By Olas Surf Team — 4 August 2026
If it’s your first time in Morocco, there’s a fairly predictable set of things you’ll want to know, and we know exactly what they are because we answer them at the dinner table every single week. This isn’t a general country guide. It’s the actual list, roughly in the order people ask.
Some of it will sound obvious. It’s here because somebody got caught out by it recently.
Money
1. The dirham is a closed currency. You can’t legally buy it before you arrive and you can’t take much of it out. Get cash at the airport or from an ATM once you’re here. The airport rate is fine; the exchange desks in tourist areas are not.
2. You need more cash than you think. Cards work in supermarkets, hotels and petrol stations in cities. They do not work at the fish grills, the small guesthouses, grand taxis, the parking guardians, the hammam, the market or almost anything in a village. Carry cash and carry small notes — nobody can change a 200 dirham note for a 15 dirham tea.
3. ATMs run dry. Especially at weekends, at month end and around public holidays, and especially in small places. If you’re heading somewhere rural, draw money in a city first. This catches people out in Imsouane constantly.
4. Roughly what things cost. A coffee 10–15 MAD. A tagine in a local place 40–70. A full dinner at a port fish grill 60–100. A short town taxi 10–20. A 1.5 litre bottle of water 6–8. Ten dirhams is about one euro, which makes the mental arithmetic easy.
Getting connected
5. Buy a local SIM at the airport. Maroc Telecom, Orange or inwi — all three are fine. A tourist SIM with a useful chunk of data costs around 50–100 MAD and takes ten minutes with your passport. Coverage on the coast and in cities is good; in the mountains it isn’t.
6. Wifi is widely available and often slow. Cafés, riads and camps nearly all have it. Whether it will carry a video call is a different question. If you’re working remotely, test before you commit to a month — we’ve written about the realities of that in our piece on the Imsouane nomad scene.
What to wear
7. Less strict than you’ve read, but not nothing. Morocco is a Muslim country and it’s also a place where you’ll see young Moroccans in jeans and t-shirts everywhere. For visitors the practical rule is shoulders and knees covered in towns, markets and villages. Beachwear on the beach, not walking through the village.
8. This applies to men too. Men wandering a village shirtless reads as rude in the same way it would in a European town centre, and it’s the one people forget.
9. Nobody will confront you. Morocco is generally relaxed and you won’t be told off. You will simply get more warmth, better prices and easier conversations if you’ve made the small effort. That’s the whole reason to bother.
Food and drink
10. Don’t drink the tap water. It’s chlorinated and locals drink it, but it will likely upset a visiting stomach. Bottled is cheap and everywhere. Ice in reputable places is made from filtered water and is fine; ice from a street cart in August is a gamble.
11. Friday is couscous day. Couscous is a Friday dish, cooked after midday prayers and eaten as a long family lunch. Ordering it on a Tuesday marks you as a tourist and you’ll get a reheated version. Wait for Friday and eat it properly.
12. Tagine is the pot. The conical clay dish, not the food. What’s inside varies enormously. If you eat “tagine” every night for a week and find it repetitive, that’s because you’ve been ordering a cooking vessel rather than a dish — ask what’s in today’s.
13. Mint tea is sweeter than you expect. Traditionally very sweet, poured from a height to aerate it. You can ask for it with less sugar and nobody minds. Refusing a glass offered to you in a shop or home is genuinely impolite, so accept it even if you only take a sip.
Money etiquette
14. Tipping is real but small. Round up a taxi fare. Ten percent in a proper restaurant. A few dirhams to the parking guardian, the man who carries your bag, the hammam attendant. It’s not the American system and nobody expects twenty percent — but small change given readily is part of how things work here.
15. Haggling has a place, and it isn’t everywhere. In a souk, over a rug, a lamp or a leather bag: yes, expected, and the first price is not the price. In a supermarket, a café, a restaurant, a taxi with a meter, or a shop with prices on the shelf: no. Haggling over the cost of a coffee is not shrewd, it’s just awkward.
When you do haggle, do it cheerfully and be prepared to walk. Don’t start a negotiation for something you don’t intend to buy — that’s the one thing that genuinely irritates people.
Your first time in Morocco: the things nobody warns you about
The parking guardians. In every town, a man in a hi-vis vest will appear as you park and watch your car. This is a real, semi-formal job. Pay him 2–5 dirhams when you leave, more overnight. He isn’t running a scam.
Unofficial guides. In Marrakech and Fes especially, someone may attach themselves to you, offer directions, then ask for money. A firm, friendly “no thank you” repeated without engagement works. Getting angry doesn’t.
Cats. There are cats everywhere and they are mostly community animals rather than strays. Feeding them is normal. Bringing one home is not as straightforward as it sounds at the time.
Everything shuts at prayer times, briefly. Small shops close for fifteen or twenty minutes, five times a day. Friday midday is the long one, when much of a village stops for a couple of hours.
Ramadan changes everything. If your dates fall during the fasting month, restaurants keep different hours and the rhythm of the day inverts. It’s a fascinating time to visit and it needs planning — we’ve covered it separately in our guide to travelling in Morocco during Ramadan.
