9 day tour - flexibility and adaptability
Morocco
|
May 4 - May 12, 2024
My experience booking through KimKim and with our local travel agency Original Travel in Morocco was fantastic!
Having no personal referral to KimKim OR Original Travel, I was admittedly nervous up to the day we arrived - what if the quality was not what we want? What if our driver smokes or our car doesn't have AC?
KimKim proved to be a very easy to use and highly valuable tool in our planning phase for this trip. I knew I didn't have the time to piece together our itinerary, book all the tours and lodging, etc. I went through multiple rounds of feedback via chat with Mohamed at Original Travel and 3-4 different itineraries before we landed on the one that had us super excited!
Original Travel showed time and again their immense dedication to service and ensuring we had a great time in Morocco. 2 weeks before the trip they had to rebook all of our reservations to shift them by 1-day. Then on the day we arrived we realized we had too much car travel in our itinerary and we significantly rearrange our plans. Said and Mohamed were super responsive and supportive, helping us to coordinate this change and they were able to do it allowing us to simply extend our stays at our already booked lodging, reserve NEW tours for us in different cities and rearrange scheduled walking tours. Honestly, I was SO pleased and a bit surprised that it worked out so well after an audible on the first day. We even DID have an issue with the car AC at one point - heading into Marrakech when the temps kicked up the AC in our car began to fail. Last 90min of that drive in were very uncomfortable. I said something to Said via WhatsApp chat (how we communicated the entire time) and he coordinated to have the AC fixed before the next time we used the car.
Then there is our driver, Mustapha. First I will say the service level of having a private driver from airport pickup to dropoff throughout our whole trip was off the charts! We felt very spoiled, and yet we recognized at numerous points in our trip just how magical it allowed things to be. It made everything SO easy and relaxing, whereas if we had to navigate ourselves it may have been very different. Wherever we needed him to be to pick us up, take us, wait for us while we shopped... he was there without a question. Mustapha was a superb driver and navigator... drove ALL over the country and into the depths of old cities without a single map reference. He knew places and people along the way. Served as a resource and guide for where to eat, or NOT to eat, where to buy certain goods and where NOT to buy. And he helped us learn about Moroccan culture in a way you only can by befriending a local. He was dependable, and friendly and by the end we were inviting him to come stay with us on a visit to the states. I cannot stress the value and pleasure we got from having Mustapha on our trip.
All in, i would do it again in a heartbeat. I would recommend using KimKim as a travel booking tool. And I would recommend Original Travel and all of our contacts there to any of my friends or family traveling to Morocco.
Hotel Reviews
A super charming small hotel in Chaouen. We only stayed one night but the service at the desk was personal and super helpful. Our room had windows facing the inside light shaft of the building, so there wasn't a ton of natural light, but that design seems to be pretty typical in the Morocco old cities. The breakfast was AMAZING! We thought it was the best we had the whole trip. Rather than a buffet like other places, they brought everything out to our table fresh and hot and setup a beautiful spread!
Off the charts. One of the most beautiful accommodations I've ever stayed in. The Riad is an amazing display of all the Andalucian-influenced architecture and design of Northern Morocco. Honestly I thought the tile and wood and overall design of this hotel rivaled many of the historical sites we visited specifically to see this work. The courtyard where we dined for breakfast everyday was the most beautiful and peaceful place. We ate dinner at the restaurant one night and the food was delicious. Service in our room was precisely as you would want - multiple services per day but we didn't notice or encounter them in our room or even in the hallways once during our entire 3-night stay! We also used the spa, which was small - 1 practitioner working on the days we were there - but the facility was beautiful and the massage I had was one of the best I've EVER had. And the value of the spa treatments is incredible compared to what you would pay in the US.
This hotel was lovely. The staff were very kind and helpful both at the restaurant for breakfast and at the front desk. 3/5 stars for a couple reasons: - the place felt a bit rundown to me. Furniture and finishes were a little beat-up and the quality felt like it took a hit because of that. - the rooftop bar/restaurant was terrible! We ate there one night when we had had a long day and wanted the convenience. The prices were exceptionally high relative to the rest of our time at much better places, and the food was sub-par. It was the worst tagine I ate the entire trip.
Activity Reviews
One of the best Roman ruins outside of Rome that I've visited!! My wife taught me how to really enjoy this place - walking the town and orienting to the inside of the homes as though we were actually living there 2000 years ago. We really enjoyed this visit. We did not take a tour guide and so relied heavily on internet searches and the info from our Lonely Planet book. If I did it again, I would take a guide - of which there are many sitting at the front waiting to be hired.
Our tour guide Hanan was incredible. She spent nearly 8hrs with us taking us through the Souk, showing us all the best stalls and making sure we got to see and buy what we wanted her. At one point I asked when she had to leave and she insisted she was staying with us to ensure we had seen everything we wanted to see and then she walked us all the way back to our riad. I would recommend her 100x over to anyone visiting Morocco.
Hi Jared,
Thank you so much for sharing your fantastic experience with us! We’re delighted to hear that Said, and Mustapha went above and beyond to ensure your trip was smooth and enjoyable. It's great to know that despite the unexpected changes, everything was handled to your satisfaction.
We truly appreciate your kind words and recommendations, and we can't wait to welcome you back for another memorable journey with Original Travels.
Best,
Mohamed