The Morocco Pre-Arrival Checklist: Everything a Nomad Family Needs to Do in the 90 Days before Landing

What the First Trip Taught Us about Preparation

On our first long stay in Morocco I did three things in the wrong order. I booked the flights before I had the rental confirmed. As if that was not enough, I started the dog vaccination process four weeks too late and had to push our departure by three weeks. And what do you know? I arrived at Casablanca Mohammed V International Airport at 10pm with no local data, two exhausted children, and a dog who needed a customs inspection I had not fully prepared the paperwork for.

None of these were catastrophic. All of them were avoidable. The checklist below is what we run now. Not aspirational. Every time.

The Three Things That Have Timing You Cannot Reverse

Most Morocco preparation tasks are flexible. These three are not. Get them wrong and your departure date moves whether you want it to or not.

The first is the dog rabies vaccination window. Moroccan entry requires the vaccine to be administered no less than 21 days before arrival and no more than 6 months prior. The microchip must be implanted before the vaccine is given. Multi-year vaccines are only accepted if administered within six months of the planned entry date. This sequence has a hard start date 90 days out and a hard close date at departure. There is no catching up once you miss it.

The second is the APHIS-endorsed health certificate for US-origin families. This document is only valid for three calendar days after APHIS endorsement. The vet visit, the APHIS submission, and the final exam within 24 hours of departure all have to land inside a ten-day window at the end of your preparation timeline.

The dog vaccination window is the constraint that sets the departure date. Everything else schedules backwards from that. Not the flights. Not the school. The dog.

The third is international school enrollment. The British School of Agadir and the American School of Marrakesh both fill early. Starting the enrollment conversation 90 days out is the minimum for families with a child who needs a guaranteed place.

The school calendar runs on Moroccan Zone A, which means September placement requires contact no later than June.

The Full 90-Day Checklist Table

Every task below has been run by our family at least twice. The table is organized by timeline and includes the specific note that matters for each item rather than just the task name.

The Tools That Run the Sequence

Three tools do the operational work across this checklist and all three are worth setting up before the 90-day window opens rather than during it.

For the rental search, I start with VRBO to build a price reference for the target neighborhood before contacting any landlord directly. The listed monthly rates on the platform run 20 to 30 percent above what a direct negotiated lease costs, but the pricing intelligence they give you is genuinely useful. In Agadir I used VRBO shortlists in Founty and Hay Mohammadi to benchmark before negotiating our apartment at 4,200 MAD per month rather than the 6,000 MAD the same type of property was listed at online.

RENTAL TOOL: Use VRBO to benchmark your target neighborhood before negotiating direct. It saved us significantly on our first Agadir lease. 

Pets Requirement

For pet supplies, order everything your dog needs for the first four weeks from Chewy before you leave home. In Agadir and Marrakech you can find basic pet supplies but not necessarily the specific food or tick treatment your dog is already on.

We order monthly tick prevention, two bags of regular food, and travel accessories from Chewy at our home address before every departure. Morocco has no Chewy equivalent.

PET SUPPLIES: Order tick treatment, dog food, and travel supplies for your pets from Chewy before you leave. Morocco supply is limited and inconsistent. 

For connectivity, the single change that most reduced our arrival stress was setting up an Airalo eSIM before the departure flight. Our first arrival at CMN took 40 minutes longer than it needed to because I was finding the Maroc Telecom desk in arrivals with bags, children, and a dog carrier.

On my second trip to Morocco, I had an Airalo data plan running before the wheels touched down. That gap in stress is not small when you have a dog that needs customs clearance and children who need food.

ARRIVAL CONNECTIVITY: Set up an Airalo eSIM with a Morocco data plan before you fly. Working 4G from the moment you clear arrivals changes the first hour completely.

What to Do on the Day You Land

The arrival sequence matters most when you are tired and the children are done. Keep it to three priorities and do them in order. SIM card first if you did not set up an eSIM before leaving.

ATM second: withdraw 1,000 to 2,000 MAD immediately because Morocco runs on cash. Grocery run third, but only for the minimum: water, bread, eggs, coffee. Dog owners add one step between the ATM and the grocery run: ONSSA registration at the CMN border desk.

Present all documentation, pay the 10 MAD inspection fee, and your dog is legally in Morocco.

ARRIVAL NOTE: Do not try to do a full grocery run on arrival night. Do the minimum and sleep. The Carrefour will still be there at 9am.

What did your preparation sequence look like before your first Morocco stay? Found a task we missed, a timing window we got wrong, or a tool that changed your arrival day?

Drop the specifics in the comments below.