Spain to Morocco

We just did this same trip. I got all the info I needed from the Rick Steve's southern Spain book. We stayed in Tarifa at Hotel Alborada, which was awesome. It was easy to get to the ferry to Morocco from there. We figured it all out using ricks book. It was safe and easy to do a half day trip. He gives great directions on how to get to Gilbraltar too. We did not stay there but did a half day visit as he describes. Good luck!

Thank You Eileen, I guess I should have bought Rick's other Spain book. I will buy it now. My London one just arrived, we are going there first.

If you have a car, I'd highly recommend Hotel La Torre. It's no more than five miles outside of Tarifa. The place is very nice and very affordable. We had planned it as our first choice (we travel with a list to call rather than reservations) but also talked to a bar owner in Granada who also highly recommended it. It's certainly nice enough to recommend. You will want to plan an entire day to see Tangier. We didn't make the trip. Tangier isn't a particularly nice place, we decided to wait and see Morocco when we have time to see nicer destinations.

When I was a child I spent a whole summer in Gibraltar, where my aunt and uncle lived. It was the year after General Franco died, so the border with Spain was still closed, but we went to Tangier for the day, by ferry. You can see Morocco from Gibraltar, it really doesn't take much time to get there, and we spent most of our time in the bazaar. A shop keeper offered 5 camels for my aunt, but my uncle said he couldn't let her go for less than 10... I expect they are still making that joke with visitors today. Now, Tangier and the trip there and back can certainly fill a day. It would be a shame not to stay overnight, not least because the Moroccan people are great (I had a class full of them when I used to teach English, and they were brilliant). Check out the Wikipedia article on Tangier for ideas about how to fill more time if you do decide to stay for longer.