Kimkim Trip Reviews for Morocco

Trip was wonderful. The contacts were responsive and super-helpful. Our arrival time changed and it was easy to contact both Yassine and Ali and adjust accordingly.

The trip was excellentl. The Riads were First rate, The guides were knowledgeable, professional and friendly. Our driver, Mohamed Samouk, was one of the best parts of the trip. He became our friend, part of the family!

We will recommend KimKim and Off the Beaten Path to anyone wishing to explore Morocco.

I visited Morocco 2 weeks ago with my 14 year old daughter. We had an amazing experience. We are truly pleased with the services provided by KimKim. The tour was arranged by Brahim. He had always provided timely, courteous responses to my questions and helped me every step of the planning process. We reached Marrakech later than scheduled due to flight delays. I had failed to inform Brahim of the delay. Brahim exhausted every resource available to him trying to make sure we were ok/ safe. He even checked in with us during the trip to make sure we were having a great time.

Our driver Amine was awesome. He was pleasant, safe and very punctual (we were the ones who made him wait :)). He tried to keep us informed in advance about the places we were visiting/ stops en route. It took him a couple of days to warm up to us, but when he did he was a lot of fun. We spent one evening playing cards after dinner, my daughter had a great time learning card tricks/ games from him and teaching him card games. He was very accommodating and stopped any time we requested a stop. He appeared to be quite knowledgeable of the places we visited and took us to some fantastic restaurants for authentic Moroccan lunch. He took us to places (women’s co-operatives and workshops) where we learnt in length about the fossils, argan, rose and carpets. The vendor at the rose products shop was very friendly, not only did he sell us some good quality rose products, but he also taught me how to make tajine and gifted me a bag of spices that he had bought to make his own meal. That was so very generous of him and his tajine smelled so good :)

The arrangements exceeded my expectations most of time. The arrangement at the bivouac in the Sahara desert deserves a special mention. The tent was very comfortable with washroom and shower facilities. Our camel man Sayeed deserves a special thanks for making our experience a memorable one. The food was plenty and the entertainment was fantastic. He helped me up and down the massive dunes and even gave us company while we were star gazing in the dark trying to explain the stars and life in the desert. The Riads were clean and comfortable. The hosts/ riad staff were very friendly and welcoming. Dinner served at the Riads (Dar Sofar, Hotel Amazir and Makhtoub in Ait Ben Haddou) were fresh, delicious and plenty, often too much for us to finish. Moroccan breakfasts are different from what we are used to in North America, but the freshly squeezed orange juice made a huge difference, delicious 

The only thing I would like to mention is that some Riads charge you for bottled water, but they don’t tell you that until when it is time to leave. This I thought was a little inconvenient especially since I had bottled water in the car, and I ended up paying almost 3-4 times the cost unnecessarily. Also, I had exchanged only limited $$ for each day and this resulted in my budget being messed up for tips, etc. Perhaps it would be a good practice to let the guests know in advance that there is a cost for the bottled water, so the guests can make an informed choice.

All in all it was a fantastic experience, I would recommend Brahim and his team in a heartbeat. You can trust them for your travel needs. Thank you Brahim and team!

We had a great trip. Brahim did a great job organizing and planning considering it was last minute. He was able to accommodate the things we wanted to do as most standard tours had a different itinerary. Having started in Tangier he really helped plan out an itinerary that worked for us. Tangier-Chefchaouen-Casablanca-Rabat-Meknès-Volubilis-Fes-Ifrane-Merzouga-Todra-Ouarzazate-Ait Benhaddou-Marrakesh. All in nine days. All of the accommodations were very comfortable and nice. The riads were all beautiful and the various staff were all very friendly and helpful.

Amine our driver was good and very safe as an added bonus he new the local areas quite well, thanks to him we enjoyed late night street food in Fes and other foods that we may not have had the opportunity to try. Amine, was very accommodating and he was willingly available for us at night when there were things we wanted to do like going to Rick’s Cafe. It was quite enjoyable having someone that could take us to local spots to watch football (he’s a Barca fan fair warning to Madrid fans). With Amine it was like having another member of the family with us, we were very comfortable, and all three of us would highly recommend his services. He was very pleasant and enjoyable to be with. On a side note Amine really went the extra mile when my mother left her jacket in our hotel in Casablanca, he arranged to have picked up and delivered to her in Marrakesh. We really appreciated everything Amine did for us.

