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The science

Does travel make you more creative? Mostly, no.

Studies link living abroad, and adapting to another culture, with creativity and a clearer sense of who you are. The same research found that time spent travelling did not predict creativity. What a short trip can do is show you how much of what you take for granted is culture.

Evidence: Weak

Moderate for living abroad and adapting; for ordinary travel the same research found no link.

What the studies show

In five studies, people who had lived abroad, and adapted there, did better on creativity tests; time spent travelling abroad did not show the link. In 270 fashion houses over 11 years, collections were rated more creative when the creative director had worked abroad for longer.

In six studies with 1,874 people, the time someone had lived abroad, not the number of countries, went with a clearer sense of self.

One set of studies did look at travel: the number of countries people had visited went with more trust in strangers. It comes from the same research group and has not been replicated by others.

In Morocco

Fes, Marrakech and Tetouan have medinas where daily life still runs as it has for centuries: the neighbourhood oven, the hammam, the mosque, the craft lanes. Spending time there, with someone who lives there, is a close look at another way of organising a day.

For a longer stay, Morocco has language schools in Fes and Rabat, and many visitors return for months in winter.

Where it stops

  • Nothing here shows that a holiday in Morocco makes you more creative.
  • Most of this research comes from one network of authors, and we found no independent replication or meta-analysis.
  • The studies are mostly correlational: creative, open people may be the ones who move abroad.
Sources, checked 2026-11-14
  1. Maddux & Galinsky (2009). Cultural borders and mental barriers: the relationship between living abroad and creativity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 96(5)
  2. Leung, Maddux, Galinsky & Chiu (2008). Multicultural experience enhances creativity: the when and how. American Psychologist 63(3)
  3. Godart, Maddux, Shipilov & Galinsky (2015). Fashion with a foreign flair. Academy of Management Journal 58(1)
  4. Adam, Obodaru, Lu, Maddux & Galinsky (2018). The shortest path to oneself leads around the world: living abroad increases self-concept clarity. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 145
  5. Cao, Galinsky & Maddux (2014). Does travel broaden the mind? Breadth of foreign experiences increases generalized trust. Social Psychological and Personality Science 5(5)

More of the science

Holidays and happinessThe lift is real, small and short. Looking forward to it counts too.New places and memoryVaried days go with better mood; routine shrinks remembered time.Winter sunMarrakech gets about four times London's December sun. What that does and doesn't mean.Awe in the dunesAwe is a well-studied emotion. Vast places reliably trigger it.The Milky WayMost Europeans can't see it from home. In the Sahara you can.The sea, and surfingCoast visits go with feeling better. Surf therapy: too early to say.Walking in the AtlasA walk in nature lifts mood for hours. Toubkal also means altitude.The hammamNo study has tested it. What sauna research does and doesn't say.Tea with strangersTalking to strangers feels better than people expect. Sharing food builds trust.A few words of DarijaNo proven brain boost. Still the best way to start a conversation.Couples and familiesNew things together help in the short term. A trip won't fix a relationship.

Plan it

FesThe oldest medinaAl-Andalus in MoroccoCities shaped by two shores

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