One month in Morocco with a 4x4 Van.
Memories and some facts that might help you getting used faster to a wonderful country that works differently than Europe.
If you are a well travelled reader, please note that I prefer to tell less experienced travellers to be a bit more careful, so that they can have a pleasant experience, and come back with good memories.
And to you experienced explorer, you know that getting in troubles is fun, but you need to have the skills to get out of troubles without efforts, so always ask yourself āwhat is the worst that can happen?ā and decide when you answered yourself.
This is the place more south we have visited, 3ā993 kilometres from home
Some context:
Season, weather and duration: we made this trip during the month of June 2022, I think that one month is a good amount of time to dedicate to Morocco, I would certainly not do less than 3 weeks; and in optimal conditions, I would stay in Morocco for 6 or more weeks. Locals told me that the best month to visit Morocco is November, because thereās less fog on the coast, but donāt quote me on this, I havenāt verified it, weather in Morocco is extremely variable in my experience.
How to get there? We started our journey from Switzerland, where we live, Ticino to be specific, we drove 11 hours to Barcelona stopped for one night, drove to Gibraltar, slept one night there and the morning after we took one ferry from Tarifa to go to Tangier. You can also take ferries ācloser to your homeā if you donāt want to drive to Spain. The reason we drove so far, is that a ferry from Genoa (Italy) for example, wasnāt less expensive than driving to Tarifa and take a one hour ferry, and this way we were not blocked on an old big boat for too long.
The ferry: we arrived at the port in Tarifa (Spain) at 8.47 in the morning and thought we take our time to change money, check if our documents are ok, and we take the ferry of 11.00. Turns out we were not too late to take the ferry of 09.00, we had the documents for going on the ferry, but those documents were checked by the Spanish custom officers, not Moroccan. The ferry costs from Tarifa to Tangier, for two people and a 6 meter long 2.75 meter tall Sprinter, 320 euros. On the way back I managed to take down the price to 270 euros. The duration of the ferry trip Tarifa-Tangier / Tangier-Tarifa, is 1 hour, but donāt expect it to be on time, and donāt stress about it, in Morocco you take your time with everything.
My biggest fear were the documents regarding Pedro, the van, as my van is not registered under my name but under the name of the enterprise I work for (I have an other job next to Tactic Vans) and not even really that enterprise but the German branch of that enterprise. I only had the grey card /registration of the vehicle, and an authorisation to go to Germany during covid with that vehicle, so the authorisation was old. Turns out it was enough, we passed the Moroccan borders, no problems, honestly I should have prepared an other authorisation in advance, and I advice you do it too if you want to go to Morocco with a vehicle of an enterprise that dosenāt belong to you. And if the vehicle is neither yours or of an enterprise, then itās even worse, you need a certificate from the city in which the owner lives, the certificate must be official, from the local authorities.
The ferry arrives in the port of Tanger, we go to our vehicle and drive out of the ferry, we give our passports to the police officers, give our best smile, and he ask us āwhere is the stamp?ā, when you exit the ferry, think about stopping by a person, next to the bar, with a computer in a Pelican Case, he will put a stamp in your passport.
We went back in, solved the stamp problem, then went back to our vehicle aaaaand, technical problem, the custom officer took approximately one hour to have the computer working.
Officials at the border are serious, but they are kind (at least in my experience) take them seriously, but you can smile and talk with them, no need to be stressed.
At the Moroccan border you will receive a small paper card, that you will need to give at your exit of the country, so try to not loose the card.
Prepare yourself for some fog on the coast of Morocco. This picture was taken on the road for āImsouaneā, the surfer paradise of Morocco.
You are now in Morocco, welcome and congratulations!
Forget what you learnt about driving, but please, stay really focus on the road.
Letās enumerate a few basic rules to start well your first day in North Africa.
Disclaimer: please, understand that I love this country, not only for the beauty of itās nature, but because I love to interact with itās inhabitants, I could easily live in Morocco. So when Iām telling you something itās not against itās people, itās so that no one profits of you, and also so that you respect their system.
#1 (valid mostly in the North of Morocco) Just landed and you donāt need help? You are not in a situation in which an authority might tell you you are doing something wrong? It means the person in front of you is probably coming at you for her interest. DO NOT LOOK IN THE EYES IF YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO HAVE A CONVERSATION AND TO PAY FOR THAT CONVERSATION. You can be in the situation in which you know where you are walking and someone starts to walk next to you and then asks you 50 Dihrams (5 euro) for that, not kidding.
This rule is more important in the north, there, people know that in Europe we earn 10-20X more than them, but they donāt want to remember that life costs also 10 times more than in Morocco, the southern you go, the more people will be friendly because itās in their nature and not to take your money.
#2 Apparently contradictory but important, someone helped you with something that you asked for, and it feels like the right thing to do, then give him 10 Dihrams (approximately one euro depending on change and Jerome Powellās mood). Please do not give absurd amount of money like 50 Dihrams, you are not making a favour neither to your wallet, neither to to travellers visiting the country after you. You can give how much money to whoever you want, but the people you decide to give money, not the ones taking it from you.
