vincentdumaine3055

Hi all,

Heading to Morocco this week (feb.21st), first time.

Landing in Casablanca and heading directly south to Marrakesh.

I have a total of 25 days. I'm a photographer, so looking for the real things, the real Morocco, not necessarily the most touristy places.

Trying to plan ahead, I know I have to skip some places, don't want to rush things.

What would you recommend ? How many days in each cities ?

I was planning to go to Essaouira after Marrakesh, then Tafraoute (for the almond blossom), Ouarzazate the South east to Zagora and surroundings. Then what ??

Heading north by plan ? Fez and Chefchaouen for sure.

But what about Mergouza ? Tangier ? Rabat ? Worth the detour ?

Any advices on how to save travel time between cities?

How many days and nights in Marrakesh ? Essaouira ? Fez ? Casablanca ?

Open for any suggestions or advices.

Thank !!!

Vincent

progol

Vincent,
All of Morocco is a visual treat! It’s really hard to say “hoe much” or “how long” as its all amazingly photogenic.

Fez is remarkable - a real entry into another world. To me, more vibrant than Marrakech.

Chefchaouen is very visual, but of all the places we visited, I found it most touristy. It’s like a stage set with the intensely painted blue walls.

We found Essaouira charming - much more “real”. A pretty town, but a wonderful mix of tourists and locals.

I’m posting my trip report from 2 years ago - you might find it helpful in planning.
Morocco, A Visual Journey

Michael

I would include Meknčs. We spent 9 or 10 days in Morocco in November 1993, traveling by train going from Marrakesh to Meknes to Fez and then back to Marrakesh by long distance bus. This is what we saw on that trip.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsjoUVige

I would not recommend travel there at the height of the pandemic, even if the country is not closed down.

janisj

Michael: "I would not recommend travel there at the height of the pandemic, even if the country is not closed down."

The OP posted just before his dates of travel . . . "Heading to Morocco this week (feb.21st), first time."

If he went, he's been home since the middle of March.

Michael

I missed that piece of information.

progol

And never returned after his initial post.

karenjoyce3674

We booked a private tour in December of 2019 (almost $20K). Our trip was scheduled from April 4, 2020 to April 12th 2020. When Morocco shut down its borders to ALL international travel (in or out) on March 19th, Ms. Cohen with Travel Exploration Morocco quickly told us that she had no intention of allowing us to reschedule when this situation is resolved. Period. She eventually gave us less than a 30% refund.



Ms. Cohen advertises on her website that she is a member of the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA), which she is NOT and she also claims to "guarantee you will experience the best of Morocco travel when booking a tour to Morocco with us or we will refund your 100%. " Clearly, that is not the case.



We booked out trip through our Travel Exploration Morocco because we thought they would be held to a higher standard when dealing with their clients. The information on her website is not accurate.

I spoke to many tour companies when planning this trip. A splurge for us- celebrating a 50th birthday and I feel duped by Travel Exploration Morocco. It is too late for us, but please consider this review before making your decision. Under the most extreme circumstances, this company did not act ethically. Even if we were able to teleport ourselves to Morocco, the trip we booked, WOULD NOT have been able to happen as the riads and attractions were all closed. Why not find a company that does the right thing in a crisis situation? There are lots of them out there and this IS NOT one of them!! Please feel free to reach out to me for further details!

TimCullis

Karen, as with your posts on TripAdvisor, what you are doing here is hijacking a thread and changing the subject, which is considered rude.

What you need to do is to start your own thread which in any case will be far more visible as it will have its own title rather than being buried in this thread which is asking for advice on places to visit.

You are also necroposting, i.e. posting on a dead thread as the OP has by now been and gone.

progol

<<We booked a private tour in December of 2019 (almost $20K). Our trip was scheduled from April 4, 2020 to April 12th 2020.>>

Yowza, that much for 8 days?! I’m guessing this poster did not do much research, because this is extraordinarily expensive, even amongst some of the more “luxury” agencies. That is a lot of money!