Traveling to Morocco: all the most interesting and important things to know

"Where-where are you going?!" - and the eyes of all my acquaintances widened in surprise. The idea to visit Morocco had been in my head for a long time, but there were always some "buts": the price of a flight from Kyiv was exorbitant, or the lack of clear information about the country. However, at some point, all these trifles (except for the cost of tickets) went to the background. It was decided - let's go to Morocco!

The first thing a traveler faces while still in Ukraine is finding adequately priced tickets and getting a visa (yes, yes, Ukrainian citizens in Morocco need a visa).

Tickets to Morocco

Morocco is separated from Spain by a strait of 14 km, and the prices for air tickets between these countries start from $15. All you have to do is find tickets to Spain and do the Schengen.

We took the path of least resistance and used the services of Wizz Air, so the route to Morocco looked like this: Kyiv-Budapest (7 hours transfer)-Madrid (overnight in the city)-Tangier.

The only downside (or maybe a plus) is Wizz Air's baggage fees. So if you wonder if a girl can survive 3 weeks with a limited closet, the answer is "yes!". The long layovers were seen as an opportunity to see Budapest and have a couple more tapas and jamon in Madrid. However, I think it is possible to find options with minimal connections.

Morocco visa

This is where the surprise came in. The first thing that surprised me was the absence of Moroccan embassy website in Ukraine in principle. There is no it and that's it. In a roundabout way was found some mysterious e-mail (morocco@voliacable.com), with the help of which you could contact the embassy staff and ask questions, which was done.

In response, they sent a questionnaire and a list of required documents. And if you suddenly thought that at this stage you could relax, it was not so. The list turned out to be quite impressive - all the same requirements as for obtaining a Schengen visa, but the unpleasant moment was the requirement to have finances at the rate of $100 per day per traveler. Confirmation of the hotel reservation was made through Booking.com with further cancelation (aye-aye-aye to do so).

It is advised to make an appointment at the embassy no later than 2 weeks before the planned trip (or even earlier), as Morocco is not very fast in processing visas.

Our documents were accepted by a young worker who was not very talkative. He looked through the documents, put in the nightstand 500 hryvnias of visa fee, gave 28 hryvnias of change and wrote on a tiny piece of paper the number of the passport and the date of readiness of the visa (in the best case its registration will take a week). By the way, visas are issued clearly under the dates with a minimum (1-2 days) gap. There are no problems with refusals, if you go through the list of required documents and do not be lazy to do them all. There you go, the hardest part is behind you.

Morocco itinerary

Now only the anticipation of oriental color with all the adventures that follow.

Back in Ukraine we sketched out a rough (a little crazy) itinerary. We wanted to see everything: Tangier, the blue city of Chefchaouen, Fez, Casablanca, Essaouira, Marrakech, the Sahara desert.

You can book a hotel in Morocco with a discount of up to -65% on the website.

Looking ahead, it's a lot. Too much. The north of the country could be omitted from the trip, but the main sticking point in the north is Chefchaouen. I wanted to see this little town to the point of goosebumps. A dream - there's no way around it, gotta go!

Arrival

The first and most expensive mistake was flying into Tangier. We wanted to save money on airfare (since tickets to Rabat and Marrakech cost a couple dozen dollars more), but ended up overpaying on car rental, but first things first. Simply the city is close to Spain, which means that it is quite spoiled by the attention of European tourists. This is reflected in the prices.

At passport control the officer asked the standard question about the purpose of visiting the country and put a number on the visa with a pen. It is IMPORTANT(!) to make sure that you put this number, because in case of unforeseen circumstances (for example, a fine for speeding) this number will be checked. And if you don't have it, there may be additional problems.

We did not rent a car in advance, so we had to take a cab to the hotel. At the exit from the airport we were surrounded by very active cab drivers. The price to the city was said to be about $25, but after a long haggle we agreed for $10. I'm sure it could have been less, but I just didn't have the energy to stand in the sun.

The hotel manager, after asking about renting a car, was very enthusiastic and said he had a brother of his best friend's brother-in-law's sister's sister (well, actually, we're in Morocco) who just happens to own a small rental office.

