Morocco Tour & Trip Reviews

We saw and experienced so much! Some long bus rides were unfortunate but understandable.

Itinerary as outlines was good for overall first time to Morocco.

Every day we were told "it's not on the itinerary but I'd really like to show you something special". It was a roadside stop in the middle of nowhere, where we were met by men hawking their wares. As a result, the timing was off if or when we got to the itinerary things for the day meaning less or no time.

So I’ve known about Intrepid for a while. I traveled with Contiki last year and loved it. Tried Intrepid this year because I liked the trip they were offering and thought both companies were about the same. Huge mistake. Intrepid is such a scam. They put you in the nastiest accommodation possible so they can gain large profits from you. The pictures of the hotels online were clearly taken decades ago because none of them were up to standard. Our hotel in Casablanca literally smelled of mildew and the towels in the bathroom were dirty. In our hotel room in Fes, we had a cockroach and a mouse. There have been bugs flying around in all our hotel lobbies. With how frequently Intrepid holds these trips, I know they know for sure that these hotels are awful, yet they keep people there. Barely anything was included in the trip so how and why did they make us pay $1100 for these rooms?? Where did the rest of the money go?? Especially in a country as affordable as Morocco?? This is borderline unethical. I will never book a trip with Intrepid ever again. If this is what their Classic package is like, I wonder what conditions they have the Basix travelers living under.

Duy, the tour leader was attentive, informative and the food we were given was fantastic.
So much so, that we will organise another night street food tour in Hoi An when we arrive there.

Just finished up our South Dakota tour. It was great. Saw a ton of great sites like Mount Rushmore, crazy horse, badlands, devils tower. Beth our guide was great and very knowledgeable. Being the first trip out during COVID-19 I was a little worried but they went above and beyond to put us at ease. Clean bus everyday, spacing out of guests, keeping the same seats everyday and provided masks for everyone. I can not say enough about our trip. We took our two children ages 13 and 14 and they really learned so much. I will definitely try another Collette tour again!

I booked with G Adventures over a year prior to the tour. The primary reason was the 100% guaranteed departures and 24 hour communication. 1 week before I was to leave for Africa, G Adventures cancels my tour. THEY CANCEL! Their contract provides for them to refund. They never mention a refund-they offer a voucher. Now I have now paid for 3 African tours, 2 flights to and from Africa, 2 intra Africa flights, and hotels and short tours within Africa. I ask for a refund, they take a very long time to tell me to write to a special email account. I write again-a month later, they say no, despite my costs, my reduced work salary, despite that they are a green company. What they are is a company of thieves who do not hold up to the image they present. They don't respond quickly to communication, and they don't care if you need your money for food. THIEVES AND Unethical!!!

I am so fully disheartened and disgusted by the handling of G Adventures with this crisis. We paid over 7,000 for our honeymoon tour in Morocco. It was fully paid for. Days before we are scheduled to leave G Adventures CANCELLED our tour. Which was a relief with everything going on. But they refused to refund our money instead offering a credit that is only good to 12/31/2020. I wont be able to afford taking off from work... if I even have any... whenever this pandemic lifts. Under the contract we signed it states in a situation where the tour is cancelled the customer may ask for a refund or credit. They are getting around this by calling all their tours "suspended". This is dishonest and lacking integrity.

I had been so exciting for this tour because of their image of being a progressive and positive company. Yet their true colors show in times of crisis. I understand they are hurting now critically, but so is everyone one of their customers!! If they had did the honest thing and refunded me I would of most likely become a repeat customer. Not now and I will not be quiet.

On top of all that your think keeping all our money they would at least care for their employees. Nope. You can read other reviews on here to find out that they laid them off with no benefits or sick leave. They are only concerned about money and their bottom line.

a totally wonderful tour with Tereza who was passionate about Prague s history and her knowledge in general was expansive and was relayed to us with character which made the whole day so enjoyable highly recommended. Prague itself is stunning but to have the added bonus of a place to eat where the locals go and knowledge about this incredible city was very much a bonus.
My wife & I came away thoroughly invigorated after our tour .. really good !

One of the worst tours I've ever been on. My guide Mustapha was not detail oriented and he kept making errors. I've been on Intrepid tours where the group size was a maximum of 12 but on the Best of Morocco the group size was 16. We were squeezed into a small, uncomfortable minivan for most of the trip. I submitted my negative review on Intrepid's website several weeks ago but it has yet to be published on the website. I tried to follow up with an email but it was ignored. This really makes me wonder about Intrepid's overall review score of 4.8 for the trip. If Intrepid excludes negative reviews then its ratings system is suspect and I wouldn't trust any of the ratings on their website.

