Morocco Uncovered: The Best Morocco Tour with Intrepid Travel
Chances are you've read about or at least seen a photo from Morocco recently – it's a destination that's growing fairly swiftly in popularity, thanks largely to social media. Which isn't surprising, really. Morocco boasts unique culture and history, great food, and so many photogenic landscapes and cities that it almost begs disbelief.
Yes, Morocco is becoming a social media darling – meaning it's probably time for you to visit!
I tell people that my travel bucket list changes all the time. And it's true – the destinations that are at the top of it right now aren't necessarily the ones that were at the top of it a year ago. Morocco never used to be high on my must-visit list. But then, suddenly, towards the end of last year I felt an intense pull to visit.
My timing was just about perfect. North Africa and the Middle East is poised to open up further to tourism as unrest quiets down and word starts to get out about how incredible countries like Morocco really are.
If you've considered visiting Morocco, I'd say that now is the time to go!
Watch my latest Morocco video:
Is Morocco safe?
Technically speaking, nowhere in the world is 100% safe – not even your hometown! But as far as traveling goes, Morocco doesn't rank very high up on the danger list.
Morocco didn't suffer the same amount of unrest that other North African nations did after the 2011 Arab Spring. It's a pretty stable country, politically speaking, and the major things to worry about are petty crime like pickpocketing and verbal sexual harassment if you're a woman.
I spent two weeks in Morocco, and never felt that I was in danger during that time.
RELATED: 8 Things That Surprised Me About Traveling in Morocco
Should you book a tour in Morocco?
I've traveled to quite a lot of countries solo, but I know my travel style and what I enjoy tackling versus what stresses me out. I enjoy the “challenge” of solo travel in some cases, but when it comes to visiting countries with very different cultures, languages, and views on solo female travel, I often turn to small group tours to help make the experience more enjoyable.
You don't *have* to book a tour in Morocco (it's not required, and plenty of people travel there independently). But after going, it IS a place that I'd recommend exploring with a guide if it's your first time – especially if you're a woman traveling on your own.
Would something have happened to me if I'd traveled in Morocco completely solo? Probably not. But I know I would have spent more time being on-guard, and may not have visited certain areas or had certain experiences if I'd traveled on my own.
So I'd say there are three reasons why you might want to book a tour in Morocco:
- If you're a solo female traveler inexperienced with traveling in this part of the world.
- If you're into history and having local experiences – a guide can help you with so much of this!
- If you'd rather have someone else handle all the details so you can just enjoy the travel experience.
The Morocco tour I chose
After comparing a lot of Morocco tour itineraries, I eventually settled on the 13-day Morocco Uncovered tour with Intrepid Travel. It covered both the north and south of Morocco, and included the two major things I wanted to see: the blue city of Chefchaouen, and an overnight trip to the Sahara Desert.
I've also traveled with Intrepid on several tours now, and know that my travel style aligns with theirs. (In case you don't know much about them, they offer small-group adventure tours that include lots of unique local experiences, and are also dedicated to responsible tourism.)
The Morocco Uncovered tour ended up being one of my favorite Intrepid Travel tours I've been on!
If you're considering booking a tour to Morocco, definitely check this one out.
Morocco Uncovered tour: A full review
If you're considering booking this same tour for yourself (or if you're just curious about what a Morocco tour is like), here's a full run down of why this might be the best Morocco tour out there.
What makes this tour stand out?
First of all, the itinerary. It was EXCELLENT. This tour covers both the north and south of Morocco, and hits up a mix of metropolitan and rural areas. It was also paced perfectly – it wasn't rushed, but also didn't have us lingering anywhere too long.
Secondly, the inclusions. This tour falls under Intrepid's “Comfort” category. But “comfort” doesn't necessarily refer to accommodations (though all the accommodations we used were nice). Instead, it refers to the way you travel and the amount of things that are included. This tour has you traveling in private vehicles the entire time, and also includes just about everything – meaning you won't be spending much money on optional extras.
Thirdly, the price. Ringing in right around $1600 per person, this is one of the most value-packed tours I've done with Intrepid. I'll go over everything that's included in that price further down.
Where do you go on this tour?
