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We recently took a trip with Exoticca to Morocco. One of the things that we spent a lot of time on was how to pack for North Africa? Particularly, what should our packing list for Morocco be? Before we left we read a lot of articles about how conservative the country was and how you should really cover up any time you are outside of the hotel or in beach areas.  Don’t believe the hype.

The Moroccans pride themselves on being accepting to other cultures.  There are a lot of Europeans here that dress pretty “scantily” and nobody cared.  At least not in Marrakesh, or Casablanca.  The one possible exception was Fez.  There when walking at night we did not see many women out past the main strip.  It was 99% men sitting in the cafes and my wife felt a little uncomfortable, even though she was dressed with shoulders covered and long pants.  I think it was her blonde hair, but the men were definitely looking at her to a point it almost made me uncomfortable. 

The other thing we read is that it can be very hot.  That part is spot on.  We were here in early August which is summer.  Temperatures were over 100 most days and got up to 111.  That’s like cook stuff on the sidewalk hot.  Ok, not sure I can scientifically back that up, but you know what I mean.  You do want to pack for sun protection and I felt we had that covered.

What We Packed*:

John:

  • 5 pairs of travel pants.  Very light material all had cargo pockets.  When we were going into crowded areas I made sure to wear the paints with zipper pockets to protect my valuables.
  • 3 light weight long sleeve shirts (fishing shirts).  I used all of these.  Worn with a light cotton t-shirt or undershirt underneath.  I actually found it helpful on days when we were in the sun. Clutch on really hot days where we were in and out of cars and did not want to keep reapplying sun block.  Definitely appreciated the protection in the dessert.
  • 4 light weight button down Short Sleeve shirts.  Very comfortable.  Worn with a light cotton t-shirt or undershirt underneath. 
  • 6 t-shirts cotton, 4 undershirts polyester blend, 2 cotton undershirt tank tops
  • Footwear – 1 pair Teva sandals, 1 pair tennis shoes for working out, 1 pair Sperry boat shoes, 1 pair hiking boots.
  • 1 pair of board shorts/bathing suit. A lot of the hotels had pools, definitely used them.
  • Head Gear – 1 baseball cap, 1 fishing/bucket hat with UV protection.  Bought a lightweight headscarf.  Used them all in different scenarios.

What I would change

  • Leave the hiking boots home.  Never wore them.  Thought since we were going to be doing so much walking and going to the dessert they made sense.  Wore my Tevas almost the entire time as most Moroccan men here wear sandals or flip flops.  Funny side note, I had a guy in a market offered to trade me for my sandals.  He REALLY wanted them. 
  • I’d flip the quantity on the pants for shorts or go 50/50.  While the pants were great for our camel ride in the dessert, and a few of the really hot days in the sun, I would have liked a couple more pairs of shorts.  I’d heard men dress more conservatively and in every city we went to it was probably 60/40 pants to shorts ratio among adult men.
  • Shirts are tricky.  The button down shirts I wore made me feel like I fit in well, however, they also tend to be nicer and put a target on my back that said “charge this guy more”.  People did have a hard time, for the most part, identifying me immediately as an American, which in some countries can be a plus depending on political environments.  I think a simple tshirt would have equally identified me as a foreigner, but may not have said he has a lot of money.  Which I don’t.  Travel agents don’t make a lot and spend it all on our travel habit.

Carrie:

  • 2 jogger pants, 2 lightweight travel pants, 2 shorts, 3 thin cotton pants, 1 dress, 1 long skirt
  • 10-12 shirts, short sleeves and long sleeves, 2 sweaters/jacket
  • 2 sandals, 1 sketchers, 1 converse, 1 hiking boots
  • 1 bathing suit,
  • Head Gear – baseball hat, larger coverage hat, scarf or wrap

What I would change:

  • I would have taken a few more shorts and shirts. We went through clothes quickly by sweating so much.
  • Leave the hiking shoes. Too heavy.

Here are a few other things we found useful:

  • Lifestraw Water Bottles.  You are going to drink like a camel here.  We were able to fill our water bottles right out of the hotel tap without fear of getting sick.  Lifestraw filters bacteria, you may want to get one that also filters viruses. 
  • Good flashlight if you are going to the dessert.  Before the moon came up we wanted to go out on the dunes to see the stars.  Fortunately I had brought a good flashlight so we could avoid tumbling down a large sand dune.
  • Car Entertainment – we were in the car sometimes 8+ hours with a driver who barely spoke.  It was nice to have audio books to listen to, or the old fashioned books to read.  Also came in handy in those hotels that were not near anything and did not have a bar.  They tended to be the hotels where the tv’s didn’t work either.
  • Car cigarette lighter chargers or charging bricks.  Cannot emphasize the long drives enough.
  • Electric outlet adapter.  None of the plugs here would fit standard US plugs. 
  • Travel Power Strip – I carry a small power strip with me that has USB plugs.  Really helps for charging multiple people’s devices at night.
  • Immodium or some kind of stomach medicine.  We brought half a bottle with us.  Unfortunately we used half a bottle and could have used more.  Contact our team for more helpful suggestions to prevent this from happening to you.
  • TP or Sanitary Wipes – Not always available in bathrooms. You will definitely thank me later for this tip.
  • Sunblock – kind of a no brainer
  • Good sun glasses

Overall, I think we did ok packing.  Almost all of my shirts are pretty non-descript, lacking any kind of logos that could potentially offend anyone.  The added benefit is there is one less thing for people in the market to use to try and start a conversation to corner you into buying something.  And there are a lot of aggressive vendors in some huge markets. 

We sincerely hope you find this article useful. If you would like help planning your trip, feel free to reach out to our team of experts. We don’t charge for our planning services and our vendors match their online pricing for us so there is no downside. Visit us at https://polaristravelexperts.com/ for more information.

*We packed for a 16 day trip as we were doing both Morocco and Egypt and had 4 travel days.  You probably won’t need this much on a shorter trip.  Undershirt/tshirts were key to reusing my nicer outer shirts.