Morroco

Louise, are you following us around the world? 'Cause we were just at Machu Picchu in October and are now planning our Spain/Morocco trip for this February!

Although we have not been yet, one place we've found some very useful information is over on the Trip Advisor website (www.tripadvisor.com).

However, I'm hoping that some of the RS resident experts will chime in on this post with useful Morocco information... Happy planning!

I will be honest, I havent been to Marrakesh or Fez, but have been to Agadir. If you want to relax, this is a wonderful place. We found the weather to be amenable, hardly ever got above 30°c. It was foggy in the evenings and we often needed a sweater or light jacket. Great shopping with lots of beautiful cedar objects and leather stuff. Nice beach, clean water, a bird sanctuary, great hotels, wonderful people. The airport is gorgeous too. We took a fun sailing trip while there too along with a comical ride down the beach on a camel. What was cool was seeing the police galloping their beautiful horses down the beach in the evening. There were day trips going out of Agadir to various places like the Atlas mountains, but we just kind of hung out there for two weeks.

We visted Morocco in October and went to Marrakesh, Fes and I drove over the Atlas mountains from Marrakesh to the ancient city of Ait Benhaddou (near Ourzazate).

Marrakesh and Fes are somewhat different, but of course have a lot in common. Marrakesh is more touristed, but is still quite "wild" if you have not been anyplace like it before (and honestly, I can't think of anyplace else like it). Two weeks should be plenty of time. Honestly, I'm not sure that you would need more than a couple of days in each city itself - they are intense experiences, and dealing with everything does wear you down a bit. I'm not sure if either one is really someplace that's optimized for "relaxing" (I think it's probably more accurate to say that you go to Marrakesh or Fes to experience rather than to relax).

As for the drive you asked about...I rented a car in Marrakesh and drove over the mountains (via the "big" highway) to Ait Benhaddou (near Ourzazate). This is about 1/2 way to the lesser Sahara sand dunes (near M'hamadia in the south), or about 1/3 way to the really big desert sand dunes (Erg Chebbi) much further south. So I can only report on the first part of the drive. The road (2 lanes, good pavement) was fine and I had no trouble, and if I recall correctly the drive took me about 5 hours. But at least half of that was constant, really tight, steep hairpin switchbacks through the mountain passes. The scenery was pretty spectacular, but my wife got terribly carsick (both ways) from the constant switchbacks, and was pretty miserable. If you are prone to motion sickness at all, I think this is a road that will bring it on - very, very steep, very, very twisty (although it was cool to see snow in Africa). I'll admit it took some work to get there but Ait Benhaddou was spectacular, one of the highlights of our trip. If you do plan to take the long drive from Marrakesh to the dunes, be sure to stop at Ait Benhaddou - you will be glad you did.

What David said.
In 2000, coming from Erg Chebbi, we crossed the Atlas Moutains on the way to Marrakech. As I recall, it was a pretty adventuresome drive. Roads were good but I vividly recall the steep drop-offs and zig zagging road. Marrakech is a wild town...sort of where Africa, the Arab Magreb and France colide. Wouldn't have missed it. Fez struck me as more historic and traditional. You'll need a local guide to keep you from getting lost in the maze that is the old city (and he, naturally, will take you to all the shops run by his family and friends). My only word of warning: When I was there, --8 years ago-- there was no hotel anywhere near the International Airport outside of Casablanca. And the airport is quite far from the city. So don't plan an early morning departure unless you like close calls! (Yup, experience talking.) Morocco is truly beautiful. Have a good trip.

Hi Louise,
I was in Fez a few years ago and really enjoyed it.
Its a beautiful city and the people are extremely nice. We spent about 6 days there and took a lot of trips outside of the city to other towns and villages. We had a fantastic tourguide who took us to places off the beaten path,and even took my daughter and I to the desert oasis to have our hands painted with henna. One thing to remember is that Fez is very traditional and it would be wise to read up on the culture and what is acceptable in the way of dress and behaviour just so that you have a really enjoyable experience by knowing what to expect. I should still have our guide contact information so if you are interested send me a personal message. I have not been to Marrakesh but Fez is certainly worth a visit.

Just to add to what others have posted, yes, of the two cities, Fes is more traditional. LOTS of mosques there by comparison to Marrakesh. When the "call to prayer" starts going out, you can hear it bellowing from dozens of different mosques all around the city, which is really amazing. I didn't do any daytrips out of the city, but as Nadine suggests, I'm sure there are interesting things nearby.

I would have to disagree slightly with one thing Thomas said, although this is controversial: everyone says you cannot find your way around in the medina (the old city) without a guide. It's true that the medinas in both Marrakesh and Fes are like mazes (the medina in Fes especially so), but I have successfully navigated them numerous times with no help from a guide. I do highly recommend bringing a small compass with you though - that helped immensely; it is very easy to become quickly disoriented in there, but I found it was not too difficult to retrace my steps and after a few forays I was able to learn the main routes and figure out more or less how to get from one place to another. I found the key was to make frequent mental notes of "landmarks" - like the pyramid of stacked goats heads, the unusually large pile of donkey poo, the shop selling weird fruit snacks, the old man sitting against the wall chanting the koran out loudly, etc. Once I went out in the morning noting such things at each turn or major intersection, wandered the souks for hours, then headed back to my guest house. At one point I got disoriented - should I go left or right here? - then I looked up and saw the same old man chanting the koran that I had passed that morning, he was still there, hours later, in the same spot, still chanting (didn't check to see if he was still on the same page) but he made a good landmark and I knew exactly which way to go!

Very interesting places, like no place I've ever been before, you'll feel very far from home. Highly recommended for the adventurous!