How much does a meal cost in Morocco?

Morocco rewards anyone willing to eat where locals eat. A bowl of harira with a few dates and a pastry — the classic working-person’s lunch — costs me 20–30 MAD ($2–3) in almost any town. A merguez or kefta sandwich from a grill, a plate of fried fish in Essaouira, a bowl of bissara (fava-bean soup) in Chefchaouen: all sit comfortably in the 20–50 MAD ($2–5) band. You eat extremely well at the bottom of the market here.

Step up to a proper sit-down lunch at a neighbourhood restaurant and you’re looking at 50–100 MAD ($5–10) for a tagine or couscous with bread and a soft drink. Friday couscous, served everywhere, is one of the best-value meals in the country. These are the places with plastic tablecloths and a TV in the corner, and the food is often better than the polished tourist spots.

In the medina restaurants aimed at visitors — the ones with rooftop terraces and lanterns — a main is typically 80–180 MAD ($8–18), and a three-course set menu runs 150–300 MAD ($15–30). A genuinely upscale dinner at a fine riad or a place like a Marrakech palace-restaurant can reach 400–700 MAD ($40–70) per head with wine, which by Moroccan standards is a splurge but by European standards is still a bargain.

My honest advice: budget around 150–250 MAD ($15–25) per person per day for food if you mix street eats, one local lunch, and one nicer dinner. It genuinely varies — a couple eating simply can do 200 MAD ($20) total for the day, while a romantic riad dinner alone can pass that. Tipping is light: round up or leave 5–10%.