The tour guides we had were all very good and very knowledgeable. In Fes we had Saïd and in Marrakesh we had Mohammad. Overall we had a fantastic and safe time in Morocco.

We had an amazing trip to Morroco. We are really pleased with the services provided by kimkim. They were fast and reliable before the trip and during the trip. The cities proposed and the accommodations were great. There is a special mention to all the people who helped us have an amazing trip.

Hassam Fes tour guide - He gave us a short but effective tour of the Medina. We were able to see the most important places. During the tour, we visited artisans workshops we felt they were interesting but repetitive. Not a lot of information on the history of Fes and the Medina

Samir driver - He was really nice and attentive. He got us safely to each location. Moreover, he was constantly making us aware of the scams to tourists. He was punctual and provided information about the places we were visiting.

Hassan Marrakech tour guide - He gave us a great tour, we saw all the points of interest inside the Medina. He gave clear and interesting explanations. Also, he gave us amazing recommendations on what to do after the tour.

Abdellah trip planner - He was a great trip planner. He was very friendly and extremely effective with our plan, four days before our trip we had to cancel another agency with whom we were planning to make a trip to Morroco. Abdellah rapidly organized us a wonderful trip in 4 days which was fully customized to our preferences and budget. He was also available on the phone at any moment to resolve any issue before and during the trip.

I had a great experience in Morocco! Brahim did a great job helping me organize my trip. He gave me the best suggestions and was super quick to reply. I really liked the accommodation he booked for me, the riad in Marrakesh was beautiful but the glamping experience in Agafay was definitely the highlight! The tent was very comfortable, the food was the best I had in Morocco and the place itself is magical, you can tell there is attention to every detail.
People in Morocco were welcoming, very friendly and always proud to introduce me to their culture.
The diversity in Morocco really surprised me, from the beautiful Sahara desert to the lively city of Marrakesh, impressive waterfalls, beach cities to remote villages in the Atlas mountains. You can find it all!
I definitely recommend everyone to visit this country with such an amazing culture.

Right from the beginning it was good communication. Never had heard about Kimkim, so was a little hesitant at-first. It turned out to be a great experience. Brahim made sure that he collected all info that we wanted to see/do and made an awesome itinerary. He answered every single question we had and was very informative. Once we landed in the country, he made sure everything was the way we needed. All the contact details, information etc was shared prior to the trip, which made it very convenient.
Our driver Rachid Chaif was excellent. He had a lot of information to share about the culture, history and places. When in need, he loaned us with local currency! Yeah, thats right! He was awesome. We shared a lot of good songs on the road trips. He was very kind and took a lot of pictures of us and shared it through WhatsApp. He even gifted me with a tagine! Big thanks to the team for taking such good care of us. The guide in Fes, Hafid was excellent. He was a tower of knowledge and too us through the Souks and made us feel safe. He had a lot of good advice and suggestions, which is really appreciated.
On the whole it was an excellent trip and I look forward to working with Kimkim again.

It's been a marvelous trip and highly recommend Abdellah our expert. I wasn't very specific with my travel request he planned it perfectly and more. So thank you! Everyday there was something different. It showed us beauty of Morroco and warmth of its people. We will definitely have to come back!

We love our driver/Tour guide Said. He took great care of us. Took wonderful pictures. He is knowledgeable passionate about his country. We now count him as a friend.

From Said and to our day guides who are knowledgeable and proud of their heritage and country and riad owners/managers family atmosphere it was memomarble once in lifetime experience.

Chechouan blue city was something out of a fairytale.

Volubilis brought us to ancient times. Brought to life by our guide Mohammed.

In Fes our guide Hassan showed us scope of city and we learned a lot the different craftsmanships handed down for generations and workmanship. Pottery, Looming, Carpetry, Tanneries.
The drive to Fez to Merzouga though the longest we barely noticed as we had stops on picturesque sights.

We got to interact with Barbary Monkeys. And one day experience four seasons in middle atlas.

Sahara was just magical. If you can manage spend two nights. We are forever changed by meeting family of Nomads. We also learned to play Berber instruments and music.

Souks in Market day, was a great experience.

Makarech has it's own beautiful flavor and flair. A great history 🇲🇦& Makarech lesson early morning with Makarech guide Youssef. But the highlight of Makarech is our cooking class at the Lotus Chef School. We learned to make Two salads and chicken tagine. They also showed breadmaking and thousand holes pancake and art of tea making.

