Morocco

We visited Morocco in 2025 for 25 days. It was our first visit to a country in Africa. We really enjoyed the experience. Morocco is less developed than Europe, but it is a very comfortable place to visit.

The road system is generally good to fair. When it is good it is as good as anywhere in Europe. For us the initial places we visited were accessible on very good toll ways and national roads. As we moved more inland the quality of the roads were less good, but still acceptable for travels in a van like François though at a slower pace.

You will come across interesting vehicles on the road.

Driving in Moroccan cities is a bit of a challenge. We took taxis into the centers of the big cities like Casablanca, Marrakech, and Fez. I would avoid driving into the center of those cities in a motorhome. Driving through the smaller cities and towns that the national roads take you through requires attention, but it is not dangerous. Over time you begin to understand how things work and can go with the flow of traffic like a local ( a cautious local).

Morocco is a cash culture, credit cards are generally accepted for big purchases in the major cities, and we paid for our fuel at the major gas stations with our card, but it is good to check with the attendant first. They are supposed to take cards for tolls, but on a couple of occasions they attendant could not get their credit card machine to work so we ended up paying with cash.

Since it is a cash culture you will need to keep topped off on Dharims. The Postal Bank is called Al Barid Bank charges no fee to sell Dharims. They are easy to find as they are co-located with the post office.

We had very mixed experiences with guides. The guides have a very specific itinerary they want to take you on and it includes visits to merchants. We became frustrated with this after a while as it inevitably turned into a sales pitch for leather, metal goods, rugs, spices and oils etc, and not a class on Moroccan culture. We were really pushed into a guide for the Fez souk as we were told it was impossible for a foreigner to go there without getting lost. We found the day with the guide to be an expensive waste of time. We returned the next day on our own and it turns out google maps works fine there, and we were able to navigate our way around just fine and really enjoyed the day.

Initially we found the food a little bland and boring. But, eventually we began to expand our experience, and by the end we found the food to be quite good.

Our favorite places were Chefchaouen which is a magical mountain village not too far from the port of Tangiers-med which is the most common entry point. It might be a good place to start your trip as it is beautiful, prices are lower than in the big cities and the merchants are pretty laid back in the souk. The sea side town of Essaouira is also beautiful and we wish we had spent more time there. Merzouga at the edge of the Sahara is incredible and the highlight of the trip for us. You literally park on the edge of the dunes in the Sahara.