Do restaurants serve alcohol in Morocco?

Alcohol in Morocco exists, but it's selective rather than universal, and that surprises some visitors. Because this is a Muslim-majority country, alcohol isn't woven into everyday dining the way it is in Europe — plenty of restaurants, especially local eateries and those deep in the medinas, are completely dry, and you shouldn't assume a glass of wine with dinner is automatically on offer. What does serve alcohol is a specific set of venues: licensed restaurants (often the more upscale and tourist-oriented ones), hotels, many riads, rooftop bars and dedicated bars and clubs in the cities and resort areas. If having wine with dinner matters to you, simply choose a licensed venue — your riad or I can point you to them easily.

Encouragingly, Morocco actually makes its own drinks, and they're better than people expect. The country has a real wine industry — the Meknès region around Boulaouane and Guerrouane produces reds, whites and rosés (the gris de Boulaouane rosé is a classic) that are perfectly pleasant with a tagine. Casablanca and Flag are the local beers you'll see everywhere alcohol is sold. So 'drinking local' is genuinely an option here, not just imported wine at a markup. Licensed restaurants and hotels will have a list; supermarkets like Carrefour and Marjane have alcohol sections (closed during religious holidays and Ramadan for the most part).

Etiquette matters more than rules here, and it's simple: drink discreetly and in the right places. Alcohol is consumed inside licensed restaurants, bars, hotels and riads — never out in the open street, never walking around with a can, and with a bit of cultural sensitivity rather than as a public spectacle. During Ramadan, alcohol service narrows dramatically — many venues stop serving, shops curtail sales to non-Muslims, and the respectful move is to keep any drinking very low-key and private. None of this is about being furtive; it's about reading the room of a country where most people don't drink at all.

My practical guidance to guests is to set expectations before you arrive: if wine and cocktails are part of how you like to travel, build your trip around the venues that cater to it — the smart riad with a courtyard bar, the rooftop restaurant with a wine list, the hotel lounge — and you'll have a lovely time. If you're staying in very local guesthouses and eating in family-run medina spots, expect those to be dry and plan accordingly. And do try a Moroccan rosé with a sunset dinner at least once; it's a quietly delightful pairing that most visitors never think to order.