Morocco: Safe destination for 21-year-old daughter and friends?
 

My daughter is living in Paris for several months. She's traveled a lot and knows how to handle herself, but somehow when she told me she was going to Morocco with two other friends, I balked. Should I be concerned or am I being silly?

Weadles,

Where in Morocco?

I traveled there with my daughter to Fes, Meknes and Rabat. They would be fine in Rabat. Fes I would suggest they have a guide for the day. No one would let us go anywhere alone anyway. Even if we had a dinner reservation the restaurant sent a private car with 2 men in it. It was hard to know if it just wasn't safe or if it was because they just don't think women should be alone.

In Fes we were treated respectfully everywhere, but then, we never went anywhere alone.

The girls should know that EVERYONE will be trying to get them to buy things in the guise of visiting a "craft" center or "museum."

Rabat I felt very comfortable alone even in the market area. It's a modern city, modern women.

Still, they should dress conservatively.

gruezi

Thanks, Gruezi, for the great information. I have no idea where my daughter wants to go in Morocco. Neither does she! I told her to do some research online.

My family visited Turkey last year, so my daughter knows that in some countries you need to dress more conservatively and be ultra-respectful. However, Morocco is making me a little leery...

Dear Weadles,

There are some threads here on Fodor's about women in Morocco and also a few nice trip reports - one from a family who spent time there. Do a search...

BTW, Morocco should really be under Africa not Europe.

(I have heard more negative things about Turkey here, but then maybe more people go there.)

We had to choose between Marrakech and Fes as we only had time for one. I think for younger people Marrakech might be the spot. Fes was just an amazing place, but more about the history than nightlife or anything like that. Very, very authentic and took us back to another time.

gruezi

Thanks again, gruezi. I'll search for the posts you mentioned .

This may sound silly, but are her friends male or female? I traveled alone through Morocco when I was a couple years older than her and, while it was amazing, personally I would never do it again without a male companion. The hassling is just too much. I even wore long sleeves, long skirts, and a big scarf. I never felt in danger, never felt like anyone would hurt me, but it was just so annoying. I met up with a family friend in Rabat and when he was with me, nobody bothered me and the experience was more enjoyable.

In places like Fes and Meknes, my riad owners would not let me walk alone at night. I either ate at the riad (many serve great 5-course meals) or they arranged to have someone escort me to and from dinner. I don't think anyone would have hurt me, but it would have been easy to get mugged.

I joined up with a tour group to do more adventurous things like going to the mountains and the desert. Those could be tough to arrange on your own.

Essaouria on the beach was much more laid back than any of the places that I visited, and that would probably be the only place I would be comfortable staying with all females. Maybe instead of forbidding her to go you could nudge her towards certain destinations.

marakesh has a great night life scene and still a central medieval market area. in both she will need to dress sensibly, ie t shirts need backs, bras on, no shorts etc, but heh its a muslim country with at leat 1/7th other religions (inc jews).

as aprt of a group of friends no problem

now the problems are, all prices are negotiable.