Like I mentioned, this tour has you traveling all over Morocco, from the coast to the mountains to the desert. Places you'll visit include:
- Casablanca (tour starting point, though you don't see much other than the Hassan II Mosque)
- Rabat
- Meknes
- Roman ruins of Volubilis
- Chefchaouen
- Fes
- Midelt
- Sahara Desert
- M'goun Valley (Rose Valley)
- Ait-Ben-Haddou
- Marrakech (tour end point)
What will you do on this tour?
This tour is so incredibly varied – and you pack a lot in to your days. I loved going from big cities to mountain guesthouses. And of course the camel trek into the Sahara was a highlight!
All the cool things that are included on this tour are:
- Tour of Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca (with a local guide)
- Walking tour with a stop for tea in Rabat (with local guide)
- Tour of Volubilis ruins (with local guide)
- Free time to explore Chefchaouen
- Dinner with a local family in Fes (to try the local pastilla)
- Full-day walking tour of the Fes medina (with a local guide)
- Guided walk near the mountains in Midelt with a stop to have tea with a local family (with our tour leader)
- Overnight desert trip by camel (including dinner)
- Guided walk in the Rose Valley with a visit to a kasbah for tea (with a local guide)
- Tour at Amridil Kasbah (with local guide)
- Walk through Ait-Ben-Haddou with stops at local artisan shops
- Walking tour in Marrakech with a visit to Bahia Palace (with local guide)
- Street food dinner at Jemaa el-Fnaa square in Marrakech
The few extras we had the option to add on included:
- Dinner with a local family in Meknes
- A stop to see a factory where they make furniture out of fossil marble
- Tour of Atlas Studios in Ouarzazate
As you can see, almost everything was already included in this tour.
And, unlike other tours I've been on where your tour leader is the one to guide you around most of the places you visit, this tour utilized separate local guides all across Morocco. I LOVED this. Not only does it mean you're taking a tour with someone who truly is an expert, but it also means you're supporting locals and local tourism businesses that much more.
Some of my favorite things we did included touring the Roman ruins of Volubilis (it's like Pompeii, except way less crowded), wandering the blue streets of Chefchaouen, spending an entire day in the Fes medina, riding camels into the Sahara Desert, and walking through fields of crops in the Rose Valley.
I loved Morocco a lot, guys, and most of that was due to this tour being so great.
Who will you travel with?
Intrepid Travel specializes in small group trips, and the Morocco Uncovered tour has a maximum group size of 12. I went in late February/early March, though, which is the off-season for travel in Morocco – my group was only 6 people!
Our group was made up of 4 solo female travelers and one couple. We were all in our 30s and 40s (usually there's a wider age range on Intrepid trips, but this was a small group!) and we came from the US, Canada, and Australia.
Who is the guide?
Intrepid always hires local trip leaders who live in (and in most cases have grown up in) the country you're visiting. Our guide was Abdoul, a Moroccan native who grew up in a village in the Atlas Mountains and now lives in Marrakech.
Abdoul was kind and soft-spoken, and entertained all our crazy questions (why is the mint tea so sweet? what are Moroccan weddings like? where can I buy a tagine?) while getting us all safely from Point A to Point B. He also made some excellent meal recommendations for us.
How will you travel?
Being a “Comfort” trip means you travel via private transport on this tour. We traveled in a 14-seater van and had the same driver (shout-out to Mustafa!) the whole time from Casablanca to Marrakech.
There are some long travel days (I think our longest travel day was about 6 hours total of driving), but they do a good job of breaking it up with stops. Even if there isn't anything of interest to see, you can count on a stop at least every 1.5-2 hours for coffee and a toilet break – and they always stop at rest stops and cafes with clean, Western-style toilet facilities.
Where will you stay?
You stay in a variety of hotels and riads (Moroccan guesthouses) on this trip, plus spend one night “glamping” in the desert. None of the places you stay are 5-star, but they're all interesting (and sometimes downright quirky!) in their own right. Every room I stayed in was clean and had hot water, so no complaining here!
If you're traveling solo, you'll be paired up with another solo traveler (of the same gender) as a roommate, unless you pay the single supplement fee. The single supplement fee for this trip is around $700.
