Visiting Morocco during Ramadan 2027: what changes and our tips

Yes, you can visit Morocco during Ramadan, and it can be a good time to come: tours, hotels and riads run as usual, sights stay open, and the evenings after the fast are some of the liveliest of the year. In 2027, Ramadan is expected from about 8 February to 9 March, with Eid al-Fitr around 10 March. What changes is the rhythm of the day: quiet afternoons, fewer places to eat in small towns, less alcohol, shorter opening hours and packed transport around Eid.

This guide sticks to the practical side, from our base in Marrakech. What the month means to Moroccans, and how families live it, is in Ramadan traditions in Morocco.

Should you travel to Morocco during Ramadan?

For most travellers, yes. Visitors who aren't Muslim are not expected to fast, and everything you came for, the medinas, the Atlas and the desert, is still there. The medina is calmer by day, and after sunset Marrakech has an atmosphere you won't find the rest of the year.

A few things are harder:

• Daytime meals outside the tourist areas: in villages and roadside towns, most cafés and restaurants stay closed until sunset.
• Alcohol: fewer places serve it, and shops usually stop selling it.
• Opening hours: monuments, offices and shops often keep shorter or shifted hours.
• Transport around Eid: trains, buses and hotels fill up at the end of the month.

If bars and nightlife matter to your trip, or your plans depend on long-distance trains around 10 March, other dates will suit you better. Our guides to Morocco in February and Morocco in March cover the weather and everything else in those months, and the best time to visit Morocco compares the whole year.

Ramadan 2027 dates in Morocco

	Expected date in 2027
First day of fasting	Monday 8 February
Last day of fasting	Tuesday 9 March
Eid al-Fitr (public holidays)	Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11 March

These dates are expected, not fixed. Ramadan follows the lunar calendar, and Morocco starts and ends it only once the new crescent has been seen. On the evening of the 29th day of the previous month, the Ministry of Habous and Islamic Affairs gathers the reports of its observers across the country and announces whether the next day is the first of Ramadan. The same happens at the end of the month for Eid.

Morocco makes its own observation, so its dates can differ by a day from those of Saudi Arabia or of mosques in Europe. In 2026, Ramadan began on 18 February in Saudi Arabia and on 19 February in Morocco, where Eid fell on 20 March. Leave a day of slack around the start and the end.

There is no clock change this time. Morocco has stayed on GMT all year since 20 September 2026, so the one-hour switch for Ramadan, still described in many guides, no longer exists. Europe stays on winter time for the whole month: Morocco is one hour behind Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Rome and Amsterdam, and on the same time as London.

Ramadan moves about 11 days earlier each year: in 2028 it is expected to begin in late January.

What a Ramadan day looks like for a visitor

The fast runs from the dawn prayer to sunset. In Marrakech, that gives:

	Early February 2027	Early March 2027
Fast begins (dawn prayer)	about 5:50	about 5:25
Fast ends (sunset prayer)	about 18:15	about 18:40
Length of the fast	about 12½ hours	a little over 13 hours

In Fes and Merzouga, further east, both times come about 10 to 15 minutes earlier. The Ministry of Habous publishes the official timetable for each city, and your riad will know the day's times. How the five daily prayers shape life in Morocco is explained in our guide to Islam in Morocco for visitors.

• Morning: quiet streets, and souk shops open later than usual. It is the best time for sightseeing.
• Afternoon: the city slows down. Fasting makes people tired, especially in the late afternoon, as the UK government's travel advice points out, so expect slower service and keep your patience.
• The hour before sunset: a rush. Bakeries and pastry shops are crowded, everyone hurries home, and traffic gets heavy and erratic.
• Sunset: the call to prayer breaks the fast. For a while the streets are almost empty while families eat together at home.
• Evening and night: the city comes back to life. Cafés fill up, families stroll out, the mosques fill for the long night prayers, and the souks reopen and stay busy late. In Marrakech, Jemaa el-Fna stays crowded well past midnight: our guide to the Jemaa el-Fna food stalls explains how the square works.

Eating, drinking and smoking in public

You don't have to fast, and nobody expects you to. Moroccan law (article 222 of the Penal Code) punishes Muslims who openly break the fast in public; it does not apply to non-Muslim visitors. Discretion is still expected of everyone: according to the UK government's travel advice, eating, drinking, smoking or chewing gum in public during the day may cause offence.

In practice:

• In your riad or hotel, breakfast and lunch are served as usual.
• In the tourist areas of Marrakech and Fes, many restaurants stay open at lunchtime, sometimes behind a screen or curtain.
• In villages and small towns, most cafés and restaurants are closed until sunset. On the road, carry water and snacks, and eat or drink in the car or out of sight.
• Drink water when you need it, especially on a hike: just do it discreetly.

