This Time We traveled to Morocco in January 2019 and booked a 5 day, 4-night tour with Hassan - Trips Marra. Hassan (our main guide and more After the first Experience several year's ago) and Ismail (our driver and also a guide) picked us up in Marrakech on a Monday morning and we spent the next 5 days journeying with them across Morroco. 

Booking: We corresponded via email ahead of our arrival and the process was really easy. My husband and I sent them a list of the cities we wanted to see along the journey and, with this information, Hassan and Ismail planned our route through the Atlas mountains.

Accommodations: My husband and I arranged our hotels for the nights we spent in Ouarzazate, Azrou, and Fez. Trips Marra arranged a luxury camp for us to stay at for the night we slept in The Sahara. We were very happy with the camp - there was only about 8 tents total, the staff was really friendly, and the food was authentic and delicious. Each private tent has a toilet, a shower, and a sink with hot and cold water. They transported our luggage directly to the camp so we didn't have to worry about carrying it on the camel ride. See below for a helpful tip about what to pack if you're traveling in January.

Meals: Hassan and Ismail had great lunch spots for us. They picked restaurants that were clean, had great food and service, and were touristy but not overly crowded.

Transportation: The SUV was really comfortable and they had great music too. The little pillows on the seat headrest made all the difference! We packed one large suitcase, one carryon suitcase, and two backpacks, all of which fit comfortably in the trunk of the SUV. You would think spending 8-10 hours a day in the car (with stops) would be uncomfortable and exhausting, but it was actually a relaxing and enjoyable atmosphere.

Pictures: Hassan and Ismail did an AWESOME job taking photos for us. They always had fun ideas for different ways we could pose for the photo and they always took multiple pictures to make sure we had plenty that we liked. We really appreciated this!

The highlight of the trip: Sunset camel ride in The Sahara!!!! The camel ride lasted about 90 minutes and we did it as the sun was setting which was really spectacular. Hassan and Ismail stopped at a place for us to buy a head wrap so that we would be protected if a sand storm hit (the head wrap actually kept our heads warm which was a huge plus!). We got dropped off in town with our camel guy, Mohammed, who spoke very good Enligsh and was really friendly. He even stopped along the way to take pictures of us without us even asking. It gets chilly as the sun goes down in January so bring gloves and warm socks!

3 Helpful Tips:

1) If you're traveling in January and you plan to stay at the desert camp in the Sahara, be sure to pack lots of layers of warm clothing. The dining room tent has a gas heater, but the individual tents do not have heat. There are several wool blankets on the bed, but you're definitely going to want lots of layers of warm clothing if you're spending a night in the luxury desert camp in January. Also, we feel that staying in the desert 1 night is enough - we arrived in the evening after our sunset camel ride, ate dinner, watched the stars, listened to the music at the campfire, slept, woke up for sunrise, ate breakfast, and departed.

2) From the beginning, check in with Hassan (or whoever your guide is) and ask what kinds of stops you'll be making. We had already spent a few days in Marrakech so we had bought several souvenirs already and weren't too interested in more shopping on this part of our trip. The majority of stops along the way were interesting and breathtaking (the scenic views are really incredible). But there were a few stops that we could have skipped (shopping in Ouarzazate, water filtration tunnels) and I think that could be solved by talking upfront about what types of stops we wanted and which ones wouldn't be of interest to us.

3) Throughout the journey, we saw several tour buses with 8-16 passengers. For us, doing this trip across Morocco as a private tour made all the difference. Definitely worth it in every way! Tips to your tour guide aren't mandatory, but in our experience, Hassan and Ismail exceeded all of our expectations and made this a trip to remember for a lifetime.

Our Recommendation: We definitely recommend booking with Trips Marra for your Moroccan adventure. If you can, request Hassan and/or Ismail. They both had positive attitudes and really good energy. Together, they were a great duo, but they would each be great on their own as well. Whenever we asked questions about the local culture or history, they had helpful answers ready to go. Even if we weren't asking questions, Hassan and Ismail both offered really interesting facts and anecdotes about the Berber culture and the geography as we drove through the country. They both spoke Arabic, French, English, and Spanish (and I think other languages too).