Not every tour will use the exact same hotels, but here are all the places we stayed along with my notes about them:
- Hotel le Saisons in Casablanca (nothing special, but it was fine)
- Hotel Swani in Meknes (located in the new town)
- Dar Mounir in Chefchaouen (riad-style hotel that was cozy, but had no soundproofing)
- Across Hotel in Fes (it had a rooftop pool and a bar!)
- Hotel Taddart in Midelt (huge hotel but with traditional Moroccan touches)
- Yasmina Desert Camp (yes it was camping, but the tents had real mattresses and the bathroom had real toilets)
- Gite d'etape Tamalout in the Rose Valley (traditional Berber guesthouse)
- Hotel Ksar Ljanoub in Ait-Ben-Haddou (big, new hotel that looks like a mix of a kasbah and a riad)
- Riad Marrakech by Hivernage in Marrakech (more like a boutique hotel than a riad; nice rooftop terrace, though I don't recommend the restaurant here)
Again, you can see the variety here, too. I was quite happy with all the accommodations, especially based on the price of this tour.
What will you eat?
I don't consider myself a “foodie” traveler at all, but I think it's impossible to travel to Morocco and NOT mention the food.
I fully expected to get tired of Moroccan food after two weeks there, but I did not. In fact, I came home and immediately Googled the nearest Moroccan restaurant (thank goodness we have one in Cleveland!).
Moroccan food can be summed up as meat, veggies, bread, and copious amounts of both orange juice and sweet mint tea. But how these meals are presented varies enough that even if you eat two tagine dishes in a day, you probably won't feel like you had repeat meals.
This specific tour includes a handful of meals, including dinner at a local home in Fes, amazing meals at the guesthouse in the Rose Valley, a couple hotel meals, and a meal at Jemaa el-Fnaa square in Marrakech.
On top of this, our guide organized several other meals for us, including another meal with a local family, several restaurant meals, and a roadside stop for barbecue in the town of Zaida that was one of our favorite lunches of the whole trip!
*Note: Moroccan food uses different spices than you might be used to, and people also often run into stomach issues from the water (even if you only drink from bottles, you might sometimes be served fruit or veggies that were washed in tap water). No one in my group got sick, thankfully, but I recommend packing ginger chews, Pepto Bismol tablets, and maybe even some probiotics just in case! I took Travelan on this trip, which is a preventative that you can take along with meals.
How much money do you need?
You can easily check the price of the tour, but people are always curious about how much additional spending money to bring with them on trips like this. So I kept very close track on this trip!
Morocco uses the Moroccan Dirham as currency. I mostly used my bank card to take money out of ATMs in larger cities (they're everywhere!), but also exchanged cash once in Fes. If you're going to exchange cash anywhere during your trip, make sure to ask your guide to recommend a cash exchange place that offers good rates.
I took out/exchanged a total of 4600 MAD during my two weeks in Morocco. This is the equivalent of about $480 USD. I also spent an additional $270 USD on some souvenirs along the way. So, all-in, I spent about $750 USD on the ground in Morocco.
This is definitely on the higher end of how much money you should budget for Morocco, though – I ended up going home with a rather full suitcase!
Here's a look at how some of that $750 was spent:
- 400 MAD ($42) for a group “trip kitty” – This was used to buy 5 gallon jugs of water to keep in the van, and to tip porters and the local guides we were using. Not all tour leaders will organize this, but I was very glad ours did!
- 700 MAD ($73) for guide/driver tips – Intrepid suggests tipping tour leaders $2-3 per person per day, and drivers up to $2 per person per day. I tipped a little extra.
- 270 MAD ($28) for laundry – I had laundry done twice; it's not as cheap as I would have hoped, but it's tough to find any self-service places so I just sucked up the cost of having laundry done at hotels.
- $300 on souvenirs – Yeah, I shopped a bit! I came home with a small Berber rug, some painted pottery from Fes, a scarf made from agave silk, and some argan oil. So obviously you can spend a lot less if you don't shop very much.
The rest was spent on food, and a couple optional extras. (I also spent an additional 2 days in Marrakech on my own, so rolled in is also what I spent during those extra days.)
A typical restaurant meal in Morocco will usually cost 80-100 MAD for lunch and maybe 130-150 MAD or so for dinner. Obviously fancier restaurants will be more expensive, but if you budget for those amounts you should be good. Breakfast is included every day on this tour.
