Giuseppa

My husband and I are travelling to Morocco next month. We will be on a 9-day tour with Insight Vacation Tours; visiting Casablanca, Fes, Arafoud, and Marreskesh.
I am looking forward to visiting this part of the world, but I am also a little nervous about travelling to the Middle East. Any advice or tips from Fodor Members who have travelled to Morocco would be appreciated: i.e. food, water, safety, dress attire, etc.

Any advice you can provide to set my nerves at ease would be greatly appreciated.

robertino

Morocco is a little tricky if you're going by yourself but since you are on a tour you should have no worries.

The food can be very good but you might get tired of the ubiquitous tagines.

Water - err on the side of caution - bottled water for drinking as well as brushing teeth and rinsing the toothbrush.

You will be safe. Don't worry about that. The faux guides - kids 14-18 who want to guide you someplace - are extremely annoying but not the least bit dangerous. Your tour guide will repel them for you.

Dress - be respectful of a conservative culture. Of course you will see other tourists in shorts and bare arms and shoulders but you do not need to be one of them.

You mention Arafoud. Is that Erfoud, at the edge of the desert?

saudipinoy44

Morocco is really a wonderful place. I and my friend visited the imperial cities (Casablanca, Rabat, Fez, Meknes, Marrakech, etc) of Morocco in October last year.

For a worry-free tour, I would like to recommend Roughtours (http://www.roughtours.com). You can contact their young manager Youssef (Mobile: 00212672147165, Skype: roughtours, FB: http://facebook.com/roughtours). Just mention that the recommendation came from their Filipino friend Clement.

I am very sure that you will enjoy your travel to Morocco.

saudipinoy44

Kindly check my travel photos in Morocco in the following link:

https://plus.google.com/photos/10594...233?banner=pwa

jgg

We traveled with our kids there (Marakkech, Merzouga, Fez) in 2007 when they were 11 and 14. We did not go with a group but did have a guide with us for most of the time. Robertino gave you good advice re: water, food, dress. We only felt slightly uncomfortable one time (when we were not with a guide) as someone who had given us directions kept asking us for money, but we never felt truly threatened and never happened when we were with our guide. We found most people very happy to have us traveling there. Here is a link to my blog which has a full trip report and tons of pictures.
http://www.fromhometoroam.com/catego...frica/morocco/

Giuseppa

Robertino: Thank you so much for replying to my concerns. Your advice is taken with much appreciation. Yes, excuse the mispelling: It is Erfoud.
Thank you to everyone that replied to my post and for all the photos also.

Giuseppa

Saudipinoy44: I really enjoyed seeing your photos along with your very descriptive comments. I know my husband and I will really enjoy Morocco. It was also nice to see the smiling faces of you and your friends. Thanks for sharing the photos.
Giuseppa

dutyfree

My family of four rented a car the Christmas of 201O and self drove for two weeks with no problem. Morocco is beautiful,the people are very sweet and helpful and the history/culture are amazing.
My daughter and I always had a scarf with us to "jazz" up our tops(mainly Tshirt types) which could be worn for many other reasons too. Longer capris and cotton pants worked out well too.
I think being on a tour will be very easy for you with no problems. I think that the worst thing will be the horrible heat next month? Have fun!

robertino

Oh - I didn't intend to be the Spelling Police. I was just curious as to whether your trip included the desert. You will be very glad. It is so interesting.

If you can manage an overnight camel trip into the dunes, by all means to so.

NervousTraveler

Hello Giuseppa. Just curious. How was your trip to Morocco?