Basic costs
Accommodation costs range from £4/$6 a night - sometimes even less - for a double room in a basic hotel to £150/$200 a night in the country's half-dozen top-range luxury palaces. On a limited budget, you can expect to get a decent double room in a mid-range hotel for around £12-25/ $20-40 a night, while the occasional splurge in a more up-market hotel, with a swimming pool, will set you back around £25-50/$40-80 for a double, depending on season and location.
The price of a meal reflects a similar span. Basic Moroccan staples such as brochettes (small kebabs) or tajine (casserole) are available at cheap restaurants or cafés for around £2/$3. More substantial Moroccan meals can be had for around £4/$6 and European-style meals in restaurants from around £7.50/$11; it's worth bearing in mind that comparable meals in a hotel can cost twice as much. Drinks are really the only things that compare unfavourably with Western prices: a bottle of Moroccan wine costs upwards of £4/$6, a can of local beer about 70p/$1 in the shops, very slightly more in a normal bar, or £2.50/$4 in hotel bars and discos.
Beyond accommodation and food, your major outlay will be for transport - expensive if you're renting a car (£250/$360 a week plus petrol), but very reasonable if you use the local trains, buses and shared taxis. The 475km trip from Fes to Marrakesh, for instance, costs around £7/$10 by ordinary bus, £8/$12 on the express CTM service, £10/$15 by train in second class, £12.50/$18 in first class.
Currency
Morocco's basic unit of currency is the dirham (dh). The dirham is not quoted on international money markets, a rate being set instead by the Moroccan government. The present rates are approximately 16dh to £1, 11dh to US$1, 9.5dh to ¬1 . As with all currencies there are fluctuations, though in the long term the dirham tends to fall against Western currencies.
The dirham is divided into 100 centimes , and you may find prices written or expressed in centimes rather than dirhams. Confusingly, centimes may also be referred to as francs or, in former Spanish zones of the country, as pesetas . You may also hear prices quoted in rials , or reales . In most parts of the country a dirham is considered to be 20 rials, though in Tangier and the Rif there are just 2 rials to the dirham. These are forms of expression only: there are no actual physical Moroccan rials. Coins of 10, 20 and 50 centimes, and 1, 5 and 10 dirhams are in circulation, along with bills of 20, 50, 100 and 200 dirhams, plus some old ones of 10 dirhams.
It is possible to buy a small amount of dirhams at the bank exchange desks in the Algeciras ferry terminal or from moneychangers in Gibraltar (where you'll usually get a very slightly better rate than in Morocco itself), and in Ceuta and Melilla. When you're nearing the end of your stay, it's best to get down to as little Moroccan money as possible. You can change back dirhams at the airport on departure, but you may be asked to produce bank exchange receipts - and you can change back only fifty percent of sums detailed on these. You might be offered re-exchange into French francs only, though from January 2002 there have been euros, usable in much of continental Europe, as well as Ireland. You can also change dirhams into pesetas (also due to be superseded by euros) in Ceuta and Melilla
Carrying your money
Arriving in Morocco it is useful to have at least two days' survival money in cash , especially as you cannot always count on airport banks/bureau de change offices being open. English pounds, US and Canadian dollars, and all euro zone currencies including Irish pounds, are easy to exchange at banks, hotels and some travel agents and tourist shops. Gibraltarian banknotes fetch a very slightly lower rate of exchange than English ones, but Scottish and Northern Irish notes are not negotiable in Morocco. Also note that Australian and New Zealand dollars, and South African rand are not accepted for exchange in Morocco, so they should be changed into US dollars, sterling or euros before arrival. The rest of your money should ideally, for the sake of security, be spread around different forms, such as traveller's cheques, "travel money" (see below) and plastic.
Traveller's cheques are easily exchanged at most Moroccan banks, and at the more upmarket hotels, travel agencies and tourist shops. However, a surcharge (currently 10.70dh) is levied on each cheque by almost all banks with the exception of the state-run Bank al Maghrib (also called the Banque du Maroc). Banks may also on occasion demand to see the original receipt for the cheques, even though you are not supposed to carry that and the cheques together - if you do show it, don't let the bank keep it. Thomas Cook, VISA and American Express are the best-known and most widely accepted cheques. In the event that your cheques are lost or stolen, the issuing company will expect you to report the theft to them and to local police immediately. Most companies claim to replace lost or stolen cheques within 24 hours, though they may drag their feet if fraud is suspected.
