Important Travel Information
for Morocco Vacations

Passports & Immigration
WIMCO recommends that U.S. & U.K. citizens ALWAYS travel with a valid passport whenever traveling outside of the continental US or the UK. While many of our destinations may only require a birth certificate and a valid driver's license at this time, immigration requirements may change without any notice. For ALL other non-US citizens, please check with the embassy of the country/island to which you are traveling (French, British, Italian) to see if you need a special visa. (Note: If one of a honeymooning couple is a US Citizen and the other is not, a visa is still required by the non-US citizen). When bringing a nanny or babysitter, please be sure that they too have appropriate documentation.

The Best Time to Go
Morocco enjoys a Mediterranean climate. The best times to visit are spring and fall, specifically, March, April, and October. Spring may be ideal -- the sky is a beautiful deep blue, washed clear by the winter rain, and beautiful spring flowers blanket the landscape.

Non-Muslim travelers will probably want to avoid Morocco during Ramadan, a month long fast during which all cafés and nearly all restaurants are closed during the day and the pace of work is reduced. The dates of Ramadan change every year, gradually getting a little earlier each time. Ramadan will be September 3-October 2 in 2008, August 24-September 23 in 2009 and August 10-September 9 in 2010.

Arriving in Morocco
Customs duties are very high in Morocco, with many items subject to various taxes that can total 80%. You'll have no problem bringing in personal effects, a reasonable amount of alcoholic drinks, cigarettes, food, or a laptop computer; there are no hard-and-fast rules for these things, though a friendly attitude always helps. Large electronic items will be taxed. (It is possible to temporarily import large electronics -- such as laptop computers -- without tax, but the event will be marked in your passport, and the next time you leave the country you must take the equipment with you, even if you're only going on a short trip to, say, Spain.) Note that it's always easier to bring things in person than to have them sent to you and cleared through customs at the post office, where even the smallest items, such as individual articles of clothing, will be taxed.

Etiquette & Behavior
Everyone is polite in Morocco, even to their sworn enemies. Moroccans shake hands with each other every time they meet. Nothing can happen without politeness: If you have a problem and you lose your temper, you give up any hope of solving it. A combination of courtesy and persistence is the best approach. Open transactions with the proper greetings before getting down to business, and remember that people come first; the actions to be accomplished are secondary. Status is another key concept. Morocco is a very hierarchical society; people are dealt with according to their position in the hierarchy, not the order in which they happen to arrive. In markets, this phenomenon is modified: someone selling vegetables will deal with several customers at once, rather than one after another. If you wait meekly to be served in turn, you'll wait a long time. Finally, Moroccans do not always say what they mean: what they say can be governed by other considerations, such as the desire to please, or in the case of less charitable characters, the perception of what will work to their advantage. You don't need to take all these guidelines into account for simple transactions like buying train tickets, but they'll help in more complicated situations.

If you're invited to someone's home, do not enter until invited to do so. In more traditional homes, you'll have to leave your shoes at the door. Greet the assembled company in turn, starting with the person on your right. For all food served in a communal dish and meant to be eaten by hand, be sure to use only your right hand. Warning: Moroccan hospitality can be extremely generous, and you may need to pace your eating. It's not unusual to have two main meat dishes. Sometimes you can determine the number of courses to come by counting the number of tablecloths; one is removed with each course. It's customary to socialize before the meal rather than afterwards, so food is not served upon guests' arrival, and it's acceptable to leave immediately after tea at the end of the meal.

Regarding dress
Barring only the beach, shorts are not acceptable for either sex anywhere in Morocco, even in the hottest weather. Apart from this, casual clothing is quite acceptable.

With the exception of the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, non-Muslims may not enter mosques.

Language
The main spoken language in Morocco is Moroccan Arabic, a compacted Arabic that has fewer vowels than other dialects and includes a number of Spanish and French words. French is very widely spoken. There is no difference between the French spoken here and that used in France, except perhaps the presence of fewer colloquialisms, so any standard French phrase book will serve you well. English is more and more widely spoken; there is usually no problem communicating in English at hotels in trafficked areas. The official written languages are Arabic and French, and most signs are written in both, so you don't need to know Arabic script to find your way around.

Money

ATMs
Automatic teller machines are attached to banks in Marrakesh. BMCE and Wafabank belong to the Cirrus and Plus networks.

Currency
The national currency is the dirham (DH), which is divided into 100 centimes. There are bills for 20, 50, 100, and 200 dirhams, and coins for 1, 5, and 10 dirhams and 5, 10, and 20 centimes.

Electricity
The electrical current in Morocco is 220 volts, with 50 cycles of alternating current (AC).

Tipping

Hotels and restaurants usually include a service charge of 15%, but it is customary to include an additional 5 dirhams per person for the waiter. Tip porters 5 dirhams per piece of luggage; tip for almost any service, no matter how small. Children expect a coin for giving directions or for having their picture taken. Negotiate taxi fares in advance; an additional tip is not necessary.

Waiters in proper restaurants are always tipped up to 10% of the bill. At informal cafés, the tip is normally one or two dirhams per person in the dining party.

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Important Travel Informationfor Morocco Vacations

Money

Tipping

Important Travel Information
for Morocco Vacations