Capital: Rabat

Airport: Mohammed V International Airport (CMN)

Country Code: +212

Credit Cards: Can use credit and debit card in in towns and tourist areas in Morocco. Visa and Mastercard are most widely accepted.

Currency: Moroccan Dirham

Departure Tax :  There is no departure tax when leaving Morocco.

Drives on the:  Right

Electricity: 220 V

Ethnic Groups:  Islam, Catechism, Judaism

Location: The Atlantic to the west, the Mediterranean to the north, wonderful beaches, four mountain ranges with cascading waterfalls and plains to the threshold of the desert.

Official Language(s): 
Religion: Islam is the official religion of Morocco, but it exists in perfect coexistence with the other religions (freedom to practise other religions of revelation is guaranteed by the constitution). The day is marked by five calls to prayer. The muezzin announces them from the top of his minaret. During the month of Ramadan, the Moroccans fast, refraining from eating and smoking from sunrise to sunset.

Time Zone: WET (UTC+0)

Tipping:

• Driver/Guide: 1 week USD 125-150 per couple
• National Guide (when included): 1 week USD 200-250 per couple
• Group tour: Driver 1 week $13 per person up to 10 pax and $10 for more
• Group National Guide 1 week $25 per person up to 10 pax and 20 for more
• Camel ride: USD 5 per couple
• Local Guide Roman ruins: USD 10 per couple
• Local Guide Fes: USD 25 per couple

Local Guide Marrakech:   USD 25 per couple

When it comes to weather, the best times to visit are spring and fall when it is warm, dry and pleasant. Note, that spring comes late by European standards (around April and May. The summer is scorching hot and the winter is cold, especially at night. There is very little rain in Morocco and when it does rain, it is in the winter.

In the interior, the temperatures are more extreme. The further you go from the coast, the more extreme the summer and winter weather becomes. The High Atlas Mountains can be visited year-round, although it does get cold in winter. Summer on the coast can be pleasant with long sunny days cooled by the ocean breezes but it is the busiest time for beach vacations.

Every country has its outstanding and special attractions. Key attractions in Morocco (not in any particular order) for you to enjoy on your visit to this destination.

Jemaa el-Fna, Marrakesh

This is both a square and a market in Marrakesh located in the medina quarter (old city) which is a must-visit on Morocco vacations. During the day, the square is occupied by merchants selling everything from leather goods to orange juice. There are also a number of traditional snake charmers. As the day progresses, acrobats, musicians, fortune-tellers, artists, male dancers called Chleuh Dancing Boys, story-tellers relating tales in Berber or Arabic (entertainment for the locals), magicians, peddlers with magic potions and, as darkness falls, the square is filled with food stalls.

Hassan II Mosque, Casablanca

The Hassan II Mosque is the largest mosque in Morocco, the second largest in Africa and the 3rd largest in the world after those in Mecca and Medina It is a major landmark in Casablanca. It was built in 1993 to commemorate the king’s 60th birthday. Its minaret is the world’s tallest at 210 metres/690 feet in height. It has 60 stories and is topped by a laser beam which is directed towards Mecca. It stands on a promontory overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The walls are made of hand-crafted marble and it has a retractable roof. The mosque can hold as many as 105,000 worshippers, 25,000 inside the mosque hall and another 80,000 on the mosque’s outside ground. The prayer hall is spectacular and 6,000 craftspeople worked to assemble it. It represents a mixture of Islamic and Moroccan architectural styles Tours are conducted in several languages.

Volubilis Roman Antiquities

Volubilis is a partly excavated Berber and Roman city near the city of Meknes and is commonly considered to be the ancient capital of the kingdom of Mauretania. It was developed in the 3rd Century BC as a Phoenician settlement. Under Roman rule from the 1st Century AD, it expanded significantly with a number of major public buildings including a basilica, temple and triumphal arch. It continued to be inhabited for another 700 years but by the 11th Century, it was abandoned. Although only about half of Volubilis has been excavated, a number of major public buildings are visible. Many private buildings, including the mansions of the city’s elite, have also been uncovered. They are noted for the mosaics that have been discovered in a number of buildings. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site on trips to Morocco, listed as being “an exceptionally well-preserved example of a large Roman colonial town on the fringes of the Empire”.