One of the worst tours I've ever been on. My guide Mustapha was not detail oriented and he kept making errors. I've been on Intrepid tours where the group size was a maximum of 12 but on the Best of Morocco the group size was 16. We were squeezed into a small, uncomfortable minivan for most of the trip. I submitted my negative review on Intrepid's website several weeks ago but it has yet to be published on the website. I tried to follow up with an email but it was ignored. This really makes me wonder about Intrepid's overall review score of 4.8 for the trip. If Intrepid excludes negative reviews then its ratings system is suspect and I wouldn't trust any of the ratings on their website.

Intrepid Travel – Morocco Uncovered 13 days tour (Oct. 2017)

I like to read reviews before choosing a tour. Intrepid lists details of the itinerary for “Morocco Uncovered,” but doesn’t say much about the accommodations and restaurants for this trip. I’ll focus mostly on those. I hope it helps those of you who are considering taking this tour. I want to help everyone have a great time when they travel.

DAY 1: Casablanca
Included Activities • Complimentary Airport Arrival Transfer

First, be sure to re-confirm your pick-up. Mine worked out fine. But, others in my group had issues. We got together at 6 p.m. for a group meeting. We briefly went over the tour itinerary, filled out forms for travel insurance, next of kin, etc…choosing between local tour guides’ tip of 300 dh, or tip plus daily bottled water for 350dh. It was a no brainer, my group all agreed on the 350 dh to save the trouble of having to keep purchasing water. Though, we would still have to purchase water bottles locally if the tour minivan wasn’t around or at overnight accommodations.

TIP: Plan in advance by bringing a wide-neck 1-liter water bottle that can be re-filled.

Dinner: Not part of the regular itinerary so you paid on your own. The group leader took us to “Restaurant des Fleurs” (very close to hotel). We saw several tour groups eating there also.

Accommodation: Hotel Les Saisons at Casablanca.

DAY 2: Casablanca-Rabat- Meknes
Included Activities
• Casablanca - Guided Tour of Hassan II Mosque
• Chellah
• Kasbah Les Oudayas Rat

Lunch: On your own. Group leader took us to “Pizza Capri”. That’s a common choice for tour groups.

Dinner: On your own. Tour leader recommended an obscure restaurant (no name on its glass door). We were told you had to pre-select your meal or wait for 40 minutes for the food to be served. So, 8 people in our group chose the dinner meal while minibus drove us to Meknes. My groupmates were the only customers sitting in the Café Restaurant Camprinoss (I asked for their card after meal). The café substituted goat/lamb tagine for my order of beef tagine without informing me. Since the cafe is so small and empty, I doubt they even had beef in their kitchen.

Lesson learned – Write down details of any diet/food restrictions for Intrepid if you have to be certain you’re getting what you order for health/allergy reasons.

TIP: Meknes is the 6th largest city by population, so there are plenty of restaurant options. You may want to ask the group leader for the name of his suggested restaurant before committing.

Accommodation: Hotel Oasis Tafilalet at Meknes.

DAY 3: Meknes-Volubilis-Chefchaouen
Included Activities
• Guided walking tour - Meknes
• Entrance and guided tour Volubilis

Lunch: Own your own. The group leader took us to Columbe Blanche Hotel (going from memory), a family guesthouse with a beautiful Moroccan dining room. The food was very good, among the best on the trip.

Dinner: On your own. Try the set menu of Aladdin Restaurant on the roof terrace.

Accommodation: Hotel Tarek. My room was dimly lit and small.

TIP: if you like to wear Henna (temporary tattoos made from dye), it’s best to have that done here. Four of the women on my trip did their Henna on Day 10, but it had almost completely worn off the next day.

DAY 4: Fes

Lunch: On you own in Chefchaouen.

Dinner included: Forget to ask for a restaurant card. This restaurant is not in one of the nicer neighborhoods, but the food was good.

Accommodation: Hotel Across Fes. The nicest hotel on this trip.

DAY 5: Fes
Included Activities
• Fondouk Nejjarine
• Mederassa Bou Inania
• Medersa Attarine - Entrance - Fes
• Guided walking tour Fes (forcus on “Art Naji”)

Lunch: On your own. The group leader took us to “Dar Hatim”. This restaurant was also popular with other tour groups.

Dinner: On your own. I suggest any restaurant/café that overlooks Medina.

Accommodation: Still at the very nice Hotel Across Fes.

DAY 6: Midelt (Stop at Ifrane for coffee and visiting a Nomad family)

Picnic Lunch: own your own, the group leader took us to a westernized grocery store, and we purchased our lunch.