Are you pressured to shop?
Judging by the fact that I spent $300 shopping in Morocco, you might be wondering if there's pressure to buy things on this tour. After all, Morocco, like much of North Africa and the Middle East, is known for having a slightly pushy culture when it comes to selling things. Walk through any souk in any medina, and you'll have people trying to get you to step into their shop.
To try to help you avoid the fatigue that can come along with this onslaught in medinas, this tour includes several pre-arranged shopping stops at places that Intrepid supports. In many cases, they're artist or women's cooperatives – meaning you might feel a little bit better about shopping at these spots since you can see how, where, and by whom things are being made.
Some of the places we stopped on this tour included a tile/ceramic factory in Fes, a leather shop near the famous tannery in Fes, a weaving cooperative in Fes, a women's argan cooperative on one of our driving days, and a Berber carpet cooperative in Ait-Ben-Haddou.
I never felt pressured to actually buy anything (and ALL of these visits included a little behind-the-scenes look at how things are made), but felt good about spending my money when I did choose to buy something unique.
What should you pack?
I'll be writing a Morocco packing guide later, but for now here are some of the essentials you'll want for Morocco (especially if you're a female traveler):
- Conservative clothing – Morocco is a majority Muslim country. Even though it's a fairly progressive one (you won't be expected to cover your hair as a women, for example), you should still plan to dress respectfully. For women, this means shoulders, knees, and cleavage covered at the very least. Some items I took to Morocco included a couple colorful maxi dresses and these lightweight palazzo pants.
- A scarf or two – Scarves are a travel must-have for me. They can liven up any outfit, and are also great in a place like Morocco to further help you cover up. If you want your scarf to do double-duty, check out Speakeasy Travel Supply's hidden pocket scarves.
- Warm layers for winter – I traveled in winter, meaning I also used my scarves for warmth! I also traveled with a leather jacket and a packable down jacket for the desert.
- Good walking shoes – You do a lot of walking on a tour like this! I took two different pairs of shoes with me: my Teva Verra walking sandals, and my SUAVS Zilker shoes (lightweight sneakers that you can wear without socks and throw in the washing machine when you get home!).
- Shampoo/conditioner – Not all hotels in Morocco will provide it, so you might want to bring your own. I traveled with solid shampoo and conditioner from Ethique – I like this brand a lot, and it meant I didn't have to worry about any shampoo explosions in my luggage!
- A travel towel – Hotels and riads in Morocco will provide you with a towel to use, but I'll be honest: They're not always very nice. I used many thin, scratchy towels in Morocco. So next time I would definitely bring my own quick-dry travel towel.
- A sunhat – Especially if you're traveling during the summer! I like this packable one by Wallaroo.
- A reusable water bottle – Tap water is not safe to drink in Morocco, so you'll be relying mostly on bottled water. Our guide/driver stocked our van with 5-gallon jugs of water, and we could fill up our personal bottles whenever we needed to. This helps cut down on plastic waste! I like my CamelBak Chute.
- A first-aid kit – I always stock mine with things like chapstick, pain killers, Pepto Bismol, Imodium, rehydration salts, and some Band-Aids. For Morocco, I also added some travel-sized rolls of toilet paper, as you might run into restrooms that aren't stocked.
You can read my full Morocco packing list here: What to Wear in Morocco for Women
Intrepid Travel also requires you to have travel insurance for the entirety of your trip in Morocco. I recommend buying coverage through World Nomads. They offer the most affordable basic travel insurance out there.
ESSENTIAL INFO
The tour: Morocco Uncovered with Intrepid Travel
How much? $1400-$1800 per person, depending on departure date
The best time to visit Morocco: The months you want to *avoid* in Morocco are July and August, when it's the hottest and most oppressive. You also may want to avoid the holidays in December/January, which can be busy. Some of the best months to visit Morocco are the “shoulder” seasons, like March-May and September-November. I also enjoyed visiting at the end of February – it was still “off-season,” but warm enough to enjoy the weather.
Lastly, you should know that Morocco is probably going to surprise you! I went into this tour expecting to like Morocco, but I ended up LOVING my time in the country.
