Moroccans love children, which can be both a godsend and an irritant, as every shopkeeper in the souks will wave you into his store to both acquire your business and interact with your young one. There is plenty to keep your children's attention while you wander around the souks -- music shops with lots of drums; Berber pharmacies (called herboristes) with brightly colored concoctions; butcheries with the odd sheep or camel's head prominently displayed. The souks are very busy areas with lots of pedestrian traffic, so be sure to keep an eye on your kids. After you're done shopping, check out the entertainment on Jemaa el Fna, where you'll also find a number of cafes and patisseries. If the enclosed spaces are making the kids antsy, the Ménara Garden is a good place to let little legs run free for a while. A ride around the medina's walls on a calèche or aboard the open-top double-decker City Sightseeing bus can be a quick fix for tired kids, and those who miss their familiar burgers and fries can stop at the McDonald's on place de la Liberté.
Kasbah Le Mirage, Sidi Brahim Quarter in the palmeraie (tel. 024/314444), offers 1- to 2-hour camel rides, while Atlas Karting, on the road to Safi (tel. 024/331717 or 061/237687), has a mini-kart racing circuit along with 45km (28 miles) of quad biking trails. For a day at the "beach," take the kids to the newly opened Oasiria, 5km (3 miles) from the city on the Asni road (tel. 024/380438; www.oasiria.com). They'll love the wave pool, water slides, pools, and lagoons, plus there are grassed areas and a couple of restaurants. It's open 10am to 6pm daily from April to August, and Friday to Sunday during the rest of the year. A free shuttle bus runs from June 15 to August 31, picking up from both the parking lot opposite the Koutoubia Mosque and place du Harti in Guéliz at 9:30, 10:15, 11, and 11:45am, and 1:30, 2:25, and 3pm. The bus drops you right at the entrance to Oasiria. At the end of the day, the shuttle bus departs for the return journey into town at 5, 5:45, 6:30, and 7:15pm.
In the evening the entertainment continues on Jemaa el Fna or at Chez Ali (tel. 024/307730), on the outskirts of the city in Jaafary palmeraie, where Disneyland meets Morocco in a nightly dinner extravaganza complete with Berber musicians, belly-dancing, fireworks, a mock wedding, and a show from charging, gun-wielding horsemen. The kids (and maybe the grown-ups, too) will love it, and be sure to bring plenty of change for tipping the steady stream of performers who visit your table during the course of the night.
