Hello fellow budget hunters!
Most people who know me know how much I love a bargain! I buy all my clothes from charity shops and know exactly what time supermarkets near me reduce the food.. I’m down for a bargain!
So when we booked our tickets and trip to Morocco lots of people asked me how I could afford it? Well I’ve put together a guide of the costs in Morocco and how much we spent! (This is based on a couple so may be different for you)
Flights
Firstly – Flights we spent £43 each on return flights through Ryanair (not affiliated but I should be the amount of flights I’ve taken with them!) We flew at 6.10am from London Stansted and arrived in Marrakech at 10.15am. Sadly at this time of the morning the trains from Cambridge don’t run early enough for the recommended 2 hour window of security so we took the last train (£9.95 open return with 16-25 railcard) and camped out at the airport until security opened at 3.30am. If you don’t mind that situation it can get you very cheap flights!
Accommodation
Next we have accommodation so the first two nights we stayed in a hostel called Riad Dia which cost us £3.60 per person per night in a mixed 14 bed dorm. (5 euros or 50 dirhams) This wasn’t the cheapest hostel in Marrakech but it had great reviews and a good breakfast so we were happy! However we soon realised that it would cost us 6 or 7 euros each if we split a double room and gave us more privacy. In Essaouira we stayed in 2 different Riads that both cost £12 per night and £14 per night respectively but didn’t include breakfast but had ensuites.However these didn’t include the city tax which was 1 or 2 euros per night. We then stayed back in Marrakech in a very cheap £12 hotel which wasn’t particularly great and had an interesting ‘ensuite’ connected by a shower curtain so I wouldn’t recommend riad 63 for more than a night, everywhere else we stayed was lovely and no different from the 40 euro per night riads. All together we spent around £50 each on hotels and hostels!
Transport
Another cost was transport which we already spent £9.95 each in the UK (well my partner paid twice because he collected his tickets early then forgot to bring them with him!). We also bought a return ticket from the airport to central Marrakech which was 50 dirhams each (5 euros or £3.60 at the time). We also paid 150 dirhams for our return bus tickets to Essaouira (15 euros or £10.80) and that was it for transport.
Excursions
A big cost of ours was the trip to Zagora which was a 2 day 1 night trip to the Sahara desert (more about it on the Zagora blog post) we got the price down to 55 euros (£46) each and were happy as it included food and transport. If you’ve read the post you will understand we ended up paying another 170 dirhams for expensive food and trips we didn’t want! (£13.50 at the time)
Food
Finally the other expense for visiting Morocco is FOOD. I am a massive foodie so was very excited to try Moroccan food, although pre warning there isn’t a huge variety – it’s mainly tagine/couscous/ kebabs or panini style sandwiches. Without individually working out the cost of every meal we generally spent 50 dirhams each for a main meal around 30 for lunch and 10 for breakfast. We also had to buy water as you can’t drink the tap water in Morocco! We decided to buy a few 2 litre bottles for 6-8 dirhams each and then buy 5 litres for 12 and keep them filled up. We did this a lot but I doubt we spent more than 100 each during the whole 10 days. So I think we spent about 80 euros (£68) for food each during our 10 days in Morocco which could have been done cheaper but we decided to treat ourselves and eat where the locals did.
So if you can do the maths there you will realise that we spent… £244.85 each during our time there. (January 2017 prices) Everything was done in cash so this is a rough guide of the exchange rates but I hope this gives you an insight on roughly how much you would expect to spend for 10 days in Morocco.
That doesn’t look expensive at all! And there are so many things to see there. I think you just made me go to Morocco in the near future.
I love this! I was just looking at the cost of trips to Morocco for an upcoming surf trip to Taghazout, a fishing village. Were prices outside of Marrakech the same or cheaper than in Marrakech? Thanks for the awesome detail!
In Essaouira it was around the same price, if not slightly cheaper and I heard smaller villages had less tourist prices and more local prices!
I absolutely recommend getting yourself a portable filter – a Sawyer mini filter or a LifeStraw. Great tech these days. It totally solves pretty much any potable water supply issue during travel and gives even better freedom than having to constantly look to buy water.
What a fantastic, comprehensive post! I really love Morocco, we travelled around the north a few years ago after getting the ferry across from Spain. Never made it to Marrakech, but Chefchaoen was absolutely stunning if you ever get the opportunity to go.
And can I just say – why have I never thought about camping out in the airport overnight before? I always fork out for hotel rooms after bagging myself bargain flights, but let’s face it – you can never sleep properly when you’ve got a super early flight so the money is wasted!
Sleeping at the airport can be great, I was once stuck by a water fountain which was a nightmare! Thanks for reading!
What a useful and practical way to write about country! Those prices sound very manageable if i ever make it to Morocco!
Great tips here, it’s so helpful to have an idea of prices to budget before arriving! I absolutely loved Morocco and am forever hoping for an opportunity to go back!