So what do you think? Would you ever book a tour like this to Morocco?
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Amanda Williams is the award-winning blogger behind A Dangerous Business Travel Blog. She has traveled to more than 60 countries on 6 continents from her home base in Ohio, specializing in experiential and thoughtful travel through the US, Europe, and rest of the world. Amanda only shares tips based on her personal experiences and places she's actually traveled!
Hi, your blog has been so very helpful! I’m taking the exact trip in January as a solo traveler. A couple questions, did you have to carry your bag much? Debating on a carry on or checked luggage. Do you think a sleeping bag is necessary for the night in the dessert?
Thanks
Did not have to carry my bag much at all, except in/out of hotels. I feel like there were one or two where I needed to carry my bag up/down a flight of stairs, but I don’t remember anything too strenuous. And they provide a sleeping bag and blanket when you camp in the desert, so you don’t need to bring your own!
Did you have to get vaccines before going?
I did not need to get any special vaccines, but I already had several travel vaccines. Your best bet is to check with your country’s government health site to see what’s recommended for Morocco. (You’ll also need to check on updated COVID requirements.)
Hi: I just found your website. I mainly want to see architecture and go camel trekking. I am trying to decide between this tour and another tour with Intrepid called “Premium Morocco Explorer,” which is a more expensive tour. I am used to traveling alone. I have been to Ecuador and the Galapagos without any difficulty and to Paris and the Dordogne to see the cave art, before we can’t see it anymore. My friends told me not to ride the metro in Paris, but I didn’t have a problem. My Spanish is rudimentary and I do not speak French. But I got around okay. I have gone to many cities and have been camping by myself in many places in the United States. I don’t need to worry about too many meals – I am a grazer and I expect there will be opportunities to snag a treat here and there. I am debating which tour to choose. I am older than I was when I would drive down the coast, camp in a state park overnight and sleep in the back of my truck. My back doesn’t want to do that anymore. And this is a completely different type of foreign country than I have ever visited before. I am looking forward to being in a group. Part of me wants everything to be taken care of, but it is sort of like going into buy a car .In order to get the options you want, you sometimes have to spend more for a car with a higher option package that includes a lot of things that you don’t necessarily need. The Morocco Uncovered tour includes the blue city. The other tour does not. It sounds like that was a big highlight of your trip. Would you say that it was something “not to be missed.”
Hey Cindy! I think Morocco is an excellent place to go on a tour like this. Like you said, it’s such a different place, and I really do think I enjoyed it more with a guide. As for which tour to choose… I personally really wanted to see Chefchaouen, so the Morocco Uncovered trip was the better option for me. I loved Chefchaouen, but that’s because I love photography and the city was so fun to photograph. The Premium tour will have you staying in slightly nicer accommodation, but the hotels used on the Uncovered trip are just fine! I don’t think there’s a whole lot of difference otherwise, and both will definitely deliver on the architecture and camel trek!
Thank you for the reply, Amanda: I think I will be booking the Morocco Uncovered trip for the first 2 weeks of November. Of course, no one knows what travel will be allowed 8 to 9 months in the future.
I have a couple of silly questions. I cannot eat “whole” eggs. Hard=boiled, fried, poached, omelettes, etc. They make me quite ill. My stomach automatically rejects chicken eggs, duck eggs and goose eggs. I can eat bread and stuff that have eggs in them or sometimes other food where the “egg” is really diluted out, so you wind up not getting more than a couple of spoonfuls of egg. I don’t want to be rude – especially in a family home. Do they eat/serve many eggs? I am not a vegetarian, but I am wondering if I should tell the tour operator.
My next question concerns the “toilettes”. I have some issue with my knee joints that makes it very difficult for me to stand up from a squatting position, as well as a couple of other things. In the garden, I usually have to use a rake handle or something to help me up. Do most of the overnight facilities have western style toilets? I can deal with an American type “outhouse”, but squatting down is really difficult for me, because it is very difficult for me to stand up unassisted. I would like to avoid this situation, if at all possible. Thank you for your input!