Majorelle Garden, Marrakesh

This garden was created in the 1920s by the French painter Jacques Majorelle. It is a two-and-a-half acre botanical garden and an artist’s landscape garden. Inside is a Cubist villa designed by French architect, Paul Sinoir in the 1930s. The property was the residence of the artist and his wife from 1923 until the 1950s. In the 1980s, the property was purchased by fashion designers, Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Berge who worked to restore it. Today the garden and villa complex is open to the public. It contains marble pools, banana trees, bamboo groves, coconut palms and bougainvillaeas. Perhaps unsurprisingly as the garden was designed by a painter, it is composed and coloured like a painting. The villa itself houses the Islamic Art Museum of Marrakech, the Berber Museum and the Musee Yves Saint Laurent. It also features a collection of Majorelle’s paintings. The garden contains an important collection of cacti and sculptures.

The Fez Medinas

Fez is considered the cultural and spiritual capital of Morocco and largely consists of two old medina (old city) quarters, Fez el Bali and Fez Jdid. The Medina of Fez is considered one of the most extensive and best conserved historic towns in the Arab-Muslim world. It was founded in the 9th Century AD at around the same time that Islam arrived in Morocco The medina of Fez is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site and is one of the world’s largest urban pedestrian zones. It contains the University of Al Quaraouiyine which was founded in 859 AD and is the oldest continuously functioning university in the world. Fez has been called the “Mecca of the West” and the “Athens of Africa”. Fez el-Bali is also the site of the Mausoleum of Moulay Idris II, an important religious and cultural site. Fez el-Jdid is the site of the enormous Royal Palace, still used by the King of Morocco today. On Morocco vacations, you will see men sitting on stools making copper pots and workers in front of large looms.

Chouara Tanneries, Fez

Chouara Tannery is one of the three tanneries in Fez. Built-in the 11th Century AD, it is the largest tannery in the city and is located in the Fez el Bali, the oldest medina quarter. The tanning industry has been continually operating in the same fashion as it did in the early centuries and is considered one of the main tourist attractions. The tanneries are packed with round stone vessels filled with dye or white liquids for softening the hides. Hides of cows, sheep, goats and camels are processed here by soaking into the vessels. The leather goods produced in the tanneries are exported around the world. After the dyeing process, they are dried in the sun. The hides produce high-quality leather goods such as bags, coats, shoes and slippers. The production process consists of manual labour and involves no modern machinery. This has been going on since the medieval era. Leather shops offer everything from Moroccan backless slippers to copies of designer jackets and purses at a fraction of the usual price.

Visit a Berber Village, Atlas Mountains

The Berbers are a people indigenous to North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They have a rich cultural history that dates back to prehistoric times, over 4000 years ago. Their influence affected commerce on trading routes between the Sub-Saharan region to the northern Moroccan cities. Today, it is still possible to still find many traditional Berber settlements in the mountains of Morocco. Although the Berber people do not live exclusively in rural settlements, these communities offer an interesting insight into the Berber tradition and history. A guided visit to a traditional Berber Village on trips to Morocco is a unique experience. Tours can be taken from Marrakesh. On arrival, you will see homes carved into the hillside with the backdrop of the majestic Atlas Mountains behind them. The Berber people are renowned for their hospitality and you are invited into a small home and offered to share a glass of Moroccan mint tea. Afterwards, you can ask your hosts any questions about Berber life.

Stay in a Riad, Marrakesh

Staying in a riad in the old medina of Marrakech is a unique experience. The word riad means garden but it is applied to townhouses. This is one way in which to immerse yourself in the local ambience. Most properties are old and are furnished in the traditional style. They generally have less than 10 rooms and are built around an open courtyard with trees/ plants and a water feature (small pool or fountain or both) and usually have a rooftop terrace. They offer peace, calm and tranquility which contrasts with the rest of Marrakesh. You can sip tea by the fire, have a typical Moroccan dinner in the dining room or simply relax on the terrace. The windows in the rooms will open up to the courtyard instead of outside. And will be individually furnished. Each room will have its own unique features and personality with its woodwork and detailed paintings.

