Herschey

A few friends and I were looking into an all inclusive package for Morocco (saharatrek). I'm generally not a tour type of guy, but thought maybe for this trip it would be worth it. It include a trek out to the dessert and trips to a few cities (including Cablanca which even their own site doesn't really speak highly of). My overall question though is if people think it's worth it to do a package. It's a private tour so it's not like we're with 20 other people.

Thanks!

sebti

In my opinion, Morocco is not the kind of country where you need to book a tour in order to take full advantage of what's on offer. I see a lot of tour groups come through, and in general they are taken to mediocre restaurants, given mediocre accommodation, and, worst of all, taken to large artisanal cooperatives under the pretense of a "cultural visit"...and then charged significantly more than what you'd probably pay walking into the place on your own! I'd say that with a little organisational skills, you could design a good itinerary on your own. Having the internet as a resource can help you get bookings taken care of, and often hotels or Riads you are staying in will assist in the individual excursions you'd like to take.

I would, definitely though, give Casa a miss particularly if you have a limited time in the country, as there are far more interesting places to visit.

smgapp

We have a tour booked with Sahara trek that includes the two night camel safari.We don't go until July 8- but I will write a trip summary when we get back.

catmac

I was out this year and used Mad About Morocco. Mark Willenbrock the guy who runs it is great about suggesting agendas that will fit with what you want to do and is very knowledgeable about the history, culutre, geography etc of Morocco as well as suggesting great best-kept-secret restaurants and hotels. We would never have seen a quarter of the stuff we saw if we had tried to do it by ourselves and Mark is also a good company and really flexible about fitting around your plans

DanielleG

I'm a solo female traveler, and I do think I'd like to do a tour, but a low-key, non tour bus, not screaming tourist kind of tour. Does anybody have any experience with the Imaginative Traveller tours, or with Intrepid Travel? I'm in my early 30's and was also a bit fearful that everybody would be 20!

thanks!
danielle

elvags

I traveled moroco with 2 other girls on our own, and I deffinetely feel it was the right choice, the country is really easy to do without a tour.
I agree that if you do some research you can come up with your own itinerary ( which you can still change ) .. and I personally feel that tours make you miss out on stuf... haggeling on your own, taxis, wandering to find your way and "discovering" incredible things that will never be on the tour, since they are not considered "official" attractions, but they may be great to you ! also morocco is THE capital of tours that are led to shops under the pretense of an artesan demonstration.. the country is so much more interesting than being led to carpet shops.
The only thing we used a guide for ( and as you, without other people ) was for the dessert. And I really think a guide here is very necessary. We went with Mark Willenbrok ( who is mentioned in this post ) and he was incredible. Very easygoing, made us feel very safe, very knowleadgeable.. in general we feels as though you are hanging with a local friend as opposed to being on a tour... HeŽd be great for the dessert and fes.
Hope this helps !

mwatson

We spent a week in Morocco over the 2005 thanksgiving holidays. This was a trip of a lifetime. We will never forget the amazing experience. We cannot wait to return or see more of Africa. We spent time in Morocco on our own and we also booked the desert dash with www.saharatrek.com and had a great time.
We had a driver that did not speak English( he spoke French and Arabic) and a guide that did speak English. They were with us the entire trip. We traveled in a new Toyota 4 runner. It was a private trip but there was another couple doing the same exact trip as we were, staying at the same hotel so we all became fast friends and did everything together. They did travel right behind us in a separate 4runner. I think we could have done it all on our own but I really wanted to sit back relax and have someone else do all of the work. I have nothing bad to say we were well taken care of, we had a blast. The nights in the dessert were cold, the number of stars in the sky was amazing. Shooting stars every few minutes. Be sure to bring toilet paper and one of those headlamps for trips to the restroom in the dark. Here are some photos from the trip http://www.pbase.com/watsonswanderings/travels

Femi

mwatson: Loved your pictures. It felt like I was there all over again. You brought back many pleasant memories. Thanks.

Trish

Not that I think a guide is bad but we did our trip on our own and were very happy. We were in Morocco for 2.5 weeks and flew into Casa drove to Fez then Merzouga, Todra Gorge, Ouzarzate, Marakech, Tamarghant, Essouira and back to Casa . That said my husband is completely fluent in French and I sudied French for about 12 years so am comfortable in the language and we needed it at various times. We booked guides for most places through the hotels we stayed at for the day and it usually cost about 10 US dollars. We emjoyed finding restaurants on our own although the one our guide took us to in Fez was truly exellent. Also the meal Bahra our desert guide made for us in the Sahara was amazing although maybe it was just the setting. So in my opinion you can do it on your own but it will require a lot of work and planning, if you want to totally relax book a guide.