I'm probably missing a lot of great experience in this review.

Friends and family are like is it really that beautiful in Morocco or just pictures. As we always look like we are having fun. I'm like yes it is. Come over!!

Said, our driver, was lovely. Getting the chance to know him was one of our favorite parts. He knows people all over the country and so we were welcomed everywhere we went and got to see so many facets of the country.

This trip was like a dream, everything went just perfect and as planned. Yassine was incredibly patient and accommodating, he listened to us, responded to every question we had and made sure we would be happy with our finalized itinerary. Our trip started in Casablanca, our flight was more than four hours delayed due to bad weather in Montreal, our driver Mohammed was patiently waiting for us and it was a relief to see him there and greeting us with a smile, we immediately felt welcomed and safe. He drove us all the way to Fes with a quick stop at Rabat. We spent two nights in Fes, our guide Hakim was super knowledgeable and funny, we had a great day of learning and exploring the medina. We then drove all the way to Marrakesh via Casablanca. One tip for next time, I would avoid Casablanca all together, we just spent a few hours there but with traffic in the city it was more than needed and not worth it. In Marrakesh we spent three nights but only two full days, we had an amazing time and our guide Ali was super fun to be with, he was also very accommodating with our last minute itinerary changes and just adapted to our pace. On our second day we went to Agafay desert in the afternoon, this was definitely a highlight of our trip, if you have the chance, don't miss it! From Marrakesh we drove to Essaouira, we only spent one night there and I wish we had more time, it was one of my favorite places of all. One tip is, buy all your souvenirs there, its way cheaper than any other place and they have everything. Definitely don't miss Essaouria. On our last day we drove back to Casablanca and had dinner at a fancy restaurant our driver Mohammed suggested, we had an amazing time and the food was delightful! Well, food was amazing every single day, from the most cheap to more pricey places!
All of our accommodations were unbelievable nice and charming, it was definitely a huge part of our whole experience, we mostly stayed at riads, which were the perfect selection for us. We were provided with a small cel phone for anything that we needed at any time. Our driver Mohammed was incredibly helpful and friendly, and most importantly, drove us with professionalism and great skills all around Morocco, which involved a lot of driving!
I will definitely will be using kimkim services again and would recommend to anyone planning their next adventure!

My father and I spent 11 days traveling around Morocco with kimkim and had an absolutely incredible time. Right from the start, our local specialist, Brahim, was attentive to our questions and priorities, responsive and very patient as we put together our itinerary. Our trip was planned last minute-- we only had about 3 weeks between the time we contacted kimkim to when we landed in Casablanca, and kimkim was able to cater to our spontaneity, customizing the perfect trip for us. Brahim checked in with us several times throughout our trip to make sure things were going well and we always felt looked after.

Our driver, Amine, was polite, always on time, and flexible if we wanted to change plans or linger in one place. It wasn't long before he felt like a trusted friend. Most importantly-- he was a VERY safe driver-- particularly in Marrakech we were impressed with his driving skills, where the roads are chaotic. Getting to know Amine was one of the highlights of our trip.

Our tour guide in Fes, Hafid, blew us away. He was knowledgeable, charming, and spoke English very well. He was also very flexible with how long the tour lasted-- we didn't feel rushed and he kept asking if there were other things we'd like to see. We couldn't have enjoyed the Medina nearly as much without his local insight.

We chose 3* accommodations and found them perfectly adequate for a father/daughter duo. Always central to wherever we were staying, sparkling clean, with friendly staff and a delicious, fresh breakfast. The riads in Rabat (Dar Alia) and Fes (Perle de la Medina) were breath taking.

It's difficult to pick a most memorable place-- but I think I enjoyed Fes the most. We stumbled upon Cafe Clock; we actually went there twice for dinner because we enjoyed the vibe so much.

Speaking of restaurants-- the only negative about the overall experience I can think of was the surprising lack of diversity in cuisine. It seemed like almost everywhere we were taken to, tagine was the main offering, and after the first 1-2 times of tagine I craved something different, but did not find much variation. We didn't often pick where we ate for lunch (and we would have no resources to know where to go anyway), so I don't if it's just the way moroccan food is, or if it was because of the specific places we were taken to. So unless you know you love tagine, try to make sure your meals have some variation, even if that means eating non-Moroccan food at times. I think we liked cafe clock so much (we went 4 times! 2x in Fes and 2x in Marrakech) because their menu had interesting things to offer besides tagine, and you could tell it had a youthful, cultural community vibe.