You can also share the moment the fast ends. At sunset the food stalls of Jemaa el-Fna serve harira and dates, and hotels and restaurants offer special ftour menus: in Marrakech in 2026, they ranged from about 200 dirhams (around €18) for a hotel buffet to 800–1,000 dirhams (€75–90) in the palace hotels. If a Moroccan family invites you to break the fast with them, it is a real privilege: accept with pleasure, but never ask. The dishes of the ftour are described in our guide to the Moroccan breakfast.

Alcohol during Ramadan

Licensed hotels, riads and restaurants in the big cities usually keep serving alcohol to non-Muslim foreign guests, but fewer places do so than usual. Many bars and nightclubs close for the month, and shops and supermarket alcohol sections usually stop selling, a practice that goes back decades.

The rules vary by city and change from year to year. In February 2026, for example, the authorities in Fes allowed tourist establishments and restaurants to serve alcohol to foreign visitors during Ramadan, after years of restrictions. If a glass of wine with dinner matters to you, ask your hotel or riad before you book, and don't count on buying a bottle when you arrive. Drinking in the street is illegal at any time of year.

Sights, shops and opening hours

Most places stay open, with different hours. These change from city to city and from one year to the next, so take this table as a guide and check on the spot:

	Usually during Ramadan
Monuments and museums	Open, often closing earlier: the Ben Youssef Madrasa in Marrakech closes at 16:30 instead of 19:00
Hassan II Mosque, Casablanca	Guided tours on a separate Ramadan timetable
Souks and shops	Open later in the morning, close before sunset, many reopen in the evening
Local cafés and restaurants	Closed by day outside tourist areas, busy after sunset
Hotels and riads	Serve their guests as usual
Government offices	Shorter hours: 9:00 to 15:00, Monday to Friday, in 2026
Trains	A Ramadan timetable: in 2026, trains between Marrakech, Casablanca and Fes ran from about 4:30 to 17:30

ATMs work as usual, but bank branches change their hours.

Tours during Ramadan: desert, Atlas and day trips

Private tours generally run as usual during Ramadan. Your driver and guide may well be fasting, so it makes sense to plan the day around it: an earlier start, lunch stops where restaurants serve travellers, and as little driving as possible around sunset, when the roads are at their most erratic. Ask us how we would organise your dates.

On our 3-day Merzouga desert tour, for example, lunches aren't included, so we stop where you can sit down to a proper meal, and dinner at the hotel and in the desert camp is served in the evening, as on any other night of the year.

For a private guided tour of Marrakech, we visit the palaces and the Saadian Tombs in the morning, before the earlier closing times, and keep Jemaa el-Fna for after dark, when it is at its best.

In Atlas villages there are few places to eat by day, and people notice what visitors do: eat and drink discreetly, and dress with a little more care than in town.

Eid al-Fitr: the end of Ramadan

Eid al-Fitr is expected on Wednesday 10 March 2027, with a second public holiday on Thursday 11 March, and is confirmed the evening before. Families put on new clothes, go to the morning prayer and visit relatives. For travellers, the main effect is on transport and rooms:

• Trains and buses are packed in the last days of Ramadan, as families travel home. ONCF adds trains on the main lines (in 2026 its special plan ran from 17 to 29 March) but runs fewer on Eid day itself. Book early, buy a return ticket on oncf-voyages.ma, and check our guide to getting around Morocco for the other options.
• Marrakech hotels fill up with Moroccan holidaymakers over the Eid break: in 2025, some were fully booked.
• On Eid day, many shops, cafés and small restaurants close while families celebrate at home, and banks shut for the holiday. Hotels and riads work as usual.

Our tips

• Dress a little more modestly than usual in towns and villages, with shoulders and knees covered. Our guide on what to wear in Morocco as a woman has the details.
• Keep water and snacks in your bag for the road, and eat out of sight.
• Sightsee in the morning, rest in the afternoon and go out after sunset.
• Be patient in the late afternoon, and don't plan to arrive anywhere by road around sunset.
• Say "Ramadan mubarak" ("blessed Ramadan") to wish people a good month, and "Eid mubarak" on the day of the feast.
• Ask your hotel about alcohol before you book, if it matters to you.
• Book Eid transport and rooms early, and leave a day of slack around the expected dates.

Travelling between February and early March 2027? Tell us your dates and we will plan your days around Ramadan, from the medina to the dunes.