Visitor Information

For Morocco maps, I've always used the Morocco GeoCenter World Country Map, which includes distances (in kilometers only) between most urban centers and major road junctions on major and secondary roads. It's available at Maps Worldwide (www.mapsworldwide.com) and Stanford's (www.stanfords.co.uk).

Telephones

Coin-operated phones can be found in private teleboutiques within every village, town, and city. You can make local and international calls from here, though you will need a stack of coins -- thankfully there is always an attendant on hand to dispense change. Card-operated public phones are scattered everywhere, including outside post offices. Cards can be bought from the post office, newspaper stalls, and tabacs (news agency-cum-tobacconist). Per-minute costs to landline numbers are currently 1dh (15¢/5p) for local calls, 1.50dh (20¢/10p) for national calls, 2.60dh to 3.75dh (35¢-45¢/15p-25p) for calls to Europe, and up to 7dh (90¢/45p) to elsewhere.

To call Morocco from another country:

1. Dial the international access code: 011 from the U.S.; 00 from the U.K., Ireland, or New Zealand; or 0011 from Australia

2. Dial the country code 212

3. Dial the Moroccan number minus the first 0.

To make domestic calls within Morocco: For all calls within Morocco, drop the country code; the full area code (including the first 0) must be dialed along with the number. All numbers in Morocco begin with a three-digit area code. Codes beginning with 02 or 03 are landline numbers; all other numbers are mobile numbers.

To make international calls from Morocco: To make international calls from Morocco, first dial 00 and then the country code (U.S. or Canada 1, U.K. 44, Ireland 353, Australia 61, New Zealand 64). Next, dial the area code (drop the first 0 if there is one) and number. For example, if you wanted to call the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., you would dial 00-1-202-588-7800.

For directory assistance & operator-assisted calls: Dial 160 for a number within Morocco, and dial 126 for numbers to all other countries.

Toll-free numbers: There are no toll-free numbers within Morocco, and calling a toll-free number in the U.S., U.K., or anywhere else from Morocco is not toll-free. In fact, it costs the same as an overseas call.

Internet/Email

Morocco has truly joined the Internet era. While there is a growing number of home users, socioeconomic reasons (most people can't afford a home computer) dictate that the majority of Moroccan users frequent Internet cafes -- called "cyber" -- found in virtually every city, town, and even village that has electricity and telephones. The users are generally teenage Moroccans, who sit for hours during the evening participating in international chat rooms. Most cybercafes don't censor what their users are watching -- there's no government censorship -- and Western travelers may be shocked to find themselves sitting next to a young Moroccan lad who is surfing some pretty hard-core porn sites. Moroccans have also fully taken to speaking to loved ones via VoIP calls from their local cybercafe.

Tip: You'll find most keyboards in Morocco are designed with Arabic-language users in mind, so some letters will be in a different place from what you're used to. To bring up the @ symbol, simultaneously press Alt Gr and either the number 0 or à keys.

In Morocco, by far the easiest way to check your e-mail and surf the Web is in one of the country's Internet cafes. Connection speed varies but is usually pretty fast. The cost for 30 minutes is around 5dh (65¢/30p). Cybercafes usually open between 9 and 10am, not closing until 10 to 11pm most days, although some will close for a few hours at midday Friday. To find cybercafes in your destination, check www.cybercaptive.com and www.cybercafe.com.

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Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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				Frommer's Morocco, 1st Edition Author: Darren Humphrys Pub Date: April 07, 2008 Price: $23.99				Related Titles: Frommer's South Africa, 5th Edition