The honest guide to LGBTQ+ safety, the best gay-friendly hotels, and why so many travellers keep going back to Morocco.
Morocco sits at the top of many LGBTQ+ travel wish lists, and also at the centre of some of the most honest conversations we have with our clients. It is one of the most visited countries in Africa, one of the most culturally stimulating destinations in the world, and one where homosexuality remains a criminal offense under Article 489 of the Penal Code, carrying penalties of up to three years in prison.
That is the reality. So is the fact that we send LGBTQ+ travellers to Morocco every single year, and the vast majority return wanting to go back.
Understanding why requires looking at the gap between law and lived experience, and being honest about both.
What the Law Actually Says
Article 489 criminalizes “lewd or unnatural acts with an individual of the same sex.” Enforcement against tourists is rare, but the law exists and it is not ceremonial. In 2019, two women were prosecuted for kissing in public. Local LGBTQ+ Moroccans face genuine risk in ways that foreign visitors, travelling discreetly and staying in international-standard properties, largely do not.
This distinction matters and we will not pretend otherwise. The relative safety that comes with being a well-resourced foreign visitor does not reflect the experience of Moroccan LGBTQ+ citizens, for whom the law has very real consequences. Organizations including Aswat and Kif-Kif (operating from Spain) continue to support Morocco’s hidden LGBTQ+ community.
Morocco’s LGBTQ+ history reveals a fascinating paradox – a country that served as a haven for gay Western intellectuals while maintaining conservative Islamic traditions. From the 1920s through the 1960s, Morocco, particularly Tangier, attracted some of the 20th century’s most...We Suggest...
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Why So Many LGBTQ+ Travellers Go Anyway
Morocco has been drawing gay and queer travellers for over a century. Tangier’s years as an International Zone in the mid-twentieth century created a legal vacuum that made it one of the most permissive cities in the world at a time when homosexuality was criminalized across most of Europe and North America.
Joe Orton made three extended visits between 1965 and 1967, documenting in his diaries a sexual freedom completely unavailable to him in London. William Burroughs lived there for years. Paul Bowles settled in Tangier in 1947 and never really left, turning his apartment into a gathering point for an entire generation of queer writers and artists.
That history did not evaporate. It shaped a culture of hospitality toward international visitors that persists in Morocco’s best hotels and riads today, even as the legal framework remains unchanged.
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The Properties That Make Morocco Work for LGBTQ+ Travellers
Choosing the right property is everything in Morocco. It is not about finding a “gay hotel” in the Western sense. It is about knowing which places have the management culture, the staff training, and the track record with LGBTQ+ guests to ensure your stay feels genuinely welcoming rather than merely tolerated.
La Mamounia, Marrakech is in a category of its own. One of the great hotels of the world, it has hosted everyone from Winston Churchill to the cast and crew of the Netflix series Inventing Anna, which filmed scenes within the hotel’s extraordinary interiors. The property operates at a standard of international luxury where the only thing that matters is that you are a guest, and it shows.
Kasbah Tamadot, Richard Branson’s Virgin Limited Edition property in the High Atlas Mountains, brings the full weight of Virgin’s famously inclusive brand values to one of Morocco’s most spectacular settings. Views of Mount Toubkal, Berber-influenced interiors, and the kind of service that reflects a company that has championed LGBTQ+ causes for decades. For travellers who want that assurance built into the brand itself, this is as close as Morocco gets.
What to Expect on the Ground
Morocco rewards discretion in the same way it rewards patience and curiosity: with extraordinary returns. The medinas of Marrakech, Fes, and Chefchaouen are among the most visually and culturally dense environments in the world. The food is exceptional. The landscape shifts from Atlantic coast to Sahara to Atlas peaks within a single itinerary. The riads, the hammams, the souks, the light in the late afternoon over the Djemaa el-Fna: there are reasons this country has been pulling travellers across the Strait of Gibraltar for generations.
For LGBTQ+ couples, the practical guidance is straightforward. Avoid public displays of affection, particularly in medinas and rural areas. Behave in public as you would in any conservative cultural context. Within your hotel or riad, you are a guest, and the properties we work with treat you accordingly. Most of our clients report no issues whatsoever.
The cultural moments are real and they are everywhere. Yves Saint Laurent spent decades here, crediting Marrakech with transforming his understanding of colour. His ashes were scattered in the Jardin Majorelle, the cobalt blue garden he and Pierre Bergé saved from development, and which now sits alongside the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech as one of the city’s most significant cultural sites. Walking through it carries a weight that no amount of advance reading quite prepares you for.
This journey takes you from Casablanca’s Atlantic shores to the Sahara’s silent dunes, weaving through imperial cities, the blue-washed alleys of Chefchaouen, and Marrakech’s souks. Why Chefchaouen? The Story Behind Morocco’s Blue City Chefchaouen wasn’t always blue. The tradition began...We Suggest...
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Should You Go?
This is a decision only you can make, and we respect that some LGBTQ+ travellers will choose not to visit or support a country where same-sex relationships remain illegal. That position is entirely legitimate.
For those who do go, Morocco offers something genuinely rare: a country where ancient Islamic culture, extraordinary natural landscapes, world-class luxury hospitality, and a deep and fascinating gay history all exist in the same place at the same time. Approached with awareness and the right properties behind you, it consistently delivers one of the most memorable travel experiences available anywhere in the world.
We have been sending LGBTQ+ travellers to Morocco for years. We know the properties, we know the itineraries, and we know how to build a trip that lets you focus entirely on why Morocco has been captivating travellers for centuries.
Get in touch with one of our luxury travel experts to start planning.