A new option from VISA (and their competitors will no doubt soon be offering the same kind of service) is Visa travel money , a disposable pre-paid debit card with a PIN that you can use in ATM machines worldwide. It's a sort of electronic version of traveller's cheques, where you can buy as much credit as you think you'll need, and throw the card away when it runs out. You can carry up to eight spare cards in case you lose one, or for a family or group with a common pool of money. There is a 24hr toll-free global customer assistance services centre in Baltimore, which you can in theory call collect (tel 001-410/581-9091), or via AT&T USA Direct (dial 002/11.00.11 and ask the operator for 1-800-847-2399). The card is available from, among other places, Thomas Cook in the UK and Colombus Bank in the US, and can be ordered in the United States on 1-877/394-2247. For further information, check VISA's Web site at www.visa.com
VISA and Mastercard can also be used to obtain cash at some banks, as well as in payment at the more upmarket hotels, restaurants and shops, and for car rental. It's wise to make sure your card is in good condition, as banks will refuse cash advances if machines reject the card. The weekly limit varies according to what type of account you have, but is typically around 5000dh per week.
Banks and exchange
For exchange purposes, by far the most useful and efficient chain of banks is the BMCE (Banque Marocaine du Commerce Exterieur). There is at least one BMCE in all major cities and they are dotted about in smaller towns. They handle cash or travellers' cheques with the minimum of hassle (though they do charge the standard 10.70dh for changing the latter), and give cash advances on VISA and Mastercard, as well as currency exchange.
The Banque Credit du Maroc (BCM) also handles VISA and Mastercard, as do the generally efficient Citibank , and larger branches of the Banque Populaire . Most other banks don't tend to have facilities for credit card transactions, despite the stickers in their windows, though they will exchange cash and travellers' cheques. In the far south, you may find that Banque Populaire and BMCE are your only choices.
Standard banking hours for most of the year are Monday to Thursday 8.15am-11.30am and 2.15pm-4.30pm, Friday 8.15am-11.15am and 2.45pm-4.45pm. Some branches of WAFA Bank are open an hour later, until 5.30pm (5.45 on Friday). In summer (usually 15 June - 30 September), banks open from 8am to 2pm, and during Ramadan from 9am to 2pm. In major resorts there is usually one or more bank that keeps extended hours on bureau de change transactions to meet tourist demand, and BMCE often has a separate bureau de change open longer hours and at weekends. In some places you may find travel agents with exchange facilities, and most large hotels will also change money for nonresidents out of banking hours.
In most exchange transactions at banks, customers fill in forms at one desk, then join a second queue for the cashier. You'll usually need to show your passport as proof of identity. Cheque/cash transactions usually get dealt with in 10 to 15 minutes, but it's wise to allow up to an hour if you need to draw cash on a credit card. Obviously, if you can change money at a hotel or travel agent, or a bureau de change, the whole procedure will be quicker and easier.
ATMs (cashpoints/cash dispensers) are to be found outside more and more banks in the bigger towns, and accept major systems, though be warned; they can be unreliable and occasionally swallow cards.
American Express
American Express is represented by the Voyages Schwartz agencies in Tangier, Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakesh. Note that Voyages Schwartz are only agents, and not every American Express service is available at their offices. They can issue Amex traveller's cheques (but often won't cash them), and hold clients' mail, but they cannot cash personal cheques or receive wired money. Offices are located at:
Tangier Voyages Schwartz, 54 Bd. Pasteur (tel 03/933 0372).
Casablanca Voyages Schwartz, 112 Rue Prince Moulay Abdallah (tel 02/222 2947).
Rabat Av. Omar ben Khattab, cnr Rue Daraa 5 (tel 02/222 2947).
Marrakesh Voyages Schwartz, Immeuble Moutoukil, 1 Rue Mauritania (tel 04/433 3022).
Opening hours vary, but they are open at least Monday to Friday 9am-noon and 3pm-6pm, though banking services are sometimes mornings only.
Emergency cash
Despite travellers' tales, very few people lose (or are conned out of) all their money in Morocco - but it does happen. Access to an emergency source of money - whether it be a credit card or an arrangement with your bank or family to wire you money after a phone call - is reassuring and may prove invaluable.
The quickest and easiest way to wire money is via MoneyGram or Western Union . Transfer is pretty well instantaneous, and fees depend on the amount being transferred, but as a guide, wiring £700/$1000 will cost around £40/$60. Funds should be available for collection (usually in dirhams) from the company's local agent within minutes of being sent. This can be done in person at the company's nearest office (in the UK, all post offices are agents for MoneyGram), and with Western Union it can be done over the phone using a credit card. Western Union is also the more convenient of the two since money can be received from them at most large post offices and some small ones too (MoneyGram's local agent will usually be a branch of Credit du Maroc). It's also possible, and slightly cheaper, to have money wired from a bank in your home country to a bank in Morocco, but this is much slower and somewhat less reliable because it involves two separate institutions. If you go this route, the person wiring the funds to you will need to know the routeing number of the bank the funds are being wired to. From the UK, a compromise option is Thomas Cook 's Telegraphic Transfer service (tel 01733/318922), which costs £15 plus one percent of the amount to be sent (minimum charge £25), and takes one to two days to arrive. They can also credit foreign bank accounts for the same fee (2-3 days).
