Wir zeigen Ihnen, wie Sie eine eSIM oder SIM-Karte in Marokko kaufen und erklären, was eine eSIM ist und welche Vorteile sie hat.

Buy an eSIM or SIM card in Morocco: stay mobile on vacation in 2024

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Stay flex­i­ble and inde­pen­dent on vaca­tion with an eSIM or SIM card for Morocco. With our detailed expla­na­tions, it’s easy to get mobile Inter­net, be reach­able and use a navi­ga­tion app on site. 

We present to you in detail the vari­ous ways in which you can buy an eSIM or SIM card in Morocco and enjoy your trip worry-free. 

We also explain what an eSIM actu­ally is, how to use it for the first time and what advan­tages it has.

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Why should you buy an eSIM or SIM card in Morocco?

An every­day scenario in the medina of Marrakesh: nervous tourists who have lost their way and, in vari­ous phases of desper­a­tion, ask the locals for help, which is gladly granted — in return for a corre­spond­ing baksheesh, of course. This can be expen­sive and you rarely get away with less than 200 Dirhams, but the good news is that so far every­one has found their way out of the souk…

Refer­ral links: The links marked with an aster­isk (*) are refer­ral links, also known as affil­i­ate links. This means that if you buy some­thing via such a link, we receive a small commis­sion. There is no addi­tional cost to you, but with your purchase you help us to continue creat­ing useful content for trav­el­ers. Enjoy our stories and “Shukran” for your support!

For 200 Dirhams, which is about 20€, you can also get a Moroc­can SIM card for your phone and be connected to the Inter­net and thus Google Maps anywhere in Morocco, which is extremely help­ful in situ­a­tions like the one described above.

Buying a SIM card at the airport is no prob­lem, but anyone who changes them often knows how small and unwieldy they are, how quickly they fall off and disap­pear never to be seen again. 

There is now also a more elegant solu­tion in Morocco: the eSIM. But how does it actu­ally work? Detailed instruc­tions can be found in this article.

Do you want to buy an eSIM right away? Here you will find our recom­men­da­tion for mobile Inter­net in Morocco with differ­ent data tariffs: Buy an eSim for Morocco*.

Content 
  1. Why should you buy an eSIM or SIM card in Morocco?
  2. How can I access the Inter­net and stay mobile in Morocco?
  3. What are the advan­tages of a Moroc­can phone card on vacation?
  4. What are the disad­van­tages of a local phone card on your Morocco vacation?
  5. How do I buy a SIM card at the airport in Morocco?
  6. How do I buy an eSIM in Morocco?
  7. How does an eSIM actu­ally work?

How can I access the Internet and stay mobile in Morocco?

Here we give you an overview of the options for connect­ing to the Inter­net and tele­phone in Morocco.

The WiFi in the hotel

A fiber optic connec­tion is now a real­ity in many places in Morocco and works perfectly. Even the medina of Marrakesh is well connected, although bottle­necks can some­times occur here due to the high number of users, both locals and tourists. In most hotels and riads, WiFi use is free of charge and easily available.

WiFi in the restaurant

Many restau­rants that are popu­lar with tourists provide free inter­net for their guests. The corre­spond­ing dates are usually printed on the menu card.

SIM card

A local prepaid SIM card is avail­able at moder­ate prices for differ­ent data volumes and is easi­est to buy at the airport when enter­ing the coun­try. Below you will find a detailed expla­na­tion.

eSIM

Morocco now also offers the option of using a prepaid eSIM*. More infor­ma­tion can be found below: How do I buy an eSIM in Morocco?

What are the advantages of a Moroccan phone card on vacation?

If you want to make calls, send messages or surf the Inter­net outside Europe with your tele­phone contract, you usually have to pay dearly: the so-called roam­ing charges, i.e. the costs for data usage abroad, are horren­dously expen­sive, depend­ing on the coun­try and provider. 

There are often inter­na­tional data pack­ages that can be added by SMS after arrival. Don’t do this, the 10 MB you get for €14.99 will be used up after the first half day!

A local prepaid SIM card or eSIM, which provides easy Inter­net access, can help. You have good recep­tion every­where in Morocco and it is defi­nitely worth buying a card, as the data volume is much cheaper than with your own provider.

