For a multi-day tour in Morocco, tip your guide the equivalent of $5–$10 per person per day and your driver $3–$5 per person per day, handed over in cash dirhams at the end of the trip. In restaurants, leave 10% or round up the bill; for riad staff, hammam attendants and porters, small notes of 10–50 MAD are right. Tipping is expected and appreciated in Morocco, but it is never mandatory, never a fixed percentage, and never something you should be pressured into. As a Moroccan tour operator, we'd rather you know the real numbers than guess — so here is all of it.
The Quick Reference
- Multi-day tour guide: $5–$10 (50–100 MAD) per person per day, at the end of the tour
- Driver: $3–$5 (30–50 MAD) per person per day, at the end of the tour
- Private tours: roughly double the above — you're the only ones tipping
- City guide for a day tour: 50–100 MAD per person
- Restaurants: 10%, or round up at cafes and street stalls
- Riad housekeeping: 20–50 MAD per stay · porters: 10–20 MAD per bag run
- Desert camp staff and camel handlers: 20–50 MAD per person, given to the camp head
- Hammam attendant: 20–50 MAD · petit taxi: round up to the nearest 5 MAD
Tour Guides and Drivers: How It Actually Works
On a multi-day tour, tipping happens once, at the end — not daily. The easiest method is the one seasoned travellers use: each person (or couple) puts the total in an envelope or folded notes and hands it to the guide and driver separately with a thank-you on the final morning. Separately matters — guides and drivers are different jobs with different pay, and a combined tip handed to one person creates awkwardness you can't see. On a small-group tour, groups sometimes pool tips — that's fine too, and no one is auditing individual contributions. On a private tour, remember you're the only guests — the fair per-person number is roughly double the group rate.
What do these numbers mean to the people receiving them? A good tip on a week-long tour is meaningful, genuinely appreciated income — guiding is skilled seasonal work — but it is a thank-you, not a salary. If your guide was average, tip the lower end without guilt. If your guide turned the trip into something you'll talk about for years, the upper end (or beyond) says so better than the review will.
Restaurants, Cafes and Riads
Sit-down restaurants: 10% is generous and normal; check the bill first, as tourist-area restaurants occasionally include service. Cafes and street food: round up or leave the coins — nobody expects a percentage on a 15 MAD tagine. In riads, leave 20–50 MAD for housekeeping at the end of your stay (the envelope-on-the-pillow method works everywhere), and 10–20 MAD for the person who hauls your suitcase up three flights of medina stairs — which, trust us, is earned.
Desert Camps, Hammams and Everyone Else
At a desert camp, the team — cooks, camel handlers, musicians — usually shares a pot: 20–50 MAD per guest handed to the camp head at departure covers everyone and is distributed fairly. If a camel handler walked your camel personally for ninety minutes, a direct 20 MAD is a kind extra. Hammam attendants who scrub you within an inch of your life: 20–50 MAD depending on how thorough the treatment (and how pink you emerge). Petit taxis: round up to the nearest 5 MAD; drivers neither expect nor usually get more. Unofficial "guides" who attach themselves to you in the medina and then demand payment: nothing — that's not tipping, that's a hustle, and a firm "la, shukran" (no, thank you) is the entire required transaction.
The Practical Mechanics
Tip in dirhams, always — euros and dollars are accepted with a smile but cost the recipient a trip to the exchange office and a worse rate. Keep a supply of small notes (20s and 50s) from your first ATM withdrawal; breaking a 200 MAD note for a 20 MAD tip is the single most common tipping friction in Morocco. There's no tipping by card, anywhere. And build it into your budget from the start — on a week-long tour, tips add roughly $60–100 per person to the trip total, which is why our Morocco travel cost guide counts it as a real line item, not an afterthought. (Our cost calculator includes it automatically.)
What Tipping Is Not
It is not mandatory — bad service can and should be reflected in a smaller tip or none. It is not a percentage of your tour price — a $3,000 luxury trip and a $500 group trip deserve similar per-day tips for similar service. And it is not a solution to pressure — anyone aggressively demanding a tip has, by Moroccan standards as much as yours, disqualified themselves from one. The quiet rule of thumb we give guests on day one: tip like you'd thank someone — sincerely, proportionally, and in person.
Still weighing whether a guided trip is right for you at all? Our honest take on whether you need a tour guide in Morocco covers when a guide earns their keep and when you're fine alone — including, yes, what the guide costs before the tip.
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See all tours →Quick answers
$5–$10 (50–100 MAD) per person per day for a multi-day tour guide, handed over in cash dirhams at the end of the tour. For a single-day city guide, 50–100 MAD per person is standard.
$3–$5 (30–50 MAD) per person per day, given separately from the guide's tip at the end of the trip. Drivers and guides are different roles — tip them individually.
Roughly double the group-tour rate: $10–$20 per person per day. On a private tour you're the only guests, so the fair per-person amount is higher than when a group of ten shares the thank-you.
Hiring a licensed city guide independently costs $30–$60 for a half or full day depending on the city and season. On multi-day tours the guide is included in the package price — only the tip is extra.
Dirhams, always. Foreign notes are accepted politely but force the recipient into an exchange trip and a worse rate. Keep small notes (20s and 50s) on hand from your first ATM stop.
Yes — 10% at sit-down restaurants (check whether service is already included), and round up or leave coins at cafes and street stalls. No one expects a percentage on small orders.
20–50 MAD per guest, handed to the camp head at departure — it's shared among the whole camp team. A direct 20 MAD to your personal camel handler is a kind extra, not an obligation.
For genuinely poor service, no — tipping is a thank-you, not a tax. Skipping the tip on good service, though, will be noticed the same way it would be in a US restaurant: legal, but not kind.