#3 Donāt be too noisy, be respectable with the choice of clothes, donāt be too much of a ātouristā, you usually drink alcohol? No problem, drink, but below the limit that you would have in your motherland, so that you can stay focus. Itās impressive how many well educated Moroccans you will find in the country, with whom you can joke and have interesting discussions, letās not give them the impression we are there to be cheap tourists who come just for drinking on beaches. Btw below Agadir, it starts to be difficult to buy alcool, over and in Agadir included itās quite easy, Carrefour sells it, they also sell pork should you miss a tasty Carbonara.
#4 If you have chemical toilets ignore this. But if you donāt need to stop in campings, make sure that when you stop at the gas station to fill up your diesel tank, you ask before if you can also fill up water. Sometimes if you ask after, they tell you they donāt have water (which can happen, but closer to the desert, and in the mountains).
#5 Hygienic tissues are a good item to have with you when you walk around, you will touch things, interact with people, touch money then the moment someone offers you food or whatever, you canāt say no, and at the same time you didnāt had a possibility to wash your hands.
#6 You have some extra space in your van? Bring some old clothes, old phones, expired medicine? Take them, loads of people asked me for this kind of things, they want to exchange them, honestly, if itās stuff you would have thrown away, exchange them with a meal in a restaurant you like, everyone will be happy
#7 Itās possible that if you sleep with your van on a beach, at some point some authority will come and ask you to see your documents, no worries itās normal, smile, answer the questions and they will wish you a nice stay in Morocco. Oh yes they will also ask you for you destination, normal. If we arrived late in the evening on a spot, I left our IDās on the driver side, with a paper in French on which I wrote when we arrived, from where, and when we would leave and our destination, so that if the people in charge of checking us was friendly he wouldnāt wake us.
#8 talking about authorities, Iāve made 4400 km in Morocco, and none asked me for money, and I caught got over the speed limit, passing at the orange light. If you are wrong, you say you are āsorry and it wonāt happen againā, then you say thank you, and they let you go, but donāt use this information to behave like a criminal please.
#9 You are in a country with a lot of poverty, with a lot of people asking for money, gifts and stuff like this, donāt be caught in the bias thinking that you are superior, the person more cultivated, who speak more languages than you, travels more and has more money can come out at whatever moment.
#10 Related to the previous advice, being humble, when you give sweets to child who ask you for ābonbonsā on the streets, give them one by one to each child, donāt throw them at the childs like at the Zoo, if you drive through a village, drive slowly, maybe itās a feast day and people are well dressed for that day, you wouldnāt like to create dust by driving too fast.
Goats eating Argan nuts.
Yea ok nice, I know how to behave, but where should I go?ššš
Please consider two important things, everyone has different backgrounds and preferences in life, not only, people also have a different perception of you than they have of me, maybe someone was unfriendly with me and will be super friendly with you, or the opposite if you have a French license plate (France was not super cool in Morocco in the 60ās, and many Moroccans remember it).
I am totally in love with Morocco, so if you ask me, go everywhere. If you are short on time, Atlas Mountains, Agadir, Essaouira, Marrakech, Tata, Kihfniss national Park, Casablanca, Fes, Zagora, the list is long, I prefer to tell you little and you discover more, people, especially our breed, the ones with 4x4 Sprinter, need to escape park4night and other newbies applications, where people are parking 50 cm the from the the others, and we must gain respect from local people through our bravery in exploration. Remember, Morocco is an Islamic country, and in Islamic culture, travelling is important, this means people around you respect the fact that you want to discover their country.
Kihfniss national park, in the south of Morocco.
Restaurants worth of note in the country without particular order š„š§š„
Tomato and zucchini Omelettes covered with cheese, at Magistic restaurant in Agadir
My favourite in Agadir, you will not spend more than 6-7 euros for two people, you will eat really well, but itās more for breakfast/brunch.
Luxury in Casablanca, ultra expensive for the country, normal prices for Europeans but really good food, service could be a little more friendly, but itās ok. If you do have nice clothes, keep them for this place, Rolls Royce, Bentley and Lambos on the parking. 90/100 euros for lunch
Simple but they understood well the TripAdvisor game, in Tiznit. Calculate 21 euros and you hate well and enough.
Ultimate luxury in Marrakech, I would definitely go at Royal Mansour if you have no budget constraint, and I would also consider it if you have budget limitations, because itās an experience. Breakfast for two 90 euros/cheapest room for one night 1500 euros.
La Squale in Marrakech is also super recommended, obviously for tourists, but excellent food and beautiful experience.
Talking about food; I donāt know one person who didnāt told me that they had not stomach problems in their first week in Morocco.
