How do I plan a Morocco trip from Ottawa?

When Ottawa travellers ask me where to begin, I always start with the flight, because it sets the whole shape of the trip. YOW has no transatlantic service to Morocco, so you'll do one of two things: hop down to Montreal (YUL) or Toronto (YYZ) and pick up Royal Air Maroc's nonstop to Casablanca, or route through a European gateway — Paris with Air France, London with British Airways, or Lisbon with TAP. The Montreal connection is my favourite from the capital because it's short, it keeps you on a single carrier into Casablanca, and Montreal is a quick hop away. Budget around 13–17 hours total, and please verify current schedules, as frequencies shift seasonally.

Once you land — usually in Casablanca (CMN) — I steer most first-timers onto the train or a short domestic hop to Marrakech, which makes the better base for a first visit. Ottawa is a bilingual city that takes culture and history seriously, and Moroccans share exactly that instinct: the layered medinas, the artisan quarters, the sense that every wall has a story. Your French will genuinely help you here, too — it's widely spoken across Morocco and opens doors in the souks and riads. I tell clients to give the first afternoon to a slow mint tea on a rooftop and let the time change settle before the real exploring begins.

For the trip itself, a week is the sweet spot for a first visit: Marrakech, a day winding over the Atlas Mountains to a Berber village, and a night under the stars in a Sahara camp near Merzouga or Zagora. If you can stretch to ten days, I'll fold in Fes — the world's most complete medieval medina — and the blue lanes of Chefchaouen, giving the journey a fuller arc through the imperial cities and countryside. I build these around your interests — food, photography, history — rather than a checklist, and I keep driving days reasonable so you're not living in a 4x4.

On the practical side: Ottawa is on Eastern Time, so Morocco is four to five hours ahead, and I find capital-region travellers adjust within a day or two. Canadian passport holders don't need a visa for stays under 90 days, the dirham is best drawn from ATMs on arrival, and spring and autumn are the kindest seasons for both the cities and the desert. With Morocco co-hosting the 2030 World Cup, I'm already seeing Ottawa football fans plan early scouting trips — and getting the Montreal routing dialled in now pays off later.