How We Did Morocco with Kids on Less Than You'd Spend at the Beach

The traditional destination that comes to mind whenever most people start planning their summer vacations is the Mediterranean. Spain, Turkey, Greece. However, the figures speak another language in 2026. While a one-week stay in a mid-range Mediterranean beach resort costs a family of four anything from £2,500 to £4,500 and then some more after flights, transfers, and beach fun for kids are included into the budget, Morocco provides with castles, deserts, mountains, and beaches for an extremely reduced price. As for the families that like traveling on a guided tour, the Best Morocco Tour packages already cover all these aspects.

Our holiday to Morocco, taking in the cities of Marrakech, the Atlas Mountains, and the edges of the Sahara desert over ten days, was taken with both my seven- and ten-year-old kids. It all came in at slightly under £2,100 per person when flights back to the UK were included, which is cheaper than a week in Benidorm or Costa Blanca for many families once you account for hidden costs, but one thing that I know we won't forget from that holiday came right at the start.

The Moroccan system of operation is the double economy. In the tourist areas of Marrakech and Fez, things are very expensive. However, it takes only five minutes walking away to see the cost halve down. A full tagine plate including bread and mint tea in a family-run restaurant costs between £4 and £8 per head. The same plate in a restaurant facing the main square triples in cost for the same food.

The same pattern applies to hotels. A private room with breakfast in a riad costs between £25 and £50 per night. The riads normally add an extra bed/mattress for children at no or minimal cost if asked at the time of booking. Avoid third party sites for bookings since the owners will give a better price and reserve the family room with no deposits made.

Budget airlines such as Ryanair and easyJet fly into Marrakech and Agadir from the UK, costing £60 to £250 round trip depending on when you book. The booking needs to be six to eight weeks earlier for good deals. This makes the cost for flights cheaper than the average European packaged holiday without considering accommodation costs.

The expenses were monitored closely and we found ourselves living off a family budget of £70 - £90 per day, including food, accommodation, and transport within the city. We mostly got breakfast included in our riad and once in the mountains of the Atlas, we were treated with some flatbread, honey, and olive oil while enjoying the beautiful scenery of the snow-covered peaks just before us. The kids always mention that particular scene when discussing their travel experience.

The lunchtime meals mostly consisted of either street food or a local restaurant and the children really enjoyed the fresh juice stands in the main squares selling 50p glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice. The ceremony of serving us a small glass of mint tea poured from a height into tiny glasses was also something unique for that place. Our seven-year-old kid wanted another cup even before finishing her meal.

Money will be important here. Credit cards are hardly used anywhere except bigger hotels and restaurants, so prepare some dirham cash for medinas, small taxis, and markets. An ATM transaction at the arrival point (airport) will cover most of the week without problems.

Travel between cities is surprisingly inexpensive, and there is also an equivalent journey that forms the basis for a large number of Top Morocco Tours in case you prefer the logistics sorted out before time. Our train ride from Marrakech to Casablanca took place through air conditioned train carriages costing less than £20 for the entire travel process. Grand taxis for small towns would cost £3 to £8 per person. Our two-day car was hired only to cover some of the difficult journeys to the desert area and our cost came down to about £15 per person per day.

Although the desert is thought by many to be where the price tag in Morocco kicks in, an experience which includes transportation, camping, camel rides, dinner, and breakfast was only £85 for each of us. While private luxury camps can also be found and are priced from £150 up to £250 per night, the shared camp we went to was exactly what my children wanted - a camel ride at sunset, the ability to see a sky full of stars so beautiful they asked whether it was real, and a dinner on a campfire instead of a fancy buffet meal.

The nights in the desert can get cold quickly, regardless of season, and while a jacket would not be enough to keep you warm, a good fleece and a scarf would definitely do the trick. Children under 12 usually have reduced prices both on desert adventures and museum entrances, making the family prices lower than when purchasing beach resort activity tickets.

The current cost of a typical beach holiday abroad for a UK family of nine nights is almost £5,500 after adding air fare, costs of food and drinks, and well-known "extra beach expenses for kids", according to a recent Post Office and ONS report. Extra expenses of this kind are about £200 per week for each family. Our Moroccan vacation lasted ten days, included four cities, mountain views, and desert night stay at less than half the price mentioned above. Kids returned with tales of riding camels, drinking mint tea, and visiting tanneries in Fez, not with a tan and a pile of receipts from the gift shop in a hotel.

The desert camp experience still resonates much stronger with our children than all of the beach trips we have ever been on. It provided diversity, culture, and real adventures for much cheaper than a regular week in the pool area, and that combination is not available anywhere nearby for the price comparable to the one we paid for Morocco. For the families interested in looking at the actual options before booking, some of the Top Morocco Tours should be examined first.