MOROCCO TRAVEL GUIDE: 13 DAY ITINERARY
- Dannie and Franky
- Feb 15, 2019
- 6 min read
Franky and I had the pleasure to visit Morocco in May 2018 for thirteen days. Morocco is located in the most northern part of Africa facing Spain separated by the beautiful Mediterranean sea. This country is not like any western country, it's magical and you feel like you're in a different world. We are happy to share with you our 13 day itinerary.
Day 1: Arrival to Casablanca & train to Tangier
We arrived at Casablanca international airport from Montreal at 6H30. We paid 672CAD for a round trip ticket from Montreal. Once we arrived we took the train from the station at the airport basement. On arrival, you purchase your ticket to Casa-Voyageur then to Tangier https://www.oncf.ma. There are trains every hour for 43MAD/6CAD 2nd class and from Casa-Voyageur to Tangier for 224MAD/31CAD 2nd class. Do not be deceived it is not a two hour train ride but a six hour train ride. The train was comfortable the passengers were friendly and there are caterers selling water bottles. The train was air conditioned and there was a bathroom.
*Tip: Do not hesitate to ask where the Casa-Voyageur stop is because it will not say on the signs.
Day 2: Exploring Tangier
Tangier is Morocco's coastal town facing Tarifa, Spain. Only 1.5 hours away by ferry. Our initial plan was to visit Tarifa however we didn't have enough time. You can pre purchase your tickets https://ca.directferries.com/frs.htm. We stayed at Hotel Kenzi Solazur via www.booking.com. It's a 4 star hotel facing the beach. As pictured, once you exit the hotel you see the mountains of Tarifa. The hotel is located in the new town of Tangier close to plenty of restaurants and malls. In a separate post I will explain what we did in detail. We also purchased our tickets to Chefchaouen for the next day by bus. you can go on http://www.ctm.ma tickets are 45MAD/6CAD.
*Tip: always purchase bus tickets a day or two before departure
Day 3: Tangier to Chefchaouen
We took a cab to the CTM bus station at 10 AM, after negotiating multiple times with multiple taxi drivers, one finally accepted to let us pay him 30MAD/4CAD. The bus ride took around 3 hours with one pit stop in between. Once we arrived, the bus does not stop in the medina of Chefchaouen. There are multiple cab and Suzuki drivers waiting to bring tourists into the medina. It's less than a 10 minute drive costed us about 30MAD/4CAD.
*Tip: always negotiate with cab drivers as they never put on the meter. Especially in Tangier, they hate turning on the meter.
Day 4: Exploring Chefchaouen
Chefchaouen or Morocco's blue pearl is one of the more famous yet little towns of this country. It's more relaxed and much cooler in temperature than it was in Tangier. It's popular for it's blue walls in the medina. We stayed at Riad Dar Naya via www.booking.com. I would suggest to book an accommodation in the medina since most of it's attractions are in it. The owner Saad was kind enough to show us where to go and where to eat. Chefchaouen is so small there is not need to have more than one full day here. Luckily for us, Saad the owner purchased our bus tickets to Fes for us. Tickets were from http://www.ctm.ma our bus tickets costed us 75MAD/10CAD.
Day 5: Chefchaouen to Fes
Our stay in Chefchaouen has ended now we are off to Fes! The bus to Fes was very similar to the one from Tangier to Chefchaouen, took us 3 hours to arrive. Fes is the oldest city in Morocco and the second the largest city after Casablanca. We stayed at Riad Family Samnoun, located in the heart of the Medina. Beware, the Medina is huge and most taxi drivers only know "La porte bleu". So to make things easier book your accommodation near the main entrance of the medina, saves you trouble from getting hassled for more money by cab drivers.
We also bought our overnight bus tickets to Merzouga at the train station http://www.supratours.ma 150MAD/20CAD.
*Tip: when booking your acommodation use the map to locate your Riad to make sure its near "La porte bleu" of the medina.
