Two winters roaming Morocco and Western Sahara by van, pinned on one map you can use offline. My wild camps, the surf, the hot springs, and all the ferry, dog and logistics stuff worked out. In pre-sale now.
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Choose by what you want from Morocco
Welcome to Morocco, where everything is random. You don't need a plan to have an amazing time there, and I'm not going to hand you a day-by-day route. Nine months in the country taught me that around every corner there's something. So the map works by choice instead. Pick what you're after this week and the spots for it are already pinned, with my notes on the road in, where to park and whether we stayed the night.
An olive pit spit from Spain
An hour on the ferry and you find yourself in a whole new place to discover. Lots of mint tea, hustle and chaos, so kind people, wildness, surf and spectacular sunsets. And just BEing.
It's adventurous, affordable, wild, random, calm, peaceful, spacious, and for those wondering, safe. I feel safer leaving the van behind there than in Europe.
A lot of people are nervous before they go, and I get it, from the outside Morocco looks like a lot. Most of that falls away once you see how it works.
Choose curiosity over fear.
A map and my best tips
Every spot I slept at, swam at, soaked in or shopped at, each with a note on the access road, where to park and whether you can stay the night. Next to the pins sit practical tips, from the ferry to the hot springs. It all lives in the Rexby app, works offline, and I keep adding to it. It's two winters of figuring-out already done, so you spend your time there exploring instead of planning it.
Start here
When to go, how long to give it, and how to use a map guide without tying yourself to a schedule.
The ferry from Spain
Which crossing to pick, what to budget, and the small things at the port that save you a whole lost day.
Crossing with your dog
What it really takes to get your dog in, and the trickier part of getting back into Spain.
Is Morocco safe in a van?
The question I get most, answered from two winters of wild camping, checkpoints, and travelling as a woman.
Where you can sleep
Where wild camping actually works and where it doesn't, which campsites are worth it, and the unwritten rules.
What it costs
What a winter in Morocco really runs you, from campsites and fuel to the two big upfront costs.
Food and markets
Where the good homemade food hides, how a market works, and eating well and plant-forward from the van.
Hammam, staying clean and the miswak
How the hammam works, staying clean on little water, and the oldest toothbrush in the world.
Hot springs, surf and the desert
The hot springs worth the detour, the surf by season, and what to carry into the desert.
Manners and the small things
The small things worth knowing before you go, so you arrive easy and welcome.
Plus a text route of how we looped it, down the Atlantic coast and back up through the desert, if you want a shape without a schedule. Every pin is a place I've been. Where I haven't been, it isn't on the map.
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The map behind the guide
This is my own saved map, built over seven years on the road. There are well over a hundred spots on it now, it keeps growing, and only a fraction are fully written up in the guide so far. Here are a couple of clips from the Morocco winters.
Suzanne van der Veeken
Nine months in Morocco, by van
I've spent two winters, nine months in total, road-tripping Morocco and Western Sahara in an old Mercedes camper, with my dog Wingo. The whole Atlantic coast down to Dakhla, the deserts, time in Guelmim and Ouazzane, and the road to the Mauritanian border, in a simple 2WD van that blended in. We wild-camped most nights. I extended my visa in Dakhla, filled the water tank at roadside points instead of buying a single plastic bottle, and lost count of the campfire tajine nights. My most recent winter there was 2025, and I'll be back this coming one, so the guide keeps growing.
I've lived nomadically for twenty years. The van has been my base for almost seven of them, five of those with Wingo, Before that came a decade at sea, five Atlantic crossings and more than 50,000 nautical miles. Add the long trails on foot, a couple of books, and the Ayurveda I studied in Kerala, which started that first Moroccan winter.
The guide is my saved map, my notes and my photos from those winters, written up spot by spot. Prices are what we paid on my winters there between 2023 and 2025, and they say so where they appear.
I also run Ocean Nomads, a community for people who want to live a little wilder, explore a little further, and do it with good people. Some of these spots were first shared on the Ocean Nomads member map when the crew sailed into Tanger.
9
months in Morocco and Western Sahara
20
years living nomadically
7
years living in the van
50000
nautical miles at sea
Suzanne van der Veeken has been featured in print and on TV, for sailing expeditions, a rip-current rescue and a Dominica trail people said couldn't be walked
Is this for you?
- You're thinking about taking your van, and maybe your dog, across to Morocco this winter and want to know how the ferry, the paperwork and the first night actually go.
