Tips For Women Travelling In Morocco

Oct 11, 2022

tips-for-morocco-women-tour

Travelling in Morocco is an exceptional and exciting cultural experience that should be on any women’s Bucket list.  Here are a few reasons why you should travel to Morocco but also important things that women travelling in Morocco should remember.

Why Morocco?

I could start with no loadshedding! Women travelling in Morocco find it an alluring and exotic destination. Morocco has a romantic connotation made famous by Hollywood films such as Lawrence of Arabia. Not only is it romantic, but, it is loud and colourful, beautiful and chaotic. It is a trip from ancient and modern cities, gorgeous coastal resorts to remote villages on the edge of the desert, or, high up in the Atlas mountains with a culture, customs and traditions we are not familiar with. All this makes it a unique and exciting trip into the unknown.

Safety

Many women ask if it is safe to travel in Morocco. The short answer is yes. A female solo traveller wrote that she felt extremely safe and welcomed everywhere she went. She was shown compassion and kindness when she was stranded overnight in a small town. However the same safety rules for everywhere in the world will apply.

There is petty crime and as a female solo traveller, you may get unwanted attention from men in Morocco. As always use common sense when travelling. After dark, rather walk in groups; there is more safety in groups. Stay within crowded areas rather than isolated ones. Make sure you know the way back to your Riad as this is not the time to ask a stranger to guide you. You will have to pay him too! Which is why Morocco is perhaps a destination best enjoyed with a small tour group of women.

What to wear

Morocco is not the place to show off your wealth.  You should dress more modestly than you may at home. Show respect for their culture. Cities like Casablanca and Marrakech are more modern in attitude but in rural villages, such as Imlil, a small village in the Atlas mountains, it is advisable to dress more conservatively. This doesn’t mean you need to cover yourself from head to toe, but, just avoid wearing anything that shows a lot of skin.

Here are a few tips that women travelling in Morocco can follow:

  • Loose fitting clothes are always the best as tight clothes are frowned on by the locals. In the cities a tight jean combined with loose fitting t-shirt or blouse covering the derriere area is acceptable.
  • Shoulders and upper arms should be covered by a sleeve or scarf.
  • Loose flowing dresses below knee height are ideal for warmer weather and during cooler evenings a scarf is ideal to cover the shoulders for more warmth.
  • Ideal tops would be shirts or casual blouses covering shoulders and upper arms, preferably up to elbows, as well as, the derriere area.
  • It is warm to hot during the day in the desert, but the camel safari will be just before sunset which means the desert would have cooled down a bit by then. Wear very casual clothes – harem pants and t-shirt and a jacket for the evening. Turbans to cover your head can be bought in Merzouga.
  • Be smart about shoes. You cannot walk with heels on cobblestones in the Medina!

Women love Shopping

Souvenir shopping is mostly done in the souks and paid for in cash. There are no price tags. Be prepared to haggle for the best price. Here are some of the things you can only find in Morocco.

 

Babouches

Babouches are traditional Moroccan shoes and come in all colours and patterns.

slippers-in-fez

Moroccan Leather

The most famous tannery is the Chouara Tannery in Fez. You can buy leather slippers, bags, jackets, wallets, belts to name a few.

moroccan-leather-shop

Lanterns

Moroccan lanterns are designed to reflect traditional Moroccan art, architecture, and culture. The result is a beautiful and exotic-looking fluorescent lantern that makes for an excellent house decoration piece.

moroccan-lanterns

Rugs and carpets

Rugs have been produced in Morocco for thousands of years, woven by indigenous peoples for practical purposes such as covering the floor and keeping warm.    The medina of Fez and Marrakech’s bustling souks are great places to buy rugs and carpets in Morocco.

rugs-and-carpets-in-morocco

Coloured tea cups

Take a Moroccan teaset home to drink mint tea in a coloured tea cup while reminiscing about the wonderful time you had with your friends experiencing all that Morocco had to offer.

coloured-moroccan-tea-cups

Women travelling together in good company

Winston Churchill found it captivating, Yves Saint-Laurent inspiring! Join a group of women with
The Adventurous Ewe and let’s find out for ourselves.