Traveling to a Muslim Country During Ramadan

Should You Avoid Traveling to a Muslim Majority Country During Ramadan?

Ramadan is a common religious observation of practicing Muslims. When you visit a place where the majority of citizens actively practice their faith, you may notice some significant changes in the day-to-day lives of the people during this time. When I booked my trip to Morocco, which is a Muslim majority country, the dates we visited just happened to fall within the holy month of Ramadan.

I’ll admit that I didn’t really research whether I was going to be visiting the country during a significant religious event. I was aware that the country was mostly Muslim, but that fact didn’t really cause me to change any of my plans. I modified my wardrobe ever so slightly, but I ended up bringing way too many clothes that I didn’t even wear anyway during the trip.

One thing to remember, too, about traveling as a non-Muslim during Ramadan is that the holiday isn’t always at the same time of the year. You can’t really use the Gregorian calendar to figure out when the holiday will fall (the Gregorian calendar the calendar used by the majority of the world’s countries even when a secondary calendar might come into use for arranging religious observations and activities).

A year in the Muslim calendar isn’t the same as the Gregorian calendar, so it seems like Ramadan always falls on a different month. But does this even matter in the grand scheme of things? Is it difficult or ill-advised to travel to a Muslim country during Ramadan? I can tell you from experience that, no, you don’t need to change your plans. You’ll just want to be aware of some things.

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What is Ramadan, and Does It Impact Non-Muslims?

Ramadan is a holy time for Muslims when they don’t eat or drink at all between sunrise and sunset. In many cases, a practicing Muslim eats a meal in the pre-dawn morning and then gathers with family in the evening after dark for another big meal. Many Muslims will go about their daily lives, working and going to school and such, throughout Ramadan, even though they’re not eating all day.

The month is meant to allow Muslims to focus more on their faith without distractions, and it’s practiced by everyone who can reasonably fast during the day without harming their health. Small children don’t fast, and people who are sick aren’t obligated to fast either. Pregnant women are also able to eat normally during Ramadan.

Ramadan is considered one of the “pillars” of Islam, which you’ll probably hear about a few times as you travel through a Muslim country. You’ll just naturally learn about the faith since many of the tours and tourist sites you visit have some sort of history relating to Islam. However, if you’re not Muslim, you shouldn’t feel obligated to participate in fasting, even if that means you end up eating and drinking in a restaurant in front of someone who is fasting.

My traveling partner and I frequently apologized for drinking water throughout our travels whenever we were with a guide who wasn’t drinking the entire time, but it was mostly a formality. The tour guides and other people we interacted with were very used to non-Muslim tourists drinking and eating during the day. We were even bought food and water by some of our tour guides as part of our experiences.

Are There Any Hassles You’ll Experience During Ramadan as a Non-Muslim?

The biggest issue you might face when visiting a Muslim country during Ramadan is that some shops might close during the day. However, if you’re visiting a tourist-friendly place, many of the shops and restaurants will continue to operate throughout the day, even though they will only serve tourists for the most part.

Overall, we didn’t really experience any hassles that were significant enough that I’d recommend not traveling during Ramadan. We were still able to book tours, our riads and hotels were operating normally, and we were always able to find food and water.

One of the only recommendations I’d make is to avoid going out to eat to a local restaurant at sunset. By that point, everyone is going to be hangry and waiting to have their dinner. Just avoid the dinner rush and eat before sunset or well after the sun goes down. You should avoid driving around sunset, too. The drivers can get a little crazy right before everyone is able to eat again (I’m not joking about the entire population being hangry!).

You’ll always have access to the things you need despite everyone observing Ramadan. Whether that’s lunch, a bottle of water, or visiting a tourist place, you’ll find that much of society just carries on as it normally would despite the holy month. You’ll even see loads of commercials on the television about it, just like you would see winter holiday commercials in December in North America.

Is It Required or Polite to Avoid Food & Water During Ramadan If You’re Not Muslim?

As I mentioned before, you don’t need to avoid water when traveling through a Muslim country during Ramadan. If you want to be polite and apologize for drinking in front of an observant Muslim, that’s fine, but it’s not even completely necessary, especially if you’re interacting with someone who is in the tourism industry.

I would say that you can act in a polite manner by reducing how much you eat and drink in front of people while you’re traveling, but not to the point where you may endanger your health. If you have low blood sugar and need to eat, never assume that you can’t eat something that your body needs because you’re around people who are fasting.

If anything, Islam allows people to eat when their health depends on it. I can’t say that I interacted with any Muslim who chastised me for eating or drinking when the sun was up. Just about everyone I interacted with was incredibly polite and had absolutely no issue with what I ate and drank. Throughout my travels in Morocco, the society seemed pretty polite, and even though I think a lot of them were very hungry, we were never encouraged or told to fast.

On more than one occasion, I had people offering me drinks (it was unseasonably hot during our visit even though it was March) even though they were fasting and weren’t drinking or eating at all during the day. And that’s something I think is important to point out: Ramadan is no eating or drinking. That means no water all day. It’s quite an endurance test, honestly.

My Experience in Morocco During Ramadan

I spent time in Marrakech, Casablanca, and Fez when I visited Morocco, as well as some small towns and rural areas in the mountains, and I’d say more than 90 percent of the people I interacted with were Muslim and virtually everyone was fasting for Ramadan. I only saw people eat a few times, right at sunset, and boy were they hungry!

I think it’s really remarkable how disciplined many of the citizens are when it comes to fasting. Again, I feel it’s important to realize that it’s not like a normal fast where you just drink water or maybe have a cup of coffee every so often. The Ramadan fast is zero water and zero food, which requires some serious dedication. We had one guide who led us on a day trip up a huge mountain and never took a drink the entire way up or down. Pretty incredible.

As far as my overall experience, I don’t think I ended up having to make any changes to my plans, and I never felt inconvenienced because the entire country (almost) was practicing Ramadan. There were loads of tourists in many areas, all of whom were drinking and eating normally, so it wasn’t like we were the only people in the country eating and drinking while the sun was up.

We may have even gotten to enjoy slightly fewer crowds during Ramadan because of the assumption by other travelers that visiting during Ramadan would result in some sort of hassle or issue. But I can confidently say that you can travel to a Muslim country like Morocco during Ramadan and do everything you want to do as if it wasn’t Ramadan. Learn a little about the holiday so you know what it’s about, and you should have zero problems traveling.

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