[Music]
hey there fellow travelers mark here
with walters world and today we're here
in marrakech morocco
and today we have for you are things you
should know before you come to morocco
for the first time because this is a
really fantastic place
lots of different regions great colors
great food great people
and so we're going to go through what
you need to know before you come and one
of the questions people have is mark do
i need a visa to go to morocco
actually more likely than not you do not
if you're from europe from the u.s
canada
no visa needed so there's very few
places that need a visa so
it's very easy to come here because they
really want tourists to come
which is awesome the thing is when you
come in one thing i want to get you
ready for is
the line yeah when you're coming through
customs might take a while now
you get lucky it could be 20 minutes or
it could take two hours so be ready for
that
one of the reasons why it takes so long
is inside your passport
they write a number down and that's like
your tourist number so when you're going
to your hotels
or your riyads where you really should
stay i'll talk about the accommodations
they're going to have that number and
you're gonna use that quite often okay
so
have a heads up for that so when you're
at the airport what i recommend is get
some dirham the local currency
when you are there because it's very
difficult if not impossible
to get it from outside the country so
you need to get it when you're here so
exchange some money when you get to the
airport when you arrive
yes the exchange rates aren't gonna be
that good but at least you'll have some
cash
because morocco is a cash-based society
you're paying cash all the time okay now
credit cards you can pay them at nicer
restaurants and hotels and stuff like
that
but you're here in the markets and
you're negotiating stuff cash is what
you're going to use
okay now the theorem that they have you
can have bills and coins
the bills there's a 200 100 a 50 and a
20 dirham bill
also you can get coins the coins there's
a 10 a one a five i'll put the list up
all the coins that are up here too
and the thing is you want to break those
big bills because you want a tip
and you want to give out the money and
stuff like that and the thing is you
don't have a lot of change here
people always like no change no change
so you want to have smaller bills
now another thing is looking for atms
there's going to be atms at the airport
there's atms at the banks
they're not impossible to find it's
easier to find them in like the new
towns versus like medina places like
this
but you can find some there but just
know cash is what you're going to need
to have to get around
and the thing is when you're here you're
going to hag a lot when you shop
but we'll go into a nice quieter place
to finish this so we can actually talk a
bit more about what you should
know but i just want to give you a feel
for the jamal's now the main square here
in marrakech it is really cool place but
we'll go inside to talk about it
so we've come to the rooftops above
marrakech to continue on with this
because it got a little noise and a
little crazy there in the medina
the thing is in the medinas not just the
medina here in marrakesh but medina's
around you need to realize when you're
going to be shopping
you're going to be buying you know
things haggling is kind of a fact of
life here when you are shopping so
you're trying to buy rugs or some of
these cool lamps that are here or
even t-shirts and stuff like that you
will be bargaining
a lot now if you're a place like
marrakesh or in fez they're medina where
there's a lot of tourists coming
you're probably not going to get very
much bang for your bargaining buck
because they know
there's more tourists coming here but
you can save money that way
kind of expect to pay 25 to 50 percent
less
than the original asking price of the
local okay just to give you a heads up
now
not everything's negotiable but in
general there's usually some things you
can do to kind of
get through that and i know a lot of
tourists sometimes get upset with all
the negotiations and stuff like that
it's like oh i just want to buy stuff
and be done
well that doesn't work you can get upset
all you want it's not going to change
things you just need to realize
haglin is part of buying things when you
are here now some things it's not like
you to a normal store
you're in the new town and stuff like
that the price is the price but
in the soaks and the medina's and things
like that here in morocco you will be
kind of bargaining quite a bit so just
have a heads up for that one
going back to the money thing i guess i
should talk about the credit cards
you'll see a lot of places will have
every single credit card imaginable on
there that says oh we'll take it
if they take them the thing is they
won't like your american express or your
discover
they prefer like the visas and
mastercards okay so just have a heads up
for that one
they'll prefer that but again this is a
cash country so you're going to be using
cash all right
when you are doing this bargaining
you're going to be talking to the locals
right and so you probably want to know
is
what's the language they speak here well
