Morocco and Spain in 10 days
 

Hello! We've taken the first step and bought flights for our dream trip! We've bought a flight that arrives at 1345 in Casablanca on the 12th of June. Our return flight is from Madrid on the 22nd of June and leaves at 1535. We're not sure what will happen in between :) We're mostly interested in nature/scenery and maybe a little culture and history but not too much. Our initial plan is the following:

1. Move right away from Casablanca to Fes (mode of transportation?) unless someone recommends something worth staying for a night in Casa.

2. Stay in Fes for a night then travel to Tangier through Chefchaouen (mode of transport?). Do you propose we stay a night or two in Tangier or Chefchaouen?

3. Take the ferry to Spain. Do you propose we take the ferry to Tarifa or Algeciras?

4. From there we'll most probably rent a car so we can move at our own pace. We'd like someone to propose a route so we can reach Madrid on the 20th or the 21st before our flight on the 22nd. We're interested in seeing parks and nature and some history in Andalusia.

Thanks a million in advance :)

I haven't been but my understanding is that tangiers is the equivalent of Tijuana Mexico...not worth any time. Can you fly Fez to Spain?

You have left yourself very little time to see any of Spain - and I'm not sure what type of scenery you're looking for.

Southern Spain is quite dry - that is where they shot all of thise Clintwood "spaghetti westerns" with the dusty streets and unbleweed. There aer some scenic areas - but it isn't green and charming like much of europe.

Suggest you get some guidebooks and tour brochures to see what you will be traveling through. In April we found most of the area soth of Madrid brown and crunch and neverending grvoes of Olive trees. The scenic part of Spain is the northern part - along the coast with France and the northern Atlantic coast.

Fez is good, I prefer Marrakech and you may find flights from here are easier to get to bits of Spain. I'd not take the ferry, I'd fly.

Within Marocco I'd catch the coach to get around, or the train http://www.seat61.com/Morocco.htm#Tr...20in%20Morocco

History, Seville and Cordoba take you back to Roman times, see the waterwheels on the river, Grenada for a little later

I wouldn't bother with Tangier at all. If you're going to Morocco, places you should focus on are Marrakech, Essouira, Agadir, Chefchoauen, Rabat, and the Atlas mountains. But that alone could take you weeks. You have a very short trip planned, with virtually no time at all for Spain. Everywhere you're headed is dry and somewhat barren, so not sure what you mean when you say you want scenery - what kind?

Well, I will certainly put in a vote for Fez, which I found one of the most interesting places in Morocco, certainly I preferred it to Marrakesh. Given the short time the OP has, along with locked in flights, he needs to concentrate on the north of Morocco. I have read that Tangier has improved recently, but have no personal knowledge.

Once he gets to Spain, the obvious candidate is Seville, with a train to Madrid, although to my mind the single best reason for visiting southern Spain is the Alhambra in Granada, possibly followed by the "white towns" (Ronda in my case).

I have the start of a watercolour of the High Atlas from the Marrakech Menara basin which I intend to finish one day, fine scenery :-) Agreed, even bits of Spain and Morocco in 10 day is crazy. If you going to do this thing you need to focus and rush with max three cities for the whole trip. I'd do Marrakech, Seville (Cordoba day trip) and Madrid. Ryanair fly Marrakech to Seville twice a week but you could also fly into Malaga which is a train journey away.

You can buy most coach trips around Marocco from the train company www.oncf.ma just look out for the bus symbol rather than the train symbol.

The Atlas Mountains come to mind in regards to scenery.

The above comments are right, Tangier can seem somewhat seedy depending what part of the city you find yourself in. Having a good guide would be worth the money.

As far as Spain goes, you're flying into Morocco, make the most of it and finish up with a night in Madrid. You should confirm all of your hotels ahead of time.

Thanks a lot everyone for your comments and suggestions. I can see now that this wasn't the best destination for nature/scenery...I haven't done enough planning before booking. Anyway what's done is done so I will try to make the best of it.

As per your suggestions, we will move right away from Casa to Fez stay a max of 2 nights there and move to Chefchaouen for a night or two. Isn't it a good place to see the mountains and waterfalls or is there a better place to stop?

Since we will be so close to Spain already I think we'll go for the ferry. From there what is the "greenest" route we can take to Madrid? I read about the "Parque Natural Sierra de Cazorla", has anyone been there? Or any other parks in the area?

Chefchaouen, very much tourist town for the Spanish, but the old blue rinsed town in the centre is nice. Good place to shop.

Parque Natural Sierra de Cazorla is a nature park; hiking, hunting, etc. If you want to visit, you'll have to drive. It's bee a few years since we've been there, but you can stay at the Parador de Cazorla, which is situated in the park.

There are some nice waterfalls and hikes near Chefchaouen. Consult Lonely Planet or the like.

Hi, we had 8 days in Morrocco in November 2012. We arrived in Fez from Paris and took the ferry to Tarifa from Tangier.
My advice for this part of your holiday would be: Book your accomodation before you go, we stayed in a lovely place called Dar Seffarine (they have a website) right in the medina.They arranged for us to be picked up from the airport, and organised a guide to show us around the medina on the first day. These services were extra but very ecomonical and with limited time you get to see and learn alot in a short time.We had planned to take the train to Tangier, but the driver who picked us up offered to take us with a stop in Chef. for a reasonable sum. This worked out great for us.
While in Fez we did a mountain top picnic with a British woman who lives in fez, she runs Dar Finn accomodation. We had a wonderful day, and I would certainly recommend it.
I found Tangier okay, I probably wouldn't return but I really wanted to cross the Straits by ferry, and I'm glad we did.
We stayed in Dar Jameel, a nice place,close to the ferry terminal (not the best area but okay), the ferry can be delayed or cancelled depending in the weather, especially to Tarifa but we had no problem booking on the day. We used a local man to help with our luggage, we were a bit cautious about this but for a very small amount of money he hauled our bags on board, stowed them and showed us were to be, it was a great help. We stayed at Posada La Sacristia in Tarifa, an easy walk from the terminal. Tarifa is like a small beach town, it has a small old town area and a thriving surf and windsurfing culture, we liked it. Getting out of Tarifa, is easy, with buses going all over. Don't be overwhelmed by this, the bus system in Spain is reliable and efficient.Your other option is a car (we take our own GPS with the maps downloaded before we go). On this particular trip we took the bus to Cadiz, then hired a car and drove to Salmanca via Caceres ( the ancient Roman Silver Road!).Anywhere you go in Spain will be terrific. Madrid is a good central place to stay and do daytrips ie Toledo, Segovia, Avila etc. Have a great trip.

We went to Tangier last year and thought it was a great place to stay (for some photos have a look at our website http://www.wildscope.com/travel-repo...n-Tangier.html). If you don't have a car it is the easiest to take the Tangier - Tarifa ferry (both ports are within walking distance from/to the old towns), because to get to Algeciras you will now have to take the ferry from the new Tanger Med port, which is some way out of town. There are plenty of beautiful spots in southern Andalucia, especially if you are interested in nature and wildlife. There is the Los Alcornocales natural park (a big cork oak forest) very close to Tarifa, the Coto Donana national park not far from Sevilla and the Sierra de Andujar (not too far from Cordoba). In the latter you can go looking for wild lynx. Sevilla is a great place to start if you are looking for culture. Extremadura is also a very beautiful spot, and Trujillo is one of our favourite places there.

Thanks a lot everyone! You have been great :o)

That was meant as a smile! Where did that clown come from?

There is a train from Casablanca to Fes, and I would stop in Meknès on the way.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...th/4183344156/

dahmousha :

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