Dinner: included, at the Kasbah Asmaa.

Accommodation: Kasbah Asmaa. A full-of-character kasbah. We got room 101, a decorated junior suite. The living room was so dimly lit my roommate and I never even went in. The shower wasn’t designed well. You have to climb over an 18-24 inch tall wall to get in.

DAY 7: Midelt-Merzouga

Lunch: On you own. The group leader took us to “Maison vallee de ziz” for a lunch buffet.

Before heading to camp, you left your belongings at the Kasbah Hotel Yasmina. That’s also where we showered and had breakfast the next morning. They said wi-fi was “available” at the Yasmina, but it wasn’t working when we were there.

Dinner: included at the camp on long outdoor picnic tables

Accommodation: Desert Camp.

TIP: Bring upset stomach/diarrhea medicine to camp. 7 out of 12 in our group already had or started to have problems here. No need to bring sleeping clothes. Since the tent was hot and no air breeze outside, most of us chose to sleep outside the tents. Have blankets nearby because the temperature dose get chilly overnight under the clear sky.

Highlights: Definitely the most exciting part of the trip. We rode camels, climbed sand dunes, celebrated a tour mate’s birthday, and watched drum show performed by our tour leader and camp workers. I heard drum shows from three other camps while falling asleep under the stars. It was even fun watching the camels go to sleep.

DAY 8: Todra Gorge-Dades Valley-M'goun Valley

Breakast: at Kasbah Hotel Yasmina after shower.

Lunch: On your own. Group leader took us to visit a Berber family for Lunch.

Dinner: included at the accommodation.

Accommodation: Gite d'étape Tamaloutte (impossible to get WI-FI to work). The Boutaghror town didn’t even have electricity until 2006.

DAY 9: M'goun Valley
Included Activities
• An easy guided half day trek at M'goun Valley. A local’s home served as the midway stopping point. We had tea, then began our return. (Several women activated their exercise APP, which said we walked more 10,000 steps each way). I’d recommend suitable hiking shoes, though the local tour guide and two women in our group were fine with Teva style hiking sandals.

Lunch: On your own at the Gite.

Dinner: included at the Gite.

Accommodation: Gite d'étape Tamaloutte (No WI-FI)

DAY 10: Skoura-Ait Benhaddou
Included Activities • Visiting Kasbah Skoura

Lunch: On your own. Group leader took us to the “Habous” at Ouarzazate.

Dinner: included in the hotel. Nice restaurant, however not enough food to feed the whole group.

Accommodation: Hotel La Kashbah. The room we stayed in was darker than the Gite d'étape Tamaloutte and shower water came out very weak in 3 streams. So, I skipped the shower.

DAY 11: Ait Benhaddou-Marrakech (said goodbye to our driver)
Included Activities: (The activities were originally scheduled for day 12. But our group leader switched them to the afternoon of day 11. Since we didn’t start our activities until 3:30 pm, the local guide was in such a hurry that many of group couldn’t keep up with his walking pace. Plus, some of the places were closed after 5 pm. This was very disappointing. Ask your group leader to NOT change the itinerary.)
• Marrakech - Guided walking tour
• Koutoubia Mosque and minaret
• Marrakech - Palais Bahia
• Photography Museum

Lunch: On your own.

Dinner: included from a street vendor at the square of Jemaa el Fna.

Accommodation: Raid Marrakech by Hivernage.

Lesson Learned: Ask your group leader to NOT change the schedule, particularly if you want to see all the palaces and museum.

Day 12: Marrakech
A free day.

Farewell Dinner: My group took the group leader to the “Nomad”. We had to sit inside because of the rain.

Day 13: Marrakech
End of tour.

TIPs and Warnings:

1. Most accommodations on this tour were basic, some were dingy, except for Across Fes. I had many bug bites from different accommodations. Bring your own small bed sheet or a “Protect-A-Bed” style Mattress Protector to separate your body from the sheets. It’s also a good idea to bring a couple of E12 or E27 LED light bulbs to brighten rooms, and a travel power strip. Some locations only had one electric outlet in the room. I think “Kasbah Asmaa“ and “Hotel La Kashbah” had nicer rooms for higher end guests, but they gave out lesser, dingy, and non-functioning rooms to group tourists.

2. Transportation times were longer than I expected from what had been listed in Intrepid’s itinerary. And, the minivan or minibus seats were not comfortable. Think of a minivan jammed with 16 seats plus back luggage areas. I’m 5’4” 125 lbs, and I felt no space for my legs in the cramped vehicles. A Greyhound bus ride is way better than this minivan. I did like the driver a lot. He was a very nice young man, and his driving was extremely safe and cautious.

