Our full experience in Morocco last 11 days, we travel North to South, spent a night in the Sahara Desert, and enjoyed our stay in the major Moroccan cities.
A country rich in culture, flavours and picturesque cities, 11 days wandering around, here our travel in details.
2 Days Marrakech
3 Days trip to Sahara Desert
3 Days Fez
2 Days Rabat
1 Day Casablanca
About the weather...
The weather in Morocco is pretty nice all year round, except a few months like December and January when it can get pretty cold, especially inland. Each city has it's own weather, with pro and cons, especially the difference is visible once you move from inland closer to the sea. We went there middle of October, and still, it was very hot during the day, and warmth at night (The desert can get pretty cold during the evening) no rain at all during our stay, but the more you go close to November, the chance to get a bit of rain will get higher.
Marrakech
Our experience in Morocco had to be more low-cost compared to the other holiday because after 2 months we had our flight booked for a beautiful trip around Cambodia.
So we decided to save more on the accommodations.
Here in Marrakech, we stayed at the Hotel Salsabil very economic and right behind the main square Jeema El Fna, so it was very practical to move around the city, but do not except anything too fancy :)
We decided to start our tour of Morocco from Marrakech, simply because it was more convenient in term of a plane ticket.
Once arrived at the airport we bought straight away a sim card from Orange, from our experience a reliable telephone company, who provided a fair service even in the middle of the desert, and definitely worth the price.
One of the most famous attractions in this city is the Koutoubia a 12h century Mosque, known as the largest one in Marrakech. It's a really beautiful building, its tall tower is visible basically from every roof in Marrakech, and we used it once, as a point of referral to come back to hour hotel. Unfortunately, most of the Mosque in Morocco are not accessible to the
non-muslims people, so we had to satisfy ourselves with a walk around. Obviously, you are aware of the famous Souk of Marrakech, an intrigued market, rich in alleys, very similar among each other, where is very easy to get lost (talking on experience here).
Whenever you enter this market, be aware of people who will offer you any kind of guide through it, is a popular scam.
Usually, a kid or an adult will approach you, offering to show you around, at first, they will say it's for free, but we all know... nothing is for free!
In general, just try to not trust too much and avoid places too far from the main market, it's not safe.
If you want to have a proper guide of the souk or tanneries, better to get it from the hotel or a known agency, it may seem to cost more than what you can find on the streets, but for sure you will save money and have a better service at the end.
You can't miss a tour at the Tanneries, locals are still working there with a really ancient method.
Those are the historic ones and do not expect anything fancy, starting from the smell and the way the people are working. You may disagree with the process and the meaning of all that, but in the end, is a piece of Moroccan history, so I believe it deserves to be explored.
But Marrakech is not the only scam and smelly tanneries, but it also has many other beautiful things to see
We can't give any advice on specific shops, orienting in the souk is hard and it's almost impossible to remember where a specific place is located.
That's what happened for most of our discoveries, simply we weren't able to trace them down after, so our recommendation is to enjoy the moment!
We were pretty impressed by the El Badii a vast 16th-century palace, not far from the city centre, even if at the moment is pretty empty, you can still have an idea of how huge it was back in the past.
You will find a street vendor in all the corner of the city, be aware that the items that you buy there may be of doubtful quality or even worst participate in human slavery, that unfortunately is still a major problem in Morocco.
Irene is a huge fan of Henna, and after some research on the internet I have found out the Henna Art Cafe where all the women working there come from a difficult life, and all the ingredients used are all-natural.
If you are interested in this process, this place may be the right one.
After walking all day and exploring the city, you want to relax and chill out a bit, especially because the hot Moroccan weather will drain your energy pretty quickly, and in our opinion, the best place to do that is the Jemaa el-Fna You will probably find hundreds of restaurants and bar all around the square, I have attached few ones that we liked at the end of the post, but apart from that, just lookout for a terrace, where you can enjoy a beautiful sunset, with a vibrating and lively market right under your nose, nothing can beat that.
This square can turn itself really confusing, especially once the sun goes down, it changes completely and it is a real experience, you can find any types of things and food, and is probably the place where most of the tourist and local are headed during the evening.
To be honest, we really didn't enjoy our time there, or at least we didn't feel comfortable as we usually do during our trips.
You are constantly surrounded by locals trying to sell you something, insisting and sometimes following you... we really felt to much pressure and we didn't feel free to just look around or taking pictures, so probably not what we expected.
One of our favourite attractions was definitely the Jardin Majorelle a picturesque and colourful garden, created by a French artist.
It contains huge amounts of tropical plants and it's a very pleasant place to visit.
Just be aware that is a really famous garden, and it can be very crowded, from the day it opens till the day it closes, so the queue can be very long.
In recent years the site has become incredibly popular and now ranks as Morocco's most visited tourist attraction, and once you will visit there, you will understand why.
