How do I get a SIM card on arrival in Morocco?

The simplest route is to sort a SIM the moment you land. Morocco's three networks — Maroc Telecom (IAM), Orange and inwi — all run desks or kiosks in the arrivals halls at the main airports (Marrakech, Casablanca, Fes, Agadir, Tangier), and the staff are used to setting tourists up in a few minutes. You hand over your passport, which is legally required to register any SIM in Morocco, choose a prepaid data package, and they'll insert the SIM, activate it and check it's working before you walk away. Tell them you mainly want data — most travellers do — and they'll point you to a generous data bundle for very little money.

On networks and value: all three are cheap by Western standards, with tourist data packages that are genuinely affordable, so the main thing isn't squeezing the last dirham out of the choice but coverage. Maroc Telecom (IAM) generally has the broadest reach into rural and mountain areas, which matters if your trip includes the Atlas, the gorges or the desert; Orange and inwi are excellent in cities and often a touch cheaper. If you're staying mostly urban, any of them is fine; if you're going remote, lean toward Maroc Telecom. Coverage in the deep dunes will drop regardless of network — that's geography, not your SIM.

If you'd rather not queue or fiddle with a physical SIM, an eSIM is a tidy alternative for modern phones. You can buy a Morocco eSIM from a provider before you fly, install it over wi-fi, and have data the instant you land without visiting any desk or showing a passport at a kiosk — handy for that first airport taxi and finding your riad. The trade-off is that eSIM tourist plans are usually a bit pricier than a local prepaid SIM and are data-only (no local number), but for many travellers the convenience and instant connectivity are well worth it.

A few practical pointers either way. Make sure your phone is unlocked before you travel if you're using a physical local SIM. Buying at the airport desk is the most foolproof, but you can also top up or buy at official Maroc Telecom / Orange / inwi shops in town, and recharge credit at countless little corner shops marked with the network logos. Keep your passport handy for the registration, save your riad's number and a maps app once you're connected, and you'll have cheap, reliable data to navigate, message and book taxis from your very first hour in the country.