Halal Travel Morocco: A Guide for Muslim Travellers

For travellers from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and other Muslim communities in Asia, Morocco feels familiar and new at the same time. You hear the call to prayer in every town, you find halal food everywhere and you discover more than twelve centuries of Islamic history. This guide explains halal travel Morocco in simple terms: food, mosques, prayer, Friday and Ramadan, with advice from our team in Merzouga.

Halal travel Morocco: why it is easy

Morocco is a Muslim country, and Islam is part of daily life. Meat in local restaurants, markets and hotels is halal in general. Most towns have several mosques, and prayer times are easy to find. People are used to welcoming Muslim visitors from many countries, and you will often hear "Assalamu alaikum" when you enter a shop.

Halal food in Morocco

Moroccan cuisine is rich and naturally halal: tagines with chicken, lamb or beef, couscous on Fridays, harira soup, grilled meat, fresh bread and many salads. Mint tea is served everywhere.

• Meat: in local restaurants and markets, meat is halal as standard. If you are not sure, simply ask; staff are used to the question.
• Alcohol: some hotels and tourist restaurants serve alcohol. Many local restaurants do not. On our tours we can choose alcohol-free places on request.
• Street food: in Jemaa el-Fna in Marrakech or the medina of Fez, choose busy stalls where the food is cooked fresh.
• Water: drink bottled water; we provide it in the vehicle.

In the desert camp and in kasbah hotels in the south, dinner is a simple and generous meal: soup, salads, a tagine or couscous and fresh fruit. Tell us in advance if you have any special diet, and we pass the message to every hotel and camp on your route.

Mosques in Morocco open to visitors

This is important to understand. Most mosques in Morocco are open only to Muslims. As a Muslim traveller, you can usually enter mosques for prayer like local people. Non-Muslim members of your group cannot enter, except at one famous place: the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, which offers guided visits for all visitors when visits are running.

Hassan II Mosque, Casablanca

Built over the Atlantic Ocean, it is one of the largest mosques in Africa, with a very tall minaret. If your timing allows, you can pray there, and the whole group can join a guided visit at set times.

Spiritual Fez and Moulay Idriss

Fez is the spiritual heart of Morocco. Al Quaraouiyine was founded in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri and is often described as one of the oldest working universities in the world; the prayer hall is reserved for Muslims. Near Volubilis, the hill town of Moulay Idriss Zerhoun holds the tomb of Idriss I, founder of the first Moroccan dynasty. The UNESCO page on the Medina of Fez gives more history.

Prayer times and Friday prayer on tour

On a private tour, your driver plans stops for the five daily prayers. Mosques and small prayer rooms are found in towns, at many fuel stations and in roadside cafés. In the desert camp, we give a prayer mat and show the qibla direction.

On Friday, Jumu'ah takes place around midday. We plan the day so you can reach a mosque in time for the sermon and the prayer, and then continue the drive. Tell us your preferences before the trip, and we organise the timetable around them.

Ramadan in Morocco

Ramadan follows the lunar calendar, and its dates move about 11 days earlier every year, so check the dates for your travel year. During Ramadan, many cafés close in the day, and the rhythm of the cities changes. After sunset, families break the fast with harira, dates and sweets, and the streets become very lively. For Muslim travellers, it is a beautiful time to share iftar in Morocco. We can arrange early suhoor in hotels and camps, and shorter driving days. The two Eid celebrations are also special moments, but some shops and services close for a day or two.

Modest clothing and daily life

Modest clothes are normal in Morocco, so most Muslim travellers feel at ease. Many Moroccan women wear a headscarf, and many do not; both are common. For more ideas, see our guide on what to wear in Morocco.

A Muslim-friendly route through Morocco

Our 9-day halal Muslim-friendly Morocco tour starts in Casablanca at the Hassan II Mosque, continues to Rabat, Meknes, Moulay Idriss and Volubilis, then spends two nights in Fez with a licensed local guide for the spiritual sites. After that it crosses the Middle Atlas to the Merzouga dunes for two nights, with halal dinner in the camp, and ends in Marrakech via the Dades Valley and Aït Ben Haddou. Dinner is included in the camp and in Dades; in Marrakech, with one night, a local guide is optional.

If you have less time, the 7-day tour from Casablanca to the imperial cities and the desert also works very well with prayer stops and halal meals. For a short visit from Fez, the Volubilis and Meknes day trip is a good introduction to Moroccan history.

Getting there

From South-East Asia, most travellers connect through Gulf or Turkish hubs. Our guide to flights to Morocco from Asia explains the main routes and airports. Because all our tours are private, every detail can be adapted: prayer times, meals, rest and the length of each day.