Renting a car in Morocco

We hoped that the local office prices would be much cheaper than the big firms, but we miscalculated. After meeting with its owner and listening to his stories about his Lebanese wife, children and all his relatives for 2 hours, we managed to get the price down and rent a car. My advice would be to take full insurance so that you don't have to worry about every new scratch (and they will definitely be).

Clearly stipulate all the conditions, because Moroccans are lovers of trickery, it can not even be called deception, just a cleverly twisted situation in their favor. On the plus side, I didn't have to block the money on my card as a deposit, but on the minus side, I couldn't pay by card, I had to withdraw cash.

So, it is better to fly straight to big cities like Casablanca, Rabat or Marrakech, where prices for car rental will be definitely lower. And haggle as much as you have patience and imagination, take it as a game - and you will be able to save a lot of money.

Roads

Exceptionally good. There is normal pavement even in the most godforsaken villages. The only disadvantage is the road patrol, especially fond of hiding in the bushes with radar. Therefore, try not to violate. If you do violate, in most cases the option "we are tourists" and round your eyes as much as possible. Sometimes there are especially uncooperative, and then you will have to pay a fine. You can politely ask for a receipt, there is a chance that the policeman will not want to bother with you and will let you go in peace.

Morocco currency

When you arrive in Morocco, the best idea is to change a couple of hundred dollars. The exchange rate is quite favorable. You can pay with a card only in big cities, and even then not always. There are ATMs almost everywhere, but the rate is usually higher than at the airport.

Chaven

So, the car was rented, and according to the plan we moved towards Chefchaouen (or, as locals call it, Chavin, or "blue city"). Yes, it is that unimaginable beauty of the town of the color of the sky, so often flashed in the lists of "must-see". It has conquered.

Chavin is such a subtle combination of real color and beauty. It's worth coming here at least once for the sake of it. You can wander the blue-blue streets endlessly, impolitely peeking through the ajar doors.

One can sing odes about the love for the blue city. In my opinion, this place is worth a visit. Plus there is a natural attraction near the town - a natural gateway between two mountains and a waterfall. You can hire a guide from the locals. But negotiate the price right away (as everywhere in Morocco) to avoid unpleasant surprises at the end. Bargaining, as always, is possible and necessary. The slopes near the waterfall are dotted with hemp. As tourists from Belgium said later, Chavin is the hashish capital of Morocco. And a lot of European youth come here for this very reason. Perhaps it is this fact that makes Chavin such a calm, relaxed place.

You can go to a café in the medina (the traditional central part of Moroccan cities, often exclusively pedestrianized and walled around the perimeter), climb to the very roof, drink incredibly sweet mint tea and eat tajine. Speaking of food.

Food

Food in Morocco is a separate pleasure. Traditional dishes are couscous with different kinds of meat and tajine. Tajin is a clay plate with a cone-shaped lid. When cooking, all the food inside is soaked with its own juice just due to the shape of this lid. It turns out incredibly tasty. In addition, what Morocco has more than enough seafood. Prices are adequate. You can try everything from banal crabs and shrimps to sea urchin caviar and shark.

A special attention should be paid to orange juice. You can buy it in any run-down village and on any highway. Prices start from 1.90 dirhams per glass. But the taste of oranges is not the same as in our country. It is hard to count how many glasses of juice were drunk during the whole trip.

The only thing you'll have to forget about is sanitary standards. For those who like to eat soup on the dock with sailors or buy juice by the roadside, a fiery hello, we're with you! Surprisingly, we didn't have any poisoning adventures during the whole trip, although bring a couple packs of activated charcoal just in case.

Fez

Next up was Fez, a city of unimaginable odor, molestation, and great serial love. The medina in Fez is some crazy place with 6000 (!!!) intricately intertwined streets, alleys and nooks. It's easy to get lost if you take your eyes off one of the brightly colored stores. Therefore, it would be reasonable to stay in the city, and go to the medina for a walk. In fact, that's what we did.

