brk01

Considering five-day trip to Marrakech (mom, dad & teenage son)Christmas week. Before getting into detailed planning, would welcome any views on a basic question: is it realistic to think I can find an attractive, well-located riad/hotel (medium-priced) or are all the good places booked well in advance? Thanks.

hassantravel

as you know the christmas time the hotels will be booked and riad as well , just because in that moment of time there will be alot touristes who comes to celebrate of the new year . so you have to book a hotel or riad before that time ( christmas time) .

Momliz

I have just been putting the final touches on a trip to Egypt leaving 12/22, coming back 1/1/08, and have had difficulty. It was not impossible, but we did not get our first choice on cruises or some hotels. We are still going to have a good trip.

WTnow

I got a late start on booking such for high season April and manage to find good places. Just be determined...iescape worked well for us.

5 days is a long time in Marrakech. I would pick Fez or at least add something else besides Marrakech ( desert or Essouria etc).

That might help with the crunch too.

Kavey

I booked Christmas in Marrakech for 5 adults last year and I didn't book it until mid-November (our previously booked trip fell through after a major flight change).

I found quite a lot of availability and booked independently. Unfortunately, the riad in which I'd booked 3 rooms (and paid a deposit) let me know LESS than 24 hours in advance that they'd double-booked one of the rooms and at that point we could do absolutely nothing. My sister had to share with my husband and I which was less than ideal. A few months later the riad closed and was bought out by someone else so perhaps they'd already stopped making the effort by our visit. A shame as the riad itself and the two rooms we did have and it's location were superb.

But anyway, you can certainly find lots of great places at this stage.

I would also recommend that you make reservations for Christmas day evening meal at somewhere special. Our favourite was Dar Moha and our second favourite was Tobsil. We reserved Tobsil a week before arriving in Marrakech. Dar Moha, we were lucky with and were able to get a reservation on arrival for a few days later.

Kavey

PS Incase it's not clear, last para is talking about restaurants. Quite expensive but worth every penny.