Kimkim Trip Reviews for Morocco

We were a party of 6 from Australia. The booking experience with Kim Kim and Off the Beaten Track was 1st class. A great team effort congratulations to Yassine and his team.

When we arrived in Tangier the pickup details had not been detailed and I was surprised to find a driver whom I had not been given his name. Nabil - a lovely man. Nothing was too much trouble for him even though his command of English was patchy at times.

I will address each part of the trip keeping in mind one of our party had been unknown to 4 of us prior to the trip. (not a great idea) This man had not been forth coming with his health issues and the fact he suffered from COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) meaning his ability to walk any distance or climb was severely impaired.

Accommodation: The accommodation was excellent in every stop - Tangier, Fez, Desert, Quarzazate, Marakesh and Casablanca. The Riads in Fez and Marakesh were beautiful and the hosts wonderful. Our Fez host went out of her way to help our impaired traveller. The desert speaks for itself and an experience all should have. Ait-Ben-Haddou in Quarzate is 6th century with the whole area under restoration. Sadly we arrived here after sunset and the "getting there" was a little troublesome in the dark. The property has no electricity and lit by candles - not that that is a problem however, not having been able to orientate ourselves in daylight did put a dampener on the night's experience. Next morning was a whole different scenario - a fabulous area and I could not recommend it more highly - just get there in daylight. Our unhealthy traveller just could not make it there and the host went out of his way to arrange alternate accommodation. The host himself was horrified that we arrive after dark.

Meals: All meals provided were great with hosts providing lovely meals on our arrival. Breakfast everywhere excellent

Travelling by Car: Nabil was an excellent safe driver. The 4x4 vehicle comfortable and well maintained. Our travel times were challenging for him time frame wise. Arrival times were really impossible given the state of the roads in some areas and the trucks, buses etc filling the roads. ( I might say some of this was my fault as I had tried to put so much into the trip and Yassine has gone out of his way to accommodate this - in retrospect I had been a little ambitious - an extra day would have made so much difference especially Fez to the desert) We were due to drive Marrakesh-Casablanca on the Saturday morning for a 11.45am flight to London. This truly was not possible - the road over the Atlas mountains is being rebuilt and consequently slow. I didn't know this at the time but given the time it had taken to get everywhere else I cancelled the last day in Marrakesh and added an extra night in Casablanca. The Kim Kim team did this effortlessly for us - thankyou it was the right thing to do.

Guides: The local guides in Fez *** , Quarzate *****, Marrakesh ****** Desert Experience ******
My only comment is that travellers need to understand the driver is not a tour guide as well sadly
and as a result we travelled a long way with no local commentary which would have been very nice. Nabil did his job so well and this comment is in no way a mark against him. He could not have done more.

The Experience would I do it again = Most definitely I could not recommend it more highly

Well done Kim Kim and Morocco Off the Beaten Track
Marion Patrick

We booked a 10 day trip to Morocco visiting many of the cities including Casablanca, Fez, Ouarzazate and Marrakesh. I was very pleased with the accommodations : Larbi booked us an awesome trip with really nice hotels and riads. Our hotel in Casablanca was brand new (1 month in operation) and our raids in Fez and Marrakesh were right in the heart of the medinas with great trip advisor reviews. Our driver Mubarak was very sweet and patient as well as knowledgeable about the areas we were driving through. We even got to visit his mom and sister at their home! And all of our local guides were great, funny and caring (when i got sick). We are extremely happy with the level of service we received on all ends and the best part is I didn't have to lift a finger to book any of it. Thank you Larbi and the Kim Kim team for an amazing experience.

It was a wonderful experience and I would recommend KimKim to anyone planning to visit Morocco. My driver, Redoune, was fantastic and got me safely through the interary without any problems whatsoever. Brahim did a great job advising me on what to do with the time I had.

Kim Kim and specifically our contact Brahim was amazing! I had several different questions that came up before the trip and even during and he got back to me immediately and was very thorough and helpful. I would absolutely recommend Kim Kim!

Overall, the trip was amazing. Morocco is really one of the places that I would want to go again. It was my first time using KimKim as I would usually travel in the Europe on my own, without having a tour guide. However, since we are a bit unfamiliar with how things are in Morocco, and the limited usage of English there, we decided to have a travel guide there. Planning for the trip was made easy with KimKim, as Brahim and the team came up with the itinerary and we all agreed to it, with some amendment. The driver Mohammed was really helpful through out the journey, and made us comfortable. However, the distance from where the car could drop us to the Riad was bit too far for my parents, who had bad knees. It was partly our mistake as we thought it was not that far to walk, but actually took us good 15 minutes. (It was alright for my friend and I but was too much for my parents).

