Money, cards and ATMs in Morocco

A closed currency

• You cannot buy dirhams before you travel, at least not legitimately or at a sane rate.
• You may bring in or take out a maximum of 2,000 dirhams, about EUR 185. Above that is a customs offence.
• Change money on arrival, at the airport bank counter, a bank in town or a licensed bureau. Rates are regulated and broadly similar.
• Keep your exchange receipts. To change dirhams back into euros at the airport you may be asked to show them.
• Spend down before your last day, or change back at the airport bank before security. Dirhams are worthless once you are home.
• Foreign cash worth MAD 100,000 or more, roughly USD 10,000, must be declared on the way in and out.

ATMs

• ATMs are everywhere in cities and towns, in banks, at petrol stations and at airports.
• Expect a machine fee of MAD 20 to MAD 50 per withdrawal, most commonly MAD 35. Free withdrawals for foreign cards effectively ended in early 2026.
• Withdraw larger amounts less often to blunt the fee.
• Always decline conversion into your home currency. Choose dirhams.
• Bank machines inside a branch are safer than street ones, and if a machine swallows your card outside opening hours you will not see it again quickly.

Cash rules everything

• Morocco is a cash country. Souks, petit taxis, street food, hammams, small riads, tips and rural anything are cash only.
• Cards work in hotels, supermarkets, chain restaurants and larger shops in the cities.
• Carry small notes and coins. Nobody in a souk has change for a 200 dirham note, or admits to it.
• MAD 20, 50 and 100 notes are your working money.

Tipping and haggling

• Tipping is expected and small. MAD 5 to MAD 10 for a cafe, 10 percent in a restaurant if no service charge, MAD 20 to MAD 50 a day for a driver or guide.
• Round up in taxis.
• Haggling is the norm in souks and not in shops with price tags. Start well below, stay friendly, and be willing to walk.
• Decide what the thing is worth to you rather than what fraction of the asking price you reached. The opening number was invented.
• If you are not going to buy, do not start negotiating. Agreeing a price and then walking away is genuinely rude here.

Prices to calibrate against

• Mint tea in a cafe: MAD 10 to MAD 20.
• A tagine in an ordinary restaurant: MAD 60 to MAD 120.
• A night in a decent riad: MAD 600 to MAD 1,200.
• A petit taxi across town: MAD 20 to MAD 40.