What is the best place in Morocco for solo travellers?

For solo travellers, I steer toward the calmer towns first. Essaouira and Chefchaouen are the two I recommend most: both are small, walkable, low-pressure, and genuinely friendly, with a steady stream of independent travellers passing through, which makes meeting people easy. The hassle factor that can wear you down alone in the big medinas is far gentler in these towns. You can wander, sit in a café, and feel comfortable on your own in a way that takes more armour in Marrakech or Fes.

That said, Marrakech is perfectly doable solo and most independent trips start there — it has the hostels, the day-trip operators, the social scene, and the easy flights. The honest trade-off is intensity: solo travellers are a prime target for faux guides, persistent vendors, and the 'this way is closed, follow me' routine. The defences are simple once you know them — walk with purpose, decline firmly and keep moving, never accept unsolicited 'help' with directions, and use a riad that does an airport pickup for the first night. Within a day you learn the rhythm.

On solo women travellers specifically, let me be direct because it is the most common question I get. Morocco is broadly safe for women travelling alone — thousands do it happily every year — but you will get attention: comments, stares, the occasional persistent approach. It is overwhelmingly hassle rather than danger, and it eases the more confidently you carry yourself. Dressing modestly (shoulders and knees covered), wearing sunglasses, a firm 'la, shukran' (no, thank you), and not engaging beyond that go a long way. The calmer towns and a well-run riad community make a real difference to the experience.

My practical formula for solo trips: anchor in welcoming towns, use organised group day tours or a small-group desert trip to meet people and outsource logistics, and stay in riads or social guesthouses where the staff look out for you and other travellers gather at breakfast. A shared desert tour is especially good — you arrive alone and leave with a little crew. Morocco rewards solo travellers richly; you just want to start in the gentler places, build confidence, and lean on the riad-and-group-tour network rather than going it entirely alone in the busiest medinas on day one.