A Warm Welcome to Morocco and its Amazing Culture
Morocco
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Apr 7 - Apr 21, 2025
We planned a 15 day trip for our family group of 4 adults with Sharon's help. She helped put together an itinerary that would suit our group. Our overall experience in this trip was wonderful and we learned so much about the Amazigh (Berber) culture and traditions and about the history of Morocco. The warmth of the welcome we got felt special - and we got this from all the people whom we interacted with: our tour manager, the drivers and the staff at the Riads where we stayed. We wanted cultural immersion and indeed that was what we got. A highlight was our "day with the locals" in Boumalne Dades, where we had Abdou Idrissi (owner of Moroccan Immersion) as our guide to Berber culture, architecture, life, cultivation and irrigation. It was a treat to be in the kitchen with our hosts Malika and Khadija as they prepared a tagine and couscous in the traditional way. They and their children were so open and welcoming and we surprised my husband with a birthday cake. Definitely the most unique birthday he has celebrated!
Each of the cities we visited gave us a chance to experience medieval towns by staying in Riads in the Medinas of these towns. Our local guide in Rabat (can't pull up his name alas) , Mohammed our guide in Fes, and Salaam in Marrakesh were all excellent - knowledgeable and personable.
While in Fez we found out that our wonderful tour manager and driver, Salaam could not accompany us for the rest of the trip, due to circumstances outside anyone's control. We cannot say enough about Salaam as a guide and chaperone for our trip: he is fun to be with, incredibly knowledgeable about history, architecture, culture and more and he made sure we were comfortable as we made our way through our first three stops. To Moroccan Immersion's credit, they made sure that they had good drivers for us at short notice in a busy season, so there was no interruption in our programming. Even though he could not be with us for the rest of the days of the trip, he kept track of where we were, communicated with the drivers we had and made sure things went well for us. Abdou was of course, in the background, making sure things went well.
The other drivers we had were very good but they did not have the same level of knowledge and ability to guide and inform us as Salaam did. Salaam is a celebrity in Morocco because of videos he posts and when we were with him, there were people who recognized him and stopped and talked and sometimes took pictures with him. Through all that he was humble and kept our tour going smoothly.
Our favorite stop was as Kasbah Tiziri in the Valley of the Roses. Our host Michelle was wonderful and gave us delicious food and her own insights into life in Morocco. The Kasbah has a beautiful garden, has been modernized beautifully while maintaining a traditional identity. Abdou, who guided us while we were there made that stay a memorable one.
All along we had beautiful drives - between Rabat and Fez, Fez to Merzouga and then from the desert camp in Merzouga to Marrakesh. There had been rain after a four year drought and the countryside was green (except of course near the desert area). We got to experience spectacular view as we drove through the low, the mid and the High Atlas mountains (many peaks with snow) Our drivers negotiated the challenging drives smoothly and safely.
We ended by spending a day in Essaouira which was a nice relaxed ending in this charming seaside town.
We covered a lot of ground, physically, and learned a great deal during our trip all while experiencing a feast for the senses and a sense of warmth and welcome!
Hotel Reviews
A beautiful Riad with excellent service - great start to our Morocco adventure. We had a lovely dinner there as well as breakfast.
A beautiful Riad. The staff may have been a little over their heads, though Fatya was working hard to make us comfortable and was a lovely hostess. We were two couples traveling together and the rooms we were assigned were quite different - one quite spacious, and the other rather small.
We enjoyed our stay here. A beautiful Riad, great breakfasts and good service.
This was a comfortable hotel and served well its purpose as a jumping off point for the desert camp.
This was a gorgeous camp. Our rooms were comfortable and attractive - amazing to have plumbing and hot and cold water in the desert. The dining room was beautiful and we had amazing meals at this camp.
Good location near the main square. We were able to find our way through the maze of streets using Google maps. We were here for 3 nights
This served its purpose as a place near the airport so we could make our morning flight.
A rave review for this Kasbah and for Michelle who refurbished this historic building with authenticity and elegance. The hospitality, food, beauty and comfort of this place were a stand out.
Charming hotel. Great rooftop terrace with ocean views.
Activity Reviews
We had this tour on the morning before we drove to Chefchaouen. We were a bit tired the first evening and just enjoyed walking around a bit on our own. The next morning we had a wonderful tour with our guide (so sorry not to be able to pull up his name). We also visited the ancient necropolis of Chellah where we got a sense of what an amazing city it must have been. We also got to see the amazing black and white storks who have built enormous nests. We had requested a visit there and it has a history going back to the Phoenicians and the Romans prior to being used by Muslim rulers. Spotting the stork nests became a feature of our whole trip - they often they build nests at the top of a mosque.
We had set up a group Whats App chat with Salaam prior to our arrival. This made our arrival go smoothly despite the fact that one couple arrived in Casablanca a few hours after the other couple. Salaam made sure the other couple was comfortable and got coffee and water before we got there.
Beautiful drive with good and informative conversations with Salaam. We stopped in Volubilis, an ancient Roman site. The guide there was good but not a stand out.