Be prepared for the fact that harassers (aka helpers) in Fez are some of the most annoying. Therefore, it is not superfluous to learn the phrase "Laa, shukran" ("No, thank you"). As practice has shown, they react to it better and more positively and almost immediately go away. If you need help or you are lost and don't know how to get out, the surest way is to make a face full of misery and helplessness, and within 30 seconds some frisky guy will run up to you with an offer to help.

By the way, they have one trick for tourists: you go in search of your hotel or other place, and in front of you starts walking a man at a distance of 1-2 meters. When you finally reach the end point, he turns around and starts demanding money for supposedly showing you the way. So be cautious.

In the medina of Fez, the main objective was to see the ancient dye houses. In Morocco, leather is still processed and dyed by hand. It is done in the open air. On the territory of the dyehouses there are stone vats filled with different liquids: lime, chalk and different colors. Dye houses in the medina can be found by smell and by signs (trust me, you can do it yourself). The moment your throat starts to feel treacherously scratchy will be a sure sign that you're getting closer.

You can view the dye houses of Fez from special observation decks, which are most often paid, as they are located on the roofs of private houses. However, there is a little trick. Often in these very houses there are stores selling leather goods. You can quietly go into one of them, pretending that you came to buy a bag or jacket, and thus free to look at the dyes. Leather goods in Fez are of good enough quality, and the price can be reduced to a third of the original, but the styles - on the lover.

Casablanca

From Fez our way lay to Casablanca, to the ocean. Alas, at 9 o'clock in the evening, having traveled 250 km, our eyes fell asleep from fatigue, and we stopped in the resort town of Mohamedia before reaching 30 km to the city. We rented a room in the first hotel we could find and walked the evening streets in search of food.

You can book a hotel in Casablanca with a discount of up to -65% on the website.

Mohamedia is something like Kirillovka in Ukraine: evening rides, vacationers and discos. Woke up in the morning and decided to look at the ocean after all. In the morning the town seemed quite nice and neat with a very clean beach and no sunbathers. Some kids were playing soccer, some were going for a morning jog. In 50 meters finally saw a girl in a swimsuit and decided to swim too, which attracted the attention of passing vacationers.

In general, in Morocco there is always someone looking at you. At first it's a little stressful from unaccustomed, but then you adapt and realize that there is nothing in it. It's just the way it is: to look without shyness. Nearby, two young girls in hijabs ran knee-deep in the sea, laughing, splashing and taking pictures. Nearby, another Moroccan woman was sunbathing in a swimsuit.

Casablanca is a very modern city. In my subjective experience, it is the most modern in Morocco. The mosque is breathtaking: huge, incredibly beautiful, standing right at the water's edge. Non-Muslim tourists can get inside only during certain hours and in tour groups. Dark-haired brown-eyed people can try to pass as Muslims and go inside at any time. After having lunch in the medina of Casablanca, which is only 200 years old, we went on our way and by evening we were in Essaouira.

Essaouira

Having left the car in the parking lot, we went to the medina to look for a hotel, which became an adventure, similar to a quest. We didn't book accommodation beforehand, but according to the reviews we saved the names and addresses of a couple of hotels. Three times we walked from beginning to end of the street and found nothing, not even a tiny sign, remotely resembling the name we needed. All the doors were locked.

Finally, a woman came out of a café and we asked her, and she in turn asked a vendor selling something at the corner of the street, and so we found out the location of the door we wanted. But it was closed. Knocking, ringing, knocking, desperate, knocking. No one opened it. Until a guy came out of the door across the street and called the owner. An older man came, let us in. But he spoke exclusively in French, so the second phase of desperation set in.

The man turned out to be the caretaker, not the owner. And there was no way we could explain to him that we wanted a room. He showed us all the rooms, and when we tried to convey our idea to him on our fingers, we suddenly heard Russian speech from the first floor. It turned out that one of the hotel guests, who had just returned, was from Moldova. He helped us rent a room, we finally dropped our stuff and went to eat... a pigeon. No, you heard right. A pigeon. Yes, I'm serious. Another traditional dish in Morocco is sweet almond pie with pigeon meat. It's delicious if you don't think you're eating a bird that's a symbol of peace.