arabic is the official language
most people speak french as the kind of
like working language kind of stuff
that's here
and the thing is if you're in tourism
industries you'll find a lot of english
you'll find spanish all kinds of stuff
because a lot of spanish tourists that
come here a lot of french tours that
come here and actually has become a
really kind of a popular destination
and they're doing a lot to kind of
improve the infrastructure and improve
the tourist experience here so
language-wise you're not going to be too
hard-pressed you know some french you'll
be fine
but do you learn a few words like the
merci which is thank you in french and
no mercy which is no thank you or if you
want to learn
arabic which is thank you or allah which
is no thank you i know i'm butchering it
but they'll get the idea when you're
there just
a few words can really make a big
difference the thing is that people are
very friendly here which is really nice
so they will help you out
just know that sometimes they could be a
little bit pushy when it comes to
selling stuff and things like that but
in general
the people are pretty chill here so
that's really nice now if you're looking
to get around the country what you need
to know is there's actually a decent
train system oncf
goes to a lot of places around the
country but most likely what you're
going to be doing is taking buses to go
places or if you can fly do that
and the country is rather large so you
know going for marrakech
doing a real sahara trip will take you
eight to ten hours in the car to get
down there
so just be prepared for that prepare for
lots of distances okay
now to get around there's cabs that are
here but make sure you negotiate
the price of your cab before you get in
so everything's on the up and up just
for a heads up for that one
and there are the grand taxis the big
taxis the thing is the ground is big not
like great okay so just have a heads up
for that
you'll get more people and they're more
smooshed in so have a heads up and if
you're going out to like
towns that are kind of smaller towns and
stuff like that you might have mini vans
or many buses to do it so just have a
heads up for that the thing you got to
realize
is when you are here you know there's
all kinds of different regions that are
here and a lot of people ask
well mark where should we go how do i
see it all well we need to know is
there's four main regions
here in morocco you've got the mountains
and yes there's some mountains there
behind us
the atlas mountains and stuff like that
go far down you have that you have the
sahara desert okay you have that region
you have the coast
and the other plains where we are right
now what i recommend is don't try to do
every single thing because the country
is actually really
really large and so maybe pick a couple
areas to focus on when you are here
that will make things a lot easier also
i think i should talk about the weather
now because if you look back there
if you can actually see the mountains
there's snow on top of them yes snow
look in the winter time if you're coming
in november december january february
march
it does get chilly here i'm not saying
it's cold i'm just saying it's chilly
like every morning we're putting
sweatshirts on to go see the city i mean
we take it off by 10 or 11
and then at night when the sun goes down
it does cool off a bit and what you need
to know if you're going to be doing one
of those sahara tours and things like
that
the differences in the temperature
between day and night is very extreme
so make sure you do have multiple layers
if you're going to be coming okay so a
heads up for that one
also if you're going to be coming in the
summer man if you're here may through
august we're talking you can get to 50
celsius in the hundreds in fahrenheit
and it can be very hot and the thing is
you want to make sure you're keeping
hydrated okay
and in morocco stick to the bottled
water okay just stick the bottled water
it's probably a better bet for your
tummy when you're doing that so do use a
bottle of water when you are here
now some other things we need to talk
about is one thing is people like to ask
what about the wi-fi do they have
internet there
like yes the internet's everywhere
people the internet here has been fine
i've been on youtube we've watched
movies the kids are watching their
netflix and stuff like that at night
before we go to bed no problems there i
have seen
in the the riyadh's the hotels wi-fi
runs pretty fine
some of your sites might be a little bit
slower than you're used to
also some apps might not work when
they're here they might be controlled
here so be careful with that but in
general
having any problems one thing i will say
though with cell service and cell
coverage
if you're going to be going to explore
and you're going to the sahara desert
you're going up into the mountains
your cell coverage will obviously drop
off a bit so just have a heads up for
that so
if you're going to be doing hikes and
things like that you think oh my cell
will help me out
make sure you let you know your hotel
you're staying in or your riyadh or
whatever
what your plans are so they know if
you're coming back or not just to be
safe but
