Not enough can be said about Lahcen Boujouija's Around Morocco Travels. Lahcen customizes your trip and makes suggestions when he thinks it might add to your knowledge and/or enjoyment. With his suggestion we added the town of Chefchaouen, which nestles in the hollow of two mountains nicknamed The Horns. It has steep narrow streets with white and indigo lime-washed buildings, small squares, ornate fountains and houses with elaborately decorated blue and ancient wooden doors and red tile roofs. A not to be missed town.

As Mbarek led us to our first riad, we were impressed with his care and gracious upbeat manner. He suggested a schedule without appearing pushy or authoritarian, always giving us room to make a serendipitous change. Since the ancient streets of Morocco could have many pitfalls, both literally and figuratively, he was always there to lend a hand in every possible way. Parking spots opened up; people magically appeared to assist in baggage transportation. You were always happy to dispense the usual few dirhams (8 dirhams equal 1 dollar) in return for their challenging trek with our luggage through the throngs flowing through the narrow ways of the medinas. When Mbarek found I was addicted to diet coke, it became a specialty of his to see that I had it even if it meant going out of his way to bring it to any restaurant that had failed to stock up in anticipation of my addiction.

The indigenous houses of the country are called riads (literal translation of Arabic for "garden") that have evolved into fascinating, beautiful and luxurious travelers' lodgings. They are a part of the make-up of the medina (town). The medina is a loose configuration of communal spaces comprising several small streets and alleyways and serving as the focus of the inhabitants' material and spiritual life.

When we walked to our first riad in Rabat, we were led adroitly down narrow, twisty, mysterious, labyrinthine alleys. But wow! When, after our knock and short wait the door to the riad was opened, we felt we had arrived at Scheherazade's palace. A courtyard as magnificent as any imagined in our dreams greeted us, with its bubbling fountain, glorious arches, limitless floral and calligraphic architectural detail, and transcendent colors that made us dizzy with their beauty. Through arches we espied the different rooms and knew we had reached paradise.
Each night Mbarek would discuss plans and options for the next day. If dining for the evening had not been previously planned, he would describe the best dining experiences available in the vicinity. That next night he would guide us to the spot, leave us to our adventure, and magically appear at the end to guide us back to our riad. Each dining experience was unique but with an underlying theme of tagines - Morocco's characteristic, special conical clay pots baked and filled with delicious offerings of lamb, chicken or vegetable cuisine.

Our most exquisite and thoroughly memorable meal was in Essaouira, which is referred to as the jewel of the Moroccan Atlantic. The city magically appeared as we approached, surrounded by water, sand and flora, white and shining. Its name means small fortress surrounded by walls, and it was - surrounded by high walls divided by means of interior walls into three clearly differentiated urban areas: the Medina, the Mellah (Jewish section) and the Kasbah. Mbarek led us through the docks where the fishermen had just returned with their catches of the day; we could watch the bartering that included retailers, restaurateurs, locals, and tourists. He bought five varieties offish, led us back to a local restaurant, gave our cache to the chef, and treated us to a feast that started with bowls brimming with just-broiled fish and ended with piles of bones in the center of our table. Of course, now we're ruined for life - you won't catch us opening another tin of sardines; and no restaurant here could possibly live up to what had to be the best seafood meal we've ever experienced.

Another unforgettable experience was our trip through the three ranges of the Atlas Mountains. We traveled oases and desert stretches with huge sand dunes, pure visual splendor. Both sandy and stony desert were broken by green oases with shade-giving date palms growing in profusion.

Mbarek, a Berber native, still lives in one of the native mud houses that occupy this area of Morocco. He invited us to visit his family, and we enthusiastically accepted. We were warmly welcomed and treated by Mbarek's lovely bride of three months with one of their oldest dishes, a Berber pizza, the most delicious pizza we have ever tasted. We could feel the love and pride within his entire family who shared a warm and enlightening time with us.

We then visited the dunes at sunset where we were treated to an outstanding desert meal that included Mbarek's surprising me with his remembering my fondness for eggplant,entertainment by the native garbed staff, billions of stars, and so much quiet you could hear the sand moving. One of our many surprises was the furnishings in our tent. We won't spoil the surprise except our saying that it was carpeted with some of Morocco's beautiful Berber rugs.
We also met many other American visitors who enjoyed their experience with guides from Around Morocco Tours as well as many trip reports on Trip Advisor and other forums which made us decided to pick them for our Moroccan trip.

Mbarek transcended his roles as guide, educator, shopping facilitator, geographer, and driver, becoming a true friend whom we will remember as much as his fascinating country. We'll keep in touch 'til the end of time.

Insha'Allah,
Barbara and Bob Karski

We agree completely with Barbara and Bob. We had Lahcen, himself, the owner of Around Morocco Travels, as our guide. We went in March of 2012, which is considered a "low season," some years, still winter weather, as far as tourism. If anyone wonders how a trip would be that early in the year, please feel free to request specifics.