I don’t remember many eggs at all in Morocco, but to be on the safe side I would just maybe mention the your “allergy” (even if it’s not a true allergy, sometimes it’s just easier to call it one!) when you book when you get to the questions about food restrictions and allergies. As for the toilets, you will have western toilets in all the hotels – we even had regular toilets in the Sahara camp we stayed in! And even on driving days, they will stop at rest stops with western toilets. I did not personally encounter any squat toilets in Morocco!
Thank you so much, I am looking forward to the trip. Would you suggest hiking boots or tennis shoes? I was thinking hiking boots would be better in sand or if it was raining. I am trying not to bring extra shoes if I can avoid it.
Also, is there much to do in Casablanca? I have an option of taking a flight that would get me there 2 days ahead of the trip or on the morning of the trip (the day you are supposed to meet up at 6 pm). I have a couple extra days at the end in Marakech where I was planning on taking a day trip or camel ride. I have had no trouble burning preliminary days on some of my other trips, but I don’t think I would venture out alone in Casablanca. It looks rather intimidating, and don’t want to spend 2 nights stuck in a hotel afraid to go anywhere, either. Thanks
I did bring hiking boots, but I also traveled in the winter, so they made sense both for short hikes and the desert, and to keep my feet warm! But I also think tennis shoes would be fine. I personally didn’t spend any extra time in Casablanca – I added my extra time at the end in Marrakech. (I did a day trip to Essaouira, which was fun.)
Hi Amanda! Thanks so much for sharing your trip 🙂 we just booked it for June and were wondering if there was a chance on the trip to do laundry. Thanks!
Hey Amy! Some of the hotels will offer laundry services, or you can ask your guide about getting laundry done (most of the people on my tour got laundry done at least once!).
Just got back from this same tour about a month ago and it was everything you described! And more! I think the biggest thing was how lovely and welcoming all the people were. Tourists are just starting to return so that was part of it but they were just genuinely friendly, kind, and generous. This was my first trip with Intrepid and I was very impressed with how they handled everything and were so supportive of the culture and locals.
I had read your blog before going and it was so helpful and informative – lots of good hints, thank you!
So happy to hear you had a great time! It’s wonderful to see travel slowly starting back up again. And I’m glad my site was helpful in your trip planning!
Great review. I will taking this trip in June
I’m looking at booking the Intrepid tour in December. Reading the important info, it looks like the desert camp has changed. Did you go before the government shut down/moved the camps in Erg Chebbi? I imagine it’s a lot different now from the awesome camp you were in last year? (well, not “now” but when things re-open post covid). Thanks!
I hadn’t heard about the camp closures in Erg Chebbi, Greg, so thanks for pointing that out! I did indeed go before the camps were moved; the camp I stayed at was “in” the dunes. But it sounds like the overall experience won’t be all that different; you’ll still get to camp in the desert, still get to ride a camel if you want, and still get to climb sand dunes for sunset. It’s unfortunate that the camps have all been forced to move, but guaranteed Intrepid will still make sure everyone has a good time.
We went after the change & don’t think we missed any of the ‘experience’. Our camp was in the dunes & the sights were spectacular.
I’m so glad to have found this review! I’m taking this trip in April 2020 as a solo female traveler. I had been looking for descriptions of – oh, everything you covered! I’m flying into Casablanca a day early for a day on my own before joining the tour. I’m looking at a city tour since the Intrepid tour doesn’t spend that much time there. Good idea or not? I’m looking at the tour group recommended by Intrepid so I feel fairly secure in them. As an aside, I’m a 73 yr. fairly experienced traveler.
Thanks again for a super review!
You’re right, the tour doesn’t dedicate much time to Casablanca. I personally didn’t feel like there was much there I wanted to see anyway other than the mosque (which you’ll visit on the first full day of the tour), but if you’re arriving a day early anyway, it can’t hurt to book a day trip! If the company recommended is Urban Adventures, I’ve done several tours with them and they’re really good!