3. Always set your price before purchasing anything or travelling in a taxi. Double-check your currency/bills carefully before handing them to vendors. Unfortunately, some will try to scam you. One woman was cheated out of 300 DH by a snake charmer, he claimed she had given him a smaller bill than she had. Also, some of Marrakesh street vendors in the Jemaa el-Fnaa were not friendly toward foreigners. Some of my group mates were yelled at, treated rudely, and talked dirty to when they walked on their own free time.

4. The overall travel route was well-designed. It covered imperial cities, 6 UNESCO sites (Meknes, Volubilis, Rabat, Fes, Marrakech, and Ait-Ben-Haddou), Chefchaouen (which many other tour companies don’t have), and the desert. However, the execution was not good due to our tour leader changing the schedule, enforcing a very short visiting time at important sites, but then setting up a very long shopping time at stores.

The shopping list included Art Naji(Fes), leather shops at Tanner’s quarter(FES), sliver shop, carpet shop, and several aroma shops including one extremely long one in Marrakech. While shopping can be fun. I was more interested in “SEEing” Morocco than “shopping” Morocco.

5. I was concerned that sharing a room with another group mate might cause inconvenience due to jet lag and a shared bathroom. I was very lucky that my roommate was a young sweet Welsh woman named Kerry who made my trip much more enjoyable. I hope all of you reading this are as lucky as I was in this regard.

6. If you have a food allergy or sensitivity to cumin, select your food carefully because cumin is everywhere in Moroccan cooking. I have this sensitivity, but was unaware cumin was so prominent in Moroccan cuisine. My knuckles and the skin on the underside of my fingers became red, broken, scaly, hardened, patchy, and then bloody after 13 days of eating in Morocco. Really, for any food allergy, study in advance to make sure you won’t run into trouble.

7. Remember, Morocco is an Islamic country. So, you won’t see single women sitting in a coffee shop/restaurant by themselves except in tourist cities. My tour leader said Moroccan women work in the household, while the men make a living. Thinking back, the only female hospitality or food workers encountered were two receptionists in Hotel Les Saisons, and Hotel Across-Fes, and a Baghrir cook at Kasbah Asmaa.

SUMMARIZING Report Card:
Route/Circuit design – B+
Accommodation – C-
Transportation – B
Food – B
Musuems, site visitations – B (because of schedule changes, we spent too little time at Ait-Ben-Haddou and in the Marreckech tour of palaces, and I would have preferred to spend a little more time at Todra Gorge. Also, slept two nights at the Gite d'étape Tamaloutte at Boutaghror town (M'goun Valley) isn’t necessary when the scenery and hiking is nothing memorable.)

Trip Highlights: Hassan II Mosque” at Casablanca, Chefchaouen, and the desert.

Overall, a nice option for people who don’t speak Arabic and don’t want to travel alone. Our group leader said the female to male ratio on his tours are about 80% women to 20% men. And most of the men come with their wives or girlfriends. My group consisted of 10 women and 2 men, same as the tour that departed one day earlier than us.

Research your Morocco destination lists, and know your travel style before selecting a group tour. Create your own itinerary using public transportation (train or bus) and have nicer accommodations than the Intrepid trip. Plus, the same pre-trip and post-trip accommodation are cheaper to book directly through the hotel than through Intrepid.

If I were going to do a similar trip again, I’d start from Spain taking the Algeciras -Tangier ferry across the Gibraltar Strait to Tangier. Then, I’d take a CTM or Nejme Chamal buses to Chefchaouen, a bus to Casablanca, visit Hassan II Mosque, take a train to Marrakech, then stay in a hotel near Erg Chebbi.

I hope you have a wonderful time in Morocco!

I am a budget solo female traveler. I have traveled with COSMOS for about 20 years in the past, all over Europe, Switzerland, Turkey, etc. The best thing is that I never have to pay extra for single supplement when I room with someone. If Cosmos can not find a room mate for you, you end up having the whole room. Because of this feature, I was able to travel everywhere by my self with reasonable price. Cosmos always provides great value for the bucks. I would do it again. I highly recommend to you all.

The trip met my expectations, I thought the route was well thought out, and I liked the guide. I would have liked to eaten in a larger variety of restaurants, only because we had tagines and kababs for lunch and dinner for 12 days straight, with no access to fresh fruit and vegatables, which played havoc with my digestive system.

Samir, the tour leader was amazing always going out of his way to make sure everyone was happy, everyone knew exactly what was on the agenda for the day and helping us with any query we may have had. At times it did feel like the travelling between destinations was longer than described in the trip notes with all the stops but that is part of the experience