Day 6: Exploring Fes & overnight bus to Merzouga
We hired a tour guide with a car for the day to take us around Fes. We actually met him the night before randomly at Mcdonald's he drove us back to our Riad for free and offered to tour us around for 200MAD/27CAD. He drove us around the next day, brought us around the souks, the tannery, went to see the panoramic view, and gave us a little history of Fes. As the day ended we picked up our things and went to the Fes ONCF train station to take our overnight Supratour Bus to Merzouga. The bus was very comfortable, air conditioned, made one pit stop where some man charged us to use the bathroom. We finally made it to the sahara in Merzouga at 7H00.
*Tip: make sure to bring gravol with you since the roads are zig zag and Moroccan drivers are insane, and that's an understatement.
Day 7: Merzouga and Camping in the Desert
Finally we made it to Merzouga. I would describe the town as isolated. We saw almost no locals and saw one van parked. Luckily he drove us to our Riad with two other people split the fair for 100MAD/13CAD. We stayed at Riad Madu via www.booking.com. This riad is in the middle of the desert over looking the sand dunes. They organized our camping trip in the desert as well. This was our most expensive accommodation everything from the riad to desert trip and food costed 864MAD/120CAD per person. This experience was once in a lifetime and we don't regret spending this much for a comfortable experience in the desert.
http://www.riadmadu.com/
Day 8: Merzouga to Ait Ben Haddou
When we woke up from our overnight camp we rode the camels on the sand dunes and met with our driver to drive us back to the riad. Our riad booked us a private car to Ait Ben Haddou. The ride costed 1300MAD/180CAD for a six hour ride, the bill split in four. We stayed at Hotel Bagdad Cafe https://hotel-ait-ben-haddou.com/. It costed 439MAD/61CAD breakfast included. It's located 5 minutes away from the Ksar d'Ait Ben Haddou. Mohammed the owner was very hospitable and gave us tips when going around the country, he prepare us dinner which was amazing for 50MAD/6CAD each person!
Day 9: Ait Ben Haddou to Marrakech
After we woke up, we went to visit the Ksar of Ait Ben Haddou. It's an ancient village protected by UNESCO. There are still four families living there to date. We accidentally got lost and went into one of the family's homes. Luckily, the man was kind enough to invite us in to take pictures. We finally had to leave and the hotel's owner Mohammed booked us a private car to go to Marrakech for 500MAD/69CAD split in four bills. The drive is three hours zig zagging around the Atlas mountains. We arrived in the fast and bustling city of Marrakech in the late afternoon, it was very different from all the towns we've visited. More modern, busy and the scams are on a whole other level. I will write a Marrakech guide on a separate blog post to fully explain what our experience was.
Day 10-12: Exploring Marrakech
Marrakech was one of my favorite cities in Morocco. Despite being busy and taxi drivers over charging for a 15 minute ride, what made our stay special was our accommodation Albakech House http://www.albakechhouse.com/. Owned by an amazing Irish-Moroccan local Adam. We opted to not stay in the medina because we felt like we needed to relax after so much travelling. Adam and his team are excellent hard working people who go above and beyond to make your stay memorable. I would suggest to stay in the newer area of Marrakech if you want some peace and quiet. Our hotel was a two minute walk from a mall where we bought some necessities for super cheap. We visited Le Jardin Majorelle, Jemaa el fna, Secret Garden, ect.
Day 13: Marrakech to Casablanca
Finally our trip came to an end. We opted to take a private car to Casablanca at 3H00 for 1000MAD/138CAD. A little expensive but we asked around four drivers the cost and they all charged the same amount so we ended up booking through our hotel and we do not regret it! We got to sleep a bit overnight and our hotel prepared us early breakfast at 2H30. We are so happy we opted to use a private car as oppose to a four hour train ride to Casablanca. Two hours later we finally arrived at the airport and flew back home to Montreal.
I hope this helps you plan your trip to Morocco, please feel free to comment below or email me at dannieavellaneda@gmail.com for any questions, I will gladly answer them for you.
Dannie & Franky
To receive 25CAD for your next trip book through https://www.booking.com/s/34_6/35cfa5ad
To look for transportation between cities https://www.rome2rio.com/
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