Overall a 10/10 for kimkim and all our guides and the people who made our trip unforgettable! Thank you so much!

Holly

From beginning to end, we were extremely well taken care of. From our first communication, Yassine patiently helped us prepare an itinerary that was perfect for our group. Once we arrived in Morocco, everything was seamless and well organized. Our driver Mohamed was polite, helpful and charming. He helped make the long drives between cities enjoyable, and assured that we were always comfortable. We were quite pleased with the selection of riads; all three were beautiful and special, each in their own way. Guides were polite and well-informed. Ali in Marrakech did a great job choosing restaurants for us, and we had a few memorable and delicious dining experiences thanks to him.

All in all, we had an excellent trip, and were extremely satisfied with the level of service from KimKim. We would do it all over again if we could.

Thank you for an wonderful experience!!

Where do we begin?!

From the moment we were greeted by Mohammed, our driver, at the airport, our driver/guide throughout the trip made us feel extremely comfortable from the start. Mohammed was on-time and ready to go as we left the airport and took us to our transportation which was as described by our local specialist Radia - a spacious and modern Mercedes van. The vehicle was fully supplied with fresh snacks, cold water and charging ports for our phones. The wifi was extremely helpful and worked throughout our entire trip! Mohammed made sure our ride to the hotel was smooth and along the way began talking to us about Morocco and its rich history, culture and surrounding areas. For the entire trip, Mohammed was ready and always EARLY for all of our trips. We visited 4 cities - Marrakech, Casablanca, Chefchaouen, Tangier. Mohammed was accommodating throughout the entire trip.

All the accommodations that were selected and booked met or exceeded our expectations and we were delighted to stay in locations that were central to where we wanted to be, yet distant enough from the hustle and bustle of the cities. We were impressed by the seamless check-in/check-out processes at each stay, the friendly hotel staff and their willingness to accommodate all requests. At the local Riad's we enjoyed amazing teas and Moroccan desserts. All the rooms selected met our needs and was spacious and clean.

Our various tour guides were all amazing. Ahmed, in the city of Marrakesh, was extremely knowledgeable, friendly and eager to share his knowledge and history of Morocco and its amazing historical sites. Lotfi, our tour guide in Chefchaouen, was an amazing person, super friendly, personable and did an amazing job of photographing our time in the 'Blue City'. Lotfi was accommodating to all of our requests, was extremely well known throughout the city and clearly had a passion for showing us all that the Blue City has to offer. We spent about 5 hours with him and he did a great job.

The food in Morocco is truly amazing. All the selections made by Radia that were included in the package were well selected and did not disappoint. The selections for the lunch and/or dinners were perfect for each occasion. Both Rick's Café & Rhizlane were truly amazing for us. While we enjoyed all of the locations, these two stood out the most for it's quality of food and locations. We truly couldn't have picked better places to eat and enjoy local Moroccan cuisine.

Overall, we highly recommend utilizing KimKim for this or any other trip. We can't wait to not only come back to Morocco but also using KimKim for other future adventures. It was our first time using the site and while hesitant at first, we truly do not regret using the service and only wish now we could have found it sooner to have booked our other vacations in the past! This was truly an unforgettable experience as we went to celebrate my birthday! We truly encourage anyone to consider KimKim for taking care of it all and just sit back and relax and know that your interests and needs will be fully taken care of and far exceed your expectations on your trip!

The whole trip with my daughter was fantastic!
Brahim was very good in working with us to find the best trip. Our driver Amine, was always on time and talked to us about his country.
In the end we felt like family. He even invited both myself and my daughter to his home to have dinner. It was quite the experience.

What a great trip. Morocco is a beautiful country and our fabulous driver Mohammed made us feel comfortable, safe, and right at home. Our first stop at the beautiful Hassan II Mosque was really incredible. We had not had a chance to change our money and Mohommed, without hesitation, gaves us some money and said not to worry until we get to a bank. That was above and beyond and we really appreciated it. We travelled to 8 cities in 18 days. Mohammed was always close by and always offered his services in the evening if we needed him. The local guides in each city were very good and I highly recommend you do them to get the lay of the land and go to special places you otherwise may not have seen. The riads we stayed in were really nice. Our favourites were Casa Lila in Essaouira, Riad La Clé De Fès in Fes, La Petite Chefchaouen, and our favourite Riad Kalaa 2 in Rabat. The Sahara dessert camel ride and overnight through Hotel Yasmina in Merzouga was excellent. Our cooking class in Marrakech was so much fun. The people in Morocco are very friendly, kind, and always helpful. We ate in some fantastic restaurants and the experience in Marrackech's central square was crazy fun and very memorable. Our home is now adhorned by wool carpets, ceramics, jewellery and hand made wooden items. All in all our trip was fantastic and highly recommend Brahim and his team to provide you with an unforgettable trip to Morocco!

booking process was easy, feel fees are a bit high could consider flat fees rather than a percentage of total costs.

