Travelling In Morocco On A Budget

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Camping +/- 20 km away from Dades Valley in atlas mountains

There are usually 3 obstacles that prevent us from travelling: TIME, MONEY, FEAR. I can’t give you a solution for your chronic lack of time. I can help you to get rid of your fear and the most certainly I can tell you how to solve the money issue :)

Travelling may be expensive, but it depends HOW you do it. Choosing a five-star hotel and going to the most touristy places is not the best thing to do when you wanna travel on a budget. Here are some first-hand (checked!) tips that will let you travel without spending all your savings.

LOW-COST AIRLINES

Luckily Morocco is (for now) the only African country where Ryanair flies! I once booked a flight Rabat-Brussels-Warsaw, Warsaw-Brussels-Rabat for… 85 euros! Take an advantage of that. The only thing that may bother you is staying overnight at some airports… and that Ryanair’s seats are terribly uncomfortable for tall people… But trust me it’s worth suffering some hours if we’re talking about saving few hundreds euros.
Once you’re in Morocco (or any other country) you can also try hitchhiking. I haven’t done this myself (yet) but I know many people who did.

TENTS

There’re lots, lots of camping spots in Morocco. The nature is really stunning and you can camp on a beach, by the rivers, in the mountains… The farther from big cities the safer, calmer and more exciting. If you’e not a fan of tents you can find really cheap accommodation in faraway places (far from big cities and close to nature) for 10-15 euros a night with half-board.

LOCAL FOOD

Make a good use of Moroccan veggies, especially during their season, buy from street vendors to get fresh fruits and vegetables. Go off the beaten track and eat in snacks and bars far from tourist areas, where the price is up to eight times higher than normally!

Local lunch: lentils in tomato sauce with onion and bread

MAKE FRIENDS

This is probably the best thing that will make your trip amazing: making friends with locals. Nowadays it’s easy to do: via Couch Surfing or numerous travel groups on Facebook. I am personally a member of groups for ladies travelling solo, foreigners in Morocco, nomads, travel bloggers and many, many other. People who actually live in the city you’re visiting are better than maps and anything else – it’s them who will show you what you’ll never see if you book an all-inclusive trip.

FREE ATTRACTIONS

Avoid touristy places! That’s my golden rule that I always stick to when travelling. Reasons? First of all, you see the real life in the country – you experience local culture, eat the best food, see places that tourists don’t visit. Second, it’s a big money-saver! Trust me, if you dig deeper you’ll see a lot of things for free: abandoned houses; little restaurants; beautiful beaches and hidden caves; unique shops whose sellers won’t rip you off your money; local clubs and pubs.

TAXI

Trust me, a driver doesn’t need to be smart to see who’s a tourist and who’s a local. When I see foreigners in Casablanca I can recognize who is local here and who is just passing by. How? Simply by… the way they cross the street or catch a taxi. Sounds weird, but it’s true.

I once had a tour in Casa with two girls from Holland. They complained to me that taxis here were as expensive as in Amsterdam. I asked them about the way they were taking taxis… And everything was clear. Drivers took advantage of their lack of knowledge about the secret rules in the city and charged them five times more for each ride… To avoid being ripped off follow my guide carefully. Read it twice. Or three times. And drill to your head!

Taxis are the most popular means of transport in Morocco so it’s good to be prepared…

the last tip, but probably the most important for travelling in general…

SACRIFICES, MOTIVATION, COUNTING

Try to make a list of priorities: what is absolutely necessary, essential and what can wait. Make a box and each time you have some spare money-put it there and forget about it. At the beginning of the month do some counting: how much you’ll spend on inevitable things such as phone, rent, paying off loans, etc. Thanks to this you’ll know how much you can save.

I hope that this article can be useful for you guys. If you have any questions, if you are still hesitating, can’t find cheap flights, want to have an inspiring trip to local places or discover Moroccan cuisine and buy quality products in Casablanca – drop me a message bewilderedinmorocco@gmail.com for a tour tailored for you :)

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