Sahara Desert
We left Marrakech directed to the Sahara desert, we decided in that case to take a three days tour, that ended up in Fes. You can find many tour operator in both cities, but we decided to book online because we read some stories about several scams run by some dodgy agencies, you just need to look out for review and find them more suitable for your need.
The Road itself is pretty scenic, it can get very tortuous, and the time spent in the car can be very long.
But everything is paid when you can get out of the vehicle and enjoy a pretty scenic view like that one.
Road apart we were pretty surprised by a few stops along the way.
First and foremost Aït Benhaddou a fortified village, become famous because various movies like The Gladiator and Games of Thrones have been shot there.
Apart from that, this village is very interesting itself and is a great example of Moroccan clay architecture, and has been a Unesco Heritage Site since 1987
The Gorges du Todgha are a stunning place, unfortunately, the pic itself can't give a proper idea of how tall those limestone river canyons are.
And that's not even all, because are very long too, 40 km in totals, and those are not even the biggest one in the country.
Like many other places in this country, the Gorges can get very crowded during the day, so if you have the chance try to get there as early as possible.
We finally reach out to Merzouga our last stop before the Sahara desert, the village itself doesn't have anything particular, only the fact that you are right on the doorstep of the largest hot desert in the world.
We had a wonderful trek through the dunes for one hour during the sunset, one of the most beautiful experiences that we ever did, it was simply magic, and we definitely recommend it.
The more the sun was fading away, the more wonderful colours started to appear along the road.
And once the sun set down, the moon was lighting up our way, we could see stars in every direction thanks to the total absence of light pollution, unfortunately, we weren't able to take a picture who give the proper credit to that spectacle,
We spent the night on a traditional Berbers Camp, slept in a tent.
Be aware the desert becomes very cold, especially compared to the burning heat during the day, so it's always good to carry something that can get you a bit more warm if you need it.
Unfortunately, we were on a pretty tight schedule, and the day after we came back on our way to Fes, but we totally recommend spending at least one day more in the desert.
Before reaching the country cultural capital, we had to stop at the Cèdre Gouraud Forest where you can find macaques roaming freely around the forest and even close to the road. Just need some bread or nuts and you can easily make a friend, just remember that those funny monkeys are vegetarians.
Fes
We stayed at Riad La Presidence in the middle of the medina, this place was actually nice and comfortable, the only downside is that it was a bit difficult to find, but apart from that, we enjoyed our stay.
Fes was once the capital of the country, back in the thirteenth century.
The medina of this charming city is protected by UNESCO, and it's a real maze, way more than Marrakech and any other Moroccan city that we known of.
As we said recently wandering around the Old City can be very confusing, firstly because the streets don't have a name, and secondly because the GPS can't work really well.
But it's only getting lost that we could spot this beautiful alley.
A really nice place to have an overview of the city is the Marinid Tombs
Originally a royal necropolis on top of a hill, now a tourist attraction where you can enjoy a beautiful view and rest from the long walk.
The whole medina is an open-air market, so every street and corner can definitely surprise you.
But unfortunately, the mosques are not accessible to the non-muslims people, same as all the other cities of Morocco, and that's a real shame, but knowing that you can still pop in outside and enjoy Arabic architecture, one of the most famous and that we enjoyed the most is the Al Attarine Madrasa
After a 20 Minutes walk from the Blue Gate (that in our opinion is a bit overestimated).
You can find the beautiful Royal Palace a very stunning building, that unfortunately, wasn't accessible.
The gold coloured doors are pretty beautiful too, showcasing a really well done work of Moroccan architecture.
Moving outside the Medina, especially under the hot weather, can be very tiring.
So our best recommendation is to use a taxi, that is very convenient, just be sure to jump on a licensed one.
The Medina is pretty safe during the day, but during the night it gets very dark, and no people around. We advise you to stick to the main street and try to avoid late hours.
Rabat
We spent our stay in a really nice place Riad Dar El Ghali right in the medina, really elegant and neat, it was very easy to reach and the breakfast was good too, definitely worth the price.
From Fes we took a train directly to Rabat, we must say very economic and cleaned train, It was a pleasant ride.
The Capital itself is even more pleasant, the medina is neat and clean for the Moroccan standards, and we can easily say that it was our favourite city compared to all the others.
You can walk around the markets, in the shops and not feel assaulted by street vendors.
One of the most interesting places that you must visit in Rabat is for sure the Hassan Tower all the area was supposed to be one of the biggest Mosquee in the world back in the 11th Century, and the tower itself to be the tallest Minaret of the Muslim Religion.
But both project has been left unfinished, with the Minaret half of the size, and the area dedicated to the mosque left with only the beginnings of several walls and 348 columns being constructed.
Still a charming place to be, particularly in its own way.
