swenska99

We spent several days in Morocco as part of 5-week trip to Spain/Portugal. Should have spent a lot more time there. We had a terrific guide, and we found him by reading posts on this website ([email protected]). He was always where he promised to be and gave us some wonderful insights to his country, culture and sights. We basically only saw Marrakech and Casablanca, with a fantastic day trip to Kasbah du Toubkal in High Atlas Mountains. A lot of posters seem to be worried about what most concerned us before we included Morocco: negative or hostile attitude toward Americans/westerners. We saw absolutely nothing like that; we were mostly ignored on the streets and in the souk (we probably were rudely staring, though!) Hamid made our trip the highlight of our travels. Not only that -- he told us what we could eat and what we should not, so none of us got sick. And we came home with some beautiful carpets that will always remind us of Hamid and the people of Morocco. We would definitely go back; the youngest member of our group (30-something male) can't wait to make a longer trip of it with camping in the Sahara, Fez, etc.

Trish

Nice to hear that you had a such a good time in Morocco, it's an amazing place. We had tried to get Hamid for a few days for our trip in October but he was all booked, he must be very popular. So we winged it on our own getting guides in each place we visited. The member of your group who wanted to see the Sahara should definatley go back to do it, the desert was the highlight of our trip.

swenska99

Trish: We had Hamid in October, and he was booked on either side of us ... so we are partially to blame! It's not hard to figure out why he's in such demand. I don't think we would go back unless we could book him. I noticed other posts about guides that I felt were clearly written by the guides themselves, even though they signed off with other western-sounding names they forgot that their screen name was something like "tours/tours" which you could easily see at the top of the post!
Where else have you travelled in this area?

lfrieden

We agree Hamid Dandane is the best tour guide in Morocco. My family and I recently returned from two weeks in Morocco using Hamid for our first 8 days and then doing Marrakech on our own. Until this trip we had always traveled independently and never thought of using a guide. However for Morocco we felt we could use some help and Hamid was all that and more. At first I thought his prices were high as many riads stated you could get a local guide for $30 a day and some other tour companies were slightly less. However we quickly learned that you get what you pay for and Hamid was a bargain. Other companies may give you a different guide in each place and not all will be good or will speak English well. Local city guides don't have the depth of knowledge to add the cultural information. Having one guide that we could get comfortable with and who could get to know us made a huge difference.

As others have mentioned Hamid speaks perfect English not only to communicate but he gets the nuances and jokes as well. Hamid is highly educated and knows a great deal about his country, the sites, people, religion and culture and I can definitely say we learned more on this vacation than on any other. Hamid is fastidious about being on time and unless I am mistaken washed his car each night. What we didn't realize when we initially booked is that we would have a totally private tour from sunrise to sunset. Hamid took care of all details well beyond what we expected. While in Fes, we would tour all day and then he would take us back to rest. After resting Hamid would return to drive us to dinner and then come back and pick us up after dinner and drive us back to our riad. He insisted on walking us to our door each time even though it was a one way alley and there was no way to get lost. That's just the kind of professional he is and how seriously he takes his work. I don't think there was a restaurant that we went to that he didn't personally choose the best table, best view or coolest location. In the country he always made sure the bathrooms were clean and if not, found out where the "tourist" bathrooms were.

We couldn't recommend a guide more completely and are confident that you will have a memorable trip if you hire Hamid as your guide.

aby

Hi

According to what u write he must be a very good guide (for u)

How many guides r in your SAMPLE that u can claim he is the BEST ???

all the BEST

aby

sca9

I'll be spending about 8 days in Morocco in late September. I'd like to see Marrakesh and the desert, but was hoping to get some ideas about other things to see and do. Also, normally I try to avoid tours, but as I am a solo woman travelling alone, I'm contemplating a tour. I'm a 30-year-old American with lots of travel experience. Should I go on a tour or by myself?

Luisah

Why don't you start a new thread by posting your question? This thread about the "Best guide" has been around for a while and apparently not many people are reading it.