Highlights of Morocco: Luxury 8-Day City to Desert

My family, including my husband and our 16- and 11-year-old daughters, booked a 3-day driving tour with the tour company, picking us up from Fes, taking us to the desert for a camel trek to sleep in the desert, and then delivering us to Marrakesh. They put together a well-designed trip for us with stops at historic sites along the way, including the UNESCO World Heritage site of Ait Ben-Haddou, the Togda and Dades gorges, and through the High Atlas mountains. The camel trek - about an hour long - was easy and unique and took us to the wonderfully-appointed luxury hotel in the Erg Chebbi sand dunes, which included luxurious tents with real toilets and showers in our private tents. The trip included 3 days of driving - covering 700 miles / 1100 kilometers - and all meals and lodging. One of the best parts was our driver Mustapha. He was such easy company, knowledgeable about all things Morocco, a safe driver, flexible, taught us Arabic and Berber words, and helped us bargain for excellent prices on local ceramics and carpets. We had a spacious Mercedes van with plenty of space for us to stretch out. We received a bespoke itinerary, a local cell phone, and a phone call from the tour company to check on us along the way. I would definitely recommend them. Note: There is MAJOR construction on Route 9 from Ouarzazate through the Atlas Mountains to Marrakech, adding an hour or so of driving time.

Our introduction to Morocco greatly exceeded any expectations due to the care and planning taken by my agent at this travel company.  I don't believe a detail overlooked during our 11 day, private tour that began in Casa Blanca and included stays in  Rabat, Chefchaouen, the amazing city of Fès, an overnight in the Sahara Desert that included a camel ride in and out of the camp, a relaxing stay in the Dades Valley, and finally the bustling, hustling city of Marrakech.  

The dining venues that were included during our visit were always fabulous.  We never had one bad meal or experience at any of the places that were selected for us.

Our driver was awesome as were the guides that met us in each of the cities/villages we visited.  It made such a difference to have the expertise of each individual we had the opportunity to engage with.  Each one offered to help us in any way they could to make our stay more comfortable.

The value for our experience also exceeded my expectations.  The quality of the Riads, hotels, guides, meals, car/driver, activities and all the attention to details were of the highest caliber.

My agent communicated with me regularly, listened to my needs and custom designed our trip to meet not only my financial goals but my desire to truly experience the beautiful country of Morocco.

I would highly recommend anyone to work with this company for a true Moroccan experience. 

We had an amazing tour of Morocco and felt completely safe. The war in the Middle East did not affect our trip.

Volubilus was very interesting and we were so happy to have had that stop on the way to Fes.

We loved going to the pottery studio and learning how the mosaics are made. It definitely helped us appreciate the beauty of the walls everywhere we went.

Our guide in Fes was knowledgeable, warm, welcoming, and generous. She taught us so much about the city and its history, as well as sharing current-day customs and how they evolved from traditional customs. She didn’t take a single wrong turn in that maze of a medina and made sure we felt no pressure from the salespeople she introduced us to.

Our guide for our first hike to the Berber home for lunch was able to lead us through the woods despite rain and fog, and without a clear trail. He was respectful and personable. He told us his first degree was culinary and shared a recipe for pastilla, which we told him had become our favorite dish. The family we ate with was equally warm, even though we couldn’t communicate, and the food was wonderful. The lamb was the best I’ve ever eaten and hubby is still talking about the potatoes!

Our guide in Marrakech was very funny and personable, and also knowledgeable about the city and its history.

He was incredibly friendly, saying hello to everyone we passed and sharing with us the strong community ties he has to two villages. He helped us understand the extent of the earthquake damage in that area and his humanity came through beautifully. Lunch in the High Atlas was also great. He gave us options for easier routes or a “Berber taxi”. (We didn’t take either, but it was nice to have options!)

We loved the YSL museum and Majorelle gardens.

The staff and lovely family running the perfectly located riad took great care of us. The riad was beautiful and a five-star experience.

Scarabeo was amazing! A really truly great experience. Glamping is an understatement.

Ourika was a five-star setting, but the hotel was probably 3.5 stars. The furniture in the room was a bit shabby and at breakfast, there was a huge, dead cockroach on the floor next to our table. It hadn’t been swept. The food and wine options were good, and there were lots of beautiful spaces inside and out in which to sit. The staff were very responsive to problems we raised (the bathrobe in the room had dirty tissue in the pocket) and that was great.