Experience Morocco provided a great itinerary and their service was impeccable. Our driver, Amin, was courteous, knowledgeable and spoke very well english.

the local guides were amazing providing a broad range of information as well as local culture and spots.

Trip to morocco was packed with adventure and can’t wait to take more trips with Kim Kim would highly recommend to any traveler

Our trip was great and well planned by Yassine. Our driver Nabil was wonderful and very responsive. He gave us a little phone that allowed us to easily contact him when we needed. We couldn't have asked for better help in a land that we were unfamiliar with.

Our trip was seven days and packed, we were in Tangier, Chefchaouen, Fez, Casablanca and Marrakesh. Admittedly, we should have narrowed down the places we went to, to allow for our type of travel which is a little more leisurely.

We stayed at 3 star locations and most were great! Riad RK in Marrakesh was great, the fact that they had a Hammam in the location made unwinding much easier. Our Riad in Chefchauouen was also very beautiful and the staff there were very helpful.

On the downside, our riad in Fez (Dar Malika) was nice enough and in a central location but we had a less than ideal situation while there. They are admittedly under transition and do not have a person who works there that stays overnight. This makes it very difficult to talk to someone when the water isn't working (which it didn't for us). The house was very cold outside of the room we stayed in and the second day the groceries went on strike so our breakfast was only a little bread and yogurt. Going to the tannery and not being able to shower was a huge miss. This is the one place I would not stay at again.

The tours that Yassine booked and the guide in Fez was also wonderful. The only downside is that we started to feel like we were only being taken places to spend money instead of simply to admire the culture and choose to buy things if we wanted. We started to feel like the tour was very planned to only go to places that would eagerly show us things only to get us to buy very expensive items. I could do without all the shopping that seemed to be most of the tour, it was very repetitive and didn't allow for much downtime or peace.

There were so many good things and a lot of lessons learned. I will vocalize more about what I'd like in the future and also be sure to know that less is more when booking. Thank you Kimkim, Yassine, Nabil and all of the staff at Morocco off the Beaten Path, you were wonderful!

Communication was great. Every question answered promptly. Everything planned was delivered as promised.

First of all, a big thank you to Yassine and the other members of his team: Hassan, Mohammed & Nabil as well as Chris and Kellie from Kimkim who all worked together to arrange this trip for us. A special thank you to Mohammed, our driver, who drove us all over Morocco, covering great distances. He was an extremely safe and responsible driver who knows the roads and traffic conditions of his country very well.

Ever since I saw the BBC documentary " Sahara" presented by British Actor Michael Palin, many years ago, I wanted to visit Morocco and the Sahara desert. And in January 2019, the day finally came. Before our Morocco tour started, my husband and I have been travelling in Southern Spain for a week. On 11 January, we took the FRS ferry from Tarifa in Spain across the Straits of Gibraltar to Tangier. We spent one night in Tangier and our driver, Mohammed, met us the next morning on 12 January to start our Morocco of the Beaten Track tour.

Our first stop on the tour was Chefchaouen. The winding road from Tangier to Chefchaouen through the Rif Mountains was very picturesque and a great way to see the greener countryside of Morocco. People often think of Morocco as mostly a dry desert landscape, but the route from Tangier to Chefchaouen is very green and beautiful. Chefchaouen was one of the highlights of our trip. The accomodation at La petite Chefchaouen in the heart of the old town on the hill was great. This small boutique hotel is run by two young brothers who were always extremely kind and professional. The decorations were modern and stylish and practical, similar to small boutique hotels in Australia and Europe. The breakfast was great and the wifi always reliable. The town itself was lovely and the locals very friendly. We always felt really safe walking around on our own. A shop keeper invited us up to his roof terrace to show us the spectacular view and meet his ginger kitten. It was great that he genuinly just wanted to show us the view and was not trying to sell us something. In Chefchaouen in general, we felt more relaxed and not so hassled by every second person as in Fes or Marrakech. When you walk around the Medinas of Fes and Marrakech, everybody wants to sell you something or be your guide. The Moroccans are great sales people, but not all toursits want to constantly buy things, so it can be quite exhausting to keep saying no. If you do not want to buy something, the 2 most useful phrases to learn and to say firmly but always with a smile are: La Shukran or Non Merci!

