Am planning to travel to Morocco between Christmas and New Year and hoping to spend the time between Marrakesh and the desert. Any help on the following would be greatly appreciated!

1. What will the weather be like at that time?
2. What would be the best way to travel to the desert? Husband and I are used to independent travel and thought we could rent a car and explore ourselves. Is this advisable and if not, any recommendation on tour guides? Any recommendation on car rentals and can a regular car drive into the desert or do I need a 4WD?
3. Any recommended routes and places to stay?

Thanks much!

We are also in the process of planning our trip to Morocco during Christmas and New Year. For accommodations, I highly recommend that you stay in one of the riads in the Medina (in Marrakesh and Fez) in order to experience Moroccan lifestyle. These are very charming guesthouses. Check out www.riadsmorocco.com. Prices can be a bit high since this is holiday season.

Be very, very careful with reviews of riads on tripadvisor - they are full of "plants". Ignore anything from a person with only one review. I wouldn't head into the desert on my own! Click on my name for my Morocco TR.

Hey thursdaysd - still great advice but i noticed those posts were from 2005! How do they pop back up to the top?

Ah - good eyes! There was an ad before my post that's since been removed. Are you still planning a trip to Morocco?

Yes -- we'll be there this May. I think this is the farthest out I've ever planned a trip; feels like I've been talking about it forever.

I'll make sure to do a TR here afterward. There's not a whole lot of feedback on fodors re: Morocco.

Are you in the middle of one of your major trips or at home planning the next?

Hi Leslie - hope you have a great time. I got back mid-Nov from the Caucasus and Middle East - I'm still catching up the blog at mytimetotravel.wordpress.com - will likely do a TR here for the ME piece soon. Need to finish up so I can plan the next trip, which I hope will feature Central Asia.

Glad that you gave your blog address -I've bookmarked it and look forward to catching up on that trip.

Can't remember - during your trip to Morocco did you spend the night in a tent in the desert? My husband is having a bit of a freak out about that - thinking we're going to be attacked by someone. I believe there's a better chance of that happening if we slept out in our own backyard but that doesn't seem to alleviate his concerns.
I think the areas that they take tourists to spend the night in a Berber tent are not especially isolated - they take groups out and you might have your own tent but will not be the only 2 people there...other tents will be set up at the campsite. I guess I need to investigate further to give him peace of mind.

Leslie - in Morocco I opted not to do the night in a tent, as I thought it would be too cold. However, I did spend a night in a tent in Jordan on the last trip. I was plenty warm enough, and since I was with a group it didn't occur to me to worry about being attacked. Why is your husband worried? Has he heard about this happening to someone else? Because I totally wouldn't be concerned! If he is, I suppose you could leave your valuables in the previous hotel.

BTW, my night in the desert there was a full moon, which meant that it was easy to walk over to the loo in the middle of the night, but I didn't get to see many stars. You might try to plan for less moonlight.

He is just a worrier in general, not the most adventurous soul. So I'm going to just ignore him & he'll end up having a great experience & thank me later.

I really hope the stars are visible when we're there -- we don't have a lot of flexibility as to what night to do the desert -- everything is fairly scheduled as far as reservations at riads along the way.

Did you do anything special for your camera to protect it from sand. I'm not going to take my best one but still would hate to screw it up. I wonder if ziplocs are enough to keep sand out.

"Did you do anything special for your camera to protect it from sand" No. It travels in a waist-pack inside my day-pack, and I didn't take it out much. I have seen recommendations to use ziplocs, though.

Zip-loc it is then. Thanks.