My journey began with Royal Air Moroc.   Not recommended.  Even though there would be a connection taking longer, a much more enjoyable mode of transport would be Air France or British Airways (even changing terminals in London would be a better experience!)

The company I chose to travel with Heritage Private Tours is highly acclaimed in the travel trade for its outstanding expertise in Morocco as well as Spain, Portugal and South Africa.  Joel Zack, President of Heritage is a Fulbright Scholar, a Kinne Fellow, an author (on Morocco) and he holds a masters degree in architecture from Columbia.  Joel has organized trips fOR me previously so I was anxious to experience a Heritage Tour firsthand.

Upon arrival in Casablanca guests of Heritage Tours are met at the plane and taken through immigration.  Without this service one is left to try to figure out the Moroccan system, which does not include any instruction in English. Arabic and French are the first languages, English a distant third.  An interesting phenomenon in Moroccan airports is the presence of stray cats - everywhere.   After a three hour wait in the transit terminal where there is one coffee shop, I arrived in magical Marrakesh!  I was greeted in baggage claim by a Heritage Tours representative and whisked off to my Riad.

If you want to experience Morocco, the Riads are the way to go.   Former small ‘palaces’ that have been turned into hotels, they range basic but clean to sumptuous.  Riads are an oasis in a sea of chaos all featuring central courtyards.  There are hundreds even thousands of Riads in Marrakesh.  Obviously, there are several large hotel properties, most notably La MAmounia. Stunning!  I inspected many Riads and several hotels so when it’s time for you to travel we can discuss my experience in Marrakesh in terms of what would suit your needs best.

The first and best advice I received upon arriving in Marrakesh was to “keep to your right” when walking – especially within the pink walls of the medina where chaos reigns supreme.  The narrow passageways through the souks are exhilarating as vendors hawking their wares compete with donkey carts, scooters, bicycles and pedestrians!  If dodging all this action in a souk is not your thing then the fez souks would suit you better-NO SCOOTERS.

An expert guide and driver simply made this trip. Incredibly knowledgeable, fun and accommodating, Driss has complete command of not only Arabic and French but English as well.  His professionalism in dealing with all the personalities involved in our group was quite impressive.   Anas our driver – cool, calm and collected at all times; and that’s saying something given dodging donkey carts, bicycles and motor scooters, not to mention pedestrians – has the ability to pick up on the sense of humor of each personality to interact with you in excellent English.

Joel Zack hand selects his tour guides and it shows.  We lunched with a group of his guides/staff and they all reflected the same level of professionalism, command of the English language as our guide Driss.

Our tour included major sightseeing in Marrakesh, site inspections, countless excellent meals and fantastic shopping! We shopped the souks to the newer stores of Marrakesh.  Bargaining is the name of the game in the souks. Proving once again the guide is worth everything!

From Marrakesh we headed to the High Atlas Mountains, Berber country to Sir Richard Branson’s Kasbah Tamadot.  While the trip takes about 50 minutes be forewarned, 20 minutes of that are on switch-back roads so if you have motion sickness it could be a rough 20 minutes but OH so worth it.  Exotic, set in a pristine environment the Kasbah is stunning with excellent food service, terrific spa, and lovely common areas.  As if the Kasbah were not enough they have added five tents to the right of the Kasbah amid beautiful landscaping. An additional tent is located to the left front. Staying in one of the tents was truly an amazing experience. While you could chose to totally immerse yourself in relaxation at the Kasbah, the more adventurous could opt for fantastic hiking, four wheel drive adventures or an early morning balloon ride over the mountains.  Saturday morning brings villagers from near and far, many by donkey, to the market just down the hill in Asni.  The market is a feast for the senses; an experience worth planning your stay around being at the Kasbah on a Saturday morning.   Worth mentioning also is the Eve Branson charitable foundation with a small ‘shop’ adjacent to the property.  Handmade items from local villages and jewelry sold to benefit the community.

From this idyllic setting we headed straight to the Atlantic coast to the seaside town of Essaouira. Drive time from Marrakesh roughly 2.5 hours.  Completely different than anything we had experienced this laid back village reminded me a great deal of the Greek Islands where everything is whitewashed with blue shutters and doors.  The town is charming and romantic along a long stretch of brown sand beach. The village is known for outstanding seafood and music.  Jimi Hendrix found this village in the 60’s and it’s been a hub for music ever since.  There is a major music festival each summer. Our hotel for the night was the Relais & Chateaux Palais L’Heure Bleue.  A very romantic property in a super location.

Obviously I’ve just scratched the surface of this exotic destination and cannot wait for my next trip to discover the desert, Fes and Rabat.  Click on the link above to see some photos of the trip.