Morocco SIM Card for Tourists: Prices, *3 Codes and When an eSIM Pays Off

Last updated on 10 October 2026

A local SIM card costs less than a travel eSIM in Morocco. Orange sells its prepaid SIM for 20 dirham (€1.80) with 20 dirham of credit on it, and an internet recharge of 50 dirham (€4.51) currently adds 11 GB for 30 days. The POVNOMAD Morocco eSIM starts at €3.90 for 1 GB over 7 days and needs no shop visit, no passport registration and no recharge codes. As of 10 October 2026.

For a week with light use, the two options are 29 cents apart. From two weeks on, or with a lot of data, the local SIM saves you €5 to €14. This guide shows the prices, explains what codes like *3 and *6 do, and says when the eSIM is still worth it.

Local SIM, travel eSIM or roaming: what does each cost in Morocco?

Orange prices from orange.ma, retrieved 10 October 2026. POVNOMAD prices from the live product page on the same day. Dirham converted at the Bank Al-Maghrib reference rate of 2 October 2026 (€1 = 11.08 dirham), as reported by Hespress. Identification rule: ANRT, in force since 1 April 2014.

What a whole trip costs depends on how long you stay and how much data you use:

All prices retrieved 10 October 2026 from orange.ma, povnomad.com, airalo.com and esim.holafly.com/de. Orange labels the 30, 50, 100 and 200 dirham recharges as “Promo” and crosses out the normal volume: 6 GB instead of 3, 11 GB instead of 5, 24 GB instead of 10. The page names no end date. Without the promotion, a month with 10 GB costs 120 dirham (€10.83) at Orange and €14.90 with our eSIM. The SIM’s own 20 dirham of credit is not counted above, so the real local cost can be lower.

Is the SIM card free at Moroccan airports?

Not on the operators’ own pages. Orange sells the bare SIM card for 20 dirham and loads the same 20 dirham as credit onto it, so in effect you pay for credit, not for the card. Orange also delivers prepaid SIM cards free of charge within Morocco and sells a “Marhaba” eSIM online from 120 dirham (€10.83). That page names no data volume and asks for your identification data during the order. Maroc Telecom’s website refused our automated requests on 10 October 2026, and inwi’s site did the same, so we could not check whether either hands out free cards at arrival.

Travel guides describe counters of all three operators in the arrival halls of the big airports. We found no operator source for their opening hours or for airport surcharges, so this guide does not quote any.

What do *3, *6 and the other codes mean on a Moroccan recharge?

In Morocco you do not choose a plan once. You buy a recharge, then decide what it turns into by adding a star code. Orange puts it in one line: add the star code of your choice after the code of your recharge card. If you buy at a shop, the seller can activate the recharge for you. The same code can mean different things at different operators:

Orange: orange.ma recharge pages, 10 October 2026. Maroc Telecom: iam.ma “Pass Jawal” page in the archived version of 16 January 2026, because iam.ma refused our request on 10 October 2026. inwi: inwi.ma pass pages in the archived version of 17 September 2026.

For a traveller, two codes matter. *3 is real mobile internet: maps, booking sites, everything. *6 works only inside social apps. Orange’s *6 page names Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, WhatsApp and Messenger, and its 20 dirham card says “illimité” for 15 days. Google Maps is not on that list. If you pick *6 because it says unlimited, the map in the medina stops loading.

The *3 internet prices at Orange on 10 October 2026, from its *3 page: 10 dirham for 1 GB over 3 days, 20 dirham for 2 GB over 7 days, 30 dirham for 6 GB over 14 days, 50 dirham for 11 GB over 30 days, 100 dirham for 24 GB and 200 dirham for 48 GB, each valid 30 days. inwi listed 50 dirham for 11 GB and 100 dirham for 24 GB in September 2026. Check your balance at Orange free of charge with #554#.

Do you need a passport to buy a SIM card in Morocco?

Yes. Since 1 April 2014, operators may only activate a prepaid SIM once the buyer is identified, a rule of the regulator ANRT (Agence Ecofin, 4 April 2014). Lines that are not or not properly identified get deactivated. Orange lists the passport among the accepted documents for registering a prepaid line, next to the Moroccan ID card and the residence card.

For you this means: a card handed over without a look at your passport may work for now and stop later. Make sure the line is registered in your name before you leave the counter.

Which network reaches the most of Morocco?

Maroc Telecom and inwi reach more places than Orange. In Opensignal’s measurements for January to March 2026, Maroc Telecom scored 9.2 out of 10 for coverage experience, inwi 9.1 and Orange 7.8 (Opensignal, April 2026). Our Morocco eSIM runs on Orange Maroc’s 4G network only. In the cities that makes little difference. If you head deep into the Atlas or the desert, a local Maroc Telecom SIM keeps a signal in places where Orange has none. Where Orange has built out along a typical loop is in our Morocco road trip coverage guide.

How to buy the local SIM the right way

1. Go to an operator shop or an official operator counter and bring your passport. Ask for the line to be registered in your name.
2. Check that your phone accepts foreign SIM cards. A phone locked to your home operator will not.
3. Say “internet, étoile trois” for *3. Take *6 only if you want messengers and nothing else.
4. Buy recharges as an SMS code. Orange advises this, because a reseller who types the wrong number into a direct recharge has to fix the mistake himself (Orange help page).
5. Check the volume you received with #554# (Orange). Promotion volumes change without notice.
6. If your home SIM is a physical card and your phone has only one slot, the Moroccan card takes its place. Your home number is then offline until you swap back.

When the eSIM is the better choice, and when not

The eSIM is worth it when time and convenience count more than a few euros:

• Short trips. For a week of maps and messaging you pay €3.90 instead of €3.61.
• Arrival. You install the eSIM at home (instructions for iPhone and Android) and are online on the runway, for the taxi, the transfer or the riad address. Validity starts on first contact with the network in Morocco.
• No counter, no passport registration, no star codes. The plan you book is the plan you get.
• Hotspot for a laptop or a travel partner, included without a separate cap.
• Your home SIM stays in the phone for banking codes.

The local SIM is the better choice when you stay two weeks or longer, use a lot of data, need a Moroccan number for calls, or travel off the main roads where Maroc Telecom or inwi have signal and Orange does not. For a month with streaming, Orange’s 100 dirham recharge gives 24 GB for €9.02; our 20 GB cost €24.90.

All POVNOMAD unlimited and data plans with prices against Airalo and Holafly are in the Morocco eSIM provider comparison. Cash is the other cost that catches travellers out: our guide to ATM fees in Morocco lists the fee and withdrawal limit bank by bank.

Frequently asked questions

As of 10 October 2026. Prices collected that day on orange.ma, povnomad.com, airalo.com and esim.holafly.com/de; Maroc Telecom and inwi from archived pages of January and September 2026. Exchange rate: Bank Al-Maghrib, 2 October 2026. Prices and promotions change at any time.