We also had amazing experience staying at the Riad, good opportunity to feel how living in Moroccan house like.

Good job KimKim! Thank you for all the help.

My husband and I are experienced, avid travelers who normally plan our trips on our own with great success. However, upon doing my own research for an upcoming trip to Morocco, I came across the kimkim site and made the decision to utilize their services. I had read positive reviews, and having no real knowledge of Morocco, I decided to give kimkim a shot. We had planned on staying 1 week in Morocco and wanted to cover as much as possible in our brief time there in order to wet our palates before our next return. Morocco is a country with lots to see and do, and I discovered that one can spend lots of time driving from destination to destination. For example, there is Marrakech, then there is the desert with the sand dunes, and then you also have the Atlas Mountains, as well as the coast. From a logistics point of view, I just thought it would be much easier to let someone with experience plan everything. That’s where kimkim stepped in and really delivered. From the beginning, speaking with Katherine was a breeze. She was helpful, very professional, easy to communicate with, and had a clear idea about the experience we were looking for. She also made good recommendations with regards to hotel and restaurant suggestions. When I explained that we wanted to go to Marrakech, the desert, and the Atlas Mountains, she suggested we book a short flight internally to reduce travel time. Highly worth flying between destinations as roads lack good infrastructure and trips can be very long! Katherine and kimkim planned everything for us, from booking beautiful hotels, to fabulous restaurants, to arranging private drivers, to wonderful tours and experiences. From the beginning, we discussed a budget, and Katherine and kimkim made it happen. Shout out to our private driver Abderrahim (Abdo) and our guide Hassan! Both could not have been more professional, hospitable, and courteous. Our driver Abdo was always on time, and when he arrived at the airport in Marrakech to collect us, his vehicle was very clean and spacious, and he had cold water in the car and all kinds of delicious snacks. He also gave us a local mobile phone and charger to use for the duration of our trip. In it, all important numbers were already saved, and the phone, while it was not a smart phone, was quite perfect as the battery lasted the whole week without charging, and it proved to be very useful. Whenever we needed our driver or needed more time at a destination, our driver was always a phone call away. They also let you use the phone to make free international calls! We were even given welcome satchels with our names painted in Arabic with adaptors and a bound program for our whole trip inside! The program was especially helpful as it included a detailed itinerary, information about the destinations we would be visiting, key contact names and numbers, as well as additional information about the country in general. For some reason, the adaptors would not work, but it was still a nice and thoughtful touch! When we encountered a problem at the airport in Marrakech causing us to miss our flight to the desert, I reached out to our driver and within a short period of time, Katherine reached out to us and found the best solution to our problem. They quickly arranged for a driver to take us to our next destination and while the trip was exhausting, kimkim nevertheless delivered and got us to our next destination the best way they could. In a world where travel agencies have become a bit obsolete, kimkim is changing all that and making it cool again. Their travel platform is quite seamless and efficient, really taking the headache out of planning a trip to a foreign locale. The best part of it all is that their services, while being as useful as they are, are quite inexpensive. Their fees are more than reasonable. Morocco is a beautiful country with warm, hospitable people with a great sense of humor. There is so much to explore and experience and never at one time did we feel unsafe. Their culture is so diverse, and there is something in it for everyone to enjoy, whether it be luxury riads, excellent dining options, spa services (hammams, yes please!), cultural activities, outdoor activities such as trekking, and lots of incredible shopping. I personally highly recommend a trip out to the desert with camel rides and sleeping under a sky filled with a trillion stars at a Berber camp! Kimkim helped us fall in love with Morocco, and we will be returning in the near future for certain. Thank you kimkim for this great experience!

Tailor-made, precise, seamless and absolute comfort. These are the attributes we generally look for when booking a trip or part of the trip through someone. When we started our discussions with Brahim, right from the get go , he was attentive, understanding and even compassionate when taking down our requests and needs. A beautiful country which it is, Morocco, an experience through kimkim makes it much more enriching and fulfilling. Lastly, as all curated trips, this wont be easy on the pockets, but you get every worth of your dime !

