Intro
Hi! For anyone who doesn’t know, I’m Isa, I’m 25 and spent 3 months in Morocco the beginning of this year. And quite frankly – as a woman alone, who had never travelled alone outside of Europe, I had no idea what to expect.
Before I went, I did lots and lots of research. I had heard so many conflicting stories. When you search on google, youtube or tiktok/instagram on safety in Morocco as a woman, you hear nightmare stories from one person, and the best stories about how hospitable the people are from the next.
I had no idea what to think, and decided I’d just be careful and decide for myself. (which you should do, don’t let anyone scare you). Before I left I had told myself I would never walk alone at night – since I deemed it not safe. Only to end up walking around at night without a second thought (small disclaimer here – do keep in mind I was here partially during Ramadan where the life is at night, and I was usually surrounded by locals who kept me safe, though I also felt quite safe overall.)
This is part 2 of a 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 here I want to dive more into my experience as a solo woman.
My tips & tricks as a solo woman
For any woman looking to travel to this gorgeous country that wants any tips, I’m sure you’ve been flooded with tips already, but here are my personal ones:
- First and foremost, in any case, trust your gut, your intuition and your logical brain.
- Dress modestly. If you show respect to them and their culture, you will get respect back. BUT – also don’t overthink it. The people are pretty chill, and generally I just look at what other people wear. For example on the coast, it felt like small europe to me, and you can easily wear shorts, and shorter dresses. In Marrakech I wouldn’t do that, but I did wear crop tops there aswell without problems. It really depends on the place you are at and the people that are around you. Read the room, read the vibes.
- Learn a bit of the language! Especially in bigger cities, most people will know at least some English. But, that said, you will earn a lot of respect trying to learn some of their language.
I really noticed that there’s 3 ways to experience the country – 1 is alone or with other travellers, 2 is with locals and 3 is when you know a bit of the language – they WILL treat you differently. (If you even speak one word in Darija they will proudly scream “YOU’RE MOROCCAN” hahaha.)
Some words/phrases that are handy to know:
– La shoukran – no thankyou
– Shoukran – Thankyou
– Marhaba – Welcome or you’re welcome
– Assalam alaykom – literally translated, peace be on you, but it’s used as a greeting like hello, and your response to it is: alaykom salam. If this is too hard to remember, just remember “salam”. Which literally means peace.
– labas – you could translate it to ca va in french, basically a nonformal way to ask how are you
- I know this might go against a lot of other advice you hear, but when you walk alone, wear headphones. Don’t put the music so loud you can’t hear people and stay aware of your surroundings (obviously), but I found that this was a very easy way to ignore people trying to sell you things, or talk to you, by just acting like you didn’t hear them.
- If you are lost, ask the right people.
– Use maps.me (offline maps!)
But if you have to ask for directions, either:
– Walk into a store and ask there, don’t ask someone on the street itself. (You could but it’s better to go into a store or something)
– OR, a friend of mine mentioned this and I thought it was so clever – ask an older woman, always ask a woman. If she doesn’t speak English, she will guide you to someone she knows & trusts that speaks English. I haven’t tried this one myself yet but I thought it was genius.
Obviously there’s a lot of other tips I could give, like the standard ones you find everywhere, but these I found helped me personally, and in my opinion are the most important ones.
In case you want some more general tips and tools, I shared some in the first part already, so feel free to check those out here!
Travelling as a woman in a Muslim country
I wanted to add this section because I know there’s a lot of misconception about the religion of Islam. Even I didn’t know much about it when I went, only what I had seen on the news, and let’s be honest, most of that is not exactly positive.
So as I mentioned already before, since Morocco is a Muslim country, it’s also quite conservative, which means it’s important to respect the locals and their culture by (for example) dressing modestly.
I could talk about this forever, but there’s one story that I feel like really sums up my experience:
As a kid in primary school, I absolutely loved to play soccer. I’d play soccer with the boys all the time while the girls would do their girls things which was mostly gossip. I often was the only girl playing with the boys, but I didn’t care and neither did they. As I went on to high school, things changed. The boys didn’t want to play with a girl, what was I thinking?
This was one of the last times I played soccer, I was 13.
In Morocco, there was one day where I was supposed to go out with a friend of mine. There’s a whole long story about the getting ready part, but I’ll skip to the important part for now. When we were finally planning to leave – there were some kids playing soccer outside, and my friend said that before we left we were gonna join them and play soccer for a bit.
I had not done this in over 10 years, and they LOVED it. This also wasn’t the only time something like this happened. They genuinely loved having people join, and it did not matter I was a girl.
I don’t know if this has to do with age, or whatever. But it really struck me. In the west we often have this idea that woman in muslim countries have less rights or might be treated less – yet I got treated so much better, I was welcomed and taken care of.
After experiencing the culture myself, I have to say I have gained a lot more respect for Islam and all my Muslim brothers and sisters <3
Conclusion
So is Morocco safe for solo women? Absolutely, YES.
Obviously you need to be aware to not go around walking half naked and use your braincells, like in any place, but generally it’s quite safe. The police are also very helpful, and if there’s any problems they will usually side with the tourist (as I’ve heard).
Personally I’ve felt incredibly safe in Morocco, way more than I ever expected. So if you’re reading this while doing research and feeling nervous about going to Morocco on your own, or just going as a female, don’t worry. Put your fears aside, and let your experiences speak. Feel the vibe.
And also, don’t be afraid to say no. Yes, some people will bother you trying to sell something, and usually if you are clear you are not interested they will leave you alone, or you’ll have a fun conversation with them. Be open, and keep in mind you’re stepping into a different culture, some things are just different, and that’s okay.
Stay tuned for part 3 – my experience in Morocco during Ramadan.
If you haven’t seen part one yet, you can go back and read it here; Framing Morocco: a photographer’s journey.
If there’s any other tips I can give or you have any questions, feel free to drop them in the comments!!