4 full days in morocco...what to do? feeling a little overwhelmed :)
 

hi everyone,

we will be honeymooning in europe in mid september, & will be hopping over to morocco for a quick 4 day trip (we live in hawaii & don't go that far all that often, so we figured we might as well make the most of it ;). we arrive on a tuesday evening, have all of wed, thurs, fri & sat to do as we wish, & fly out on sunday morning.

i'm torn between visiting fez or marrakech. to tell you a little bit about us, we are in our mid 30s...things we love are travel, a good meal, comfortable accommodations, shopping for things unique to places we are visiting & when at home, we enjoy lazy saturday afternoons simply hanging out together.

we definitely want to visit the beautiful sand dunes while we're there, & enjoy shopping in the souks. i'm also wondering whether or not we need to hire a guide for the entire time...basically from the time we land until the time we depart...or should we book our riad on our own & utilize their services to help plan our activities once we get there.

i know i've asked for a lot of input so i thank you in advance for any suggestions you are able to offer :)

That's not a lot of time so you would be wise to pick one of the two but not both Fez and Marrakesh. My personal preference would be Fez but that's just me. I'm not sure how it would work to see the desert also in that short a period. Our drive from Fez to Merzouga was 2 days - I guess it could be done in one long day. But you'd be spending most of your 4 days on the road. Hmmm...no way to get another couple of days?

Dear Malwil: I am going to be so brash as to suggest that perhaps you are not getting suggestions because we readers are overwhelmed at the ambition you demonstrate for using those four days. I cannot give advice on Morocco since I have never been there (I am going in December and have learned some things through this forum), but I've done so much traveling in Africa that I can appraise what is realistic to accomplish during a four-day visit to a country I've never visited before and where travel complications, missed connections, and Montezuma's revenge may reduce available time. Another problem with your post is that you don't say specifically where you're coming from (you mention Europe) and the remark that you "fly out on sunday morning" doesn't help us suggest an itinerary around your departure city. I'm in perfect empathy with your desire to see as much of the world as possible on this trip and I hope that, by supplying some more details, other Fodorites can help you. ZZ

It sounds like you would enjoy Marrakech. I would stick to one city and do day trips from there. You probably will not be able to squeeze a visit to the dunes into this trip because of the travel distance.

ZZ is correct in that your plans, as you have stated them thus far, are very ambitious. Morrocco is hardly a 'hop' away from Hawaii, don't forget to factor in jet lag.

Let us know if you come up with more specific questions.

Ooops, just re-read your post and see that you will be visiting from Europe. Have you considered one of the coastal towns in Morocco?

hi everyone,

thank you for your comments. we will be flying to marrakech from paris & back to paris at the end of the four days. apologies, i should have been more clear...we are in the stage of choosing between fez & marrakech. we're not wanting to visit both. i was hoping to learn a little bit about both & get some insight to help us make a decision on which area would be best for us (i WISH we had more time to visit both, but unfortunately, we have to get back to work). doesn't look like we're going to merzouga, as it would be a 9 hour car ride going & coming back. not so fun to spend 2 out of our 4 days in the car.



ZZ - the reason for not mentioning "where we're flying out of on sunday" is because we don't know yet....it will be based on where we decide to visit, hence i'm asking for other's opinions on both fez & marrakech, so we can soon decide.

if anyone has visited fez or marrakech or both, & would like to share your travel experience, i'd love to hear about it :)

The old medina in Fez feels older, less full of tourists. Marrakesh feels more open, a bit easier to navigate, has lots of tourists and lots of motorbikes. My feeling was Marr. would be easier to walk around without a guide and actually be able to find places. Fez felt more difficult to find our way around. But of the two I'd go back to Fez before Marr. One person's opinion!

I agree with Leslie - I did get a bit lost in the southern part of the medina in Marrakech, but had no trouble in the north. I'd recommend a compass for Fez! But Fez, hands down, was more atmospheric.

Thank you for your thoughts!