Morocco was the first country that truly disoriented me. I mean that as a compliment. After six days in Fes I still didn't know where I was inside the medina — and I had stopped minding. Here's the full two-week diary.
Days 1–2: Marrakech
Marrakech is the entry point for most visitors and probably the most overwhelming first impression in travel. The Djemaa el-Fna square at night — the smoke, the story-tellers, the acrobats, the thousands of bodies — is genuinely one of the great spectacles. But Marrakech also has a polished tourist shell that takes effort to get beneath.
I spent morning one in the souks simply walking without buying, refusing the persistent offers to guide me (politely, firmly), and finding the rhythm of the place. By the second morning, I knew which turns led back to the riad. I found a café serving msemen with argan oil for 15 dirhams ($1.50) two streets back from the main tourist route.
Days 3–6: Fes
The Fes medina (Fes el-Bali) is the largest car-free urban area in the world and genuinely the most disorienting place I've walked. 9,400 alleys, most of them dead ends. Tanneries, ceramic workshops, mosques with blue tile doorways, and the smell of cumin and fresh bread.
My riad cost 350 dirhams ($35) per night and was better than many hotels I've stayed in at ten times the price. The owner, Hassan, drew me a hand-drawn map of the medina's structure on my first morning. I still got lost. It was the best thing that happened to me in Morocco.
Days 7–8: Merzouga and the Sahara
The camel trek into the Erg Chebbi dunes for a desert camp is touristy. I did it anyway, because the Sahara at dusk and dawn is one of those places that refuses to become a cliché no matter how many photographs exist of it. The silence at 5am, the stars overhead, the cold — nothing prepares you.
Days 9–11: Chefchaouen
The blue city is exactly as photogenic as every photograph suggests. What photographs miss: the mountain air, the sound of water in every street (it's built around natural springs), and the genuinely friendly welcome of the Rif Berber people who live there.
- Best SeasonMarch–May or September–November
- CurrencyMoroccan Dirham (MAD) — ~10 MAD = $1
- Average Daily Budget$50–80 (mid-range)
- Best Riad Price Range250–500 MAD ($25–50)/night
- Sahara Camel Trek (1 night)400–700 MAD per person
- VisaNot required for most Western passports
What I Wish I'd Known
Morocco requires more active participation than most destinations. The persistent touts and guide-pressuring in Marrakech and Fes can feel exhausting. The trick is early mornings (before 9am, the medinas belong to locals), a firm but polite "la shukran" (no thank you), and accepting that getting lost is the point, not the problem. Once you stop trying to navigate and start simply observing, Morocco reveals itself completely.