Stay overnight in the Sahara Desert, Merzouga

From Fez, you can join a tour on Morocco vacations for an overnight stay in the Sahara Desert in the Middle Atlas Mountains. You sleep in a tent among the sand dunes while enjoying activities such as riding a camel, horse riding, quad biking, and sand boarding You will have dinner under the stars and then retire to your Berber tent. In the morning, you can watch the sunrise over the desert. Beware that the desert can be cold at night.

FESTIVITIES AND MOUSSEMS

Festivities mark the seasons, celebrating local resources. Festivals are dedicated to popular art and tradition. The moussems are large gatherings paying homage to a holy man. Miss no opportunity to join in any festivities. You will be able to admire the fantasias, dances, singing, the traditional costume and you can take part in the processions and feasting.

These events are often dependent upon local occasions (harvests) or the lunar calendar. It is therefore impossible to give the dates far in advance.

FESTIVITIES AND FESTIVALS

Almond Tree Festivities – Tafraout – February

Rose Festival – El Kelaa M’Gouna – May

Festival of Wax – Sale – Mouloud

Cherry Festival – Sefrou – June

Festival of Folk Art – Marrakesh – June

Festival of World Sacred Music – Fes – June

International Festival of Rabat – June

Camel Festival – Guelmim – July

Festival of Popular Music – Saidia – August

Asilah Cultural Festival – August

Date Festival – October

The Wedding Moussem of – Imilchil – August/September

Horse Festival – Tiss (Fes) October

MAJOR MOUSSEMS

Moulay Abdallah Moussem – El Jadida – August

Moulay Idriss Moussem – Zerhoun (near Meknes) – September

THE FANTASIAS

An extraordinary war exercise, in which men on horseback perform the most extraordinary acrobatic feats and fire their “moukhala” (old powder-charged rifles) during a frantic gallop, all in perfect synchronization.

When buying souvenirs in Morocco, it’s worth considering how you are going to get them home, and you shouldn’t take too literally the claims of shopkeepers about their goods, especially if they tell you that something is “very old” – trafika (phoney merchandise) abounds, and there are all sorts of imitation fossils and antiques about.

Souk days

Some villages are named after their market days, so it’s easy to see when they’re held.

The souk days are:

Souk el Had – Sunday (literally, “first market”)

Souk el Tnine – Monday market

Souk el Tleta – Tuesday market

Souk el Arba – Wednesday market

Souk el Khamees – Thursday market

Souk es Sebt – Saturday market

There are very few village markets on Friday (el Jemaa – the “assembly”, when the main prayers are held in the mosques), and even in the cities, souks are largely closed on Friday mornings and very subdued for the rest of the day.

Village souks usually begin on the afternoon preceding the souk day, as people travel from across the region; those who live nearer set out early in the morning of the souk day, but the souk itself is often over by noon and people disperse in the afternoon. You should therefore arrange to arrive by mid-morning at the latest.

Craft traditions

Moroccan craft traditions are very much alive, but finding pieces of real quality is not that easy. For a good price, it’s always worth getting as close to the source of the goods as possible, and steering clear of tourist centres. Tangier, Casablanca and Agadir, with no workshops of their own, are generally poor bets, for example, while Fez and Marrakesh have a good range but high prices. In places like Fez and Marrakesh, different parts of the Medina produce specific goods, from furniture to ironwork to sandals to musical instruments. Jewellery and carpets tend to come in from the countryside, where each region – each village even – has its own style and its own techniques. Shopping in a big city, you’ll have a wide range to choose from, but there’s a very special pleasure in tracking the souvenir you want down to the place where it’s made, and even seeing the artisans at work making it. A good way to get an idea of standards and quality is to visit craft museums: there are useful ones in Fez, Meknes, Tangier, Rabat and Marrakesh.