From Chefchaouen we drove to Fes, again with spectacular views over the Rif and Middle Atlas Mountains and rows and rows of olive plantations. En route we stopped near Moulay Idriss to see the Roman Ruins of Volubilis. For people with an interest in history and museums and archaeology, these ruins are a must see. The views over the surrounding countryside and Moulay Idriss from the ruins are great. Since the trip involves a lot of time on the road, it can sometimes be hard to find a clean restroom, so even if you are not that much into ancient ruins, I would highly recommend a stop at Volubilis, to stretch your legs and walk among the ruins and it also has very clean toilets. Just make sure you have enough coins to tip the cleaning ladies.

We then stayed in Fes for 2 nights at a beautifully old renovated 300 year old house in the Medina, called Dar Mallika, owned by an Australian writer, Susanna Clarke. In winter it is quite cold in Fes and the house was very cold, but the room had heating and airconditioning and the electric blankets on the beds were great. It was also good to have a choice of different high quality English Breakfast and other Teas as well as several international News Channels in any language of your choice, to stay up to date with what's going on in the world while on holiday. There was also a selection of music to listen to while having breakfast, from classical, jazz to Arabian pop! Si Mohammed, the Riad manager was also a great host, very well organised, helpful and professional. Fes was a fascinating city and a journey back in time. It was great to see the intricate hard work and centuries of tradition at the pottery workshop and handmade carpets. The guided tour of Fes was great, however a bit too long for me. I would have preferred a half day tour, but that depends on the type of traveller you are. I think some people will enjoy having a guide all day and don't feel comfortable exploring on their own and prefer the guide to make restaurants recommendations or shopping recommendations for them. I personally am very independent and like to explore on my own and make my own restaurant choices, so for people like me, a half day tour would be better. Nevertheless, the guide was excellent and we learnt a lot from him about the history of Fes.

The drive to Merzouga from Fes takes about 8 hours, so if you want to do the camel ride around 5pm in order to reach the desert tented camp by sunset, you really need to leave Fes no later than 8 am and it is not practical to have too many stops. We left at 8 am and since it was only my husband and I and our driver, we told Mohammed we don't want to make many stops, we prefer to get to the desert early. But for older travellers who may need more stops and rests, I think it may be a good idea to rather stay 2 days in the desert, first night in the desert hotel, and then do the camel ride the next day without having to rush. We had limited time in Morocco and only 1 night in the desert, so for us, leaving Fes early and driving without many stops worked well. That said, it is important to make a few short stops to give the driver a break. It's such a great distance to travel and the roads are not easy, I think all people doing a tour should be considerate towards the driver, as he has a massive task to drive everyone from point A to B safely and deserves to have lunch and tea breaks too. We had a late lunch in Erfoud at a cafe I would like to recommend. It's not that easy to know which restaurant or cafe to pick on the road in this remote part of Morocco, but we were lucky to find the Cafe Restaurant Dakar Erfoud. The cafe had seating outside on a terrace and inside. It was very clean and the young men who ran the cafe spoke very good French and made us feel at home. We didn't want to have a big sit down meal. Just a quick sandwich or pizza, and since they are a pizza place, they made us a Moroccan flavoured pizza from scratch and within 35 min, we were on our way to the desert. The pizza was delicious and the cafe also had wifi and even features in a French Spy novel (we found out later when we did some research about the cafe). Here is their website, have a look.
https://www.restaurantdakarerfoud.com

We arrived at the Hotel on the edge of the desert around 4:30pm, and reached our tented camp after a 1 and a half hour camel ride on two camels called Aslan & Anlal, lead by their master Yussuf who only spoke Arabic, Berber and a few words in Spanish! Yussuf was great, he knows the camels and the desert very well and he was very friendly and an enthusiastic photographer. He took many photos of us on our camels. We watched the sun set over the dunes and reached the camp just after sunset. The dinner at the camp was nice, although a bit cold. One thing I would say about doing a desert safari in winter, is be aware that it gets very cold in the desert at night. It was -1 degrees celcius. So if you travel in winter, or if you are an older traveller with health issues or not the outdoor camping type, make sure to pack enough warm clothes, the kind of clothes you would pack if you go camping on an alpine mountain hike in cold weather!