Not far too far you can use the promenade to reach the seafront, a pleasant walk for us thanks to the not to hot weather.
The Kasbah of the Udayas is an historical landmark of Rabat, listed as UNESCO heritage site.
This charismatic citadel right in front of the sea is a must if you visit Rabat. You can see the pretty famous blue alleys in a small quartier of this Kasbah.
Casablanca
We decided to spend a day in Casablanca, the largest city in Marocco, and one of the biggest financial centres in Africa, but we didn't really enjoy it, the city itself is pretty neglected, and it didn't transmit anything during our stay.
We only enjoyed the Hassan II Mosque a stunning oceanfront Mosque, the second-largest in Africa, and the only one in Morocco that is accessible to the non Mussulmans.
There are only specific hours where people can enter and see the mosque from inside, so be sure to know them.
That was a really interesting thing to see, with it's huge decorated doors and the background of the sea, it's a really unique place to see, and the fact that you can visit it from the inside is definitely a plus to be considered.
Morocco is a beautiful country, rich in history and nature, it's growing tourism is making the government thinking about more safety, especially in the main city.
But still is a charming nation with a medium level of safety, for families and solo traveller too, we really enjoyed our experience there, and if you are looking for something different, then Morocco is the right place.
Did anyone say Food or Drinks?!
Here our favourite places
Moroccan cuisine is based on meat and vegetables, with a lot of spices, you can find several dishes totally gluten free and for vegetarians too, but keep in mind that thanks to the French influence, you will find butter basically everywhere, and I mean, everywhere!! Alcohol is forbidden inside the medina. As always if you are looking for Gluten Free dishes, you need to constantly double check with the waiter, this type of disease is very rare in Morocco, and many people don't know its existence at all. We have stated all the GF dishes that we liked the most in the list below, which means that most of the time, we have found those items to be gluten free, but still, on every occasion and in each restaurant we double checked with the person in charge on our table to avoid any unpleasant inconvenience. The Tagine (GF) was our favourite dish, the famous slow cooked dish, always different from place to place, we ate it some many times that it became almost a comfort food for us. One of the most famous Moroccan dishes is the Couscous, you will find it basically everywhere, with fish, meat and vegetables, the portions are huge! Kefta (GF) is a dish based on spiced ground meats, most of the time beef, you can never go wrong with this delicious plate, look out for the Kefta cooked with onion and tomatoes. The Harira (GF) is a tomato based soup with lentils and traditional spices, very tasty it stands out among all the other soup for its typical flavour that screams out Morocco every time you taste it The Makouda is a savoury fried potato ball, served mainly from street food stalls, is delicious food on the go If you are a fan of the street food, then go fo the M'semen, a flatbread usually served with honey, or meat, depending on your taste, together with the Makouda they stand as two pillars of the Moroccan street cuisine, And then the B'stilla a savoury pie, traditionally made with Pigeon, but if you can't handle it, you can easily find it with chicken too, is a good mix between savoury and sweet.
Marrakech
Most of the Riads will offer a traditional breakfast once you book a stay with them, and to be honest, our was pretty nice too, but if you want to try something different, then heads too Zeitoun Cafe a modern restaurant facing the square
Jeema el Fna, a bit pricy in the evening, but serving great food during breakfast too.
We had a beautiful lunch at the restaurants Dar Chef a simple and cosy place where we chilled out after a long walk.
Dar Essalam is one of the few restaurants serving wine in the Medina, there we have tried an interesting dish.
Tagine of beef with honey, something that we definitely recommend to eat once you are there, the price are higher for the area, but the quality and the ambience is better too.
Fes
The restaurant of Fes in our experience was a bit less touristic compared to the ones in Marrakech. Standing from all La Tarbouche on the main street in the Medina, pretty visited by tourists, but still, we eat some very good Keftas there.
Cafe Clock is a modern Moroccan Cafe, who serves dinner on a terrace, and some of the best milkshakes we have tried so far, you need to try the almond one, it's perfect! And last but not least Le Jardine en Ruine is a charming open air restaurant, quite difficult to find, to be honest, but worth the struggle.
Rabat
Amongst the cities we visited Rabat was the less touristic, we loved that the most.
Dar Naji is a really nice restaurant, a few minutes walk from the main market, where good food is served on a nice terrace.
Dar Mayshad is really cosy and well decorated a riad, and it served us a very nice lunch at a good price.
Le Dhow is actually a boat, floating in the main river, facing the Kasbah, probably the most touristic restaurant where we have been in Rabat, but the atmosphere is nice, and here is the only other place where we were able to get a bottle of wine, and even that is a factor to take under consideration.
We are sure that you will love Moroccan cuisine, you will discover new dishes, with various spices and flavours, different from the one you may find at home, some you may like it, and some other not, but isn't that the beautiful part of travel the world?
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