How much should I tip a tour guide vs a driver in Morocco?

Tipping guides and drivers is one of those etiquette questions where a clear number really helps, so here is what I advise. For a licensed city guide who walks you through a medina for a half-day, a fair tip is around 100 to 200 dirham — roughly $10 to $20 — per group, scaling up for a full day or for a guide who was genuinely excellent and unlocked the city for you. This is a tip on top of their fee, and it is a group figure, not per person, so a couple or a small family tips once, together, rather than each handing over the same amount.

A private driver is tipped a little less than a guide, because their role, while essential, is different. For a driver doing transfers or a day of driving, around 50 to 100 dirham — about $5 to $10 — a day is appropriate, and on a multi-day trip across the Atlas to the desert you would tip toward the upper end or settle up generously at the end, because a good driver does far more than drive: they manage your day, recommend the right lunch stop, navigate, and look after you. The longer you spend together, the more the relationship and the tip should reflect.

The figure that catches people out is the combined driver-guide — increasingly common on private tours, where one expert both drives the route and guides you through the sights. Because they are doing two jobs and often spending days with you, they deserve the higher end of the scale, closer to a good guide's rate per day than a driver's, and a meaningful lump sum at the end of a multi-day trip is the right gesture. Likewise, do not forget the smaller players: a porter, a camp crew, the riad staff who looked after you — small dirham tips for each are expected and appreciated.

My honest guidance: think of tipping not as a fixed tax but as a reflection of service — these ranges are the baseline for good work, and you should tip up for something special and feel free to tip modestly for something perfunctory. Always tip in cash and in dirham rather than foreign notes, hand it over discreetly and directly at the end, and carry a stock of small and medium notes so you are never caught short. Good guides and drivers are the difference between a fine trip and a brilliant one, and tipping them well is both fair and genuinely good value. Customs and costs shift, so use these as a guide, not gospel.