Morocco Uncovered

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 very much enjoyed the trip since we saw so many different parts of Morocco and learned a lot about ist history and about the culture of the people. Our tour guide Abdallah was nice and friendly, very knowledgeable, well organised, patient and reliable. So was the driver Mustafa. _x000D_
However, it is a round trip which covers quite a distance - so there's a lot of sitting on the bus. But we had many nice breaks during the driving and even two afternoons of walking, which I appreciated very much!

Pretty much a very stress free trip that went really well - our guide and driver were fantastic.

Great itinerary, fair price.

Love adventures but the size of the cabins on our trip to the Cyclades Islands are extremely cramped . We have three mature adults in one cabin with no space to move and no space to hang or store anything ( including wet towels ).
If any of us had been physically inflexible or overweight we could not have coped with the sleeping arrangements . It is impossible to sit on the top bunk and even turning over in bed requires considerable planning .
An adventure does not mean cutting back on basic essentials …
In our view there were too many people in too small a space .
Two complete strangers were also asked to sleep together in an extremely small double bed , which meant that one of them decided to sleep on deck or in the living space .
The only redeeming factor was our Skipper who is professional, friendly , informative and skilled .
I would recommend this trip if the numbers were reduced .

I feel totally cheated. Just finished the Spain and Portugal 14 day trip. The itinerary does not match the actual experience and is I feel deliberately miss leading. When I says a “local bus” and an approx 3 hour journey the reality is a 6 hour trip door to door in the middle of the day. You miss valuable time at the actual destination in favour of being jammed in a bus with dozens of people traveling on a freeway with nothing worth seeing at all. The bush are not even express so you stop in the industrial outskirts of a number of towns and even the airport. By the time you finally reach the destination you are tired and frustrated. I want my money back. It’s a cheap experience that you pay a lot of money for.