We had none, I like to believe itās because we respected one simple rule, we went gradually into local food, let me explain: the biggest problem is water in Morocco, tap water is absolutely not drinkable, but with what is salad washed? You guessed it, tap water.
In the beginning we only ate cooked meals, and didnāt ate salad or fruits at the restaurants, we only ate fruits at the van, and we took care of removing the skin on all fruits (except for cherries š that we washed with a product that is sold in Italy, called āAmmuchinaā a disinfectant that can be used to wash fruit and vegetables.
You might think that this is some exaggerated precautions, but imagine being stomach sick in your van, in a country where 38 degrees celsius is quite a normal temperature, and emptying your chemical toilet is more complicated than in Europe. I think you need no drawing to understand it would be a quite shitty situation. So remember: no raw vegetables or fruits the first week, and not street food, once your body got used to the circumstances, you can eat more or less whatever you want without getting into troubles.
I donāt want to enter neither in political discussion, neither psychology or sociology, but one man I encountered in my journey, if heās reading this I thank him for the what I learnt from him; this man told me something really valuable: āIf you as European, will get in trouble, letās say a fight, in your country, maybe one local journal will talk about this; but if you as an European get in trouble in Morocco this will be news all over the worldā.
You obviously get the first teaching here, you can consider yourself safe in this country, but please, donāt abuse of this, you are in a country that doesnāt work with the same principles than western countries, so as I said before, donāt make it more difficult for people to welcome you, first with clothes, and then behaviour.
PS I saw all of our fellow followers on instagram, you all look like super cool people, I have no concerns for you, and Iām happy to help if I can, Iām just repeat the concept for the people outside of our small community.
āOh wow, I just realised I forgot to tell you one of the most important considerations for van lifers in Morocco: Moroccans who have visited Europe, drive more or less like you would expect people to drive on the African continent. The other road users, being people, being donkeys, being people on donkeys using the roundabout in the wrong way. They use the road like they donāt care about their lives, so please, stay focused while driving.ā
šµBudget
No doubt the bigger cost is the ferry, thatās why I highly recommend you program well your trip, i.e. and if you canāt do a 3 to 6 weeks journey, you could also consider leaving you van in Morocco if you have to go back in Europe just for a few days; if you search well sometimes you find flights for 20-30 euros from Marrakech to the main European airports, you donāt always find them, but itās worth checking, as I found Marrakech-Milano Malpensa for 23 euros, no stops.
Second costs is obviously diesel, we talk about approximately 1.4 euro per litre, at least when we were there, but for example in January 2020 it was around 0.70-0.90 euros per litre.
Food is pretty inexpensive, what is expensive is European imported food, but if you plan to stay in Morocco for some weeks and you are willing to cook in you van, and go to inexpensive restaurants like locals do, I would say you can eat well for 20$, breakfast, lunch and dinner, for 2.
Campings, are around 7-11 euros, but I havenāt stopped in many of them, it was just to empty the toilet and sometimes load water.
Keep in mind to always have small coins, like 5 Moroccan Dihrams, for parking, this is what you normally pay for a full day, and when you pay, ask for the voucher/ticket.
You will not often be on autobahn with tolls, and when you use them, they are not super expensive, we spent maybe 35-40 euros in 4400 km in Morocco.
I would say with ferry and gasoline, if you want to visit a lot and donāt look at how much you spend, with 2ā400 euros you can do an awesome trip of one month in Morocco (this from Tarifa, not including going to Tarifa because we all go there from different places). And since the bigger costs are the ferry tickets and fuel, the cost is not going to increase a lot if you take more your time. In this budget I included 3 particularly expensive restaurants for Morocco, shaving my beard and buying gifts to bring back home.
Random notes that came later to my mind, but I think are worth sharing with you.
I know it sound strange, but if you like Avocado, you have to try the Avocado juice, itās awesome.
This year was apparently the worst year of dryness in Morocco, so there isnāt much water around, if you see on park4night that thereās a hot water source near you, there are chances that there will be very little water, just keep it in mind in case you are driving to a water source and itās more than a 15 min drive.
Used phones/clothes, take them with you, you can really give them directly to people with less, they will really not be offended, they will be happy, and this is also nice to have in case someoneās invite you at their house for a tea or to eat, in the Arab culture thereās this concept of exchange of gifts, and not paying for stuff. Obviously donāt bring stuff that belongs to the waste bin.
I found coffee to be really good in Morocco, I regret I didnāt brought more with me. Also olives where no jokeā¦
Bring paper tissues and disinfectant for food.
Check for costs from different ATMās but in our experience it wasnāt expensive to take money directly from the ATM.
A water filter, not to make water drinkable but to keep your tank clean, could be a great investment, depending on where you are water could come from a water well.
If you didnāt spent on a camping, and you are boon docking in the wild, someone arrives, talks with you, gives you advices or offers you a product, could be nice to give him a coin or something.
I know it sounds stupid, but I have to say it, because we saw a few people of our age who apparently werenāt thinking much