in general not too many words that you
wouldn't expect in a normal country like
this okay
another thing if you're looking at
plugging your devices because look
you're going to be taking tons of
pictures when you're here this place is
beautiful it's not just the blue city in
the north
there's in the mountains there's just so
many cool things to see here
you're gonna want to plug things in and
it's a standard european plug you know
the two circle things
standard plug to use here no problem at
all so that's kind of nice now another
thing people like to know when they
travel is
mark is it safe when you go to morocco
we found morocco be actually pretty safe
i mean i
haven't had any issues there i mean
there's going to be the usual
pickpockets in the medina kind of thing
just like you have pickpockets the
main sites of rome and things like that
also female travelers i do recommend you
dress conservatively when you are here
because there have been issues about
that
i know jocelyn has talked to us if you
watch our five love and hates of
marrakesh
she'll talk about how sometimes she felt
kind of left out of things
because it was kind of like the male
tours were treated a little bit
different than the female tourists
so do have a heads up for that if you
are a female tourist coming to morocco
i highly highly highly highly recommend
barack mama it's a website you can go
check out
lady lives here and gives all kinds of
great advice for females traveling to
morocco
so that's one thing i would look out for
that and go check out her site but in
general your safety
you're gonna be pretty okay here
probably the biggest safeties you're
gonna have is when you're on the road
okay or when you're walking
near the road because you will see
there's cars there's buses there's
donkeys pulling carts there's
mopeds there's motorcycles there's bikes
all kinds of stuff going so it can be a
bit dangerous so make sure you're always
paying attention
you've got your little kids make sure
you keep them with you when you when you
are here or next to you especially the
medina
i mean people are going to steal your
kid but the thing is they could get lost
and it's very easy to get lost i guess
that could be a safety thing because i
did see some tourists freaking out
where are we where are we the right
place in the medina look
you'll find your way out it's always
important to keep a map with you in one
of the bigger cities with the medina's
like in fez and stuff like that
we're here in marrakesh you want to do
that if you're in like casablanca
casablanca is a modern city you know
with the modern buildings and stuff like
that
and the thing is when people think of
morocco they usually think of the
medina's kind of stuff which you have to
realize is morocco is a very
you know very advanced i mean it's it's
a normal country so there's normal
cities too
and they'll have the new city and then
the old town the medina part so you can
have those two different areas okay
another thing is you might want to look
at accommodation you're coming here now
morocco is putting a lot of money into
tours of infrastructure
to build new hotels new resorts getting
people to go to the beach and surf there
and stuff like that
so you do have a wide variety of
accommodations when you come here
hotels resorts things like that you can
look around if you're going to the
sahara desert yes you can sleep in the
tents and do those kind of things it's
really pretty cool
but for my biggest bang for the book the
best experience for us is staying at
riads and what a riyadh is
it's basically a mult it's a
multi-family home that has a courtyard
in the center that's now been turned
into a hotel
the thing is these courtyards will be
gorgeous with plants and stuff like that
and they've done up a lot of them really
nice inside
a lot of the rounds will have wonderful
restaurants inside too or they'll have
where i'm at now up on the rooftops
where you can have drinks and stuff like
that it's
really really a great thing but there is
a lot of accommodation options you won't
have too much for trouble with that
um another thing is sometimes people
want to know is hey when do i sign up
for my tours and right do i show you
tours and stuff like that
here in morocco i do recommend doing
tours because if you're french is very
good or arabic your burberry is not
quite there
the tour guides really make things a lot
easier especially negotiations and stuff
like that
it just makes takes a little bit easier
on you so do have a heads up so you
might want to consider that and the
thing is you don't have to sign up for a
tour like
months in advance if you're coming here
your hotel your riyad
your resort they can set up tours for
you just fine so you do have that
okay and there is a ton of tour tour
guides here and people try to sell you
things
i recommend booking from your hotel
because if the thing goes wrong you can
yell at your hotel
whereas when you book it on the street
they're like hey whatever okay so that
is one thing
and that's one thing i have anywhere in
the world okay you book from a hotel
just see if someone yell out of things
go wrong now another big part of tourism
is actually the food and the food here
in morocco