3 nights 4 days tour Chefchaouen/Fes very well organised by Larbi the local Morocco travel specialist, he was very helpful organising transport and accommodation, the Hotel and Riad was excellent, clean rooms, good meals (dinner) the staff at both places was helpful and attentive to assist our needs, information and directions .
Our driver Mubarak was not only the driver but a tour guide as well, very knowledgeable of his country's history and places of interest for the foreigner.
His driving was always defensive, courteous and safe.
Well done KIMKIM,

Our trip to Morocco was fabulous with the help of Larbi. We toured the country without any hassles, our ride was comfortable and the people who were there as part of Larbi's team were amazing. We don't have any complaints at all. The hotels all suited our needs. I am so glad we planned this trip through kimkim, I'm pretty sure there's no better way to do it. We recommend kimkim to everyone who wants to visit Morocco!

We spent 5 days and 4 nights in Morocco and it was great. One of the highlights of our trip was spending the night in the Sahara desert where we were able to watch the stars by the campfire while also enjoying some local music.

Our trip was spent mostly on the road however which at some points of the trip can feel quite boring. However it is understandable due to the size of the country and the distances we had to travel between each place. Nevertheless, the scenery during the drives were beautiful ranging from rocky mountains, desserts, and valleys. The cities we visited were also very beautiful we visited Ourzazate, Marrakech, and Boulmane Dades.

Our driver was very helpful and very informartive and we enjoyed the trip very much. The accommodation provided by Larbi was of very good quality. We opted for the 3* option and the places we stayed in were very clean and provide very good service.

Some negatives/feedback from our trip:
- we did not get information on the time that our driver would pick us up on the first and last day. It would be more efficient for us and for the tour to provide us this info as we had to ask the hotel manager to phone Larbi a couple of times.
- when we were dropped of in Marrakech by our driver we had to walk to the riad we were staying and our driver agreed with a guy with a cart to take our baggage for 50 dirham. When we arrived I was forced to pay 150 dirham by him.

Despite some minor stuff we enjoyed our trip very much and would recommend using Larbi's services if you are going to visit Morocco.

Larbi planned a wonderful trip for us. It was exactly what we wanted for the time available to us. His driver was excellent, obliging and knowledgable. When we had to make some changes nothing was too much trouble for Larbi.
Thank you for putting us in touch with him.

We had an incredible time during our 12 days in Morocco!

We usually travel quite independently, and this was a new experience for us having a private driver for the first 7 days of our trip, and a mountain guide for another 2.

Now that we are back, we wouldn't have had it any other way. We learned so much from our time with Said, about his culture, family, and other random facts and observations. I think this was the best way to really immerse yourself into Morocco, especially if it's your first time to Africa or a Muslim country.

Said was also very knowledgeable of the general area. He took us to many places we didn't know about and often stopped in small towns or the side or the road to show us a collective (fossils, roses, argan oil, ceramics), taste some dates or watermelon, or to see a small gift a local was selling (Without feeling pressured to buy). He also took us to visit a nomadic family and share tea with them in their tent, a very special experience for us. It was sad to say goodbye.

I'm not sure that we would do anything differently. We packed quite a bit into our trip, but there is so much to see: Roman ruins at Volubilis, wandering around the blue city at Chefchaouen, the busy medinas in Fes and Marrakech, and of course the desert!

The desert was probably our favorite part of the whole trip. We spend about 3 full days driving between small market towns, stopped at a fossil factory in Erfoud, saw beautiful oases hidden in the rocks and sand, and enjoyed a memorable camel ride at sunset into the dunes where we spend the night enjoying music from local Berber people, who were all very friendly. We even got to hold a baby sand fox that a local boy had on the side of the road!

Another very special part of the trip was spending 2 days hiking in the High Atlas mountains between small villages. We enjoyed 2 lunches with Berber families and spend a very crazy lightning storm in the home of another. Our mountain guide was great and very knowledgeable of the area, even when we had to change our route to avoid the river that grew from the storm.

The riads we stayed at (Fes, Marrakech) were beautifully designed, and the service was top notch. It was great to enjoy a delicious meal on the roof or in the ornate dining areas of our riad after a long day of exploring.

This trip really opened our eyes and re-prioritized our list of places we wanted to jump into next.

Shukran to Larbi & Said for this very special trip!

Overall trip was great, got to see a lot of the countryside and beautiful landscapes. From a logistics point of view would probably recommend to others to not do such a tightly packed schedule and enjoy more time in some of the bigger towns. Driver was safe and efficient, good English, initially not as interactive but soon warmed up to conversation. Unfortunately the day tour guides left a bit to be desired. The fes guide whilst kind, too much taking to cooperatives and shops, would prefer more historic information and sight seeing. The Marrakech guide was lovely as well, more historic information which is nice, but once again too many cooperative stops. The mountain guide unfortunately was very odd, barely spoke to us for the entire day and did not have much information about local species of plants and animals, needed more persona. Larbi was great at listening to our needs and helping us arrange optional activities and transport so thank you for that. Accomodation was good throughout the stay, clean and comfortable. Ideally not all dinners would be included in future as we did could not finish the meal and it was a waste of food as well as money. Overall good experience, thank you Kim Kim!

