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| Learn the local customs of Morocco. Tips and photos posted by real travelers and Morocco locals. Map |
 | Morocco Local Customs | Tips 1 - 10 of 327 |  |
Tipping is unavoidable. You have to reward anybody that has helped you one way or another by a small coin. This is especially true if you drive in Morocco. In most towns, even small ones, there will be a warden that helps you to park and that will watch your car. Usually, official parking wardens wear a blue overall and a red plastic badge (it used to be an oval brass badge). When you leave, he will help you again to drive out and will come close to your car. You are supposed to tip him discreetly. One or two Dirhams (better 2 !) will be OK in normal places. The more touristy the place, the more you should give : some visitors ''overpay'' and those guys get used to that. Then, try to give the right tip. Not too little, not too much even if according to our standards, this is not much : 2 Dirhams are about 20 euro or dollar cents. For an overnight parking that might be from 3 to 5 dirhams.
Consider that the official average earning is 1800 dirhams per month (180 euros/dollars) but that many must live with less than 500 dirhams !
You should be prepared to that. Avoid to take your purse full of banknotes and extract that little coin for tiping ! You should have a garment with many pockets. In one pocket, you will have only 1 dirham coins. In another only 5 dirhams. That will be easy to give what you want, discreetly and not showing how much money you have. Leave a Comment
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So many times I, or we, have stopped along any road, no matter how remote!, to stop and look at something or admire or photograph a view, and no matter how desolated or uninhabitated it might look someone pretty much always manage to appear from nowhere to show you something - to buy! - or to say hello and how you pretty you are or give you their address!
This particular time, (one time some young kids had a cute little hedgehog and with the history of treatment of animas in Morocco I was asking them please not to eat it or hurt it! - my boyfriend reckoned theyd take it home after making any money from showing tourists and then eat it - or let it get squashed on the road!) when driving alone in Morocco on a return visit to revisit and photograph some of my favourite sights in lovely May and catch the rose festival and catch up on family, and on the long drive down to Zagora, Id stopped to catch the views from the hill above the small town at the turnoff to AitBenHaddou and the vast plateau below on our much frequented route to Ouarzazate from Telouet and Marrakech - which happened to be at sunset time as well - and of course someone comes running after me - with a reptile that would be quite a glorious find for a young guy for its potential showing tourists!
So thats it - want a look at my lizard for 20 dirham!? Leave a Comment
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The two languages spoken in Morocco are arab and berber (several dialects). Most travelers don't speak any of them. Anyhow, learning some arab might help in some ''out of the beaten path'' places.
All educated Moroccan speak French (and/or Spanish in the north and around Sidi Ifni). In touristy areas, they will also practice English, sometimes German. But in remote places, small villages, you can find people that do not speak any foreign language. However, there will usually be in the vicinity someone speaking some French and that will help. If you don't speak French and that you want to go "out of the beaten path" it will be difficult to communicate unless you are clever in gesture language ! Leave a Comment
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If you visit during the month of Ramadan when the faithful fast each day from sunrise until sunset, you are likely to have a somewhat different experience than a visit at other times of the year.
Normal business hours are approximately about 8am to 6:30pm, with a two hour or longer lunch break. During Ramadan, businesses don't open until 10am or so and then stay open through until 3 or 4. Restaurants and cafés stay closed all day, opening only once the fasting is over. Most restaurants, particularly those that cater to foreigners, are closed for the entire month, for two reasons: many foreigners don't come during Ramadan and the locals eat at home throughout Ramadan. Thus the customer base for these restaurants is severely limited.
Traffic is already bad in most city streets of Morocco but it's worse during Ramadan. I suggest for non-muslims, it's probably best to avoid visiting Morocco during Ramadan. Leave a Comment
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Since Morocco is an Islamic country, I'm pretty sure most women wonder if they should dress conservatively when they visit. There is no dress code.
Women in Morocco wear the traditional "jelaba" (ankle-length, long-sleeved, loosely-fitting gown), scarf (to cover the hair), Western suits, tight shirts/blouses, tank tops, tight jeans, shorts, mini-skirts, etc. The choice of clothing tends to depend on age and occupation. In general, young women especially teenagers, wear sexy or casual Western clothes, professional women wear Western style business suits and older women wear jelabas.
As for swimwear/beachwear: if you go to the beach where there are lots of locals, I recommend 1 piece suits. For remote beaches, 2-piece suit would be okay and that's true too for hotel swimming pools.
Most of my visits in Morocco were in summer so I always wore shorts and tank tops as you can see in my photos. I've never encountered any problem with it.
However, on tours of mosques and other holy places, you will need to dress conservatively, just as you would dress to enter a church in the U.S. (no shorts or tank tops). As in any country, discretion with respect to your attire will help avoid unwanted attention. Leave a Comment
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Remember than women must ‘cover up’ even if you don’t like it it is the respectful thing to do. You don’t have to cover your head if you really don’t want to, but it is a good idea to wear a long skirt with a high necked top. You should also wear long sleeves or use a light weight shawl (which are easy to purchase there) to cover your shoulders whilst In public.
Most big cities are used to westerners now, but don’t get offended it you get some cat calls. If you are travelling through small towns this is where you should really dress conservatively.
On a brighter note; I live in Southern Spain and found the old men there more Sleazy than in Morocco!!c* Leave a Comment
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Have a look at what the banknotes of 200, 100, 50 and 10 dirham look like. They all bear on one face the picture of the king. Until 2004, it was still king Hassan II and the new king Mohamed VI had not yet issued banknotes with his portrait. On the other side various landscapes or scenes of Moroccan life. Leave a Comment
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Ethnic groups: Arab-Berber 99.1%, other 0.7%, Jewish 0.2%
Religions: Muslim 98.7%, Christian 1.1%, Jewish 0.2%
Languages: Arabic (official), Berber dialects, French often the language.
Picture:
This two people are brother and sister. The man went with me and my friends and showed us his village. We also lunched at his place where his daughter along with my girl friends cooked an amazing vegetarian couscous. Leave a Comment
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Islam is the Religon in Morocco. You should know people are very religious and there are a couple of sentences and words you should learn in order to be polite in certain situations:
If someone asks if you are ok, say:
Al-Hamdu lilah (Thanks to Allah);
If you start something like a meal, entering a car, starting a journey, drinking tea, say:
Bis-millah (In the name of Allah);
If you start eating or drinking say "Enjoy your meal" like this:
Bi-sa-ha, ao ra-ha (with health and pleasure);
If you meet someone, say:
La-bass? (how are you)
Thank You= Shukran
Hello/Bye Bye (southern berber places)=La-une Leave a Comment
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Linguistically, Berber belongs to the Afro-Asiatic group, and has many dialects. The three main dialects used in Morocco are Tachelhit, Tamazight and Tarifit. Collectively, they are known as "shilha" in Arabic.
Tachelhit (sometimes known as "soussi" or "cleuh") is spoken in south-west Morocco, in an area between Ifni in the south, Agadir in the north and Marrakech and the Draa/Sous valleys in the east.
Info taken from www.al-bab.com Leave a Comment
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on May 13, 2004
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