The same person must write all the reviews over at TA as this one. Gets rather tiresome when you're looking for good info.

The company might be quite good, but these professionally written endorsements make me wonder. The same report was posted on TA, see http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g293730-i9195-k5925216-Best_trip_ever_in_Morocco-Morocco.html

Never trust reviews written by single-post contributors.

I often will sign in just to review one thing - I really enjoyed this post. Barbara and Bob, I'd love to hear more about your experience, if you'd be willing. Is there a way to contact you directly?

I would be quite surprised scrumps if there was a Barbara and Bob to contact.

First, to respond to a couple of the previous comments, I am quite confident there are a Bob and Barbara and that their write-up on Around Morocco Travels (AMT) is not a professionally written endorsement, as my wife and I and our brother and sister-in-law just returned from a 2+ week vacation in Morocco, having spent the entire time with our driver/guide Mohamed of AMT, and we had a similar very positive experience.

Mohamed is one of Lahcen Boujouija's nephews and he was much like Mbarek. Indeed, he may have been a cousin, as Lahcen's is essentially a family business. And this is meaningful in Morocco, as the berber culture is very much family-oriented and these values came through time and again during our travels with Mohamed.

We flew into Casablanca, arriving in the evening, and immediately drove to Rabat (2 nights, one full day). We then headed to Chefchouaouen (2 nights), Fez (3 nights), Merzouga (3 nights, including one in tents in the desert, via camel ride), one night each in the Dades Valley and Ouarzazat, Essaouira (2 nights) and Marrakech (3 nights), before an early morning drive back to Casablanca for our return flight to California. We loved this itinerary, which was suggested by Lahcen, and the only change would would have made would have been to fly out of Marrakech. If you can arrange to fly into Casablanca or Rabat and fly out of Marrakech, this would be the most efficient use of your time. And, if you don't have the 2+ weeks that we had, you can definitely cut one night from Rabat, as there is not much to see there and could also cut one each from Fez, Merzouga and Marrakech, if you are limited to about 2 weeks. I think a 10 day trip is too tight but if that is all you've got, you could begin in Fez and delete Essaouira, but in doing so, you would miss getting a flavor of coastal Morocco (Essaouira) and you wouldn't see the Rif mountain area and Chefchaouen, which was one of our favorite stops, a lovely and very picturesque town which was delightful to wander and easy and fun to get lost in.

All of our stays were in charming riads in the old medina areas of the cities, but for one stay in a hotel in the Dades Valley, which was nice but not intimate, although it did serve alcohol-- the beer was most welcome after our previous night camping in the desert. Lahcen selected all of the lodging for us and we were pleased with each place we stayed. And, another advantage of traveling with AMT is their flexibility.

We particularly enjoyed the following riads: Casa Perleta in Chefchaouen, intimate, charming and located in the heart of the medina, with a lot of nearby restaurants and shopping-- and not primarily tourist shopping as we were in the middle of a bustling neighborhood; El Yacout in Fez, a bit larger and more upscale, very well located in an area of Fez's very large medina that we found to be manageable for walking around (I recommend the camel burgers at Cafe Clock, about a 10 minute walk from the riad); Riad Nehza in Merzouga, with wonderful breakfasts, a very nice pool, a wonderful view of date palm orchards and sand dunes; Riad La Maison du Sud in Essaouira, very well-located in the medina and just a 5 minute walk to the port area and all of its interesting early morning activities, and just two minutes from Dar Baba a wonderful, small family-owned Italian restaurant (not to be confused with Darbaba Ristorante, also in Essaouria); and Ksar Anika in Marrakech, a first class riad that is a bit distant (a 15 minute walk, most of which is interesting) from the main square, Jamaa Elfna, but which has a lovely pool, which was most welcome in the 100+ degree heat wave we experienced the second week in May and a 10 minute walk from our best restaurant experience in Morocco, Pepe Nero, which served Moroccan and Italian dishes, all of which were excellent.

We modified our itinerary in a couple of respects during our travels and in each case, Mohamed was very accommodating. Indeed, it was clear that one of his prime objectives was to make sure that we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, which we did, in significant part due to his good humor and generous spirit throughout our time with him.

Highlights of our trip included the camel ride and overnight in the desert (the sand dunes, the night stars and Milky Way were incredible), our visit to Mubarek's family in Erfoud, which included his mother and father (both of whom were very gracious, even though they spoke no english) and his 3 younger siblings, our walks in Chefchaouen, the medina in Fez, the Sunday souk and donkey parking lot in Rissani, meeting a nomad family in the desert near Merzouga, and our drives in the Rif mountains, the Ziz Valley in the High Atlas mountains and the tree-climbing goats near Essaouira, much of which we would not have experienced had we not been with Around Morocco Travels, and all of which were enhanced by our time with Mohamed. And, I would be remiss if I did not mention the people of Morocco, whom we found to be universally warm and friendly. Morocco is a very diverse country, both geographically and culturally, and has significant elements of both Europe and Africa. It was a truly unique experience and we much enjoyed all aspects of it.