Morocco Travel Tips & Useful Info

You should seek medical advice from your local health practitioner before travelling to Morocco and ensure that you receive all of the appropriate vaccinations. As a guide: Tetanus and Hepatitis A are strongly recommended. For more information on health precautions for Morocco, check out the NHS Fit to Travel page or the CDC Traveler's Health page.

The tap water in Morocco is not considered safe for drinking. Bottled water is readily available in shops, restaurants and hotels. Make sure the seal on your bottle is unbroken before you drink from it. If for whatever reason you cannot get access to bottled water during your stay in Morocco, then make sure the tap water is boiled or treated with water purification tablets before you drink it.

There is no hard and fast rule when it comes to tipping in Morocco but people will normally leave a 10% tip in a restaurant if the service has been of a reasonable standard. Taxi fares should be rounded up to the nearest multiple of 5 and bellboys can be tipped around USD $1 for taking your bags. In more upmarket hotels a tip of USD $10 per week is acceptable to leave for maids and housekeeping.

When browsing markets and wandering through medinas, it is not unusual for friendly locals to pop up out of nowhere and offer you assistance, perhaps to find the way out. Be careful around these people, sometimes they will try to lead you to their stall before demanding a large tip. On the other hand, many are genuinely just being pleasant and helpful, and they will appreciate a tip of USD 0.5-1.

Morocco can generally be considered safe for women travelling alone, although there are some caveats to this. Solo female travellers should be prepared for some attention from men, which can be annoying or intimidating. Hisses, stares and possibly even an attempted grope will unfortunately be regular experiences for women travelling alone in Morocco.

There are mitigation measures one can take to reduce these problems, such as wearing a wedding ring (a fake will do!), wearing sunglasses to help avoid making eye contact and dressing conservatively. Unfortunately in Morocco, more skimpy clothing will be associated with loose morals.

If you are a female solo traveller and you join one of our group tours then your guide will be able to shield you from many of these unwanted interactions.

Morocco is a great place for the whole family with a host of experiences that appeal to all ages from camel trekking in the Sahara to enjoying the beaches along the Atlantic coast. We have three family tours which are suitable for children over 5 years of age, in addition to our Morocco Adventure For Teenagers tour which is suitable for parents with children aged 12 and above. On our standard group tours, we welcome teenagers who are 16 years or older, accompanied by a parent/guardian if under the age of 18. We also welcome children of all ages on our private tours and tailor-made holidays.

The following goods may be brought into Morocco without incurring customs duty:

• 200g of tobacco products
• One bottle of spirits and one bottle of wine
• 150ml of perfume and 250ml of eau de toilette
• Gifts to the value of USD $200

The following are banned from being imported in to Morocco: firearms and ammunition, narcotics, absinthe, immoral publications, and plants and plant products considered a threat to national flora.

The currency of Morocco is the Moroccan Dirham. It is a restricted currency which means that it cannot be taken out of the country and is not available abroad. It is possible to buy and sell Dirham outside of Morocco but there is an import and export limit of 1000DH. It is recommended that you withdraw Dirham from an ATM when you arrive at the airport rather than exchanging money before you arrive. Check OANDA for the latest exchange rates.

Pound Sterling, US Dollars and Euros can be exchanged in Morocco at various bureau de changes in major cities and towns, and most banks have ATMs. Please note that at this time it is still not possible to exchange Australian dollars whilst in Morocco. Credit cards are virtually useless outside main cities and towns. It's advisable to request bank notes in smaller denominations, as it can sometimes be hard to get change from large notes and smaller notes are handy for smaller purchases and gratuities.

Traveller's Cheques are not recommended as they're often difficult to exchange and incur high fees.

Morocco is on the lower end of the scale when it comes to costs and is a reasonably affordable travel destination. Accommodation can cost as little as USD $15 and mid-range hotels will normally come to around USD $40 per night. A decent meal from a street food vendor or cheap restaurant normally won’t cost more than about USD $5-7 but alcohol will set you back a bit more as beer in a bar can come to about USD $4. Public transport is cheap and readily available but renting a car will cost at least USD $300 per week.

Standard voltage is 220 volts. Primary sockets require the European 2 pronged variety. We recommend that you pack a universal travel adaptor. You will need a voltage converter and plug adaptor in order to use U.S. appliances.

WiFi is available throughout the majority of the country with most restaurants, hotels, bars, cafes and malls offering a connection free of charge for customers. Internet cafes are also widespread so people can get connected even when WiFi can’t be found. Please note that currently it is not possible to use VoIP (voice over internet protocol) services like Whatsapp, Viber, Skype and Facebook Messenger in Morocco. The text options on these services are still fine to use. It is understood that the Moroccan telecom providers have done this in order to push as much voice calls onto their networks rather than people being able to use these free services.

Morocco is on Greenwich Meantime (GMT). Daylight Saving is currently being observed. However, it changes frequently and is not observed during the holy month of Ramadan.