Spain to Morocco or other North African destination

Nowhere, that is not worth it, not enough time to do this with 2 kids.

Is that spending two nights or three? If it is two, I agree that you should skip it. Three nights? Then maybe you have something worth doing because you will have at least 2.5 days. What city in southern Spain will you be leaving from?

Thanks. In my original post, I meant two or three full days. We can spend three nights or more if we need to.

Let me ask a different way ...

Where in North Africa would travel to if you were based in southern Spain and wanted to see one or two cities across the water. We have flexibility. The kids are seasoned, resilient travelers - they will not need kiddie breaks.

Fes.
Or Marrakech.

You'll need to fly.

I really, really wouldn't recommend Tangier. It's the Tijuana of Morocco.

It used to be the case that obvious tourists in Morocco were greatly bothered as they walked down the street by young men wanting to be hired as guides. I've read on this forum that the situation has improved a lot since I was in Morocco in the early 1990s.

I'm female, but I traveled with my mother, so I wasn't alone. I cannot personally speak to what sort of attention a mother traveling with two children would receive, but physical danger is not something that would concern me.

Both Fes and Marrakech have at least some nonstop flights to/from Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, or Seville, but they don't operate every day. Try www.skyscanner.com for a search engine. It can search the whole country or specific cites or whole month, etc.

Thank you all for your thoughtful replies and advice!

P

Both Fes and Marrakech are beautiful. IMO, Marrakech was slightly more commercial where tourists were concerned than Fes.

I think both cities are safe; however, I also think that you might encounter a lot of attention as a single woman with two children in either city. We were there last year with a group, and one member of our party was a woman traveling solo. She often tagged along with us so that she wasn't stopped every ten feet with someone trying to talk to her. I don't think anyone meant her any harm, but she was having to fend off a lot of unsolicited conversation.

You wouldn't recognize Tangier now

I'd hate to have seen it before. I went last April just out of curiosity as to why it was a popular day trip from southern Andalucia and because we've spent a lot of time in the area and had seen most of what it has to offer.

Yes, there was a lot of new construction but it's still on the whole a dirty, run down city. We had a guide who was pleasant and knowledgable enough but in hindsight we would have told him we were't interested on camel rides or watching snakes being taunted. Of course there was the usual souk tour where we were taken into places owned by friends or family and offered items for extortionately inflated prices which really soured the trip.

I didn't feel that we experienced a true reflection of Morocco but rather a dirty, gritty port city full of people keen to exploit tourists. My advice, stick to Spain and enjoy the better sights there.

I recommend Marrakesh. Stay there the whole time.

Oh dear, if it would look like Switzerland it wouldn't be Morocco anymore, right? :-)

Does somewhere have to be dirty and rundown to be 'authentic'? Who suggested that it should resemble Switzerland?

When one conjures up an image of Morocco I suspect Tangier would not be it so for someone seeking advice for suggestions on where to visit in North Africa surely it's fair to accurately describe a particular location? If the person seeking the advice is happy to visit having been well informed that's their decision.

I visited Tangier and found it as described. I didn't expect it to be a gleaming representation of a wealthy, western European city, why would I? What I did find I didn't particularly like. I didn't find it attractive (other than up in the hills), I didn't find much of interest and I didn't appreciate the attempts to rip us off at almost every opportunity.

Visiting Tangier to expereince Morocco would be akin to visiting Dover and expecting to find it looking like the Cotswolds. If people ask for advice about somewhere I'll tell them like it is, it doesn't mean that I want it to be something else, Tangier is Tangier.