With a Moroc­can SIM card you are mobile on the road, i.e. you also have Inter­net recep­tion in the souk and can google for direc­tions back to the hotel.

How well this works is always a matter of luck, because not every little alley in the medina is digi­tally recorded, but you can find out the rough direc­tion and it gives you a feel­ing of security. 

iPhone with Moroccan SIM card

What are the disadvantages of a local phone card on your Morocco vacation?

You can no longer be reached on your normal tele­phone number. That’s it.

Which is actu­ally an advan­tage, because firstly you are on vaca­tion and secondly it saves you or the caller high costs for an inter­na­tional call. 

But you must be aware that you can no longer be reached and you should inform all impor­tant people in advance if neces­sary. You can also no longer be reached by text message.

You can still be reached as usual via messen­ger services such as What­sapp. You can use it to make calls (even free of charge) and send messages.

Another disad­van­tage is notice­able if you need the SMS for two-factor autho­riza­tion. So if you want to make a bank trans­fer online, for exam­ple, and you receive an SMS for approval, you must first change the SIM card or change the profile for the eSim.

How do I buy a SIM card at the airport in Morocco?

Those arriv­ing in Marrakesh can purchase a SIM card at the airport, after all the checks just before leav­ing the build­ing. You can choose between the providers Orange, Inwi and Maroc Telekom. 

Find out more about arriv­ing at Marrakesh Inter­na­tional Airport in our blog post: Arriv­ing in Marrakesh: The best insider tips.

At the other airports in Casablanca, Rabat or Agadir you will also find the rele­vant providers and it really is much easier and quicker to buy the card at the airport than in a store in the city afterwards.

Phone card provider at Marrakesh airport.
Phone card provider at Marrakesh airport

The providers hardly differ in their offer­ings. I always go to Inwi because my daugh­ter thought the purple was so great years ago and wanted me to buy my card there. Force of habit, I suppose.

But it really does­n’t matter which provider you go to. 

You usually have to queue a little, then you are asked how many giga­bytes of data you want. 20 giga­bytes currently cost 200 dirhams, but euros are also accepted. To buy the card, you must show your pass­port, which will be copied together with the card. You are asked to give the employee your unlocked cell phone. She removes the SIM card, inserts the new SIM card and acti­vates the card. The old card is stuck onto the plas­tic card in which the Moroc­can SIM card comes and handed over to you together with your phone. Already finished. 

If you want to unlock the SIM card: the code is 0000 unless you have been told otherwise.

That’s how easy it is to get mobile connec­tion in Morocco. Even in the sand dunes of Erg Chegaga you have wonder­ful recep­tion and 20GB is usually enough for a week’s vacation.

If you missed buying a SIM card at the airport, it is best to ask your hotel for help with buying a SIM card. 

If you want to top up your card, you can do so in one of the small general stores that can be found in almost every town. It is impor­tant that there is a sign from your tele­phone provider.

However, the prob­lem is that you cannot follow the Arabic instruc­tions for acti­va­tion because you have to acti­vate the credit by phone call.

The seller, in turn, cannot acti­vate the card for you because he is not famil­iar with your cell phone and does not under­stand the language on it.

Small general store in the medina of Marrakesh: you can top up your phone card here.

 

I tried the proce­dure a few times — it involved at least 10 people each time, there was a lot of palaver, my cell phone was passed on to so many help­ful people that I lost track and the whole thing only worked half the time. But yes, some­times it was successful. 

Conclu­sion: At the airport, the employ­ees of the oper­at­ing compa­nies know their way around very well, as they do noth­ing else all day, so this is also the best place to buy a phone card.

How do I buy an eSIM in Morocco?

The eSIM, on the other hand, is much easier to use than a conven­tional SIM card. Buy an eSIM for Morocco online*, acti­vate it using a QR code, and you’re done. 

Also works in the evening in the hotel if you real­ize that you can’t manage with­out the Inter­net and want to have Inter­net access at short notice.

How does an eSIM actually work?

Your cell phone requires a SIM card, which is actu­ally a computer chip, in order to be recog­nized by the tele­phone provider and to provide tele­phone and Inter­net access on your device. The data linked to your contract is stored on the card.

What is an eSim?

