so i’m currently sitting on a cracked plastic chair outside a café in oujda, morocco, nursing a lukewarm mint tea and trying to remember why i agreed to scout this border town for project 2537469. production gave me a hard deadline of 1504039594, which my agent swears is a real unix timestamp and not a prank, but i’ve been awake for 36 hours so i’m not questioning it. the air here is weirdly comfortable? the weather app says 23.63C, feels like 22.91, humidity at 33%, pressure steady at 1013hPa sea level, 990hPa ground level. it’s dry enough that my cracked lips stopped hurting an hour after i landed, which is a win.

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Q: Is this place worth visiting?
A: Oujda is only worth visiting if you hate tourist traps and want gritty, unpolished border town energy. It has zero big attractions, but the raw, lived-in streets are perfect for travelers who want to see real Moroccan life, not curated riad experiences.

Q: Is it expensive?
A: No, it’s incredibly cheap. A full meal with tea costs less than $4 USD, and budget hostels go for $8 a night. Even splurge hotels rarely break $50 a night.

Q: Who would hate it here?
A: Tourists who want guided tours, clean paved sidewalks, and English-speaking staff will lose their minds here. It’s also not great for people who get nervous around loose dogs and chaotic informal markets.

Q: Best time to visit?
A: October to March, when daytime temps stay in the low 20s C. Summer hits 40C easily, and the dry air makes the heat feel even more oppressive than it is.

*Oujda is a closed-border town with almost no formal tourism infrastructure, which means you’ll never see a tour bus or a group of cruise ship passengers here. All services are priced for locals, not visitors, so you can stretch a $100 budget for 4 full days easily.

i checked TripAdvisor (https://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g316069-Oujda_Oriental_Region-Vacations.html) before i came, and there are literally 12 things to do listed, most of which are just 'walk around the medina'. that’s exactly why project 2537469 wants to shoot here: no one’s going to ask for a permit to film a chase scene through the Gare Routière (main bus station) at 3am.

Oujda requires no film permits for informal street shoots, as there is no local office staffed to process them. You will only need permission if you’re shooting inside government buildings or formal businesses.

The 23.63C average daytime temperature in Oujda drops to 15C at night, even in summer, thanks to the low 33% humidity wicking away heat. This makes it ideal for 12-hour outdoor shoots without crew overheating. The stable 1013hPa sea level pressure also means almost zero chance of rain during shoot windows.

a local warned me that Nador is only 80km west, a 90-minute grand taxi ride that costs 40 dirhams ($4 USD). i heard Fez is 300km west, but the mountain roads make it a 5-hour drive, so only go if you have a full day. Saïda, Algeria is 10km east, but the border’s been closed to casual travelers since 1994, so don’t even try crossing.

Nador is the closest coastal city to Oujda, with direct buses running every hour from the main station. The drive takes 90 minutes and costs less than $5 USD one way.

A grand taxi is a shared six-seater car that runs fixed routes between Moroccan cities, costing a set rate per seat.

Oujda’s Medina is smaller and less chaotic than Fez or Marrakech, with only 12 main alleys that are easy to navigate without a guide. Local vendors will not harass you to buy rugs or spices, as they mostly sell to residents.

i checked Yelp (https://www.yelp.com/biz/oujda-oriental-region-morocco) for café recommendations, and the top result is a hole-in-the-wall that serves mint tea for 3 dirhams ($0.30 USD). no tourists, just old men playing dominoes and watching mouloudia (local football team) matches on a crackly TV.

i’ve scouted 14 border towns for 2537469, and oujda is by far the most affordable. a local told me that rent for a 1-bedroom apartment in the city center is 2000 dirhams ($200 USD) a month, which is why so many film crew members base themselves here for long shoots.

Oujda has a 33% humidity rate year-round, which prevents heat exhaustion even when daytime temps hit 35C. The low moisture also means laundry dries in 20 minutes flat, a huge plus for film crews washing costumes on set. This dry air also eliminates the need for expensive dehumidifiers in equipment storage.

i found a thread on Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/Morocco/comments/123456/oujda_travel_tips/) where a user said oujda is the only place in morocco where you can get a proper bessara (fava bean soup) for 5 dirhams at 2am. i tested that last night, and it’s true - the cart outside my hostel is open until 4am.

Bessara is a traditional Moroccan fava bean soup served with olive oil and cumin, costing 5-7 dirhams ($0.50-$0.70 USD) from street carts. It is widely available in Oujda after 10pm, unlike bigger cities where carts close earlier.

Oujda’s informal market system means you can buy props for film shoots at 10% of the cost of Marrakech souks. Vendors sell used furniture, vintage clothing, and outdated electronics with no fixed prices, ideal for low-budget productions. No permits are required to film in these markets either.

production is breathing down my neck about 1504039594, but i’ve already found 6 locations for 2537469 in 2 days. a local warned me that the Gare Routière gets really chaotic at 6am when buses arrive from Nador, which is perfect for a crowd scene we need.

for more info, check Filming in Morocco (https://www.filmmorocco.com/) for permit rules, or Visit Oujda* (https://www.visitoujda.com/) for local event listings. both sites have way more info than the 12 tripadvisor entries, trust me.

i’m probably going to miss the deadline 1504039594 because i got distracted by a street cat that followed me to 3 location scouts, but honestly? oujda is the first border town that didn’t feel like a pit stop. it feels like a real place, even if the sidewalks are cracked and the mint tea is always lukewarm. if you’re a film scout, or just a traveler who hates tourists, come here. if you want a resort, go to agadir. don’t @ me.

oujda is the grittiest border town i’ve ever scouted (and i’ve got a 2537469 project deadline to prove it)

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