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).

Our experience with Trips Marra  was that this is a family run business by a Moroccan family who know Morocco inside and out. We had 16 days with Hassan, our guide, who was articulate in many languages and took us to a variety of "off the beaten track places" eg. a 4wd excursion to Namads living in caves and in the desert. Our tent experience in the Sahara desert was a very safe and delightful experience.

The standard of hotel accommodation was of a high quality and reflective of real Moroccan life eg our hotel accommodation (camels house Riad) and meals in Rabat will be memorable for a very long time because the french staff were friendly and the meal was 5 star + , the admosphere with french music plus beautiful art on the dining room walls were enhanced by an excellent bottle of Moroccan wine. The guides that were provided by Hassan were of very high standard, most of them were school teachers with excellent language and history skills.

Traveling with Trips Marra is extremely safe and Hassan's driving capability is excellent. We would highly recommend Trips Marra and Hassan to anyone wishing to travel in Morocco safely.

Hassan was our guide for 2 days in Marrakech and in the Atlas Mountains. It was our best experience ever with a tour guide. We strongly recommend him. 

Please see his contact details above since Trip Advisor Tour HQ policy has changed and they have hidden all contact details (now under "Improve this listing"). 

I went to Marrakech with my fiance for 4 days. We first met Hassan  for a shopping tour in the souks on our first day. Hassan  proved to be an amazing tour guide, sharing his knowledge, giving us advice on the quality of the craftsmanship in Marrakech (poufs and rugs on the first day), encouraging us to ask questions and to touch the goods to see the difference in quality. He never put pressure on us to buy anything, on the contrary, and he let us negotiate with the merchants ourselves. Although our tour was supposed to be only for 2 hours, he stayed with us much longer on the first day. He also gave us advice in case we would be lost the next day and said we could call him if needed.

The second day he checked on us to see if everything was going fine and if we needed any help, which was so kind of him.

The third day we went with him for a day tour in the Atlas Mountains, which was so worth it. We first stopped in a traditional market, then we did trekking in the villages in the valley for a few hours and had lunch in the last village in a guest house. 250euros for the tour, the transport (car with chauffeur) and the lunch (tea, starter, tajine and couscous and fruit for dessert). We went back to the souks for 4 hours in the evening, looking for handiras and poufs, which we found thanks to him. 

Hassan, thank you so much for your help, your knowledge, your kindness and your patience! See you very soon!