Tangier Yay or Nay??

Yay. I would characterize it as an adventure rather than a hassle. Go ahead and take the chance, that's what travel is all about. It's an easy, yet culturally enriching journey to cross the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain to Africa. Immerse yourself in the amazing sights, smells, and sounds of the souq. Tangier has mellowed out in recent years, and yet is still an exotic spice to the travelers banquet. Cross from sweet Tarifa and explore the mysteries of Morocco. Read "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho to get a vivid literary impression of the Andalucia/Tangier/Morocco experience.

"Life is either a daring Adventure or nothing." Helen Keller

In April we stayed in Tarifa for a few nights and did a day trip to Tanger. It was well worth it, the modern ferry is only about a 35 minute ride - most of which we spent in line getting our passports stamped! We wished we had stayed a few days and maybe ventured south. Tarifa is a really nice town that we truely enjoyed after being in so many large cities in Spain. If you make it to Tarifa, don't miss the seaside Roman ruins near the town of Bolonia. There is a great museum and a nice outdoor site to stroll around.

Go for it.

But be sure to plan a future trip down south. It's an amazing country.

Thanks for the input everyone. It seems I still have decisions to make before I leave in a month!!!

Also, as an aside, give me a logical route to see some places in Morocco. Something like Tangier-Rabat-Marrakech?

I would have about 12 days to allocate to Portugal and Morocco, so lets say 6 days for Morocco. Is Morocco worth it that much to miss out on London for the very first time? I would have to cut out an entire leg of my trip to get this to work.

This would be the end of my trip, and I guess I would fly out of Marrakech

We took a ferry from Spain to Tangier as part of a 3 week tour of Spain hosted by our former exchange student from Madrid and her family. Our Spanish hosts wanted a guide, so we hired a licensed guide at the ferry stop. He turned out to be a fascinating speaker who spoke flawless Spanish to them and unaccented English to us and gave us great insights into the culture and history of Morocco. He took us into markets and shops, many places we would have dared to walk into alone. The next day we explored the medina on our own, doing the touristy stuff like having snake charmers wrap snakes around my daughters' necks (I watched from a LONG distance away, being terrified of snakes), shopping and bargaining, eating amazing food in tiny little restaurants and just gazing at the exotic, stunning architecture. We found the people to be the friendliest we'd ever met. It was the most colorful, exotic place we'd ever been. We really felt culturally far away from home to a degree we'd never experienced before in Europe.

Although it's been many years since I was in Tangier, I would recommend it. Spain is awesome, but being part of Europe it has a european flavour, whereas Tangier, being in northern Africa, has a definite arabic flavour to it. You can do Tangier in a day trip from Spain...well worth the effort.

"Is Morocco worth it that much to miss out on London for the very first time?"
I assume this would be your first visit to London?
Normally, I would never suggest anyone miss London...but in this case, two factors might enter into your decision.
A) You're in Spain and planning a day trip to Tangier. Since you're already in that area of the world, and considering how troublesome it is to get there from Toronto, why not go for extra time in Morocco this time.
B) London is probably the cheapest, and easiest European destination to reach from Toronto....save London for a future trip.

YAY! Tangier was one of the most exciting 2 days of our lives. Our teen daughters completely fell in love with it. I spent many months painting murals to create a Moroccan themed bedroom for our younger daughter because she loved it so much. I would go as far as to say it was life changing. My daughter at one time was just like the "Picky eating" daughter from a recent thread. Now exotic, spicy Moroccan food is among her favorite cuisines. I can't wait to go back and spend a lot more time.

^^

That is interesting Terry. Care to elaborate on what you did?

I spent about two weeks in Morocco in February this year, and definitely recommend it. However, I didn't go to Tangier, and a friend who did said it was the only part of his trip he would have skipped. Of course, that's to be taken with a grain of salt, and since it's the most convenient city, it's probably a good choice.

I did kind of an imperial cities tour, flying in to Casa and then visiting Rabat, Fes, Meknes/Volubilis, and Marrakech. We took trains, but apparently the buses are decent too. If you've got enough time to devote to a longer period of time in Morocco, it may be worth looking into EasyJet flights to get there or back.

In any case, Morocco is a lot of fun, and there are a lot of pretty great hostels (I can't recommend Equity Point in Marrakech enough, worth the 18 euros a night, even if it's three times the cost of other Moroccan hostels!)

This is great. Lots of good info here. Keep it coming.

I'm thinking about re-tooling my plans to allow me a week or 10 days or so in Morrocco. What are the travel times between the typical stops? Hassle?

I would recommend to try Marrakesh rather than Tanger. There you will go back in time to 1800 arab world or so. And it takes at the most one full day to walk it all.

Just as a general guideline, I think Tanger-Fes is about 6 hours, and Fes-Marrakech is maybe 7. I don't remember really clearly, but you can find the timetables on the Moroccan rail website at www.oncf.ma. Rail travel's pretty cheap, my longest trip was Meknes-Marrakech, around 6 hours, and I think it cost 17 euros. If you travel second class, it's not always easy to hear the station announcements, but usually someone will help you out; people were super friendly. Most things will be in Moroccan Arabic and in French.

The exchange rate is pretty easy, around 10 dirham to a euro. The biggest issue as a tourist is that people tend to try to get more money out of you than necessary. For example, taxis from a train station to the medina usually shouldn't cost more than 10 dirham if the counter's running, but drivers will try to convince you it costs more, and in Marrakech it's almost impossible to bargain lower than 30 dirham leaving from the train station. Negotiating is almost always possible, and don't be afraid to say no and walk away, because usually the other person will chase you down and lower their price, unless your price really was too low!

Also, don't drink the water, bring toilet paper and hand sanitizer, and having a set of stomach/diarrhea medicines is a good idea. Check for bedbugs, I skipped a hotel in Fes because the mattress was crawling!

Would I be able to wander around myself in Tangier, Rabat and Marrakech, or should I hire a guide??

Can't say I'm a big fan of the diarrhea thing. I would rather not spend a day being caught short!!!

I can't speak for Tangier, but Rabat is very doable without a guide; it's one of the more modern and less confusing cities. The youth hostel there is right next to the medina, and in walking distance from the train station (maybe 20 minutes walk). In Rabat, I recommend taking a petit taxi to the necropole of Chellah, and walking to the Kasbah of the Udayas.

Guides are actually a bit of a hard question in general, because a lot of times when you enter an area, men will be waiting to ask if you want a guide, and you really shouldn't take them up because they're not official. Another trick is to tell you something is closed or forbidden to non-Muslims (I got told that at the Kasbah I mentioned) and it's usually not true (unless it's an actual mosque, then of course you don't go in). I think they say that so that they can then say "but I'll show you" and charge you money for it, but I never took them up on it!

I never had a guide for Marrakech either, although I didn't delve really deeply into the medina. If there's something specific you want to see (tanneries in Fes, or some particular kind of shop beyond the tourist areas) it could be useful to have a guide, but my friend and I never got one. We got lost off and on, but not terribly so!

As for getting sick, I don't know what to tell you! I was in Morocco at the same time as about 6 other people I knew, just not all in the same city at the same time, and I was just about the only one who got sick. Apparently it's fairly common, though, and I was okay after sticking to a white rice and tea biscuit diet for a day or two!