After a good night's sleep and breakfast (the price of the room included not only an open terrace with a stunning view of the ocean, but also lovingly prepared scrambled eggs), we went to explore the city and sunbathe. What is definitely worth doing in Essaouira is wandering around the picturesque streets of the medina, eating amazingly delicious seafood on the pier, and surfing.

The cost of training at the surf school is quite low, and the level of instructors pleasantly surprised. On average, a two-hour lesson will cost you $30-40. Seafood requires a separate ode: all marine life, which is only found in the ocean, is ready to be eaten in the morning.

Near the pier are many makeshift cafes, where the cook, not particularly concerned about cleanliness, will grill any fish. Competition is high, so the price will decrease with each step you take towards the neighboring counter. The most surprising thing is that the most delicious was the most ordinary and cheapest sardine. I advise you to stretch the pleasure and stay in Essaouira at least for a couple of days.

Marrakech

After relaxing by the ocean, Marrakech seemed like a rattling mixture of carts, donkeys, motorcycles and unimaginable odor. It seemed that the city does not stop for a second, and the only way out is to just dive headfirst into this crazy kaleidoscope.

Jama el Fna Square in Marrakech is part of the UNESCO Cultural Heritage Fund. In the daylight hours, it is just an ordinary square with loitering tourists and sellers of all sorts of trinkets, as well as snake tamers.

But come evening, and the whole area fills with tents with all kinds of Moroccan viands. Here you can taste everything from snails to mutton brains. Actually, we tried to try everything. Prices are fixed, which can not but please. The snails did not make any impression, but a must try is lamb brains with hot pita bread and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.

Just don't let your guard down, as pickpockets are more common here than anywhere else. Also, all street performers like to demand money for taking their photos or videos. There are two ways out: either pay or pay. Most often they charge an unrealistic price, in which case just calmly say that you delete all photos. That way the price drops to a few dirhams.

Marrakech is a concentrated Morocco, it will not be to everyone's taste. However, this city is worth the effort to make an attempt to love it.

Sahara Desert

Actually, the main thing that attracts travelers from all points of the globe is the opportunity to see the Sahara. You should not make the mistake of thinking that the entire desert is sand. It isn't. Most of it is rocky and arid, and the very sand dunes we are used to calling desert are ergs.

There are two places in Morocco where you can fulfill this dream, Zagora and Merzouga. Merzouga is cheaper and Zagora is closer. Both locations are accessed via a scenic pass of the High Atlas Mountains.

One can stop endlessly along the way as the views are mesmerizing. There are several ways to travel through the desert - it's either an SUV or a good old camel. Camel rides are much cheaper (on average you can agree for $30 per person), but you should take into account that 3-4 hours of riding a two-humped camel is a challenge, as the fun ends after 20 minutes, when you get blisters on the seat. Traditionally, such mini-tours include sunset in the desert, overnight stay and meeting the dawn. In the evening you will be entertained with folk music and dinner in the tents.

Unfortunately, sometimes there is a chance that due to cloud cover you may not be able to see either sunset or sunrise. Which is exactly what happened to us. But it was still one of the most memorable days of my life. The feelings that come when you sit on a dune at 4 am and there is nothing around but sand, a strip of sky and the wind drawing simple patterns on the dunes are hard to convey in words.

Since we spent a day longer than expected in Essaouira, we raced like crazy back to Tangier. Despite this, we managed to discover another amazing place - Ouzoud. A town 100 kilometers north of Ouarzazate, the main pearl of which is a waterfall 110 meters high. The path to the waterfall passes through olive plantations where monkey families come in the evening. You can grab some nuts and fruit and feed the tailed ones, who in turn will pull your hair and try to snatch your glasses.

In fact, Morocco is like traditional mint tea. Some may find it too luscious, too intrusive, but the one who tastes it will not give a single chance to remain indifferent. In any case, the most useful thing you can take with you on a trip anywhere in the world is a prejudice-free look and a smile, and then any trip you take will be a real adventure!