Welcome to Morocco

Welcome to Morocco! Where do I even begin with this incredibly amazing country? First of all, JUST GO! Secondly, I have received a lot of inquiries from people about Morocco, what to see, what to do and just information in general. There is a lot to go off of so let me start here…

Morocco is actually really big so if you are going for only 1 week I strongly suggest picking one major city and then plan a day trip somewhere maybe 2 if you are really into exploring at a fast pace. Or perhaps pick the north or south areas to base out of.

To Tour or Not to Tour

My first trip to Morocco I actually chose to go with an Intrepid tour for the initial part of it because I felt overwhelmed. I had been doing research for years and wanted to get a taste of all of it. The tour lasted about 3 weeks but I stayed a bit longer after the tour on my own.

There are pros and cons to going with a tour for sure. The pros were that as a woman I didn’t feel like I was in any danger in any way being with a group. It eased my initial concerns before I arrived in Morocco. I grew up in the Middle East so I had an idea of what to expect to some extent but I wasn’t sure. After about 24 hours of being there, I felt comfortable and felt no problem going off on my own and exploring.

The cons which could also be a pro for some is that I felt like I only got the tiniest snippet from each location, I don’t feel like I had enough time in each place but we covered A LOT of ground. I also realized too that I reeeealllly enjoy my alone time so traveling with a group was a bit stressful for me and perhaps only reserved for extra special occasions.

Pick an Area

If you are going to Morocco look at your time and manage it well. That’s what it really comes down to in my opinion. If you are going for a month, then go everywhere. You should have time to travel all through the north and then down into the south.

Casablanca, Rabat, Fez, and Tangier are in the north as well as Chefchuaoun; the Blue City and Moulay Idriss. In the south, you have Marrakech, Agadir, the Sahara, the High Atlas Mountains (Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa) and Essaouira which is an amazing little beach town.

You can take trains from Marrakech to Casablanca and even an overnight train to/from Tangier. We took an overnight sleeper train from Tangier to Marrakech and while I didn’t get much sleep it was a fun experience. It did take 13 ish hours though.

Be careful in the bathrooms though, I got stuck in one and almost missed my stop. I was banging on the door trying to get anyone’s attention. Finally after a very long while someone managed to break into the bathroom I was stuck in. Not a moment too soon as our stop was about 5 minutes away too. Phew! That was a bit stressful but I made it. Haha… Welcome to Morocco!