| Morocco |
Facts for the Visitor
Visas| US citizen: | No visa required, visitors permitted to stay 90 days. |
| Japanese citizen: | No visa required, visitors permitted to stay 90 days. |
| Few people outside the big cities speak English. French is widely spoken. Moroccan Arabic is the official language. Knowing some French and carrying a Moroccan Arabic phrasebook and French-English dictionary is recommended. Learning to read numbers in Arabic is essential. |
| Available only in large cities. Most are on the Plus and Cirrus networks. The usual maximum withdrawal is 2000 DH, but repeated 2000 DH withdrawals - even using the same cash card - are permitted. |
| US$ 1 = 10.6855 Moroccan Dirhams (DH) on January 25, 2001. Import or export of Dirhams from Morocco is prohibited, though foreign currency can be brought in. Keep exchange receipts because they are needed to convert Dirham back to hard currency at departure. Most currencies are accepted for exchange to Dirham in Morocco, but the Irish punt, Scottish pound, and Australian and New Zealand dollars are not recognized. |
| Usually 220V, 50Hz but sometimes 110V. Plugs have 2 round pins. |
| International Certificates of Vaccination are not required. |
| Tip 10% at restaurants and cafés. Unless stated, services charges are not included in menu prices nor the bill. Tip tour guides and taxis as you feel is reasonable. |
| Don't expect to find many books in English anywhere in Morocco. Purchase your Morocco guidebook before arriving. |
| Only luggage with all zippers fastened with small padlocks will be accepted at luggage storage areas. |
| Trains
run between the large cities in the north: Tangier, Rabat,
Casablanca, Marrakech, Fez. Buses run just about everywhere, but
often infrequently and off schedule. In addition to buses,
grands taxis run between cities and towns. A grand taxi is a
4-seater old Mercedes that waits for 6 passengers (with driver,
that's 7 people) going the same direction before departing.
Within the cities and towns, there are local buses and petits
taxis. A petit taxi is a small car, sometimes metered, that
carries one or more passengers a short distance. Ask your hotel
receptionist how much you should be charged by a petit taxi
between certain places - the drivers will often quote double or
triple until they discover that you know how much the fare
really should be. One newly arrived American we met was charged
8 times the normal fare from the airport to city center.
If traveling between Spain and Morocco, Linebus is the most hassle-free. Click here to see the Linebus schedule. |
| Our best assessment of the prices tourists ought to be charged in Morocco is in our Morocco Pricing Guide. |
Copyright © 2000-2002 Wes and Masami Heiser. All rights reserved.