- You'd rather have someone's real wild camps and hot springs than a list of the twenty most beautiful places.
- You don't want a day-by-day route. You want choices, and the know-how to find your own spots.
- You're travelling on foot, by bus or by sail and want the same places and know-how without the van layer.
- You liked my free Morocco writing and want the map that pulls it together.
What you won't find in it
- A day-by-day itinerary
- Hotel and riad tips (I only recommend places I've stayed, and I stayed in the van)
- Places I haven't been to myself
What you will find
- My own wild camps and hot springs, and how to get to them
- The little towns and villages worth slowing down for, away from the tourist track
- The logistics and paperwork, the ferry, the visa and the dog, how it actually went for us
- What things really cost
- A living map, already past a hundred spots and still growing after you buy it
Beyond the campsite fence
Morocco opens up faster than people expect. A few weeks in and I'd found the rhythm: the food, the markets, the quiet villages. But I still park up next to people who've been a month, some not for the first time, who never found any of it. It's easy to miss behind a campsite fence, and none of it is hard once someone shows you how.
That's what the guide is for: eating well and local, the small towns worth your time, the uncrowded waves, the hammam, and the few words that open doors. And doing it lightly, so your winter is good for the place and its people as much as for you. And every pin is a place I've actually been. Where I haven't been, it isn't on the map, which is the one thing the free apps can't give you. In seven years on the road I've never geotagged a spot or posted a location publicly, and I never will. Some you could piece together from the apps if you had the months to sift. The best ones are my own, the wild camps I've never posted anywhere. A few of those I keep to myself. The rest are the ones I'd hand a good friend.
On Rexby, in your pocket
Morocco Vanlife Adventure Guide
Two winters of logistics I already sorted: the ferry, the dog paperwork, where it's safe to sleep, what everything costs, all the way south into Western Sahara, where there's almost nothing out there and almost no other guide goes. I've already figured out a lot of the annoying bits, and made the stupid mistakes, so you get the map, the notes and the route. The guide lives in the Rexby app and on the web, with the map offline when you're out of signal, which is most of the south. You pay once and the guide stays in your account, including the spots and tips I add after launch. It's in pre-sale now at the founders price: you get what's there today and the rest as it lands. Lifetime updates included, offline in the app, and one payment with no subscription.
Payment and delivery run through Rexby. I'm aiming to finish the guide this October, and the founders price ends the day it launches in full.
A few things you might be wondering
Do I need a van?
No, the van is the core layer because that's how I travelled, but the base camps, the food, the hammam, the ferry and the safety tips work on foot, by bus or by sail. The Ocean Nomads crew sailed into Tanger with an earlier version of these notes.
Is there an itinerary?
There isn't a day-by-day one. There's a text route of how we looped it, and the spots are grouped by what you want: ocean, desert, hot springs, with a dog. Morocco runs on its own rhythm, and the best things we found were behind a turn we took on a whim.
How does Rexby work?
You buy once, log in on the web or in the free Rexby app, and the guide with its map is yours, offline too. Rexby handles payment and delivery.
Is it finished?
It's in pre-sale. The spots and tips are written, and the photos are the last job before launch. Buy at the founders price and you get everything that's there today plus the rest as it lands, with no second payment.
Can I bring my dog?
Yes, and you should, at least my dog loved it. Getting in is easy; getting back into Spain needs the rabies titre test weeks ahead, the EU passport and the PIF certificate from Algeciras. The guide walks through it as it went for us, with the Tarifa vet we used.
Is Morocco safe in a van?
I feel safer leaving the van behind there than in Europe. Petty theft happens near the tourist spots, so bring things inside at night. The safety tip covers checkpoints, where wild camping is tolerated and travelling as a woman.
How current are the prices?
They're what we paid on my winters there between 2023 and 2025, and each one says so. The ferry and the dog paperwork are the two numbers to re-check before you book.
Do you offer refunds?
No, it's a digital guide you can open the moment you buy it. If you're not sure yet, start with my free Morocco posts and come back when you're booking the ferry.
Marhba to Morocco
You don't need a plan to have an amazing time there. Around every corner there's something, and if it feels like a lot at first, give it a moment and you'll find peace in the chaos.
Mostly, just BE.
Pre-order the guide
In pre-sale now at the founders price, with every future update included. I'm aiming to finish it this October, and the day I press publish it goes to full price. So this is the cheapest it will ever be.
