Culture, History and Nature
Morocco
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Apr 7 - Apr 21, 2025
We planned a 15 day trip for our family group of 4 adults with Sharon's help. She helped put together an itinerary that would suit our group. Our overall experience in this trip was wonderful and we learned so much about the Amazigh (Berber) culture and traditions and about the history of Morocco. The warmth of the welcome we got felt special - and we got this from all the people whom we interacted with: our tour manager, the drivers and the staff at the Riads where we stayed. We wanted cultural immersion and indeed that was what we got.
A highlight was our "day with the locals" in Boumalne Dades, where we had Abdou Idrissi (owner of Moroccan Immersion) as our very knowledgeable guide to Berber culture, architecture, life, cultivation and irrigation. It was a treat to be in the kitchen with our hosts Malika and Khadija as they prepared a tagine and couscous in the traditional way. They and their children were so open and welcoming and we surprised my husband with a birthday cake. Definitely the most unique birthday he has celebrated!
Each of the cities we visited gave us a chance to experience medieval towns by staying in Riads in the Medinas of these towns. Our local guide Mohammed in Rabat, a different guide named Mohammed in Fes, and Salaam in Marrakesh were all excellent - knowledgeable and personable.
While in Fez we found out that our wonderful tour manager and driver, Salaam could not accompany us for the rest of the trip, due to circumstances outside anyone's control. We cannot say enough about Salaam as a guide and chaperone for our trip: he is fun to be with, incredibly knowledgeable about history, architecture, culture and more and he made sure we were comfortable as we made our way through our first three stops. To Moroccan Immersion's credit, they made sure that they had good drivers for us at short notice in a busy season, so there was no interruption in our programming. Even though he could not be with us for the rest of the days of the trip, he kept track of where we were, communicated with the drivers we had and made sure things went well for us. Abdou was of course, in the background, making sure things went well.
The other drivers we had were very good but they did not have the same level of knowledge and ability to guide and inform us as Salaam did. This did impact our tour experience - and we understand that it was because of something beyond anyone's control.
Our favorite stop was as Kasbah Tiziri in the Valley of the Roses. Our hosts Michelle and Hussein were wonderful and gave us delicious food and their own insights into life in Morocco. The Kasbah has a beautiful garden, has been modernized beautifully while maintaining a traditional identity.
All along we had beautiful drives - between Rabat and Fez, Fez to Merzouga and then from the desert camp in Merzouga to Marrakesh. There had been rain after a four year drought and the countryside was green (except of course near the desert area). We got to experience spectacular views as we drove through the low, the mid and the High Atlas mountains (many peaks with snow). Our drivers negotiated the challenging drives smoothly and safely.
We ended by spending a day in Essaouira which was a nice relaxed ending to our trip in this charming seaside town.
We covered a lot of ground, physically, and learned a great deal during our trip all while experiencing a feast for the senses and a sense of warmth and welcome!
Hotel Reviews
A beautiful Riad with excellent service - great start to our Morocco adventure. We had a lovely dinner there as well as breakfast.
A beautiful Riad. The staff may have been a little over their heads, though Fatya was working hard to make us comfortable and was a lovely hostess. We were two couples traveling together and the rooms we were assigned were quite different - one quite spacious, and the other rather small.
We enjoyed our stay here. A beautiful Riad, great breakfasts and good service.
This was a comfortable hotel and served well its purpose as a jumping off point for the desert camp.
This was a gorgeous camp. Our rooms were comfortable and attractive - amazing to have plumbing and hot and cold water in the desert. The dining room was beautiful and we had amazing meals at this camp.
Good location near the main square. We were able to find our way through the maze of streets using Google maps. We were here for 3 nights
This served its purpose as a place near the airport so we could make our morning flight.
A rave review for this Kasbah and for Michelle who refurbished this historic building with authenticity and elegance. The hospitality, food, beauty and comfort of this place were a stand out.
Charming hotel. Great rooftop terrace with ocean views.
Activity Reviews
We did not have an orientation walk. However when we asked, Salaam was able to make suggestions about what we should try to see and also about places to eat.
