Morocco travel tips: the things worth knowing first

Morocco is one of those countries where a first visit can be either the easiest trip of your life or a series of small misunderstandings, and the difference is almost entirely in what you knew before you arrived.

None of it is exotic. It is closer to learning which side to drive on.

Greet first, then talk business

The single most useful habit in Morocco is to greet someone before asking them anything. A handshake, a hello, a question about how they are. Starting with the question feels efficient to a northern European and rude to a Moroccan, and it changes the answer you get.

Mint tea is the hospitality default. If it is offered, accepting costs you nothing and refusing is a small rebuff. You do not have to finish it.

Prices, and where they move

In a souk, the price is the beginning of a conversation. The seller starts high, you offer low, and you meet somewhere that satisfies you both. The rule worth internalising is that you should only start negotiating for something you actually want to buy, and that walking away is a legitimate move rather than an insult.

In a shop with a till, in a supermarket, in a restaurant with a menu, the price is the price. Knowing which of the two you are standing in prevents most of the awkwardness.

Taxis, and the one habit that matters

Petit taxis are the small cars that run within a city, and grand taxis are the shared long-distance ones. In both, agree the fare before you get in. In petit taxis you can ask for the meter, and in many cities the meter is now used properly, but a negotiation before the journey is never wrong and an argument afterwards always is.

Ride-hailing apps work in the larger cities and remove the negotiation entirely, which is the reason many visitors use them. Getting online on arrival is what makes that possible.

Fridays, Ramadan and the rhythm of the week

Friday is the day of prayer and the quietest day of the week. Some shops and offices close for the middle of the day, though tourist areas keep working. It is a poor day for anything that needs a government office.

Ramadan moves through the calendar and changes the shape of the day. Fasting runs from dawn to sunset, restaurants and cafes change their hours, some close during the day entirely, and the evening becomes the busy, festive part. If your trip overlaps it, you will eat well after dark and find mornings quiet. Work out the dates before you book, because the difference is significant, and the country’s clocks changed in 2026 in a way that is worth knowing about.

Dress, photographs and small courtesies

Modest dress is a courtesy rather than a requirement. Covering shoulders and knees, for men and women, is enough to move comfortably through a medina and into a rural village, and nobody will ask a visitor to cover their head.

Ask before photographing people. Some will say yes, a few will ask for money, and all of them will notice if you do not ask. Photographing police, military sites and government buildings is not permitted, and that one is a rule rather than a courtesy.

Alcohol is available in hotels, licensed restaurants and bars, and in supermarkets in the bigger cities. It is not served in small local cafes, and drinking in the street is not done.

Travel health and the practical layer

Two health notes that catch people out. Sun in the interior is stronger than it feels, and a Marrakech afternoon in summer is genuinely dangerous without water and shade. And stomach trouble is common enough that most experienced travellers are careful with salad and tap water, though tap water in the cities is fine for brushing teeth.

Travel insurance matters more than usual here, because a road accident in the Atlas is a long way from a good hospital. Most policies cover medical treatment and evacuation, and the cost of not having one is the kind of number that ends a year.

What a first afternoon usually looks like

Most people land in Marrakech or Casablanca, take a taxi to a riad in the medina, and spend the first hour lost. That is normal and it passes. The medina is a maze by design, the walls are the same colour, and a map on a phone screen helps less than you expect because the streets are too narrow for the map to be accurate.

Three things make the first day work. Ask the riad to send someone to meet you, or to give you written directions in Arabic, since a taxi driver who cannot find the door will otherwise drive in circles. Take the offer of a guide for the first morning if you are nervous, and then go without one. And give yourself the first afternoon with nothing planned, because everything takes longer than the map suggests and that is part of the pleasure.

The same applies in Fes, where the medina is larger and the touts more persistent, and less so in Casablanca, which is a modern city with streets in a grid.

Money and phones, briefly

The dirham is a closed currency, so you cannot buy it before you arrive, and there is a low limit on taking it out. What the currency does covers the detail.

For a phone, two things are worth settling before you fly. Install a data plan so you are not hunting for a shop on arrival, and save the numbers you might need, including your accommodation, in international format. Calling Morocco explains the numbering, and an eSIM for the trip is the quickest way to have data the moment you land.

Getting around

Trains link the main cities on the north-south line, and they are comfortable and cheap. Coaches fill the gaps. For the mountains, the desert and the deep south a car opens the country up, and if you would rather not drive those roads, hiring a car with a driver for the long legs is the usual middle path.

If you are still sorting out the practical layer, what the currency does is worth reading before you change money, and what your charger needs takes two minutes.