Beautiful country. Amazing culture.
Morocco
|
Mar 13 - Mar 19, 2022
Morocco is an amazing country to visit. Wanderlust designed our trip to be packed with fun activities and great accommodation. We were very happy with the itinerary. Their knowledge of the country is fantastic. The local driver and guide that accompanied us the whole time were caring and professional. It was a hassle-free way to travel with 5 kids.
The only reason I gave 4 stars is that I wish the local guides that they outsourced to take us on Medina trips would bring us to fewer demo/shopping experiences. I have been to many big and inexpensive tours in developing countries, where tour guides heavily rely on kickbacks from these shops, which in turn typically charge multiple times more for those run-of-the-mill souvenirs. I understand that this is the eco-system and as long as I knew, I would never bite. I chose "luxury" (and paid that way) when we booked this trip and was hoping for a much more intimate, exclusive and trustworthy experience. We would have appreciated if they asked us "would you like to shop during your visit?" or warned us "if you do shop, it's very common to bargain in this culture", and said something when we started paying some ridiculous prices. When the airline overbooked our flight and we stayed one more day in Casablanca to explored on our own, we found out we paid 5 times more for the Djellaba that we bought in Fes. We also paid about $120 for some spices and soaps, because the "demo" place said they were a "government shop". These tourist traps were not consistent with the "luxury personalized trip" that I signed up for.
Hotel Review
Amazing property!
Activity Review
Agafay camp is WONDERFUL! The amenities better than many of the glamp sites we have been to in the US. They also include dinner and breakfast, which are top notched! I couldn't believe we were able to enjoy such great hospitality in the middle of the desert! Camel ride was super fun. The desert is rocky, so pictures are not as nice, but I understand this is not the Sahara.
Dear Ying,
Thank you so much for your review! I'm glad that you enjoyed Morocco. I also appreciate hearing that your guides were not more deferential to whether or not you wished to shop - we stress that in our training and it's important for us to know when they are not following our requirements. We will absolutely be addressing this with the guides. We do have information about shopping and haggling in the travel advice we send out, but we do have expectations that our guides will not allow you to pay the first mentioned price.
Thank you again!