Digital Nomad in Morocco
Lifestyle,  Morocco

Living as a Digital Nomad in Morocco

I’ve been a digital nomad since the summer of 2021, and the majority of that time has been within Morocco. So how is it being a digital nomad in Morocco, is Morocco a good place to be a digital nomad, and what do you need in order to become a digital nomad in Morocco? Let’s look at the details.

What is a “Digital Nomad”?

So, digital nomadism is one of those buzzwords that you hear a lot thrown around by annoying hipsters on the Internet, like “minimalism” and “stoicism” (all things I happen to love because I am unapologetically an insufferable hipster on the internet). But what is a digital nomad?

A digital nomad is essentially anybody who can leverage their skills and work online from anywhere in the world. It’s not exactly the same as “work from home”, because many people who work from home are still tied to a location, and often have to go into the office. Digital nomads are different in the sense that they can work from anywhere, and only need the basic Internet set up to be successful.

Digital nomads are often software engineers, social media marketers, text support, teachers, writers, and everything in between. More and more people are finding success and lucrative careers online, thanks in part to platforms like Upwork and Fiverr. But, more than anything, people are just starting to realize that you don’t need to be in an office in order to be productive. The Internet has really decentralized the modern workforce in amazing ways. We no longer need to be shackled to a desk for 8+ hours a day in order to be functional employees. It really is an amazing time.

Digital Nomad in Morocco
Look how blue it is!



Why did I become a digital nomad in Morocco?

Coming from Alaska, it seems like a really random choice. Morocco, of all places, was never on my bucket list of places I was dying to see much less move for the better part of a year. I moved here, in fact, because I met my husband, who is a Moroccan citizen.

Decided to start our lives and establish our digital nomad careers before branching off to more expensive places where we don’t have the support of family and the language. My husband is fluent in Arabic, French, Amazigh, and English, so it made sense for us to live here while I built my career and he finished his education.

Is Morocco good for digital nomads?

This is such a hard question to answer because digital nomads have such a wide range of needs. For example, I don’t need a lot of extremely heavy data usage with my job. I do video conferencing, light video editing, and webpage development, but I know many nomads do I need extensive amounts of data.

Even with my fairly light Internet-use requirements, the Internet was a pretty serious struggle when I first got here. It took us the better part of eight weeks to get our fiber optic installed in our apartment, and that’s due in large part to the fact that Morocco doesn’t have many Internet service providers, and they tend to drag things out and take their time with setting up the Internet. Your mileage may vary on this, but I’ve heard this to be true in the bigger cities like Casablanca and Marrakesh, as well as smaller cities, like Kénitra, where I live.

Another fantastic thing about making Morocco your digital nomad home base? The close proximity to Europe. It’s cheap and easy to travel from Morocco to the rest of Europe, like Spain, Italy, France, and Portugal. I often see round-trip flights to places like London for less than $100 USD. And the weather is typically pretty great year round, except for the massively hot summers.

What’s the cost of living like for a digital nomad in Morocco?

One factor that makes digital nomad life in Morocco attractive is the fact that the cost of living is quite low. You can easily get an entire apartment for the equivalent of US$150-US$300. The cost of high-speed fiber-optic Internet is about US$35, food for a month can be about US$100 depending on how much you eat out. Restaurants, coffee shops, cell phone plans, and public transportation are all very, very reasonably priced.

digital nomad in morocco



My husband and I can (and have) easily lived off of less than $1000 a month. You have to pay more for premium luxuries, and you definitely won’t get a first-world quality of life for under $1000 a month. However, we live very well and spend about $1200 a month on average.

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Casablanca to Rome for $63 round trip? Don’t mind if I do!



What about the digital nomad visa in Morocco?

The short answer is, there isn’t a digital nomad visa in Morocco. Many, many countries don’t require a visa for a 90-day visit to Morocco, but to stay longer than the 90 days, you’ll need to apply for residency (Cart Sejour). Many people opt to leave the country and come back to reset the recess day, but I don’t think this is strictly legal but I also don’t hear about the issue being enforced very often. When the borders were open, many foreigners would cross the border to Ceuta or Melilla, Spain, which effectively resets the visa.

How about coworking spaces in Morocco?

There are some coworking spaces, but they are much more limited than many other countries. However, this is growing as people are recognizing Morocco’s low cost of living, quality access to many beaches, and close proximity to Europe.

I think Morocco would be a much better place for digital nomads if the coffee culture were a little bit better. Morocco has thousands of coffee shops, and they’re all very cute and full of vibrancy and life and lots of interesting conversations. The only problem is, they all allow smoking. Very few coffee shops don’t allow smoking. This is great! If you’re a smoker. The rest of us struggle.

I’ve been in situations where I’ve had to sit next to chain-smokers for hours because I had deadlines due and no other choice because I needed the Internet. This can be very frustrating for those of us who are sensitive to cigarette smoke.

Digital nomad in Morocco life: conclusion

If you’re looking for a change of scenery from the traditional digital nomad destinations, Morocco is certainly an interesting place to check out. There are some really frustrating things about living here, like the bureaucracy, poor customer service, and (in my opinion) pretty bland food. Put the beaches, low cost of living, interesting sites, and inviting people to make it more than worth it for a digital nomad.