Larbi and his team took good care of us and service provided by all of them was very good and made our trip enjoyable.

Said was perfect in every way. Good driver, knowledgeable, patient with us and always with a smile. He was punctual , respectful and when there was a mix up with one of our bookings, he handled it with no problem. We had the utmost confidence in him. He went out of his way to show us his culture. I would give him 5 stars for the service he provided and would recommend him without reservation.

While we enjoyed our trip to this amazing country , I would have a some suggestions .
We were two people on a private tour .

Clarify every arrangement clearly
Eg no shopping stops on guided tours / guides could be higher quality
All drivers or taxi services provide by company to have basic English ( or language requested by client ) . We struggled with this on our last three days , was tiresome .
We requested a luxury tent in the Desert , but only a standard one was booked . When we queried it and requested itemised costs , nothing received . My final quote was based on this,
Also I had requested meals to be omitted , to offer more flexibilty , this was not done .
So we ended up pay AUD 500 eac more , not totally sure what for .
Our initial driver could have had more engagement / charisma . Felt he wa just ‘doing a job ‘ most of the time .
One hotels and one meal below standard .
We were not informed of our drivers name or called by Larbi initially to check if all was going smoothly .
On the positive when we did contact Larbi if was very good . Our driver was flexible and adjusted our itinery so we got a full day on Fez .
Overall had some great experiences, Morocco scenery , food and interesting weather !

Pluses:
+ we loved the people, country and culture of Morocco
+ our driver Moad was good - friendly and drove very safely over the 1,500 kms we
+ 2 places we stayed in Quarzazette and Marrakesh were good

Negatives:
- Larbi, does not review the trip advisor ratings of places he books people into. He claims 3 stars, but the ratings are much worse and the experience is just as spotty.
- the bathrooms in the desert saffari were terrible and the “standard luxury” tent was mattresses laid on carpets. There was no “luxury”. Clearly a bait and switch operation.
- when we pointed out the poor quality about some of the places we were staying in, his reaction was pretty much take it or leave it, you are on your own. This was true especially on our last day in Casablanca.

Conclusion:
- we would NOT recommed using Larbi.

Just back from a 5 day visit to Marrakech and Essaouira which was largely organised by the Kimkim team. We had a tremendous time; everyone was very helpful and the guides, drivers, riad staff, etc that we encountered were so friendly and professional, really knowledgeable. In many years of travelling, I had never previously used a company to arrange trips and transport in advance but i'm very glad I did. Kimkim removed the stress factor so that we could really relax and just enjoy the activities.

Our driver Sellam was outstanding and so were Larbi and Hassan, the guide in Fes.

The riad in Fes was beautiful, but the food was awful and the owner, Assis kept promising food/meals that never came since the kitchen didn't know about it and his stuff has no clue and the cook(s) don't either. The bathroom always stank of sewage. We were in room #19.

We also were required to pay an extra $85 for a New Year's Eve Fiesta, that also did not exist and the New Year's dinner was uneatable. Plus, Assis refused to return the $85 to Larbi, Larbi nevertheless did reimburse us out of his own pocket. We learned later from another driver, that Assis did the same thing to him and his guests. We understood, that Assis took over the management of the riad only recently and that the riad before was run very well.

The main dinner course in the hotel in Rabat was also uneatable. We were the only guests and the meat and veggies were cooked in rancid, old and overheated oil. The hotel has a 4-star rating - it should have a minus 4-star rating.

Hassan and Samira in the riad in Marrakech were absolute charming and great hosts. Samira is a fabulous cook. Everything was great!

All the other places were fine. I only mentioned above the really great and really bad experiences.

We loved our time in Morocco! It was especially great because of our driver/guide Saleh. He was very professional and respectful to us. We were very satisfied with Hotel Amlal, beber camp site, and Hotel Casablanca. The only issue we had was with Hotel Akabar. It did not really meet our expectations and the hotel and dining staff were not great. It was the only accommodation that did not provide us with any water during our dinners, and did not give us an option for dinner like the other accommodations. We would go out to buy water for our meals at Hotel Akabar. Other than this, we truly had a great experience and we are so grateful for our driver and guide Saleh! Please give him a special shout out!