olygirl

My husband and I are traveling to Spain and Morocco this fall. We normally travel independently but are considering an escorted tour. We are active, in our 50s/60s, and want to join a small group tour that has lots of cultural/historic content, covers major sites but also includes off the beaten track experiences. We are looking at Tauck, Intrepid, Insight and Globus. Recommendations?

Michael

We do not generally take escorted tours, and did not when we were in Morocco. But we did hire local guides in Meknès and Fez, in one case an unofficial guide and in the other an official one. The unofficial guide was better. You can always ask your hotel for guide services.

Viajero2

If you are looking for a mix of popular sights and of fthe beaten track, then you do not want an organized tour. Spain is a reasonably independent-travel friendly country. Try to learn some basic phrases in Spanish, get familiar with local transportatona d and you should be all set. I do agree that a guide/guided visits in Morocco is the way to go, though.

How many days? Preferrred means of transport?

StCirq

Another thing you can do in Morocco - and your hotel can help you with this - is hire a cab driver to take you to the "off the beaten track places," or just to other towns/cities. Many of them are very knowledgeable. Last time I was in Morocco staying in Marrakech, we hired a cab driver for two days to take us up into the Atlas Mountains and to Agadir and Essouira - at $30 a day it was a tremendous bargain, and we were invited to his home to break the Ramadan fast at the end of the day to boot!

olygirl

great comments. thank you! if we do decide to pursue the escorted tour route, are there any perspectives out there on the quality of the companies we are considering -- Tauck, Intrepid, Insight, and Globus?

Robert2533

Tauck, Intrepid, Insight, and Globus are all general tour companies (i.e. bus tours), three cover the entire world and one all of Europe, usually great for budget travelers and those venturing out for the first time. They often use the same incoming service providers at each of the major destinations, but may have their own people at select locations. If the tour group your considering joining has much more than 20 people, you’ll end up missing out on the personal contact you’d have with the guide in a smaller group tour.

Personally, I would look for a qualified travel/tour company that specializes in your planned destinations, Spain and Morocco. There are enough to choose from, are very good at what they do, some outstanding. They will be more expensive than the standard bus tour company offerings, but worth the extra money. I would even go so far as to pick one specializing in Spain and another specializing in Morocco.

worldinabag

Hi

We have used Insight twice, Turkey and Egypt. I can't speak highly enough of them. They are 5 star tour group so the hotels and food is excellent. They use local tour directors, guides and drivers that are professional and knowledgeable. However I wouldn't say they are small group tour. You're looking at around 30 guests. But rest assured they are well organised and your needs will be met. Great bang for your buck! As for "off the beaten track experiences" well it's up to you to go exploring in your freetime. We were very satisfied with our "off the beaten tracks experiences". eg. wander the streets of the Albaicin in Granada. TIP: Pay close attention to the itinerary offerred. The trap is you pick an itinerary that covers too much in too little time. That means you spend a good part of your time sitting in a coach travelling from point to point - boring! So calculate your distances between sights. Spain is a large country. We used a 15 day tour programme. If you include Morocco you want at least that and them some. Insight do a seperate tour of Morocco. If you have the time and money I would take two tours - one for Spain and one for Morocco. I think you get a discount for more than one tour.

latedaytraveler

Olygirl, you might check out Smithsonian Journeys. They have a tour of Morocco that looks inviting. I have also heard good things about the Insight tour of Spain and Morocco.

nytraveler

Tauck is generally more upscale - usually with hotels in better location and meals somewhat less mediocre. but no tour is likely to stay anyplace long enough for you to really see much.

You need to pore over the brochures to understand what they are really offering:

View - means see something out of the bus window
Stop - means a 5 minute photo op out front
Visit - means you actually go inside (but it may be for an hour versus the 2 or 3 you might want)

Also look for frequent mention of stops for shopping (IMHO a complete waste of time for tschotkes nobody really wants).

Spain is perfectly easy to do on your own - which is what I would do. then do Morocco - perhaps as a separate trip so you can see several cities - with a private guide when needed.

worldinabag

My tour experiences (I have been on 5 with 3 companies) have not been anything like those listed by nytraveller.

thursdaysd

I did the Intrepid Comfort tour of Morocco - see http://www.fodors.com/community/afri...can-medley.cfm

Intrepid's max group size is 12, and aside from Comfort-level tours generally uses local transport rather than buses - and the buses it does use are small. Its tours also have few or no shopping ops.