VINTURE WITH ME

Morocco was definitely one of the most different countries I went to with each city offering something new whether that’s beaches, cities or deserts, there are breath taking views everywhere. My Moroccan adventure starting by flying into Tangier, then taking a cab to Chefchaouen, followed by a bus to Fez. In Fez we had a tour bring us all around the Moroccan Sahara desert to see Merzouga, Ourzazate and multiple stops along the way before ending in the big city of Marrakech. Being one of the first of my friends to travel to Morocco, I wasn’t too sure what it would be like to travel there, but lucky for you I’m giving you all my firsthand experience that will make your trip a lot easier. Here are all the things to know:

1) Money

• Morocco uses their own currency the Moroccan Dirham.
• In most of the cities we went to, they ONLY took cash (hotels and restaurants). The only places that took card were the really touristy/expensive places and mostly in Marrakech. For cards, Visa and Mastercard are used.
• Have exact cash and try to get low denominations if possible because multiple times when we paid with a big bill, the vendor did not have change for us and we couldn’t do anything about it.

2) Getting Around – Ground Transportation

• Is there Uber? No however there is an app that we used called InDriver. Essentially you put the ride (from and to) you want to take and a price for that ride. Multiple drivers will see your offer and accept, decline or further negotiate. You will soon realize that Morocco has a big negotiation culture and InDriver makes it a lot easier to negotiate. Once a driver accepts your ride and price, they will come and get you and you’ll pay them in cash. Referring to the above, try to have exact cash.
• If you don’t have internet, there are easily taxis everywhere which all have “set prices” that depends on which zone of the city you’re going to. You’ll see signs at the airport, bus stations, etc. Despite having set prices a lot of taxi drivers will try to charge you extra, so make sure you know the prices and negotiate it down. Note that taxis you may have other people in them.
• Between city to city, depending on where you want to go there are different modes of transportation from trains, buses, flights and of course just private transportation. Let me know if you want to go anywhere specific.

3) Walking Around

• Moroccan cities have many “medinas” which is the old part of a town or city, that is usually walled and has narrow streets, fountains, palaces and mosques, thus cars cannot go through them. You are more than likely going to stay inside the medina because that is where everyone lives and where all the sights to see are. That being said there are medina entrances/exits where you can be dropped off and then you’ll have to walk to your accomodation.
• Google Maps works a decent amount where it’ll guide you to the general area of where you need to go. However it may not fully show you the right address to your accommodation and you’ll need to search for the specific building or door. I highly recommend asking your host to come out to get you or give you specific directions.
• Many people will try and tell you that there are no roads in a certain direction and then ask if you need help getting around. More often then not, they don’t know where they’re going either and will just ask you for money once they get you to the final destination. I would just politely decline and say you are fine. Use google maps to get you to the area you need to be, but don’t look like you’re lost or else multiple people will come up to you.
• Also get ready to have people constantly up to you if you’re an obvious tourist. It does get tiring after a while, and the best way to not have this is to have a tour guide. You can book one with your accommodation or what we did on Get your guide.

4) Language

• Most people in Morocco speak arabic
• You would think more people speak French, but we only found that people in Tangier (closest to Europe) spoke French.
• Marrakech spoke the most English, but for the rest of the cities you’ll have to rely on Google Translate or get a tour guide.

Have additional questions for traveling to Morocco? Let me know in the comments!