General Information
Although it is a Muslim country for business and shopping hours much of Morocco follows a Monday to Friday working week. Business hours for banks are 8:15am–3:45pm Monday to Friday. Shops start their day a bit later but stay open until 8pm or 9pm. On Fridays, the shops in the souks stay shut at lunchtime.
The Moroccan unit of currency is the dirham (Dh), divided into 100 centimes; centimes are of little value but beggars are grateful for them. The most useful coins are the denominations of 1 Dh, 5 Dh and 10 Dh. These are really handy when travelling by taxis. Notes are in denominations of 20, 50, 100 and 200 dirhams. You should always try to have a stock of 10 Dh coins for taxis. If you want a quick and approximate conversion then dividing by 10 gets U. S. Dollars and take off another 25% if you want Sterling.
Banks are mostly found on the Rue de Bab Agnaou in the medina and Place Abdel Moumen Ben Ali in the New City. Virtually all of the banks have automatic cash dispensers, most of which give cash if your card is part of the Cirrus, Maestro or Visa networks.
Credit cards are accepted by the high-end hotels. However, this may not be the case for smaller places or some of the restaurants in the city. You might find some places will decline your card in the hope that you will pay cash. If you know that they take cards then just insist that you have no other means of payment and suddenly your card may just be accepted.
National operator Maroc-Télécom and rival Meditél both have arrangements with European networks that allow visitors to use mobiles in Morocco. Just how expensive this will be will depend on your home provider, so do check the cost before you go. If you are visiting for a long period you can buy a pre-paid SIM card from either of the operators. They both have shops just off Place du 16 Novembre in the New City.
Internet access is a must for most people these days and many of the hotels or riads will provide a free or low cost WiFi connection for their guests. If you stay somewhere that does not then there are internet centres off Jemaa El Fna. One of the best is said to be Cyber Espace, it is spacious and well-equipped centre and can be found at Arset Moulay Abdesslem. You should expect to pay up to 10Dh per hour.
Continued in part 6
Visiting Marrakech – What you should know before you go - Part 5
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