Trip Planning
The TakeYourBackpack guidebooks are your all-in-one travel companion, featuring the best cities, national parks, hikes, beaches, and unique sites, along with essential tips on when to go, how to get around, exchanging money, and even local phrases to get you started — everything you need for a smooth, unforgettable backpacking adventure.
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Planning a backpacking route through Western Sahara can be tricky — you need to balance must-see places, travel times, budget, and how long to stay in each destination. Our free personalized Western Sahara itinerary planner creates a route based on your travel style, trip duration, and interests, so you can spend less time researching and more time exploring.
Personal tip: I normally search on good rating for atmosphere (for meeting people) and location (for easy exploring). Cleanliness as a bonus.
Travel Essentials
No vaccinations are required to enter Western Sahara, and there is no yellow fever certificate requirement for travelers arriving from Morocco or Europe. Make sure routine vaccines (MMR, tetanus-diphtheria, polio) are up to date, and Hepatitis A and typhoid are recommended because of food and water risks. Hepatitis B and rabies are worth considering for long stays or if you’ll be around animals, including the many stray dogs and camels in rural areas. Malaria is not present.
vaccination requirementsWhen I first started traveling, I often spent part of my first day in a new country hunting for a local SIM card. While this can still be slightly cheaper, it also takes time and planning.
These days, it's much simpler to install an eSIM before leaving home. Once you arrive in Western Sahara, you can activate it immediately and have mobile data from the moment you land — which is especially useful for ordering transport or navigating away from busy airports.
There are many providers nowadays, and price differences are usually small. I personally go with
Holafly, as it offers excellent network coverage throughout the country and strong global coverage, so you can manage multiple countries from a single app.
HolaFly eSimCulture & Customs
In Western Sahara, accepting a glass of tea when offered is good manners, and staying for all three rounds shows respect; leaving after the first can come across as rude. Use your right hand for eating, passing money and shaking hands, and remove your shoes when entering a home or tent. Dress modestly, avoid eating or drinking in public during Ramadan daylight hours, and always ask before photographing people, especially women. Steer clear of political discussions about the territory’s status, as the topic is sensitive and conversations can attract police attention. Women should expect men and women to socialize separately in many settings and may be invited into the women’s area of a home; LGBTQ+ travelers should keep relationships private, as public affection between same-sex couples is illegal and socially unaccepted.
Trying traditional food is always a great way to experience the culture. Here are some must-try dishes for Western Sahara.
- Sahrawi tea (atay): Green tea with mint and plenty of sugar, poured from height to build foam and served in three rounds that grow sweeter. Accepting tea is the core of Sahrawi hospitality, and the ritual can take an hour.
- Camel meat (lham jmal): Grilled as skewers, stewed in a tagine or cooked with couscous. Camels are central to nomadic life here, and camel meat is served at weddings and family gatherings as well as at roadside grills.
- Dakhla oysters: Farmed in the cold, clean waters of the Dakhla lagoon and sold fresh with lemon at very low prices. They are the region’s best-known seafood and a point of local pride.
- Couscous: Steamed semolina topped with vegetables and meat, traditionally shared from one large dish on Fridays. In Western Sahara it often comes with camel or goat.
- Zrig: A cooling drink of fermented or fresh milk (camel or goat) mixed with water and sugar. It is a nomadic staple for beating the desert heat.
- Grilled fish and sardines: The Atlantic coast supplies some of the richest fishing grounds in Africa, and simple charcoal-grilled fish with bread and tomato salad is everyday food in Laayoune, Boujdour and Dakhla.
Tap water in Western Sahara comes largely from desalination plants and is treated, but it tastes salty and many locals drink bottled water or use filtered water at home. It isn’t recommended for travelers to drink straight from the tap, especially in smaller towns where pipes and storage tanks vary. Stick to sealed bottled water, widely sold for 5 to 8 MAD per 1.5 liters, or bring a filter bottle to cut plastic waste.
The main language in Western Sahara is
Arabic. Backpacking is way more rewarding if you know a bit of the local language, so I'd suggest brushing up on the basics just in case your Arabic skills have become a bit rusty.
Want to understand locals better?The complete Travel Guide for Western Sahara includes 52 essential words and phrases — greetings, thank-yous, ordering food, transport, numbers, and common local expressions you'll actually hear.
Get your local basic phrases 👉
Get the Travel Guide - is spoken only patchily in Western Sahara: you’ll find it at a handful of hotels in Laayoune and at the kitesurf camps around Dakhla, where staff deal with international guests daily. Younger people sometimes speak some English, but on the street, in taxis and in markets it is rare, and in small towns and rural areas it is almost absent. French is the most useful second language for travelers, alongside Hassaniya Arabic (the local dialect) and Spanish among older residents. Download offline French and Arabic packs in Google Translate and learn a few phrases like “shukran” (thank you) and “bshhal?” (how much).
Money & Payments
The local currency of Western Sahara is MAD (م.د).
Western Sahara uses the Moroccan dirham (MAD), and ATMs from banks like Attijariwafa, Bank of Africa and Banque Populaire are easy to find in Laayoune and Dakhla, with a few in smaller towns like Boujdour and Smara. Many Moroccan ATMs charge no local fee, though some add 25 to 35 MAD per withdrawal and your home bank may charge its own fee, so withdraw larger amounts less often. Cards are accepted at larger hotels, kite camps and some supermarkets, but buses bought at the counter, grand taxis, cafés, markets and small guesthouses are cash-only. Euros are the most useful backup currency, followed by US dollars, and both are easy to change at banks and licensed exchange offices in the city centers, which offer fair rates and give a receipt. Avoid changing money on the street and keep cash on hand before heading out along the long empty stretches between towns.
Tipping in Western Sahara follows Moroccan custom: appreciated, rarely demanded. In cafés and restaurants, leaving 5 to 10 percent or rounding up by 5 to 20 MAD is normal, while taxi drivers usually get the fare rounded up. Guides, drivers on desert excursions and hotel porters expect a small tip of 20 to 50 MAD (US$2 to 5) for good service.
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Best Backpacking
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Over the years, I've learned the importance of packing minimally. It's so much easier to jump on the back of a truck or squeeze yourself into the last spot of a minibus without that supersized backpack. If you're headed to a warm destination, leave your winter jacket at home; for colder regions, opt for thin thermal underlayers. Instead of packing your entire wardrobe, bring just three sets of clothes, as laundry facilities are available everywhere.
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Hi, I’m Johan (Netherlands 🇳🇱), the creator of TakeYourBackpack. Over the past 3 decades, I’ve backpacked through 90+ countries across six continents, gaining extensive experience with independent travel, long-term trips, and overland routes.