I am roughing out Sept 2001 vacation plans to Southern Spain. I will fly into Madrid and go to Seville immediatly for a few days, then to the Granada area a few more, then back up to Madrid for a few. While doing my research on where(exactly)to go/what(exactly)to see, I read about day tripping to Tanger in Morocco, a short ferry ride from Algeciras. Morocco has always been on my list of places I want to see, and I decided it would be a great idea. Then I find out Tanger is not the place to see in Morocco, so I started looking into someplace a little farther into Morocco, just for a taste of it, a tease if you will, for a future trip. Now that I've read all about Morocco, I really want to go, but still just an overnight stay, as I am not well travelled(YET!). <BR>The problem is: now that I have my heart set on going to Meknes/Fes, I have figured out that it will be 10 HOURS(minimum)of travel time(bus/car, ferry, and train) in one day to get there from Seville! That's just getting there, another 10+ getting back to Granada after that! All that travel for 1 day and 2 nights in Morocco? <BR>Even if I break the travelling up a bit, say, if I stay a night in Algeciras or Tanger, then travel on the next day, I will end up spending a night or two in places I have no real desire to be. <BR>Am I crazy to think I can "do" 10+ hours of travel in one day? I am thinking I will see some great scenery, and switching modes of transportation will break things up a bit... but I am also thinking what else I could be doing in Spain with that 20+ hours of travel time! Plus that extra day if I DON'T go to Morocco! I have no shortage of things I want to see while in southern Spain! And I do love to sort of "settle in" to a spot, actually getting to know people, not just decend on them from nowhere and then disappear! But getting a peek at Morocco would be awsome to me too. I keep looking at the map, Morocco is RIGHT THERE! I will never be closer without actually GOING there! <BR> <BR>What to do? I am making myself crazy trying to decide, and my planning has come to a stand-still... ARRGG! <BR>

My rule is to weigh time in travel vs stay in area. The scales tipped against you on this one. <BR> <BR>I loved Morocco, but I would not visit it as you've described. If you can find an inexpensive flight to Fez, then it might be worth it. Otherwise, use your time more efficiently by staying in Spain. Morocco deserves at least a week, even better, two weeks, to really be enjoyed and appreciated. <BR> <BR>D**n, will someone PLEASE invent a transporter beam?

We flew from Lisbon to Casablanca. I would say the two highlights of our trip and the places I would like to return to are Fez and Marakesh. Marakesh is not a terribly long car ride from Casablanca and would be a great taste of Morocco. Meknes was OK but not terrific and Rabat and Casablanca disappointing. Tanger is certainly not a destination. The northwest coast is very beachy, resort type places that don't have much to do with Morocco. It's a wonderful country to visit and very hospitable to tourists so I don't think you but I think you need some more time.

Lisa- If you are looking to do a short trip into Morocco, I would HIGHLY recommend taking an organized tour from southern Spain. We took a one day tour from Algeciras. Although it was only a day trip, we did A LOT! We visited three towns, drove through the countryside and along the coast, ate Moroccan food, shopped, listened to musicians... The company we went through offered everything from day trips to weeklong tours, so even if you would like to go for 2-3 days, you could do it. <BR> <BR>I know a lot of people are not too wild about tours, but if you want to see a lot in a short time, they are pretty darn convenient. And, as we were female, young, and blonde, we felt safer in a group. <BR> <BR>It takes about 2 hours by bus (if you take the bus that only stops once in Jerez) to get from Sevilla to Algeciras. We took the ferry from Algeciras to Ceuta (35 mins) and the tour took off from there. <BR> <BR>My advice would be to GO, GO, GO!!! Like you said, Morocco is RIGHT THERE, and you might as well take advantage of it. Even though we were only there for a day, it was the highlight of our 6-week trip.

Emilia, I'd like to know more about your trip over to Morocco. I plan on doing a day trip next month and had planned on taking the ferry from Tarifa, but am open to suggestions. I'm taking my sister on thies trip to Spain and Portugal (with a one day stop in Paris). She's never been out of the US and hardly ever been out on New Enbland so I want to give her several tastes of different cultures. Any help that you can give would be appreciated. You can respond here or to my e-mail address. <BR>Thanks <BR>Art <BR>

Lisa, <BR> While day-tripping is an option, Elvira is correct, you need a minimum of 2 weeks. I kind of did what you plan to do, except spent my time in Spain visiting Cordoba, Sevilla, Cadiz, and Jerez. All are wonderful. But I took the ferry from Algeciras, and then spend 16 days wandering the country by bus/train/taxi. Tetouan, Fez/Volubilis, Marrakech,ect. It was AWESOME. But I feel that I only scratched the surface. If anything, cut a week off of Spain, cross to Tangier, and then train down to Marrakech. It truly is a feast of sights, sounds and smell!!! <BR> <BR> Good luck!

I'd definitely go to Morocco from Spain. The year before last my husband and I took our 8 and 12 year old daughters to Meknes and Fez and had a great time although we were only in these locations for 4 days. <BR>Our family has travelled quite a bit to Europe and we didn't care much for Spain <BR>except for comparisons with our state of California. <BR>Morocco was worth every minute. We stayed at very cheap hotels, travelled on local buses, and always felt safe. <BR>GO TO MOROCCO!

Not to prolong this, but let me just give some "feedback" to the "feedback" I've recived so far... <BR> <BR>Elvira: point well taken, RE: time in transit VS time actually *AT* location...(where the hell IS that D**N transporter machine, anyways?! Someone out there IS working on that, AREN'T THEY!?!?!?) <BR> <BR>Emilia: I have different travel times for bus from Sevilla to port city(I was looking at 3 hours, but you could be quite right about only 2...), and how you get 35 mins on the ferry I don't know, the very LEAST I heard of(on hydrafoil) was 1 1/2 hours, but I will look into that...(I was looking at 3 hours on the ferry). <BR> <BR>To Kevin and Joyce: I have every intention of doing Morocco the way you both, as well as Elvira, have suggested, but on another trip. Let me put it this way... I tend to inch my way into the pool, rather than dive right in. (I have only been to Europe once, and I had someone "holding my hand" the whole time... Sept of 2001 is ALL ME!!) <BR> <BR>Looking back on my original post, and having been enlightened a bit, I will say this: My goal as far as having one(worthwhile) day in Morocco is not so much to have had "a day in Morocco", but to have gotten there ON MY OWN(a personal challenge), and that, I think, is what I'm eager to achive(baby steps!?). But, to lose so many hours in travel time(rather than spend my time efficiently, as Elvira stated earlier, which is ALSO important to me) to prove myself, TO MYSELF...I dunno... <BR> <BR>(oh, man... I am feeling ike a bad twilight-zone episode!) <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>

umm, ahh, I meant "LIKE a bad twilight zone movie..." <BR>and also, I am resticted to only 14 of travel, not MY schedule, but my travel companions...

We took the ferry from Algeciras to Ceuta, which is one of the shortest routes, which is why the "official travel time" is only 35 minutes...although the day we went was very windy, big waves, etc. and took closer to an hour. If you are looking to go on your own, I don't think I would recommend going to Ceuta as it is not as convenient to get to Moroccan cities from there if you don't have your own transportation. <BR> <BR>Also, the bus we took from Sevilla to Algeciras was run by Portillo, S.A., if you want to try to check into their current schedule.