is wonderful and the thing is most of it
is grown here in morocco so if you're on
the coast
you're eating the fish if you're here in
the plains you're having the vegetables
and the fruits that are grown here you
have
all kinds of really great locally
produced foods like you won't see a ton
of food
you know at the stores and stuff like
that in the markets but you will see the
food you're like wow
look at all the spices look at all those
veggies and those fruits you will eat
really well when you are here
and the thing is you have this thing
called tagine okay and tashin you'll see
it on there like oh tajin it's one thing
no tagine is is this pot you'll see it's
like a pyramid pot you know and they
cook it in there into like a stew kind
of thing
the thing is you can have rabbit you can
have lamb you can have beef you can have
chicken in it
there's all kinds of different flavors i
know we had one with onion and rabbit oh
my god it was
so good well you'll probably find a lot
there's a beef one that we actually made
at a cooking class that's here
you can do there's one that's a chicken
and lemon which is always like a nice
backup kind of stuff so you can have
that but there's a lot of different
tagines out there you can have so that's
kind of an easy go-to one that will be
all over the place
also couscous is very popular here which
you might have with it
couscous is a big friday kind of thing
so it might come as a side dish on a
friday
or if you're in some of the smaller
towns my couscous might not be available
unless it's friday
so you do have that but we have a whole
video on with actually a local chef
talking about the food here in morocco
so if you check down below we'll put the
link up for you
so you can do that she also does cooking
classes so that could be something for
you
another thing is when you're looking at
what you're going to drink when you're
here like i said stick to the bottled
water when you're here in morocco but
the probably the tastiest thing to drink
when you are here
is the mint tea and the mint tea is kind
of like a welcome drink so if you go to
your reality or hotel they might have a
mint tea for you just to start off or
you're negotiating for your
your carpets or whatever mint tea is
kind of a popular thing
it's really really good so you
definitely have to have that when you're
here
also bread is like a staple here you
have fried bread you have baked bread
you have normal bread you have all kinds
of different breads when you're here so
just know
if you're a car person you got some
problems because it's not just the bread
it's also lots of pastries that are here
that are really good
there's one that i've had i've actually
it's it's a pastry with chicken inside
and nuts in it and it was
so good they actually have a dessert
version of it which was chocolate and
dried fruits in it i'm like oh my god
it was amazing so there's a lot of
really good food you can have when
you're here
now another thing you should know is you
know a lot of people say well
i'm going to morocco it's a muslim
country so there won't be any alcohol
well
in morocco they're pretty laid back like
they're pretty open to everybody that's
what's cool about morocco they're very
open for all kinds of people and the
thing is if you like alcohol
you can come here if you're going to
drink something i highly
recommend the moroccan wine i mean we've
had some really good moroccan wines reds
whites grays
really good stuff so drink the local
wine when you're here you'll be fine
now i'm not saying come here for like a
bender or coming here for a bachelor
stag party kind of stuff
you don't do that in morocco okay but
the thing is you can enjoy some really
nice wine when you are here
now another thing i kind of want to talk
about with religion here is one thing
you need to realize is unless you're
muslim you will not be allowed to go
into the mosque
they're beautiful from the outside you
want to go in but you're not allowed now
in casablanca this big one you can go
into there
you can see that but it's kind of
disappointing like man all these
buildings are so beautiful inside versus
outside
i can only imagine how beautiful the
moss are on the inside but you can't see
it as a tourist unless you're muslim so
if you want to see it
go online to see some of the pictures
you'd like wow it is gorgeous because
literally when you go inside the
buildings in morocco it's so much more
beautiful than the outside of the
buildings i mean
the doorways are beautiful but once you
go through the doorways the interior
parts of homes and stuff like that and
rion's and stuff are just
gorgeous with the courtyards and the
thing is you're going to want to take a
lot of pictures of these courtyards all
these doorways and stuff like that
and taking pictures is fine i will warn
you though if you're going to be taking
pictures
of people you need to ask them
beforehand and they might say no
so you need to respect that or they
might say yeah sure but you got to pay
me you got to give me a tip to take the
picture
and don't be like oh i don't have any
money then don't take the picture okay
because they'll follow you around
and the thing is if you're going to be
going to the markets like here in
marrakech you'll see the snake charmers