How the day is shaped on your first time in Morocco
The rhythm is different and it takes about three days to stop fighting it.
Breakfast is late and light — bread, olives, jam, eggs if you ask, coffee. Lunch is the big meal of the day, eaten around one or two, and it’s long. Dinner is late by northern European standards; eight is early, nine is normal, and a village restaurant may not have much on before seven.
Between roughly two and four in the afternoon, particularly in summer, everything slows. Shops close, streets empty, and people sleep. Trying to get things done in that window is a losing battle and the correct response is to join in.
Evenings run late and are social. In a village that means sitting outside, in a city it means the streets filling up after nine. Nothing about this schedule is a tourist performance — it’s simply how the day works when the middle of it is too hot to be useful.
At a camp the same shape applies, which surprises people expecting a resort timetable. Our day-by-day account of a week here lays out what that looks like in practice, right down to the afternoon nap nobody plans and everybody takes.
Safety, honestly
Morocco is a safe country for visitors and consistently ranks near the top of the region on peace and stability indices. Violent crime against tourists is rare. What you’ll actually encounter is commercial persistence — people trying to sell you things — which is tiring rather than dangerous.
Standard precautions apply: watch your pockets in crowded medinas, use registered taxis at night, don’t wander unlit areas alone at three in the morning. That’s every country.
Solo women travel in Morocco in large numbers and the majority report a good experience, particularly outside the biggest cities. You’ll get more attention in Marrakech than in a coastal village. Most solo travellers who come to us are women, and it’s one of the more common questions we get before booking — our piece on solo travel to a Moroccan surf camp goes into it properly.
For official guidance, the UK government’s Morocco travel advice is kept current and is worth a glance before any trip, and Lonely Planet’s Morocco pages cover the practical basics well.
Two more things worth doing on your first time in Morocco
Go to a hammam. It’s the single most common thing guests are nervous about and the thing they most often say they’re glad they did. It’s a public steam bath, it’s a completely normal part of weekly life here, and there’s an etiquette to it that’s easy once someone explains. We wrote the explanation: what actually happens in a Moroccan hammam.
Learn five words of Darija. Moroccan Arabic, not standard Arabic. Salam for hello, shukran for thank you, bslama for goodbye, bzzaf for too much, safi for enough or that’s fine. French works widely too, and on this coast you’ll hear Tachelhit, the local Amazigh language, as much as Arabic. Five words changes how people respond to you more than any other single thing on this list.
Where to start
If you want the country in a week, the standard pairing is a few days in Marrakech and the rest on the coast — we’ve laid out how to split that in our guide to combining Marrakech with the coast. If you’re planning to drive, read the driving guide first.
And if you’d rather have the practical side handled while you learn to surf, that’s what a camp week is for — airport transfer, meals, board, and someone at the table to answer exactly the questions on this page. Have a look at the dates.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need cash in Morocco or can I use cards?
You need cash. Cards work in supermarkets, hotels and petrol stations in cities, but not at fish grills, small guesthouses, grand taxis, markets, hammams or parking guardians. Carry small notes — nobody can change a 200 dirham note for a 15 dirham tea. ATMs in small towns also run dry at weekends.
Can I bring Moroccan dirhams into the country?
Not really — the dirham is a closed currency, so you can’t buy it abroad and you can’t take much out. Withdraw from an ATM or change money on arrival. Airport rates are reasonable; exchange desks in tourist areas generally aren’t.
What should I wear in Morocco as a tourist?
Shoulders and knees covered in towns, markets and villages, for men as well as women. Beachwear belongs on the beach rather than walking through a village. Nobody will confront you if you get it wrong, but the small effort gets you warmer treatment, better prices and easier conversations.
Is the tap water safe to drink in Morocco?
Locals drink it and it’s chlorinated, but it will probably upset a visiting stomach. Bottled water is cheap and available everywhere. Ice in established restaurants and cafés is made from filtered water and is fine; ice from a street cart in summer is more of a gamble.
How much should you tip in Morocco?
Small amounts, given readily. Round up a taxi fare, leave around ten percent in a proper restaurant, and give a few dirhams to parking guardians, porters and hammam attendants. It isn’t the American system and nobody expects twenty percent.
Where is it appropriate to haggle in Morocco?
In souks over rugs, lamps, leather and craft goods, where the first price is an opening position. Not in supermarkets, cafés, restaurants, metered taxis or any shop with prices marked. Haggle cheerfully, be willing to walk away, and don’t start negotiating for something you don’t intend to buy.
Do I need a visa for Morocco?
Most European, UK, US and Canadian passport holders don’t for stays up to 90 days, but rules change and depend on your nationality. Check your own government’s current travel advice before booking rather than relying on a blog post.
What language do people speak in Morocco?
Darija, the Moroccan dialect of Arabic, is the everyday language. French is widely spoken, especially in business and tourism. On the Atlantic coast you’ll also hear Tachelhit, one of the Amazigh languages. Learning five words of Darija changes how people respond to you more than almost anything else.
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