How do I stay hydrated in Morocco?

Dehydration is, honestly, the most common avoidable problem I see on Morocco trips — far more than any exotic worry — and it sneaks up because the heat here is dry. You do not feel drenched in sweat the way you would in a humid climate; the moisture evaporates instantly, so you lose a lot of fluid without the obvious signal that you are losing it. By the time you feel thirsty you are already behind, and a thumping afternoon headache or that wrung-out, exhausted feeling is very often simple dehydration rather than too much sun or too little sleep.

The fix is to drink steadily and proactively rather than in big catch-up gulps. I tell guests to sip water through the whole day and to drink before they feel thirsty, especially around the desert, the gorges and any walking. A useful gauge is your urine — pale and frequent is the goal. In real heat or on active days, plain water is not quite enough on its own; add an electrolyte tablet or oral-rehydration sachet to one or two bottles, because you are losing salts as well as fluid and replacing only water can leave you flat.

A point that catches a lot of people: the lovely Moroccan drinks do not do the hydrating job. Sweet mint tea, strong coffee and a glass of wine on the terrace are part of the joy of the trip, but caffeine and alcohol are mildly dehydrating, and the sugary tea is not a substitute for water. Enjoy them, but count your real hydration separately. For drinking water, stick to bottled or properly filtered water rather than the tap — not because the tap is necessarily unsafe, but because the unfamiliar mineral content commonly upsets visitors’ stomachs, which then dehydrates you further.

My practical routine: start each day with a big glass of water, carry a refillable bottle and top it up (a filter bottle cuts down on plastic and is brilliant for the desert), keep water in the car on long drives, and pack a few electrolyte sachets from home. Watch children and older travellers especially, since they dehydrate faster and complain later. Drink up before and during desert excursions in particular, where shops are far apart and the air is at its driest, and never set off into the dunes without enough water for everyone.