We left the desert the next morning on the same camels with Yussuf leading the way. This time we saw the sunrise. We met our driver back at the main desert hotel and started our drive to Ait Ben Haddou through many dusty little mud brick . We stopped to see some fossils as well as stops in the Todra & Dades Gorges. We had a great walk through the Todra Gorge, took some great photo and had lunch in a town on the edge of the Gorge, called Tinghir. This town was really pretty and a great tourist stop with many hotels and good restaurants. Since it is such a long drive, I would suggest especially for older travellers to stop in this town for lunch or even one night, before continuing the journey to Ouarzazate or Ait Ben Haddou as it is a very tourist friendly town, you can take beautiful pictures of the gorge and do some shopping. I saw some great inexpensive rugs and clothes and other souvenirs in this town, much better value that what I saw in Marrakech. We ate at a restaurant called Inass, popular with tourists. The food was good and they also have an indoor and outdoor seating area and very clean toilets. Again, run by a group of young Moroccans. I really enjoyed seeing the young moroccans running B&B's and restaurants. They seem to know what tourists want and these guys could also speak very good English and French.

After a quick stop in Ouarzazate, the film studio town of Morocco, we arrived in Ait Ben Haddou, a UNESCO World Heritage site and a famous movie setting: Gladiator, The Mummy, Laurence of Arabia and many more were filmed here. We stayed at the beautiful Riad Caravane, owned by a French artist who bought a ruined Kasbah and after 5 years of renovations and art collected from all over Africa & Asia, turned it into a 1st class small boutique hotel with very professional staff and fine dining. The Riad also has a rooftop and small splash pool with panoramic views over Ait Ben Haddou. Although we only stayed 1 night in Ait Ben Haddou, I think it is a town where one could spend more time, especially after travelling such long distances.

On Day 6 of our trip we left Ait Ben Haddou for Marrakech. Although Marrakech is not really that far from Ouarzazate or Ait Ben Haddou, the journey takes a long time due to unfinished road works on the Atlas Mountains. We saw some spectacular scenery driving through the Atlas mountains, but the road is quite scary and unfortunately the only way to get to Marrakech by road from the desert. However Mohammed did an excellent job always driving slowly and very carefully.

We arrived late in the afternoon in Marrakech and that is where we spent out last 2 nights in Morocco. I liked Marrakech, the red (dark pink) city . The Riad in Marrakech was nice, again very friendly helpful staff. This one was very traditionally decorated and also had a spa & hamman. Marrakech highlights for me were the Marjorelle Gardens, Bahia Palace and Koutoubia Mosque. The Jemma al Fna square was interesting to see and a must see especially on a first visit, but too many people. The Marrakech Medina is good for restaurants and shopping but I found it hard to walk there with vespas and motorcycles coming from all directions and also too many people for me. By this time we also did not want to buy anything else as we’ve already done all our shopping. I think staying in the Medina is interesting and gives you a true feel for the place, but it is also quite exhausting to keep saying no to everyone who wants to sell you something and if you don't like crowds, like me staying outside the medina might be more peaceful.

Our guide in Marrakech, Nabil was great. He has a lot of knowledge about the city and showed us some interesting places. He was also easy going and flexible, so when we were tired, we could take a break. I would definitely visit Marrakech again, 2 nights and 1 and a half day was not enough to properly explore the city and I can see there is a lot more to Marrakech than the historic medina. Now that I know the medina, next time I would prefer to stay in the area near the Marjorelle Gardens outside the medina, where it is a bit calmer, less motorcycles and people and more open spaces. But that is just my personal taste. If you like staying in the buzz of everything, a road in the medina is definitely for you!

Now that I know the country a bit better, I think 7/8 days is not enough to see all the things we wanted to see and next time I would make it at least 10 days and spend more time in the smaller towns like Thingir, Ait Ben Haddou and Chefchaouen and also try to see more of the coast.

All in all it was a great first visit to Morocco and we are very grateful to Yassine and his team for this excellent introduction to Morocco. The tour was very well organised and they always took such good care of us. It was always easy to communicate with Yassine and his team and they were there to help 24/7! I would recommend them to anyone who would like to to visit Morocco! Just be clear about what you want and what you like and they can arrange it for you!