I also found Morocco to be quite cheap when I visited! It is such a great place and I recommend people visit at least once 🙂
I’ve just moved to the UK so Morocco is closer than ever! I’m so excited to book a trip there and even more inspired now. Really great post!
Great post. I didn’t realize it was so inexpensive. I’ll have to look at flights from the US but would love to go there!
Wow! That’s so cheap. I love that you were able to see so much while spending so little.
Morocco is a destination I’ve always dreamt of, even if I’m not sure I want to go alone.
I will definitely take advantage of the flight offers and manage to make it super low cost with your tips, too! 🙂
I loved it! It was amazing, I didn’t go alone but I know some people have. It was beautiful!
Wow, not expensive at all!
I was planning a trip to Morocco.
It didn’t seem to be expensive at all. Beautiful places for very cheap prices.
So this post helped out a lot with that plan.
I’m glad I could help out!
Oh this is great information! I had no idea it was this affordable.
Thanks! Glad you liked it
Wow! This is definitely doable. Now I just have to convince my husband to go there. It’s been on my bucket list for years!
Definitely go for it! Well worth a trip there!
This is very useful article for travelers. Myself, I found Marocco cheap. However, I was using couch surfing and hitch hiking all the time.
That is such a useful analysis of the expenses for any trip with an example of Morocco. I am sure it would help a lot of newbie travelers to plan their trips better.
Thank you, that was my aim with this post to make things easier!
Although I’m sure I spent more and forgot the costs in each category, it’s great that you made this budget guide for those looking to travel to Morocco. I loved my two week trip and would go back in a heartbeat to see more. The nature stunned me, SAHARA above all. Truly a special country.
Thank you, I know it is an insane country! I loved it and glad you also loved it!
My father is from Morocco and I’ve always wanted to visit, but cost has definitely been a concern. These are some great tips that I would have scoured for hours to find (maybe). I probably would end up treating myself tothe more private room and splurge but on food, but this makes a trip seem entirely doable. Great post.
Thank you Yvette 🙂 It is a beautiful country!
I cannot believe how low your expenses were! 50 pounds each for acommodation for 10 days stay is really inspiring (I should keep it in mind when booking a room for my next trip!:)). As another foodie, I always splurge on local food as well, as I think it’s a very important part of the overall experience. I mean, exploring different cuisines is one of the reasons I travel after all! 🙂
We need RyanAir in this part of the world! (insert weeping noises) This sounds like an awesome trip, especially when keeping in mind the cost. What was your favorite food you had there?
I loved the tagine they had there, it was so good! Ryanair are great for cheap flights if you don’t mind less comfort and the risk of being seated separately!
Morocco is such a cool country and generally speaking isn’t expensive. I visited Marrakesh a few years ago over a long holiday weekend and had an amazing time. We tend to go a bit overboard when we are on holiday, but it’s great to see that people can come to the country and experience for very little money.
Ten days and only spending 80 euros on food – that’s cheap!!! I love food as well, and I really enjoy snacking all the time when I’m traveling. Sounds like I could afford that in Marocco. I heard it was a beautiful place, and it certainly looks that way.
I know, I love food as well and we didn’t limit ourselves so it shows what you can buy if you don’t sit it all the tourist places!
This is a great breakdown as I was looking into visiting Morocco. Great tip about the water. That’s one thing I always look into when I am traveling as I have had an unfortunate experience in the past.
Oh dear, that sounds like you’ve learnt your lesson with tap water… Probably best not to ask ?
Great tips! Was sitting next to a man visiting the U.S. from Morrocco las week on a train from San Francisco to Sacramento, and he was so excited to share where he was from and encouraged me to visit soon. Your advice on transportation and things to do along with prices is extremely helpful.
WOW!!! that’s amazing! Morocco sounds so affordable! Which is great to know, because it’s somewhere I’d really like to visit!
This is such a helpful post! I regret not having paid closer attention to what I spent in Morocco, as many people have asked me about budgeting for a visit and I can’t give them a very solid answer. It sounds like you had better luck than we did in Essaouira for accommodation – while I loved the city, there were no riads available and our hotel was next level musty! As a fellow foodie, I adored the plaza in marrakech, which I found offered a wider variety that just the couscous and tagine. There was one booth with a sort of pita sandwich stuffed with mashed potatoes, eggs and spicy sauce that my partner and I went back for again and again! We’d also have to add a whole other category for money spent on tea, as we couldn’t get enough of the mint tea from every market stall and rooftop terrace we stumbled upon 🙂
Sounds like you loved the food as much as I did. We did have an eventful hotel in Marrakech for the night after we came back from the desert and had booked the wrong day. We ended up paying 18 euros and being annoyed about it (as the original was 11 euros) but we stank of camel and needed a shower haha! I think we tried that pitta, my stomach is rumbling remembering all this great food!
What a surprisingly affordable spot – I always expected it would cost a lot more. This is really helpful for our planning Thanks!