How do I avoid tourists in my photos in Morocco?

Timing is everything, and the trick almost no one uses enough is dawn. The blue staircases of Chefchaouen, the Bab Bou Jeloud and tanneries of Fes, the Marrakech souks and the courtyards of the famous riads are all swamped from mid-morning, but for the first hour or two after sunrise they are genuinely empty — just the odd shopkeeper opening up and the soft early light. I have stood alone in alleys at 7am that were shoulder-to-shoulder by 11. Set an alarm, accept the early start, and you photograph a different, quieter Morocco.

For ticketed monuments and gardens — the Bahia Palace, Ben Youssef Madrasa, Jardin Majorelle, the Saadian Tombs — go at the very moment they open, or in the last hour before closing when the tour buses have left. Mornings beat afternoons at most. Avoiding the cruise-and-coach rhythm matters: midday in high season is the worst, so use it for lunch, editing and shaded rest, then shoot again as the crowds thin toward golden hour.

Location choice helps as much as timing. The headline spots are crowded because they are headline spots; one street over is often nearly deserted and just as photogenic. A good local guide is worth their fee precisely for this — they lead you through the parallel alleys, the quieter neighbourhood souks, the lesser-known riads and rooftops, and the small towns and valleys most tour groups skip entirely. The Fes medina alone has thousands of lanes; the famous ones are a fraction of it.

Technically, you can also engineer crowds out of the frame. A long lens compresses and isolates your subject, letting you shoot over or past people; a wide aperture throws background tourists into a soft blur; and a tripod with a longer exposure or a stacking app can make moving crowds vanish from a static scene like a courtyard. Patience helps too — wait out a gap, shoot the instant an alley clears. Dawn, opening times, quieter corners and a smart lens choice together get you the empty, magical Morocco everyone wants.