The short answer
Almost certainly, at least once, and that is normal. The medina is an irregular tangle of unsigned lanes and dead ends, and even regulars take wrong turns. It is disorienting rather than dangerous. Download an offline map, drop a pin on your riad, and remember that the main lanes tend to funnel back towards Jemaa el-Fnaa.
In more detail
Many medina lanes are derbs: dead-end alleys with a small community living along them. Wander into one and you will usually just have to turn round. Kids playing football and neighbours greeting each other are a sign you have left the tourist routes, not that you are in trouble.
Getting lost is when you are most likely to meet someone who offers to show you the way, sometimes telling you the street ahead is closed. It isn't. Streets in the medina do not close for tourists. A smile, 'la, shukran' and walking on confidently is the answer, or ask in a shop.
The two habits that help most: note a landmark near your riad, such as a gate, a mosque or a square, and give that name to anyone you ask. And save your riad's phone number; staff will often come and find you.
Good to know
- Download the medina on Google Maps offline before you arrive.
- Use GPS pins, not turn-by-turn directions.
- After dark, stick to lit main routes.
- Ask shopkeepers, not people who approach you.