Guide books and other reading
Guide books
Even in the age of the internet and all its information, many of us feel better to carry a guide around for reference when we are abroad. Here are the guide books that we think are most accurate, interesting and independent.
1. The Footprints Handbook is excellent for detailed background information on various aspects of Moroccan life although it really can be rather out-of-date in places (depending on the edition).
2. The Rough Guide to Morocco is a relatively easy-to-read guide for more price conscious travelers although never seems to be able to fully clean out its inaccuracies on prices and places.
3. Lonely Planet (Morocco Country guide) is less comprehensive on country background information and history than the above guides, but is still one of the most reliable and independent guides around.
4. Marrakech: Encounter (Lonely Planet) by Alison Bing is intentionally smaller than most guides but provides excellent map based guidance on shops, restaurant and destinations in Marrakech. Good as an extra to a more comprehensive guide.
5. Trekking in the Moroccan Atlas by Richard Knight for those planning to go trekking is about the best book there is out there.
To begin viewing hotels and riads across Morocco, click here.
Novels and other literature
In the weeks before going to Morocco, many people like to read a novel set in Morocco in order to get into the spirit of the country. If, like us, you are one of these people, then the following books are often recommended by others:
- Spirits of Tangier by Tessa Codrington and Jean-Pascal Billiaud
- A Year in Marrakesh by Peter Mayne
- The Caliph's House by Tahir Shah
- The Voices of Marrakesh by Elias Canetti
- Morocco That Was by Walter B. Harris
- Valley of the Casbahs: A Journey Across the Moroccan Sahara by Jeffrey Tayler
- Travels with a Tangerine: From Morocco to Turkey in the Footsteps of Islam's Greatest Traveler by Tim Mackintosh-Smith
- Zohra's Ladder: And Other Stories from Morocco by Pamela Windo
- Hideous Kinky by Esther Dreud
- The Spider’s House by Paul Bowles