Safety in Morocco

Persistence: the main irritation is fake guides and self-appointed helpers. If someone insists the road ahead is closed, ignore it, because it is a manoeuvre to steer you into a dead end or a carpet shop.
Scams: in the squares, women may take your hand to apply henna and then demand payment for it. Keep your hands to yourself in crowds and say "la, shukran" firmly and keep walking.
For women travellers: avoid very revealing clothing away from the beach resorts. Covered shoulders and knees noticeably reduce unwanted attention and make walking through conservative neighbourhoods easier.
Theft: pickpocketing happens in market crowds as it does in any large city. Watch your daypack, keep nothing in a back pocket and do not leave a phone on a café table.
Water: do not drink from the tap. Buy bottled and use it for brushing your teeth too if your stomach is at all sensitive.
Police: the main tourist centres have a dedicated Brigade Touristique. Officers are generally friendly towards foreigners and will step in over a taxi dispute or an aggressive trader, and it is worth checking your own government's travel advisory before travelling to remote southern regions.

Morocco has a highly developed street trading culture, and the line between insistent selling and deception is blurred. Violent crime against tourists is limited; schemes are not.

Jemaa el-Fna in Marrakesh. Henna women grab your hand and start drawing before demanding payment — sometimes with black henna, which causes chemical burns and scarring. Monkey handlers and snake charmers place an animal on your shoulder and charge for the photograph. One rule: hands in pockets, agree to nothing, and let nothing be placed on you.

Fake guides. "The square is closed, there's a festival, I'll show you another way" — and you end up in the tanneries or a carpet shop where you will be worked on for an hour. Licensed Moroccan guides must wear a badge.

"You're lost." Getting lost in the Fes medina is genuinely easy, and the scheme is built on it: a young man leads you out, then demands money, sometimes aggressively. Download an offline map first.

The tanneries. At the entrance you are handed a sprig of mint "for the smell" — free, but climbing to the terrace and coming down again are not, and a sales pitch follows inside.

Taxis. A petit taxi must run its meter. "The meter is broken" means paying two or three times over. Agree first or find another car.

Drones are banned outright. Morocco confiscates them at airport arrivals and returning them is often impossible. It is one of the most common tourist complaints about the country — do not bring one at all.

Cannabis. It is grown openly in the Rif mountains and the sellers seem harmless. Buying and possession are nonetheless criminal offences, and the scheme in which the seller hands the buyer to the police is known and active. Do not get involved.

Extramarital relations. Article 490 of the criminal code formally prohibits intimacy outside marriage. It is rarely applied to foreigners, but hotels sometimes refuse unmarried couples where one partner is Moroccan. For two foreigners this causes no problems in practice.

Same-sex relations are criminalised under article 489. Public displays of affection are best avoided by any couple.

Religion. Preaching and distributing non-Muslim religious literature are prohibited by law. Working mosques are closed to non-Muslims almost everywhere; the exception is the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca.

Ramadan. Nobody eats, drinks or smokes in public during daylight. Tourists are formally exempt, but doing so in the street reads as direct disrespect and is received badly.

Photography. Do not photograph military sites, police, or people without permission. Photographing women unasked guarantees a confrontation.

Vaccinations. None mandatory. Hepatitis A and typhoid are advised, plus rabies for longer stays — there are many stray dogs and cats.

Water. Tap water in Marrakesh and Casablanca is formally treated, but for visitors it will almost certainly cause an upset stomach. Drink bottled, including for brushing your teeth. Fresh juice on the square is diluted with tap water, and it is the most frequent source of trouble.

Food. The street food on Jemaa el-Fna is spectacular, but salads, sauces and seafood standing in the heat are risky. Anything hot and cooked in front of you is safe.

Heat. The south — Merzouga and Zagora — passes 45°C in summer. A desert night in winter, by contrast, needs warm clothing: temperatures fall close to zero.

The Atlas. Toubkal reaches 4,167 metres. The ascent is popular, but altitude sickness and sudden weather changes are real. In winter a guide and proper equipment are necessary.

Healthcare. Private clinics in Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakesh are decent; public hospitals markedly less so. In the mountains and desert there is no healthcare at all and evacuation takes hours. Insurance is essential.

Morocco sits mid-table globally on corruption. Police behave correctly toward tourists, and in tourist cities pointedly so: the country's reputation as a destination matters to it.

The tourist brigade. Brigade Touristique operates in Marrakesh, Fes, Agadir and Tangier. This is precisely the service that deals with fake guides and aggressive traders, and it works: threatening to involve them usually stops the harassment at once.

Traffic police. Highways have many posts and speed traps. Fines are issued on the spot with a receipt and the amounts are small. Unofficial payment exists as a practice but is applied to foreigners less often.

Outside the cities order is kept by the Gendarmerie Royale, which has its own number — 177.

Reporting theft. Reports are taken and certificates for insurers issued, but it takes time and the document will be in French or Arabic. Always ask for a copy.

Languages. French is universally understood by the police, English in tourist cities. Russian is not spoken.

Emergency numbers: 19 for police in cities, 177 for the gendarmerie outside them, 15 for an ambulance.