I’ve saved the best for last: our last guide was amazing! Better than that! Incredible! He made the whole week go smoothly and ensured we were comfortable and felt safe and cared for every step of the way. The never-ending supply of water and snacks was appreciated. He checked in on our comfort constantly and made sure we knew we could call him at any point if we needed help, even at night. He gave us advice and tips, and was so lovely to spend time with. He let us leave our purchases in the car (which I’m sure meant he was lugging them into his hotel room so we didn’t have to) and made us feel good even when we got the car covered in mud after the rainy mid-Atlas hike. (Of course, it was spotless again the next morning!). Mostly, it was his personality – warm, caring, passionate, and ever-smiling – that made the trip so wonderful. When (not if!) we come back, we certainly would want to be with our guide again!

The following are things we would have liked to know that you may want to share with future travelers:

Lots of places did not take credit cards. Our first riad served us dinner, which was pricy in comparison to other places (1100 MAD without alcohol), but required payment in cash. (They were willing to wait until check out.)

ATMs won’t give more than 2000 MAD at once, so we needed to go often.

I didn’t bring a bathing suit because I was so concerned about modesty, but the places we stayed at were obviously comfortable with Westerners in bathing suits! I also didn’t know if I needed a bathing suit for the hammam.

Again, overall we were so very happy and cannot wait to return!

Trip was very well organized with a personal touch with the agency. We feel that recommendations given by our agent were excellent and with the limited time we had for our vacation we could see a lot and experience Morocco at the best. The guides were knowledgeable and eager to engage in conversation and answer all our questions (the guide in Volubilis, Fes, Marakkesh - he was particularly nice and accommodating, and our guide in Atlas Mountain who is very much concerned about safety and gave us great insight into Berber life). They all received tips from us, we were very satisfied with their service. All accommodations were very good with one standing out with excellent service, rooms, food and atmosphere. The owner treated us almost like family members. We had small inconvenience in Marrakesh with inadequate AC, but the stuff did all they could to make us comfortable. We liked very much selection or restaurants and we enjoyed local cuisine a lot. The only disappointing lunch place was the one on the way to Sahara, we forgot the name but the food was horrible, not fresh and service was substandard. We absolutely loved cooking class and we had already cooked tagine at home for our friends! Sahara - awesome place and idea, very good service but our stay was not organized as we expected. There was nobody in charge of the program, bonfire and music did not happened, highly advertised morning tee at the sunrise was not provided and nobody offered any assistance with sandboarding. There was clearly nobody in charge to let all the guest about departure time and schedule.

Driver was extremely nice and safe driver willing to accommodate all our needs. The only disappointing thing  was that on the way to Sahara (Merzuga) when we wanted to buy some Moroccan clothes for camel ride, Our driver took us to his friends place (passing other stores) where we were sold very poor quality items with extremely high prices. I felt taken advantage of (regardless of my excellent bargaining skills :) ) when I was able to compare prices in Marrakesh. I feel that our driver shouldn't allow his friend to pray on us. Nonetheless we tipped him well. Our last dinner in Casablanca was remarkable and unforgettable way to conclude our trip, the fact that our agent met with us, had personalized gift for me and humbly thanked us for trusting him and his agency to organize the trip, simply impressed us - this is the best quality personalized service we have ever experienced in our multiple previous travels with other agencies.

There was great idea to give us local cell phone, it made us feel very safe (although we never had to use it), Our agent programmed all important numbers in it. 

Over all  - we really, really loved it!

Thank you!!!!

Where are we going next???

The initial contact was very personal: phone calls and individual emails that were promptly answered. The itinerary was personally constructed, although I suspect that there is a general agenda that is "worked on".

The entire trip was very well coordinated Thankyou to the work of our driver. He was personable (despite it being Ramadan), knowledgeable and relaxed. He made the day to day activities seem smooth and exciting. His car was comfortable, cool and he provided water each day. The hotels, tours and experiences were such that they advanced the beauty, cultural richness and diversity of Morocco. The highlights to me were the mosque in Casablanca, the rhiad in Fez, the camel ride, the hot air balloon in Marrakech and the visit to the winery. The guides were interesting and we're passionate about the history and architecture of their particular area.

The food, however, was problematic. The quality varied immensely. Rick's was pretty ordinary and far too much. I'd rather be told an amount to spend and top up myself if necessary. The food at lunch in Fez was lovely but at the riad on two nights it was tasteless and far too much. The lunches on the road were too much and repetitive. Ironically the woman at the desert camp put on a great meal considering the limited cooking facilities. Also the dinner and breakfast at the Dades Gorge at Chez Pierre was to die for. World class. The owner supplied us with a bottle of wine even though it was Ramadan. Marrakech at lunch was once again pretty ordinary. The last night at Palais de Ramparts - well forget it. No wine at dinner so we went elsewhere. So to finish. We enjoyed all aspects of the trip but more needs to be done about the woeful quality of the food, in a country that takes pride in it's cuisine.