Morocco is cheaper than Europe and more expensive than people expect, and the reason for both is the same: there are two parallel economies, and which one you spend in depends less on your budget than on what you know.
All figures below are in Moroccan dirham (MAD). At the time of writing, roughly 10–11 dirham to the euro and 9–10 to the US dollar. The dirham is a closed currency — you cannot buy it in advance, and you should not leave with much of it.
Daily budgets
Backpacker: 400–600 MAD per day. Hostel dorm or basic riad room, street food and local restaurants, trains and shared grands taxis, occasional entry tickets.
Comfortable: 900–1,600 MAD per day. A good riad with breakfast, a mix of local and mid-range restaurants, some private transfers, guides for half-days, one or two paid activities.
Upmarket: 3,000+ MAD per day. Design riads or hotels, private driver throughout, guided everything, luxury desert camp.
The comfortable band is where most of our guests sit, and it buys a genuinely good trip — Morocco's mid-range is unusually strong.
Accommodation
- Hostel dorm bed: 80–150
- Simple riad room, medina: 300–600
- Good riad with courtyard and breakfast: 700–1,500
- Design riad / small luxury: 2,000–5,000
- Mountain gîte, half board: 200–350 per person
- Standard desert camp, full board: 400–700 per person
- "Luxury" desert camp, en-suite: 1,200–3,000 per person
Riad prices swing hard by season. October and April can be double February.
Food
- Bissara, harira or a bowl of soup: 10–20
- Msemen and mint tea, breakfast: 20–30
- Sandwich or street tagine, local place: 35–60
- Main course, mid-range restaurant: 80–150
- Dinner at a good riad or rooftop: 250–450
- Jemaa el-Fna food stall dinner: 60–120
- Bottle of water, shop: 5–8 (hotel minibar: 25)
- Mint tea, café: 10–20
The spread between the local place and the tourist restaurant is roughly four times for food of similar quality. One street back from a main square is usually where the price halves.
Transport
- Petit taxi across Marrakech: 20–40 (insist on the meter)
- Airport to Marrakech medina: 70–100 official rate
- Train, Marrakech–Casablanca, 2nd class: 100–140
- Al Boraq high-speed, Casablanca–Tangier: 200–400
- CTM coach, Marrakech–Essaouira: 90–110
- Grand taxi seat, intercity: 30–80 per seat
- Private driver with vehicle, per day: 1,000–1,500
- 4×4 with driver, desert routes: 1,500–2,200
The train is excellent value and the reason many Morocco trips cost less than expected. It does not, however, go anywhere near the desert or the mountains — that is where the driver cost appears.
Guides and activities
- Official city guide, half day: 300–500
- Official city guide, full day: 500–800
- Licensed mountain guide, per day: 600–800 (per group)
- Muleteer with mule: 150–200 per day
- Cook on a multi-day trek: 250–350 per day
- Ben Youssef Madrasa entry: 60–70
- Saadian Tombs: 70–100
- Majorelle Garden: 150–200 (plus 100–150 for the YSL museum)
- Hammam, neighbourhood: 15–50
- Hammam and gommage, riad spa: 300–800
Mountain guide rates are per group, not per person — a party of six pays the same guide fee as a party of two, which changes the maths for small groups considerably.
Organised tours
- Group 3-day Sahara tour, shared minibus, from Marrakech: 1,200–2,000 per person
- Private 3-day Sahara tour, 4×4: 5,000–9,000 for the vehicle and driver
- Group day trip to the Atlas: 250–500 per person
- Toubkal ascent, 2 days, guided with refuge: 2,500–4,000 per person
- 6-day M'Goun traverse, fully supported: 7,000–11,000 per person
Tipping
Expected, modest, and cash.
- Restaurant: round up, or 5–10% at a good place
- Café: a few dirham
- Porter: 20
- Taxi: not expected; round up
- City guide, half day: 50–100
- Mountain guide, per day: 100–150 from the group
- Muleteer, per day: 50–80
- Desert camp staff: 50–100 per guest for the night
On a multi-day trek, tips are usually collected at the end and given to the guide to distribute. Ask him how it is normally split — he will tell you straight.
Where the money leaks
Airport taxis. The official rate is posted. Drivers quoting 300 for a 100-dirham run are counting on your arrival fatigue.
Not carrying cash. Cards work in city restaurants and riads and nowhere in the mountains, the desert, village shops or cooperatives. Withdraw before you go south or up. ATMs in Merzouga and Imlil exist and run dry.
Bottled water in hotels. Five times the shop price.
The first price. Souk prices open at three or four times the settling price. Haggling is expected and good-humoured; walking away is a normal move, not a snub.
Two-day desert tours. Cheap, and the worst value on this page, because you are paying for eighteen hours of driving to get three hours of desert.
A worked example
A comfortable seven-day trip for two — good riads, a private driver for the desert loop, half-day guides in Marrakech, a mix of restaurants, one desert camp night:
roughly 16,000–22,000 MAD for two people, excluding flights. That is around €1,500–2,000, or €110–145 per person per day.
The same week booked at the backpacker end, using trains and a group tour: closer to 6,000–8,000 MAD for two.
Both are real trips. The difference between them is mostly transfers and accommodation, not the country.
