Is Morocco Safe for Americans?

Can You Safely Visit Morocco as an American?

The quick answer? Yes. As long as you take all the regular precautions you might when visiting a foreign country, you shouldn’t experience any crime or frightening situations. During my time in Morocco, I was welcomed by everyone I interacted with, from random people on the street to our tour guides, restaurant servers, and hotel personnel.

Many of the most interesting places to visit in Morocco are located in places with buildings that have stood for hundreds of years, so the country isn’t polished and shiny absolutely everywhere. Sure, you’ll find some swanky, exclusive neighborhoods in cities like Casablanca, but much of what you’ll experience in Morocco, should you choose to really get in touch with the culture, will occur right alongside regular citizens going about their lives.

As an American traveling to a Muslim-majority country, you might have some reservations about the attitude of the people you might meet, but as someone who doesn’t study Islam, I never felt out-of-place, excluded, or strange amongst the population. In fact, most people went out of their way to act particularly nice, almost in spite of our differences in religion, life experience, and heritage.

At most, from what I gather, having traveled throughout the country, you might encounter a few hard sales to buy some merchandise, but you can usually ignore people (no, it’s not rude) and avoid the sales pitches. And as long as you keep aware of your person and belongings (especially in the Fes medina), you shouldn’t experience any significant issues with theft. But let’s take a deeper dive into what you might experience in Morocco if you’re an American.

(note: some of the links here are to websites with which I am an affiliate, and your purchases help fund my website!)

What Does the American Government Say About Morocco?

According to the most recent information put out by the United States Department of State, Morocco has a level 2 advisory, which translates to “exercise increased caution.” For some perspective, Colombia has a level 3 advisory, which means “reconsider travel,” and Vietnam has a level 1 advisory, which means “take normal precautions.”

Having visited Vietnam and Colombia safely in the last year, I can confidently say that the U.S. State Department’s recommendations are helpful but shouldn’t be the be-all and end-all of your decision-making process. For Morocco in particular, I found that the people in Marrakech and Casablanca, as well as the surrounding places we visited, were quite easy to get along with.

If anything, Fez was a little dicey as far as the need to watch your bags and pockets when you’re walking around. However, I wouldn’t say you have to have experience in avoiding pick-pockets to visit Fez. You should just hold onto your money and purse or backpack with a little more effort than you might in some of the other cities.

I might also recommend keeping your purse or backpack zipped up or selecting a pair of pants with zippered pockets so you don’t need to worry about having someone rummage through your pockets while you’re bent over looking at some sort of tourist trinket in the medina. Just exercise some reasonable vigilance about the area around you, and you shouldn’t have any issues with pick-pockets.

Yes, You Can Ignore Salespeople & Sellers in Morocco

For the tour we took in Fez, our tour guide was really helpful with his suggestion for avoiding unnecessary conversations with people trying to sell you things, as well as avoiding potential issues with petty theft. He advised us to completely ignore anyone who approached us to sell something in a busy area.

In fact, while we were walking through the old part of Fez with a tour guide, a teenager walked up to me with an armful of purses and was trying to get me to buy one. I didn’t interact with him, but our tour guide had some serious words with him about bothering us for a sale. The guide didn’t appreciate the teenager’s attempts to follow me through the winding pathways of the medina and gave him a verbal what-for, admonishing the kid about his actions.

Some people will also try to get you to walk down a particular path, especially when you’re in the middle of the winding and twisty roads and streets within the Fez medina. Our tour guide recommended that we don’t interact with anyone making a suggestion that we walk down a particular street because of the possibility of getting something stolen or getting lost.

I did have my phone with the GPS, so we really never needed directions, but we still had some people trying to usher us in a particular direction. It’s possible that those individuals had no ill intent, but on the advice of our tour guide, we didn’t interact with the people trying to steer us one way or the other.

Can You Safely Visit Places Outside Major Cities in Morocco?

In some countries, you do have to take some extra precautions when traveling outside of the major cities. When I traveled to Colombia, for example, there was the distinct recommendation that we avoid getting lost in the jungle alone outside the major cities. If we were planning on traveling outside of the cities, it was recommended that we go with a guide or a group.

I wouldn’t describe Morocco in the same way. Although we did go with guides or groups whenever we left the cities, everyone we interacted with in the countryside was extremely nice and personable. Maybe more so in some places. One day we went on a hike up the Atlas Mountains outside Marrakech, and the people in the little village we started our hike from were wonderful.

(FYI: the tour I linked above is the actual tour I took. HIGHLY recommended! An amazing experience! I know there are a few different hiking tours, but this one was really amazing, and the tour guide was truly exceptional)

We stopped at a tiny cafe along the way, and the people there were lovely, too. There was a man walking his mule at one point and my traveling partner wanted to take a picture with him. Our tour guide, in all seriousness, suggested my traveling partner pay the owner of the mule for the privilege of taking the picture, but the suggestion was just a joke, and everyone had a serious belly laugh after a few seconds.

We interacted with quite a few people outside the major cities, and I really do think they were some of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my travels. If you’re ever lucky enough to speak with any of the Berber people of Morocco (they’re the original inhabitants of the area who lived there before the Arabs came to settle), you’ll find yourself wishing you could spend a year conversing with them. They’re an extremely generous, humble, friendly, and wonderful group of people.

Do You Need to Take Precautions to Visit Morocco?

So, overall, do you need to take any special precautions when visiting Morocco? I’d say that the only real precautions I took were the same as I’ve taken on every international journey. I guard my purse or backpack and always secure my passport somewhere in the room in whatever establishment we’re staying at for the night.

As a general rule, I’d recommend carrying a bag with it in the front of you rather than on your back (well, my purse was at my side, but fully in my view). I’d also avoid walking around with any money exposed or with your bag unzipped Just keep it zipped as a regular practice, and anyone wanting to pick-pocket you will have a difficult time with the process.

I’d also recommend carrying a bag that has a zipper rather than one that just has a single snap to close. In a noisy environment, it’s definitely possible to have your bag opened if all that’s keeping it closed is a single snap. My traveling partner wore pants with zippered pockets, which I think made it a little easier for him to avoid dealing with any thieves along the way.

In a point to display just how safe the country is, our tour guide in Casablanca actually told us that you can leave a car running and unlocked on the side of the road, and no one will try to steal it. Whenever someone tries to steal something, they’re immediately called out by anyone in the vicinity, and you’ll likely have a whole hoard of Moroccans chasing you down should you try to steal something from anyone.

Morocco does have some crime, but there’s absolutely nothing there that should make you think twice about traveling if you’re an American. You don’t need to be a Muslim, and you don’t need to know anything more than basic politeness to get along just fine in Morocco. If you’re thinking about making your next international destination Morocco, you shouldn’t find it difficult at all to remain safe and happy during your travels.

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