Hi,
I am also looking at the same trip from Intrepid. I am thinking about going to Essaouira on the last day of the Intrepid trip. I might have to stay stay one extra night and fly out in the am to do this. I am assuming you stayed longer in Marrakesh than the 3 Intrepid days. I will be traveling by myself. Did you think Essaouria was worth another day, or are there other things you would recommend more in the area? I would probably only have the option to add one night. One more question, did you feel comfortable pulling out your camera? The last trip I took I stuck with my iPhone because of the ease and size. Pictures weren’t as good, but I felt like I blended in better. Maybe I just need a more compact camera! 🙂
Thanks, Jennifer
Hey Jennifer! All good questions! I stayed an extra couple of nights in Marrakech at the end of the tour, and I did a day trip to Essaouira. I thought it was definitely worth it! (You can read about the day trip I did here: https://www.dangerous-business.com/day-trip-to-essaouira/) And I have a pretty big camera, and walked around with it out most of the time (during the day, at least) in Morocco. I felt pretty safe doing this. Never take photos of people without asking, though – the vendors will get mad if you try to “sneak” photos, even with a phone!
Going on this very tour in September – soooo excited!
We are also not ‘tour’ people but thought that this would be the best ‘first’ visit to Morocco as females.
Great info here – thanks so much!
It’s an excellent introduction to Morocco, especially for women!
Thank you for this comprehensive review! I’ve been considering going on this exact trip before I even found your blog! I think this solidified my decision to go. Question – did most people bring backpacks, or a suitcase? I tend to over pack and would want to avoid that. Also, did you find you needed a sleeping bag at all, for warmth?
That’s great, Amy! It was an excellent tour, and is really the only way I’d want to explore Morocco for the first time! People in my group were traveling with both backpacks and suitcases. You’re using private transport on this tour, so the type of bag you have doesn’t really matter! And I did not take a sleeping bag. The only time of year you *might* want one is if you’re traveling from December-February, but even then it would only really be for the desert camp.
Traveling in a small group was really beneficial for your trip in Morocco. You can spend more time seeing the country in depth as well as down time to explore on your own.
I definitely thought it was worth it – and this tour was seriously great!
This is awesome. We never really consider tours because we prefer to do our own thing- but I can totally see how a tour can help make a really unfamiliar place more comfortable and accessible. Something we’ll need to consider in the future!!
As a solo female traveler, there’s also the safety aspect (or, sometimes just the feeling of it being safer). I didn’t have to stress about anything in Morocco!
Amanda! this is wonderful! I really enjoyed following you along on IG stories and it seemed like you really had an incredible time. Visiting Morocco is definitely on my list and you really went into the detail I was looking for. I think joining a tour is perfect since travelling to Morocco can be daunting for a solo traveller. A quick question about how to get there. Since the starting and ending cities are in different locations, was it difficult to find decently priced flights there?
Good question on the flights! I actually flew round-trip to Lisbon (Portugal) from the US since I wanted to spend time in Portugal after Morocco, and then just booked 1-way flights to and from Morocco from Lisbon (many airlines fly to Morocco from Europe!). The other option would be to book a round-trip flight to Casablanca, and then fly back there from Marrakech.
Hi Amanda… thank you so much for your Morocco review. I am having trouble finding reasonable flights from US to Lisbon right now. What airline did you use .? I was looking for a a tour group to Portugal as well and fly to Morocco and do the tour there.
Thank you
It’s tough right now because of COVID restrictions. There just simply aren’t as many flights going to Europe, since most borders remain closed at the moment. I expect things to start opening back up a bit more this summer, and then some of those flight routes should come back. I almost always fly United (or one of their partners) when I go to Europe, and I flew from Portugal to Morocco on TAP. But, again, many of those routes just aren’t available at the moment. If you’re planning this for later in 2021, I would wait to book flights until some of those flights come back online.
We flew into Casablanca & out of Marrakech. No issues at all. Actually thought the flight price wasn’t too bad.
This sounds like a great tour! I loved my time in Morocco but felt restricted to just Marrakesh/the Sahara given I wasn’t on a tour – I’ll add this to my bucket list!
This is definitely a great way to see more of the country!
I’m one who gravitates towards traveling on my own, but I think Morocco would be one of the destinations I’d explore on a tour like that. Seems like you get a lot for the price. I actually imagined it would be more expensive for the length and what it offers. I especially like how the group is rather small. The breakdown of additional cost is really helpful too. I realize this will differ depending on a person’s spending habits, but you get an idea more or less how much the entire trip will cost.
I was very glad I decided to join a tour in Morocco – I know I got a lot more out of the experience. And yes, it’s a pretty affordable tour, too, for all that’s included!