Carpets, rugs and blankets

Morocco produces some lovely carpets in wonderful warm colours – saffron yellow, cochineal red, antimony black – that look great in any living space. Nowadays most carpets are coloured with synthetic dyes, but their inspiration remains the natural dyes with which they were traditionally made. The most expensive carpets are hand-knotted, but there are also kilims (woven rugs).

Knotted carpets are not cheap – you can pay €1500 and more for the finer Arab designs in Fez or Rabat – but rugs and kilims come in at more reasonable prices, and you can buy a range of strong, well-designed weaves for €50–70. Most of these kilims will be of Berber origin and the most interesting ones usually come from the High and Middle Atlas. You’ll find a big selection in Marrakesh, but if you’re looking seriously, try to get to the town souk in Midelt or the weekly markets in Azrou and other villages in the region. The chain of Maison Berbère shops in Ouarzazate, Tinerhir and Rissani are good hunting grounds too, but one of the best ways to find carpets is to wander around villages or parts of town where they are made, listen for the telltale sound of the loom in use, and ask at the weavers’ homes if they have any carpets for sale.

On a simpler and cheaper level, the Berber blankets (foutahs, or couvertures) are imaginative, and often very striking with bands of reds and blacks; for these, Tetouan and Chefchaouen, on the edge of the Rif, are promising.

Ceramics

Pottery is colourful if fairly crudely made on the whole, though the blue-and-white designs of Fez and the multicoloured pots of Chefchaouen (both produced largely for the tourist trade) are highly attractive. The essentially domestic pottery of Safi – Morocco’s major pottery centre – is worth a look, too, with its colourful plates, tajines and garden pots. Safi tajines are nice to look at, but for practical use, the best are those produced by the Oulja pottery at Salé, near Rabat, in plain red-brown earthenware.

Jewellery

Arabic-style gold jewellery tends to be a bit fussy for Western tastes, but silver is another story. In the south particularly, you can pick up some fabulous Berber necklaces and bracelets, always very chunky, and characterized by bold combinations of semiprecious (and sometimes plastic) stones and beads. Women in the Atlas and the Souss Valley regions in particular often wear chunky silver bracelets, belts embellished with old silver coins, or heavy necklaces with big beads of amber, coral and carnelian. Silver brooches are used to fasten garments, and many of the symbols found in Moroccan jewellery, such as the “hand of Fatima” and the five-pointed star, are there to guard against the evil eye. Essaouira, Marrakesh and Tiznit have particularly good jewellery souks.

Wood

Marquetry is one of the few crafts where you’ll see genuinely old pieces – inlaid tables and shelves – though the most easily exportable objects are boxes. The big centre for marquetry is Essaouira, where cedar or thuya wood is beautifully inlaid with orange-tree wood and other light-coloured woods to make trays, chess and backgammon sets, even plates and bowls, and you can visit the workshops where they are made.

Fez, Meknes, Tetouan and Marrakesh also have souks specializing in carpentry, which produce not only furniture, but also chests, sculptures, and kitchen utensils such as the little ladles made from citrus wood that are used to eat harira soup.

Clothes

Moroccan clothes are easy to purchase, and though Westerners – men at least – who try to imitate Moroccan styles by wearing the cotton or wool jellaba (a kind of outer garment) tend to look a little silly in the street, they do make good nightgowns. Some of the cloth on sale is exquisite in itself, and walking through the dyers’ souks is an inspiration. Women will find some sumptuous gowns if they look in the right places – Marrakesh in particular has shops selling beautiful dresses, kaftans, gandoras (sleeveless kaftans) and tunics. Brightly coloured knitted caps are more likely to appeal to men, and there are plenty of inexpensive multicoloured silk scarves on offer too. Even ordinary jackets and trousers are often on sale in the souks at bargain prices.