and you'll see the people the monkeys
and the animals and all kinds of stuff
want to say oh come take a picture
whatever realize you're going to be
paying those people to take that picture
and don't sit there and take a ton of
pictures go oh i don't have any money
anything like that
believe me they will follow you and no
one's going to feel sorry for you and
they're like give me some money come on
you got to tip me this is how we make
our living
because that is how they make their
living okay so just have a heads up for
that
and just respect things now if you're
taking like you know pictures of the
beautiful moss from the outside and
in the medinas and things like that
that's okay but if people go like this
you know when you're going by shops
be respectful for that because that's
one of the things we as tourists need to
do is respect the people when we are
there
so we've got three things left we're
going to talk about the prices we're
going to talk about the people and we're
going to talk about the places you want
to visit when you're here
in terms of prices morocco is actually
not that bad i mean honestly
we're staying a really nice hotel for a
fantastic price now it's not
cheap but it is an affordable place to
visit where you really save your money
is where you're eating you get this
amazing food when we're here which we
talked about the thing is
it's at a fractional price you'd have
something you know in western europe or
in a big city in the u.s
i mean a nice meal in marrakech on the
square which is obviously tourist
tracked up prices
the four of us ate there with dessert
for about 67
68 i mean i can't do that at tgi fridays
with my family in my little town i live
in
so the thing is you will do your money
will go far when you're doing stuff here
so that's kind of a nice thing to know
okay another thing i want to talk about
are the people the people in morocco
super friendly super funny super kind
and the thing is
if you got kids get a local jersey and
we've got our kids the morocco jersey
and everyone's like hey
if you'll take us in their houses and
not asking for money either you had to
do it like hey
no no here that's cool you got his
jersey awesome he's a parisian door but
now
and it's so funny because we got a video
where we're walking through the medina
and just hear people
calling out our kids because they're
jerseys it's pretty cool but the thing
is people are really nice
yes they can be pushing when it's in the
sales position so just relax with that
but they're still actually very friendly
in general
they're very welcoming that's one of the
nice things the maracas are very very
welcoming
which is very different than other
places you go and travel to it's like
now yes there's lots of tourists that
come here but they're still welcoming
for all those tours so that's really a
nice thing
and if you're looking at places you want
to go okay the famous places okay so
marrakesh
that's probably the most go-to one for a
lot of people here you've got the medina
to see when you're here you've got some
museums you've got the bahia palace you
can go check out you have that
if you go up to fez and fez that medina
is even cooler than this one the medina
is a market
place you have that you can go up the
north and see chefchaouen the blue city
the one you've seen all the instagram
pictures
the one that's on the like all the
moroccan tourism stuff you can go see
that
you can do a tour in the sahara and i'll
tell you when you're gonna do a tour for
the sahara
look one two days no you need to do a
few more days because how far it is
and the thing is you want to make sure
when you go you want to go for the one
that starts or goes through
mirzoga okay the thing is i'm sure to
say it wrong so that's why i spell it
down there but
when you're doing that one the hair too
that starts through there or goes
through there
that's probably the one that's going to
give you a better bang for your buck
than the other ones
so you do have that okay also you could
do you can of course hit the coastline
and stuff like that
casablanca though i would say casablanca
is more of a you know it's an industrial
city so
financial city so not great for the
tourism but still a good place to fly
out of
because i know we're headed to casa
blanc and we're actually going to fly
out of there because i got really good
cheap tickets to portugal from there
so that was really cool anyway i hope
this helps you know a little bit more
about what you should know
before you come to morocco it really is
a fantastic country we've really enjoyed
us the people have been really great the
food's been great
really cool things to see a wonderful
place really pretty safe to go see too
so i hope you have a good time oh there
is one safety thing i'm going to tell
you about
the stray cats you'll see a lot of
straight cats when you're here
don't pet them okay just fyi i know
they're cute i know they're cuddly
but don't do it all right so i'll say
bye for morocco and if you want to find
more
the 10 shocks of visiting morocco what
you love and hate about busy marrakesh
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we'll see you later and we wish you a
great time here in morocco bye