Tipping in Morocco: How Much for Every Situation

Moroccan restaurants do not add a service charge, so the tip is entirely up to you. At a neighbourhood restaurant where a tagine costs 60–80 MAD, leaving 10–15 MAD per person is well received. At a rooftop or terrace restaurant in the Marrakech medina — where the same tagine might be 120–180 MAD — 20–40 MAD per person is appropriate if service was attentive.

At a juice bar or café, rounding up the bill by 2–5 MAD is a friendly gesture. Street food stalls have their pricing built in and tips are not expected, though you will sometimes see a small jar on the counter if the stall is a popular fixed spot.

One nuance: at tourist-heavy restaurants in Jemaa el-Fna and similar areas, the waiter who seats you, the one who takes your order, and the one who brings the bill may all be different people. Tipping in cash on the table — rather than adding it to a card payment — is more likely to reach the right person.

A private guide who navigates you through the Fes medina for a full day, explains the tanneries, steers you away from the carpet shops you did not want, and translates with the spice merchant has earned a meaningful tip. The benchmark is 100–200 MAD per person — think of it as 10–15% of what you paid for the day. If the guide was exceptional, go higher; if it was a half-day with minimal content, 60–80 MAD is fair.

On a multi-day private desert tour where one person both guides and drives, 150–250 MAD per person per day is a reasonable combined tip. Tip at the end of the final day rather than daily, which is the local convention. Hand it directly rather than through the tour company.

Shared group departures — the kind of shuttle-bus tour that picks up from six different hotels — warrant less, because the guide is splitting time across a dozen people. Around 30–70 MAD per person at the end of the day is the norm.

Riad tipping is probably the most overlooked category. The housekeeper who turns down your bed, replaces the towels with a rose petal arrangement, and makes the room feel like a boutique hotel earns a very modest base wage. Leave 20–40 MAD on the pillow each morning — not as a lump sum at check-out, which typically goes to reception staff rather than the cleaner.

If a porter carried your bags up four flights of a narrow staircase with no lift (standard in most medina riads), 10–20 MAD per bag is appropriate.

At a traditional hammam, tip the attendant who performs the kessa scrub — not the cashier at the entrance. At a local neighbourhood hammam where a wash and scrub costs 20–40 MAD total, a tip of 10–20 MAD is proportionate. At a tourist hammam in a riad or spa where the experience costs 200 MAD+, 20–50 MAD for the attendant is more fitting.

Unofficial parking wardens — gardiens de voitures — are one of the genuine quirks of Moroccan urban life. They wear orange or yellow vests, operate in designated zones tolerated by the municipality, and their role is to wave you into a space, watch the car while you are away, and expect 5–10 MAD when you return. You pay on return, not when you park. If a gardien asks for payment upfront, it is usually a negotiating tactic; 5 MAD then and 5 MAD on return is acceptable.

Street musicians, Gnawa performers, and snake charmers in Jemaa el-Fna expect a small contribution if you stop to watch or photograph. Around 5–10 MAD per photo is the informal convention. Snake charmers will sometimes drape a snake around your neck without warning and then demand payment; the standard for this is 20–50 MAD, though a firm refusal before the snake arrives works too.