Booking a 2 Week Tour Of Colorful Morocco

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Have you ever taken a travel tour before? We had never signed up for an extensive tour of a country before and wasn’t sure what to expect in Morocco, Africa.

Generally, we like to figure out trips on our own, it adds to the excitement and anticipation of traveling to a destination. For instance, figuring out what to see, where to stay, and transportation (how to get about) — but when faced with a country like Morocco, a place where we were not familiar with the customs or the languages it made sense to go with the tour. We researched different tour companies and ended up going with one that I found on Trip Advisor, Morocco Expert Tours.

What to consider when picking a tour company?

For any tour company that you’re considering, read the reviews about them from previous clients. You should be able to find some information about the tour company online, besides their own website. See if there are any videos regarding the tour. See what the people who took the tour are like. Who is the tour company catering to? We came across one tour company that was geared toward the retired, older generation, which was not us. One company took groups of about 30 around in large buses, which is not the experience we were looking for either.

Think about what experience you want to get out of a tour. A few years ago, my husband and I had gone for a day tour to Morocco (from Spain) and spent a day in Tangiers, which for a first visit wasn’t bad, but we felt that we were given the “safe” tour, where the lunch was bland and the camel riding experience was a stop along the road where a man had a few camels for tourists to sit on for a photo opportunity.

Going with Morocco Expert Tours turned out to be the right decision with the 6 of us (3 couples) making our own private tour group. Before the trip, we viewed their sample itineraries and went with one that we customized slightly to spend more time on the coast in Essaouira. The tour company was very flexible.

Hallway in the Ksar Anika Riad in Marrakesh, Morocco

We were extremely happy with the experience! They took care of the transportation, lodgings and finding places for us to eat. For 14 days Assan, the driver of our Mercedes tour van, and Mustapha, the tour guide, showed us their country, shared their culture, and took care of us. We had the experience of a lifetime!

Taking the tour turned out to be a cost effective way to see this country as we didn’t need to figure out itineraries, how long to spend in each place, and what to see. As first time visitors, you couldn’t go wrong with anything you saw, but we explored some of the most important sites in Morocco and learned the history along the way. We also stayed in nice riads (Moroccan style buildings that have courtyards in the middle) and ate a variety of different Moroccan and even Berber cuisine.

Ancient Roman town of Volubilis, Morocco

How many days do you need in Morocco?

We signed up for a 12 day tour which was a good amount of days to get an overview of the different areas in Morocco. We started in Casablanca, then went to Rabat, Meknes, Volubilis, Fez, over the Atlas Mountains via Ifrane, Merzouga, Erg Chebbi (Sahara Desert camp), Dades Gorge, Ourzazate, Taroudant, Agadir, Essaouira, and Marrakesh. If you went for less days, you should concentrate on a certain area, whether it’s the coast and either Fez or Marrakesh or the Sahara Desert and Fez or Marrakesh.

Riding camels in the Sahara Desert to get to the camp

Watch out for donkeys while walking around Fez, Morocco

Trip preparations for Morocco

We didn’t need to get any special vaccinations or a visa before the trip, but the tour company required that we get travel insurance. It turned out to be a good thing in the end!

Previously, we’d only ever purchased the airline travel insurance, which only covers the flight. Travel insurance will cover the whole trip, the extent of this depends on what insurance you purchase. My friend researched online and we ended up purchasing coverage through Squaremouth.com — a site for comparing travel insurance — for Allianz Global Assistance. Travel insurance is confusing and as there are several companies that offer travel insurance, it helps to have some understanding of what it is before purchasing coverage, for a detailed explanation of travel insurance and what to look for when you need travel insurance before traveling, Consumers Advocate has an informative article that you can read.

As we were finishing up our trip, there was an airline strike and we ended up with an additional 2 days in Morocco. Our driver and guide were able to remain with us and took us to one of the most amazing sites on the trip, Ouzoud Falls. We sat and ate tagines where we could see the falls and feel the mist from the water. It was a spectacular end to the extended trip.

As for our claim with the travel insurance company, we were able to easily get compensated for the additional two nights of hotel and meals.