From Southern Spain. We are in the planning stages of our trip in Sept/Oct. I would like to hear from those who has done this and if you think it was fun or worth it. One woman I am traveling with thinks this will be an awesome thing to do.
Worth it or not?

In my opinion - no. If you go to the post titled "Tavira to Morrocco-Help" (was #67), you can see my response.

It's all a matter of opinion. We did it and had a blast. Expect it to be different and you won't be surprised.

We, too were debating whether or not to do the Morocco trip (actually an overnight package). What tipped the scale was the realization that it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing that we'd probably never do again. We were glad we went. The unusual architecture, markets, culture, etc., were most interesting.

On a tour of Spain, Portugal and Morroco I took the boat from So. Spain to Morroco but headed directly south. On the return we had a day in Tangier and had it been my only experience in Morroco I would have been very disappointed. However, having said that, if my only chance to visit Morroco I would go for it. It's so completely different from Europe.

I went and I'm glad I did although I would not go back again. But it's an experience to see the market especially! From what I've heard it's much better to go further south, but if Tangier is your only option, go for it!

We traveled to Tangier via ferry from southern Spain in 1996. It was an interesting experience. I am not sure if I really enjoyed it- it certainly left us with alot of good stories! Be prepared to be accosted when you come off of the ferry by local "tour guides" who want to lead you through the market area. They will want to charge you a fee- we refused to pay but still had one person who would not leave us alone and he followed us around for a good portion of the day. It was rather unnerving! When he finally figured out we were not going to pay him(which we told him upfront)and that we were not going to buy goods from the merchants he was trying to steer us too..he finally left. If you do buy anything, make sure to take it with you as it is common for the local merchants to ship inferior goods back and you really have no recourse. Bring the goods back to Spain or Gibraltar and then ship them from there. Try to get outside of the central market area and see more of the neighborhoods of Tangier- that is much more pleasant. In my opinion, the market is just a big tourist trap! If you are not adventuresome, then this would not be the trip for you.

We ferry over on a daytrip to Tangier from the port of Algeciras. A tour guide was waiting for us in Tangier. It was interesting, a bit of culture shock. Our guide was very good, we learned a lot about the local economy, the culture, education system, etc. Tangier is probably not the most representative Moroccan city; it was dirty, people at the market were ultra-agressive, but while I am glad we did it, I doubt that we'll ever return to Tangier.

Would I recommend to visit Tangier with the current world situation? Absolutely not. There has been a lot of warnings about Al-Qaeda cells working in that area, looking for terrorism opportunities (nearby U.S. Navy base in Rota and the UK Royal Naval Base in Gibraltar represent desirable targets). Just yesterday terrorists blew up more than 30 people in Casablanca. The obvious target were tourists. If you have to go, exert caution. If you don't have to go, go someplace else in beautiful Spain. Plenty to see and do.

JandaO-- I forgot to mention one bit of piece of advise: prior to departure you may want to check the US Dept of State travel warnings. Also check the UK government travel advisories. The UK had issued warnings two days ago for British travelers to abstain traveling to Kenya and Morocco.