The trip was amazing for the most part. Our guide and our driver (Ibrahim and Hassan) went
out of their way to accommodate us; they were patient and fun and met all our needs and
requests. We had a thoroughly enjoyable time with them and would definitely recommend them or use them again ourselves. They made the trip more than enjoyable, and we had a lot of fun with them during our drive times. We stopped for coffee, stopped and bought oranges, stopped to get wine for the desert camp.... They were fantastic. Our biggest issue, we feel, involved communication with our specialist, Megan, and the communication between her and the guide and driver. To begin, none of us like "tour" vacations but with the language barrier in Morocco, especially, we opted to use Kimkim/Wanderlust. We made it clear - we thought - to Megan that we did not want a "package" vacation and that we wanted free time to explore on our own, flexibility to change plans, and did not want to frequent the "tourist trap" spots of the region. When we arrived and were taken to our transport vehicle by our guide, we were introduced to our driver - a surprise to us as we thought we had a driver/guide in the form of one person. Our vehicle was a large 15 passenger tourist van/bus, with curtains on the windows, wifi onboard, etc.; possibly because there were 5 of us and our luggage, and we also needed room for any purchases, but still seemed like overkill and something that definitely didn’t blend in. We thought maybe it was also the reason for the separate driver, since it wasn't a standard car. We shrugged it off - and it did make for lots of space - went to our beautiful hotel and settled in. The food tour that night was perfect. The next day, during the Marrakech city tour with our local guide, we were taken to specific shops, even in the souk, to shop and make purchases. This was *exactly* what we had been concerned about and didn't want; we
were pretty turned off. Besides that, the guide was very informative and knowledgeable. Our schedule said we had free time the next morning, so we figured we'd go back to the market on our own; however, on returning to the hotel, we found out there was NO free time the next morning. (We did go back that night for some more food and a bit of browsing.) The next day we went to Ait BenHaddou, which was one of our highly anticipated stops. We again felt that
we were rushed through, in order to get us to the hotel..... which we arrived at with hours to spare before dinner and bed, feeling very disappointed in the day’s activities. Those activities had included the argan oil stop, which we could have skipped, was supposedly optional, and which we thought we had also said we were not interested in. This was when we first clued in that we were basically on a scripted tour and would have to be pretty vocal in communicating our desires to our guide since they had not been communicated by our advisor. (Our daughter messaged Megan about
it, and that was also her reply). From that point on, we did so and, while he seemed surprised at some of our choices (not dressing up and having our picture taken in caftans and turbans, for example), the rest of the trip seemed to go more smoothly. I’m still disappointed in the Ait BenHaddou stop, as I felt I saw nothing but some red walls. We had also expressed to Megan our daughter's desire to be able to take a short 'hike' while in the mountains, but the itinerary left no time to fit that in even though we'd been told we would be able to. We could have gone to the gorge after leaving Quarzazate, but our guide told us we'd have to leave at least an hour earlier in the morning, basically drive an hour, have time to stop and get a picture, and then drive the other way for hours to the camel trek; we opted to skip it. All to say that, even tho we felt we had communicated our wishes to Megan, they were not passed on and the trip did not seem very personal. We felt that either she didn't have a good grasp of distances and travel time, or just placated us with telling us that we would be able to do all the things we wanted. We would have made adjustments (e.g. skipped Rabat).... we relied on her 'expertise' rather than doing the homework ourselves - the main reason to hire a travel specialist - and were disappointed. There were a couple other small requests that were also not communicated to our guide. Basically, it felt that once we booked the trip, the cookie cutter parts were pieced together to hit our high points and the personal adjustments were ignored, as were realistic time frames. Still, we had a wonderful trip, thanks to Ibrahim and Hassan. Our guide in Fes, Kamal, was superb. The services provided by the Moroccan people to those who are traveling is so accommodating and hospitable, as they work to make you comfortable and welcome….something you don’t always find in areas heavily frequented by tourists. If we were to do it again, we decided we would skip Kimkim/Wanderlust, or any other travel service, find and hire a driver/guide via recommendation, and build our own trip from scratch - basically go back to what we have always done. We also feel that would allow more flexibility in stops…. there are lots of places along the way that we would have stopped and explored were we not on the ‘tour’, and others we would have skipped. Overall a fantastic trip, though.... it all worked out in the end.
Hotel Reviews
Probably my favorite hotel of the trip. So much fun to explore, amazing mosaic and plaster work, beautiful rooms. Wonderful breakfast. Fantastic.
Authenticity & Character
rooms, mosaic, plasterwork, courtyard/garden, pools, food......
Location
Close to everything we wanted to do.
Riad Madu Luxury Camp
Merzouga
So much fun to be in the desert and pretend to live in a tent!
Location
It's the Sahara.... what more needs to be said?
Riad Mosaic Chefchaouen
Chefchouen
Staff
Very personal and helpful. He is from Chefchaouen and obviously loves it. The only person who refused a tip and helped just because it's what you do.
Cleanliness & Comfort
I loved the hotel, but unfortunately our room was right on the corridor ("street") and noisy... people, dogs, etc. Probably wouldn't matter if we lived in a city where one is used to it, but we live very rurally and nights are really quiet (except for crickets and frogs in the spring and summer).
Riad & Spa Bahia Salam
Marrakech
Authenticity & Character
Great hammam!!
Wonderful accomodations, large rooms, fantastic views
Activity Reviews
Our favorite food is street food and the souk did not disappoint!
Guides, Drivers and Staff
Tour Marrakech with a private guide
Marrakesh
The guide was very informative, but took us only to certain shops for shopping, rather than just letting us walk the souk and do our thing. Some of these shops seemed somewhat "high end" and specifically for tourists and travelers.
Quality of Experience
Just seemed a bit too scripted and planned out. Obviously made for tourists.
Guides, Drivers and Staff
Mohammed was very knowledgeable. Appreciated his insight at the Bahia Palace and the mosque.
Ouarzazate to Erg Chebbi
Morocco
Beautiful drive, could have skipped the Argan oil stop. Would have greatly appreciated more time at Ben AitHaddou
Guides, Drivers and Staff
This was the only disappointing day... just seemed to be a little rushed.
Transport
I can't imagine driving in Morocco, but Hassan never made me feel unsafe.
Camel Trek into a Luxury Sahara Camp
Morocco
Guides, Drivers and Staff
Transport
It was a camel!
Tour Fes with a Private Guide
Fes
I think Fes was one of the best parts of the trip.... so much to see and do.
Guides, Drivers and Staff
Kamal was outstanding. So very knowledgeable. Lots of insightfulness and philosophical tidbits.
En Route stop at Volubilis
Morocco
It was raining, so it wasn't a very leisurely exploration of the ruins, but it was truly beautiful.
Guides, Drivers and Staff
Amazing architecture, but by this point of the trip we had seen so much that it was almost overwhelming. In hindsight, I think we may have rather used the time for something else, thereby skipping Casablanca and allowing more time for other parts of the trip.
Guides, Drivers and Staff
The tour was a fairly large group of people, and there were several occurring concurrently. I know this can't be helped, but it does make it difficult to hear sometimes, especially when the guide is not speaking in his primary language.
Erg Chebbi to Fes by way of the Atlas Mountains
Morocco
Guides, Drivers and Staff