Leatherware

Morocco leather is famously soft and luxurious. In towns like Fes, Marrakesh and Taroudant you can even visit the tanneries to see it being cured. It comes in a myriad of forms from belts, bags and clothing to pouffes and even book covers, but Morocco’s best-known leather item is the babouche, or slipper. Classic Moroccan babouches, open at the heel, are immensely comfortable, and produced in yellow (the usual colour), white, red (for women) and occasionally grey or black; a good pair – and quality varies enormously – can cost anything between €5 and €25. Marrakesh and Tafraoute are especially good for babouches.

Minerals and fossils

You’ll see a variety of semiprecious stones on sale throughout Morocco, and in the High Atlas they are often aggressively hawked on the roadsides. If you’re lucky enough to be offered genuine amethyst or quartz, prices can be bargained to very tempting levels. Be warned, however, that all that glitters is not necessarily the real thing. Too often, if you wet the stone and rub, you’ll find traces of dye on your fingers.

Fossils too are widely sold in Morocco, and can be as beautiful as they are fascinating. The fossil-rich black marble of the Erfoud region, for example, is sold in the form of anything from ashtrays to table tops. But again, things aren’t always what they seem, and a lot of fossils are in fact fakes, made out of cement. This is particularly true of trilobites, or any black fossil on a grey background.

Foodstuffs

Some Moroccan food products would be hard to find at home, and make excellent and inexpensive gifts or souvenirs (assuming your country’s customs allow their importation). Locally produced olive oil can be excellent, with a distinctive strong flavour, and in the Souss Valley there’s delicious sweet argan oil too. Olives themselves come in numerous varieties, and there are also almonds, walnuts and spices available, notably saffron from Taliouine, and the spice mix known as Ras el Hanout. A jar of lemons preserved in brine is useful if you want to try your hand at making a tajine back home.

Food

The cuisine of Morocco is characterized by Berber, Moorish and Arab influences while using a large array of fruits and vegetables typical of Mediterranean coastlines. Dishes in Morocco tend to be more spiced than others in the Middle East with popular flavours including cinnamon, cumin, turmeric, ginger, pepper, saffron and paprika. Common meats used in Moroccan cooking are beef, mutton and lamb, chicken, camel, rabbit and of course, seafood.

Popular dishes include:

Tajine: Tajine is a meal as well as the name of the earthenware dish the meal is cooked. Traditionally, they involve stews made of a combination of lamb, chicken or fish with onions, olives, almonds, tomatoes, herbs and dried fruit. The method of cooking involved in a tajine is braising at low temperatures which results in very tender meat.

Couscous: This is a staple of Moroccan cuisine and is a dish of semolina that is served with meat or vegetable stew. Couscous can be served on its own or as an accompaniment. Seffa is a couscous-based dessert in which couscous is sprinkled with almonds, cinnamon and sugar. Seffa is usually served with milk that is flavoured with orange flower water or can be served with buttermilk (variations depend on region).

Pastilla: This dish is usually a starter that combines sweet and salty flavours. It is made up of a fine flaky pastry that is stuffed with pigeon and almonds, cinnamon and sugar. It can also be stuffed with fish or chicken.

Dishes for Ramadan: Being a predominantly Muslim country, many Moroccans observe Ramadan. At sunset, the fasting is broken and harira is served. Harira is a soup made with a combination of meat, lentils and chickpeas. The soup is served with honeycombed pancakes or with shebakia which are cakes turned in oil and then covered in honey.

Drink

The most popular drink in Morocco is green tea with mint. Throughout Morocco, making good tea is considered an art form and it is considered a tradition to drink tea often with family and friends. Tap water is drinkable in most places in Morocco, however, bottled water is safer and is also readily available and cheap to purchase. Although Morocco is a Muslim country, it is not completely dry and many places have alcohol licenses. Heineken is the most popular important beer however, there are three local beers: Casablanca, Stork and Flag. Despite having a more relaxed attitude towards alcohol, drinking in public is frowned upon and drinking near a mosque is considered very rude and should not happen.

Things to know:

If service was satisfactory, tipping is expected. If it is a small cheque, around 5 Dirhams should suffice while with larger bills around 10% is standard.