Volubilis is a wonderful site located in beautiful countryside. We enjoyed the mosaics which are in pretty good condition , the baths and the remains of a temple. Our guide was helpful.
Mohammed, our guide for Fes, was the best site specific guide we had. He grew up in the medina there and seemed to know everybody. This was an extensive tour, which took us to a great viewpoint for a panoramic view of Fes, and also included the palace, the medieval university and the madrasa as well as a visit to the jewish quarter and a synagogue, also the souk. The famous tanneries where leather is dyed was interesting also. We also got to see how the tiles for the amazing tile work were made. We really enjoyed our guide and the tour!
Our driver Mohammed was the nicest man but perhaps was not someone who usually functioned as a guide. He did his very best, since he had been assigned to us at short notice. Getting to the hotel on a rainy night (not usual in a desert region for sure) was a challenge and it was a good thing we had phones with service so we could help with online maps and navigation. Next morning we visited Rissani, a kasbah, and also enjoyed the Gnawa musicians. All enjoyable.
One couple from our group of four rode the camels to the camp. The others took the suv. The handoff from our driver to the camp personnel was a bit chaotic and it was hard to understand exactly what was going on. The sunset ride was beautiful and a unique experience made more unusual by the fact that it was raining in the desert!
I think I covered this in the previous review. We also visited a workshop where we learned about the fossils from that region and saw the artifacts they made incorporating the fossils. Very unique!
We had this tour on the morning before we drove to Chefchaouen. We were a bit tired the first evening and just enjoyed walking around a bit on our own. The next morning we had a wonderful tour with our guide (so sorry not to be able to pull up his name). We also visited the ancient necropolis of Chellah where we got a sense of what an amazing city it must have been. We also got to see the amazing black and white storks who have built enormous nests. We had requested a visit there and it has a history going back to the Phoenicians and the Romans prior to being used by Muslim rulers. Spotting the stork nests became a feature of our whole trip - they often they build nests at the top of a mosque.
We had set up a group Whats App chat with Salaam prior to our arrival. This made our arrival go smoothly despite the fact that one couple arrived in Casablanca a few hours after the other couple. Salaam made sure the other couple was comfortable and got coffee and water before we got there.
Beautiful drive with good and informative conversations with Salaam. We stopped in Volubilis, an ancient Roman site. The guide there was good but not a stand out.
We had a different driver for this segment of our tour who was a very good driver but was not a guide. Again, he was doing this at short notice and did his best. The Todgha Gorge was gorgeous as was the drive to Dades valley. Very lovely countryside!
Please note: There seems to be no way to indicate that we did not do this activity. I couldn't proceed with the review without giving it some star.
Our original driver/tour manager Sallam was able to be back with us for this extended tour of Marrakesh. Visiting the Palais Bahia, an old madrassa with a long history, and of course a tour of the medina were done really well by Sallam and we enjoyed it all very much! We stopped at a government certified herbalist shop. Sallam also filled in info about Ait el Benhaddou for us. We said good bye to Sallam after this tour.
We had a guided tour of a kasbah which involved also understanding cultivation inside a kasbah. This road is spectacular and the kasbahs are amazing to see - the way in which they mimic and blend into the countryside is interesting. Ourzazate was interesting with an entertaining tour guide of this big movie studio where many movies were filmed from westerns to historical and biblical movies. At Ait el Benhaddou we were dropped off at the wrong place to enter - this necessitated crossing a stream on stepping stones. When we contacted our driver he came back and got us to a bridge which seemed to be the more normal way to enter. Lack of signage and aof guide at this site made it less enjoyable.
We enjoyed our visit to Majorelle and Anima gardens. Majorelle gardens are a tour de force of color and garden design meeting amazing plantings especially of succulents. The little museum of Berber clothing, ornamentation and life was also gorgeous. The Anima gardens are a bit outside the city but were worth a visit for another unique garden which incorporates colorful artwork and sculptures. It had a good outdoor cafe which was a good and relaxing lunch spot.