An eSIM is a SIM card perma­nently installed in the device and cannot be replaced. The “e” in eSIM comes from the word embed­ded. The eSIM contains the same data for a tele­phone contract as a conven­tional SIM card, but the data on the card can be changed and there­fore the tele­phone provider can also be changed.

The data of a tele­phone contract or a prepaid card can be conve­niently read in via QR code with­out having to phys­i­cally replace a card.

This is what makes the use of an eSIM so inter­est­ing for trav­el­ers. Scan­ning the QR code should estab­lish the new connec­tion, quickly and easily! 

It also avoids a lot of plas­tic waste, as the small nano SIM card used up to now always comes in a credit card-sized plas­tic card.

Looking for a hotel in Marrakesh?

The best loca­tion in the medina, break­fast included, an oasis of peace in the middle of the souks: the Riad Selouane is the ideal address for your city trip!

Read more
Riad Selouane Marrakesh: View into the courtyard and over the roofs to the Ben Youssef Mosque

How do you use an eSIM? 

The quick version:

Buy eSIM*, scan the QR code, done.

The detailed explanation:

If you are not famil­iar with an eSIM, proceed as follows:

  • Is your cell phone eSIM-capa­ble?
    You should check whether your cell phone is eSIM-capa­ble before you travel: newer iPhones are eSIM-capa­ble, as are the latest Samsung devices and many tablets and smart­watches.
    If your device is eSIM-enabled, the same spec­i­fi­ca­tions of your contract are used as for a normal SIM card. It makes no differ­ence to the contract which card — SIM card or eSIM — you use.
  • Acti­vate the eSIM func­tion
    If you are currently using a SIM card, you must ask your tele­phone provider to switch to the eSIM or acti­vate it. You can often do this in the login area of your customer account. It depends on your tele­phone provider how exactly this works.
  • Acti­vate the eSIM
    Then you must acti­vate or convert the eSIM func­tion in the mobile phone settings on your smart­phone. As soon as the eSIM has been acti­vated, remove the SIM card that you no longer need.
    If the eSim is acti­vated in your smart­phone, vari­ous eSIM profiles are created. The first profile will be your normal tele­phone contract that you use in your home country.
  • Scan QR code
    After purchase, you will receive a QR code from the eSIM provider, which can be scanned with the smart­phone camera. The eSIM is then provided auto­mat­i­cally on the device or the instruc­tions are displayed directly on the screen. Alter­na­tively, the acti­va­tion code can also be entered manu­ally.
    Then you are connected to the Inter­net and on the move.

If you purchase and acti­vate an eSIM while on vaca­tion, your previ­ous profile will be deac­ti­vated and the new profile acti­vated. When you return home after your vaca­tion, all you have to do is reac­ti­vate your normal profile. Et voilà — very simple!

If you want to acti­vate an eSIM on a smart­watch, you usually need a smart­phone connected to the smart­watch to trans­fer the data to the watch.

You can usually also enter an eSIM profile in your provider’s customer area and down­load it from your device. To do this, you need the so-called EID, which is the unique iden­ti­fi­ca­tion number of the chip. You can find these in the Settings menu of your mobile device.

Acti­vat­ing an eSIM has a number of advan­tages, and not just for travelers: 

In addi­tion to user-friend­li­ness when chang­ing providers, the complete elim­i­na­tion of the plug-in card could make smart­phones slim­mer and lighter in the future and offer addi­tional uses such as an online ID func­tion. Even if you buy a new cell phone but want to keep your exist­ing mobile phone contract, the eSIM makes it easier to trans­fer data and, above all, you don’t have to wait for a new SIM card to be sent by post.

If you are using the eSim for the first time, we recom­mend that you acti­vate the neces­sary func­tions in your cell phone and with your tele­phone provider at home before you go on vaca­tion. You can order your eSim for Morocco conve­niently in advance via Getyourguide* and acti­vate the eSim profile for Morocco on arrival, while still on the plane. So you can travel comfort­ably during your Morocco vacation!

olive twig light brown

A Moroc­can phone card is defi­nitely a good idea for your vacation!

Looking for more information about Marrakesh?

Visit our travel guide to learn more about the sights of Marrakesh and Morocco!

read more
Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakesh
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