Intro
There’s a lot of mixed opinions on wether you should travel to a Muslim country (like Morocco) during Ramadan.
I’ll share my experience, and you can judge for yourself.
I will start this to say that especially during this time, I was mostly surrounded by locals. In other words, people who joined ramadan and fasted during this time. And this highly influenced my experience. If you are just staying in touristy areas, in hotels, riads, airbnbs or hostels, you probably won’t have the same experience as I did.
During ramadan your whole rythm changes. As much as it’s a religious time, in Morocco, (and I presume other Muslim countries as well), it’s as much of a cultural thing as a religious thing.
This is part 3 of my 4-part series documenting my time in Morocco as a solo female photographer & traveller,
and I want to take you along on this journey of discovering a truly stunning country — and share the stories and tips I now give to anyone who asks.
In part 1 I shared my first thoughts, experience, the people and how I found street photography to be in the country, and
in part 2 I dove into my experience as a solo woman.
As the title suggests, this part will be covering my experience during Ramadan.
What is Ramadan?
In case you don’t know, in Ramadan in Islam is a holy time. It’s one month – one moon cycle – where you fast from sunrise to sunset. Very similar to how in Christianity there’s the 40 day fast.
At sunset we have iftar, which is the breaking of the fast. This is where you’re allowed to drink, eat (and smoke, though this is a very grey area)
Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, prayer, doing good deeds, and spending time with family.
I’m definitely not the right person to explain this in depth, so if you’re interested in the whole history and belief, I’d suggest asking google or your muslim friends, but in short that’s what it comes down to.
My experience
So when I booked my trip, I didn’t even think of Ramadan. I only found out after I had booked my flight, that I’d be in Morocco during this time.
I had NO idea what to expect, so here is what happened:
In my experience, mostly your rythm will just shift. You sleep late, and wake up late.
I didn’t like it at all since we barely got anything done during the day. We might wake up at 2 pm, get some food for me and my friend that weren’t fasting, walked around or did something for an hour, to be followed by going to the souk, and preparing iftar at home. We spent a week in Agadir and honestly, we barely saw the city.
I told myself in the future I would plan around this time of year – since I did not do well on this whole rythm shift hahaha.
HOWEVER. After Ramadan, as time went on and life went on, I came to really miss this time. It was a quiet and peaceful time, full of connection, solidarity and community, and it was just beautiful, and a precious experience.
We got invited to multiple iftar’s, which were different all the time. With families, friends, and even strangers. In the bus they shared food, in name of the holy month. As much as I didn’t like it much in the moment, I’m super grateful I got to experience it and it will always be time that’s close to my heart.
The experience of Ramadan in the streets? Marrakech was almost empty when I was there during Ramadan. It’s a lot more quiet and the square was very near empty, which I only realised when I came back to the city after Ramadan to realise how full it was hahaha. Most stores will be open during the day, except that (almost) everything closes around sunset for about an hour for iftar. After that they will open again.
Conclusion
Ramadan is an experience. If you want to have this experience, and how, is completely up to you to decide.
I think it’s worth it – even though it disrupted my sleep schedule and some of the exploring I could do,
Ramadan gave me a glimpse into something slower, deeper, and more connected.
It’s an experience worth having, if you’re wanting to connect to culture,
and have a memorable, special & cultural experience.
