Hi all, you may recognize me from the itinerary I posted a while back about our 5 week long journey from Morocco to Spain to Portugal. Below is my experience and the days I stayed at each city in Morocco. From this subreddit, there are very mix comments about the country and travel experiences and I hope my post adds some value. I shall add that I am 27F, with brown to medium skin. This is of some importance because I felt that I was bothered less across the board compared to women who had light skin and blonde hair. Even while I got several, India, Mexico, Sha Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachans thrown my way across the citiee, it didn't feel as bad as when I saw a white women be solicted and possibly fetishized.

Overall, I was incredibly hesitant about Morocco from the various posts I had seen about peoples experiences on reddit. Most of this was about scams and solicitors so I was already very cautious and went into the mindset that I wouldn't trust or follow a stranger and ignore everyone besides my group. However, in actuality, I don't think I had a bad experience compared to many others who have visited and the experiences I have read. Yes, I was solicited quite a lot but ignoring and saying no (as per your advice, was sufficent). However, it was a true shame that I didn't feel safe or comfortable to just visit the market stalls freely as there was always a seller requesting me to see their various goods. Besides that, the walks through the market in Marrakech and Fez was a wonderful experience. It wasn't until I went to Chefchaouen, where I actually found some peace and could browse without the pressure of buying anything at each stall.

The food in general was fine, some Tajines were better then others. I do admit going to a combination of both tourist and non-tourist spots that were recommended by locals. Yet, the tajines ranged from down right bad (looking at you sweet lamb tajine, to very good lemon chicken tajines). As a person who loves spicy food, the spicy paste and salt saved many a dish for me. I did like one of the couscous dishes that were recommeneded to us and had a bad time with another. The morning breakfast spreads at our riads was marvelous and I quite enjoyed that. Also, I am now obsessed with mint teas.

Generally, all the attractions were well worth it. Pick any and enjoy. Be careful of tour guides on the side of the road asking to help. We never followed any, besides one in Fez so we could go to the tannery. We also prebooked or used GetYourGuide tours which were decent and allowed us to explore the city with less pressure.

Also cats everywhere, also protip that no one mentioned- you should never look too closely at any animal or risk being scared for the next few days/weeks. Just don't look and thank me later. You're welcome.

Now on to individual city experiences.

Casablanca- 1 day stay so take it with a big heap of salt - landed here: busy with many cars, smog, and pollution. Typical of any city. The market smells aren't quite pleasant but I don't remember being solicited badly here at all. The food was one of my best experiences but I must be in the minority. We saw Hasan ii Mosque and while extremely beautiful with an ideal location, the tour itself from the mosque was underwhelming. We stayed at a hotel that was "just fine" but sufficent for our purposes. 5.5/10

Marrakech, 3 nights: I loved it here. We stayed about 8 minutes from the Old Medina and in a lovely Riad. I felt quite safe walking here and saw many women traveling alone at night. The friday Medina area was packed with music, foods, and children running around with loose supervision from their parents. Marrakech vs Casablanca is night and day. As before, the attractions are well organized and fairly priced. Loved them all. I don't recommend any attraction over the other as I think your own search will serve you well. The vibes were lively and we met a friendly local who owned a tiny side stall who helped with finding our place. 8/10

Sahara Desert Tour- 3 days.Ooof. Okay the actual Desert was quite fabulous. The dunes were beautiful. The 1st day was a drive from Marrakech to Dades valley where we stopped. The 2nd day we drove to the Sahara Desert and arrived at around 5pm. We saw the sunset on the camel and listened to a bit of berber music. The next morning we woke up to see the sunrise, had breakfeast and left for Fez. 7/10

We stayed in a Berber Camp but the whole thing felt slightly off. Our guide was mostly quite but was kind enough to go to an excursiok along the way. While our journey there was long with many spots to stop at, I think I felt a bit uncomfortable once we actually got to the desert camp site. The man there called us Gringos and while they said it wasn't offensive it just threw us off for the night especially after a long journey and being greeted by that. The food was eh, but what can I expect from the middle of the desert. The day of the sunrise, we took a camel ride where one of the dudes who got us onto the camel gave us long hugs and it just felt very uncomfortable. I will say that our guide for the camel was super sweet. He was about ~17 years old and quite friendly. He led us to the sunset point and the morning after camel ride. While I would still recommend the sahara desert, just be prepared with your expectations. 4.5/10

Fez- 1 day. Not much to say here. It's a busy city and we didn't spend much time here at all as it was just our rest stop to Chefchaouen. The only thing I wanted to do was see the tannery. On our morning walk there, we met a few people promising to take us there and while we avoided most of them. The last one kept saying it was free. He seemed ok enough and even after I kept asking how many dirhams it was, he stuck to his "free verbiage". I asked what shop it was he was taking us to and he said 10 (which is what I had read online too). At that point I relaxed a bit. We got to the shop and were given mint leaves to mask the tannery smell. Maybe it was the morning or maybe my nose was dead, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. Many streets with leather had smelt worse prior. The mint still helped and we got a few good pictures. The owner of the shop tried to show us more items to buy but we said our luggage was small and we couldn't carry it. I still gave the guide who led us there 50 dirhams because I didn't want to get harrased. From what, I remember we werent solicited at all here which was different but we also didn't stay long enough for it to be a problem. The night life was still bustling and our riad was cute. 7/10

Chefchaouen- my entire heart is here. 3-4 days. We met some really wonderful locals here and I enjoyed actually being able to browse the various shops at my leisure. The only annoyance was the restaurant owners near the medina begging us to go inside. It is a wonderful and quite city with a lot of charm. I am afraid that it will pop up soon though. There was several new hotels and riads in the making and it seemed that the people running it were not all locals. I really hope the place continues to maintain its local charm. I also was lucky enough to buy paintings from the original artists which was a very special experience. 10/10 here.