Morocco: Where the Mint Tea Is Boiling, the Medina Is a Maze, and Your Bargaining Skills Will Be Tested

Welcome to Morocco, a country so vibrant, aromatic, and chaotic that your senses will be hyperventilating within ten minutes of arriving.

It’s a land where navigating a city souk is basically an extreme sport. You’ll step into the medina of Fes or Marrakech, instantly lose all sense of direction, and realize your GPS gave up twenty minutes ago. Before you know it, you’ve been offered five glasses of scalding-hot mint tea (affectionately known as "Moroccan Whiskey"), and you’re somehow mid-negotiation to buy a hand-woven rug you definitely don't have room for in your carry-on.

Beyond the maze of alleyways, Morocco is wildly diverse. You can surf waves on the Atlantic coast, ski the Atlas Mountains in gear from the 90s, and ride a camel into the Sahara Desert to sleep under a sky full of stars. Just watch out for the goats in the Argan trees—yes, actual goats that climb high into trees like fuzzy, hoofed birds just to eat the fruit.

Between feasting on tagine cooked to slow-perfection, dodging aggressive mopeds in pedestrian-only lanes, and admiring tilework so intricate it’ll make your home decor look sad, Morocco is stunning, spicy, and gloriously alive. Just learn to embrace getting lost, never accept the first price on anything, and always drink the tea!

March, 2015