How I Visited Morocco For Super Cheap! (My Trip Cost Revealed) Last Updated: June 2, 2021
I traveled solo to Morocco on a budget and here I am revealing how I did it.
Trip duration: 4 nights, 5 days
Cost: EUR 255 / INR 20,810 / USD 279
Itinerary: 4 nights, 5 days (3 nights in Fez and 1 night in Marrakech)
“Are you serious? You are going to Morocco alone?” , “Morocco is not safe for girls. Don’t travel alone. Take a friend with you or change your destination.”, “Wow, girl! You have guts to take this trip on your own” – just some of the sentences I was told before my trip to Morocco.
I was scared and confident at the same time. The perception of Morocco is very similar to my home country, India. If I was a non-Indian visiting India alone, I would have probably received the same heads up – “UNSAFE FOR WOMEN”. Living in India for almost 23 years of my life, I was optimistic about the whole solo traveling experience.
So, I decided to do this trip anyway. Planning Morocco on a budget was the real challenge for me. I visited the country during my break when I was studying in Madrid, Spain.
1. Visa
As an Indian passport holder, I needed a visa. This was the first time I was applying for a visa from another country. I knew I would get it but I wasn’t sure when since the Embassy of Morocco was super laid back about it. I had to make a trip to the Embassy at least 5 times to follow up and finally, a day before my flight they printed the visa in front of me and stuck it on my passport for the duration of my trip.
Cost of visa: EUR 20.50
2. Travel
The cheapest flight from Madrid was to Fez. Another option was to take a ferry from the South of Spain but that took way longer and was more expensive. Before every trip, I make an excel sheet where I note down the places to see, things to do, vegetarian and local food to eat ( I am a Lacto vegetarian, yes).
In the same excel, I also make a rough day-wise itinerary based on my budget that includes the cost of travel, stays, and attractions/ activities that I would like to do.
The way I plan my air travel is by going on Google Flights, selecting my current location and the country where I want to go. (Please note, I select the country I want to visit and not any particular city in that country). I then click on ‘Explore destinations’ which gives me a good overview of the costs of every city in that country from my current location. This is when I mix and match with a round trip and multi-city options to check where I get the cheapest deal.
Following the above method, I got the best deal by flying into Fez and flying out of Marrakech on the dates I wanted to be there. I was also getting a decent price for a flight from Fez to Marrakech. The train was an option too but given the time I had, the flight was the best option so I was willing to pay a little more and take a one-hour flight rather than spending 7-8 hours on the train.
Traveling to Morocco on a budget looks like this:
Madrid to Fez flight: EUR 21.50
Fez to Marrakech flight: EUR 41.11
Marrakech to flight: EUR 43
While I was in Fez, I took a day trip to Chefchaouen which had been on my bucket list for a while. It was a 6 to 7-hour bus ride one way from Fez but worth it.
Cost of Fez to Chefchaouen round trip by bus: EUR 14
Besides this, I took three taxis in total while traveling to airports and the hostel in Morocco. Thankfully on my first day in Morocco, my friend was on the same flight as me. He is a local from Fez and was sweet to offer me a ride to the place where I was staying in Fez.
Cost of three taxi rides: EUR 11.5
I also used the local bus in Marrakech to travel to a couple of attractions.
Cost of the bus tickets: EUR 3.25
Total travel expense (including flights, taxis, and buses): EUR 134.36
3. Stay
As a part of planning a trip to Morocco on a budget, I took a chance and decided to couch surf for the second time. My first time Couchsurfing was in Chicago a few years back and I had a great experience.
The idea of Couchsurfing in Morocco seemed a bit daunting at first but I always check the reviews before approaching someone to host me. And I always reach out to girls ONLY. I found a great place to crash with two girls – one Korean and one French. We cooked dinner together and I also explored Fez with one of them! The stay was free because I was Couchsurfing but we exchanged our cultures and learned so much about each other’s country, our food, and people.
In Marrakech, I stayed at a hostel for a night. I met an American backpacker who was traveling around the world for the last 8 months. We had a great conversation and spent my time in Marrakech together. She also happened to visit me in Madrid a couple of months later and we went to a Spanish festival too.
Cost of hostel for one night: EUR 9 (incl. breakfast)
4. Food
As a vegetarian, it has been a struggle finding enough options in many places but in Morocco, there were plenty of options to survive on. I prefer trying local vegetarian food as much as possible. Right from freshly squeezed orange juice from the street vendors to falafels to local sweets to couscous to tagine to Moroccan tea, I tried it all. As mentioned earlier, I cooked dinner with my new Couchsurfing friends the first two nights. We bought groceries and cooked our meals together. Food in Morocco on a budget was fairly easy too.
Cost of food including groceries: EUR 25
5. Attractions and activities
When I am traveling on a budget, I ask myself what are the attractions that I REALLY want to see. I prefer visiting places that interest me rather than trying to cover all possible attractions for the sake of it. For example, the Moroccan hammam is a popular ritual that is similar to a Turkish bath. It is a steamed room where people can clean themselves with essential oils. It can be private or public.
Even though I was visiting Morocco on a budget, I knew I had to experience it. So I asked a few locals and got myself an authentic Moroccan bath or ‘Hammam’ as you call it.
Cost of Hammam: EUR 9.25
In terms of attractions, I visited the Bou Inania Madrasa in Fez and the Bahia Palace in Marrakech.
Cost of attractions: EUR 9
6. Shopping
This includes the local sweets I bought for my friends in Madrid, a local SIM card for my stay, a small kettle for my mom, Moroccan oil, a bookmark for my roommate, a pair of slippers, and postcards. I love collecting postcards from every place I visit.
Cost of shopping: EUR 32
Total cost of the trip (EUR 20.50 + EUR 134.36 + EUR 9 + EUR 25 + EUR 9.25 + EUR 9 + EUR 32) = EUR 239 approx
Please note: The article mentions costs that are based on the current exchange rate and they are an approximation of the amount I spent when I traveled to Morocco in June 2019.
I hope this article gives you some inspiration for budget traveling.
My overall experience on this 5 day trip to Morocco was pretty awesome. I will probably focus more on the pros and cons of traveling to Morocco as a solo female traveler in my next article. If you have any questions for me, shoot them in the comments below.
Until then, happy wanderlusting!
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You are so cool! I don’t believe I have read through anything like this before. So great to find somebody with genuine thoughts on this subject. Seriously.. thanks for starting this up. This site is one thing that’s needed on the internet, someone with some originality!