First published on M&W JustTravel!
1. Entry
Citizens of the EU require a passport to enter Morocco, which must be valid for at least 6 months after the trip.
When entering Morocco, you will receive a (free) stamp in your passport, together with a number: this number is the personal number for the entire stay in Morocco and must be filled in at the hotel check-in on the registration form.
2. Money
The Moroccan dirham (Dh) is currently at a ratio of about 1:10 to the euro (ie for 1 EUR you get about 10 Dh). The currency is issued in notes of 200, 100, 50, and 20 banknotes, as well as coins of 10, 5, 1 dh. It is best to draw a certain dirham amount from a local ATM at the airport as starting capital for the first few days. In rural areas you can only pay with Dirham, in the cities Euros are also accepted. Please make sure that you do not tip Euro Munich as a tip, the locals cannot exchange them and so they are forced to speak to tourists and ask for a change in dirham, which some tourists confuse with begging.
3. Sockets
Mobile phones can be charged without any problems because Morocco has the perfect sockets for 2-pin European plugs.
With the German Schukko plugs, however, you cannot plug directly into a Moroccan socket, because you need an adapter plug.
4. Language
In Morocco, Arabic and French have equal rights in the official field. This comes from before independence when Morocco was a French protectorate.
It is not easy for people who speak French or Arabic to understand people, because the local dialect is a mixture of Arabic, French, and Berber. And here we are with the next language topic and already quite deep in the culture: the vast majority of Moroccans are Berbers (yes, also in the cities) and the Berbers have their own language and their own writing. That is why many signs are trilingual:
We experienced the Berbers as absolute language talents, (except in Marrakech) you can get by almost all over the country with English and also Spaniards (a large group of tourists) and Italians who are not known for their multilingualism come in theirs Mother’s tongue copes wonderfully! We found that very impressive!
The most important vocabulary
5. Mobile phone / local SIM card
If you are traveling alone or if long-term availability is important, you should buy a local Moroccan SIM card at the airport. There are different providers; it is relatively cheap for everyone.
Otherwise, many restaurants in the cities and all the riads we have stayed in have reasonable WiFi. That was enough for us because during the day you are so captivated by this fascinating country that you hardly have time to deal with your cell phone anyway – apart from taking a lot of photos!
6. Driving a car
You can make a wonderful Morocco tour with a rental car; the highways are toll, but in good condition. The main roads are easy to drive and in general, we noticed a rather civilized driving style; This may also be due to the fact that the police have a very strong presence, especially with mobile radar measuring devices. It is also collected on the spot. As a rule of thumb, you can remember that wherever there are houses, a speed limit of 60 applies, except for the town of 80 and on the motorway 100 to 120 km / h. Nevertheless: always watch out for speed signs; the police are not far to check compliance with the speed limits. In addition, there are also signs to warn oncoming traffic of speed traps.
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