge me 3 times the metered rate. I decided to take a bus from the airport to center city. In Belgrade i got a private driver who was a bit more expensive but worth it given the peace of mind.

Tip #2: Use a lockable backpack. i personally own the Pacsafe exp45. It has a cut proof zipper and fabric. it also has a lockable zipper. I sometimes put my wallet and valuable items like passport and cell phone inside to avoid theft. I also can use the steel cable to secure my bag to a bedpost or my belt while im sleeping for example inside a hostel. This a good idea for being near to people you dont know or trust or for example leaving your hotel room for a little while to go out.

tip #3: I usually put a shirt over my waist to cover my pockets in a crowded area to avoid pickpockets. While i do choose to leave my wallet in my back pocket i still cover and make sure its still there as im walking. i also like to watch my surroundings to make sure nobody is following too closely. THis is especially a good tip for places like a public bus or subway transportation system.

Tip #4: I purchased a Hikvision security camera for my hotel room. as a fulltime traveler i wanted to have a way to keep an eye on my suitcases while i was away from the room. the security camera can go over the Wifi for the hotel and connect to my cell phone so i can see what is going on there from a remote location.

Tip #5: I personally choose to avoid cities and locations that are listed as high crime. My advice would be to check the USA Embassy sites and check to see which are listed as having high street crime. A few locations for example, Venezuela, Colombia, many places in Brazil and Mexico. I have chosen not to visit these locations because of the relatively high crime. In the future I will try to minimize my time spent at these locations. one recent example, Casablanca, Morocco.

Tips for budget travel to Marrakech, Morocco

Hey traveling guys and gals! i just went on a tour of Marrakech, Morocco and now i want to share with you some tips about living here if you stay while in this exciting city! At the center of the town there is a place called Jamaa El Fna Square, it is a very famous market square and the center of the old city. Here you will find a lot of windy roads and walkways. Around this area is also another area called Medina which means center. Another place is called Kasbah which means castle. Kasbah has some youth hostels located inside, so as a budget traveler, you may want to consider these.

Another neighborhood which is a newer neighborhood is called Gueliz. if i were you, i may choose to spend a few nights in the center near one of these areas, but be aware of a few things that go on in the center, there are a lot of peddlers, and beggars, some salesman who are selling some good things and also trinkets for tourists. I would use a bit of caution here, but its also an exciting area with tons to see. You may also want to move to Gueliz or another area outside of town called Amerchich. The area that is several miles north of town is also very nice with a lot of new buildings. it would depend on what type of accommodation that you prefer.

Things to do: there are many guided tours discussing the history and the castle and the city. You can also take a paid camel ride or a paid horse carriage ride for about 150 Dirham for 1 hours time. Another amazing thing to check out is the rug dying factory and shops. they make incredible rugs, spices and other crafts in Marrakech. Finally you can also take a trip into the desert. They have some day trips arranged by van to surrounding areas. If you want to do some shopping there are some typical western stores located in Gueliz at the mall, there are two malls here, one of them is called Marrakech Menara mall. There is also a shopping center with stores like Decathlon about 4 miles north of the city. If you would like to buy souvenirs i recommend that you visit the main square and take the far left pathway to see some amazing craftsI enjoy and use caution with the locals! This is me in Marrakech.