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Hi! I am going to Spain from the 29th of Jan to Feb 17 and am hoping to squeeze a short 4 day trip to Morocco somewhere in between (have to pop by Germany as well so I can't stay too long).

Does anyone have any recommendations as to which city to go to and where to stay? Or even a really short tour package I can do? I can fly in from either Barcelona or Madrid (or Berlin even, I guess...)

Thank you.

You are not going to see much of Morocco in 4 days, but if that is all the time you have, I would fly into and out of Fez and stay in the Medina there.

It is the best city by far and will give you a nice taste of Morocco.

I don't even know what airlines do that or if it is possible, but Fez is the place to be. Marrakech is much less authentic and the Sahara ( which is some of the very best of Morocco) is too far and isolated for that short of a stay.

Dar Sefferine is a great place to stay in Fez, right in the medina.

I believe in slow travel, so I would not do more than Spain in the little time that you have, but sounds like you want to pack it in.

Planning extremely well is needed when expecting to do so much in so little time. Remember that you pretty much lose a day on your travel days and jet lag has a price to be paid as well.

If you are not wanting to fly, you can take a ferry to Ceuta along Morocco's northern coast and then hire a car and go to Chefchaouen. It is a beautiful little city and very relaxing. Ceuta is nice as well although much more modern and full of clothing stores and resturants. You can see what Chefchaouen is like by checking out my article here.

If you've got just 4 days, maybe the best option is to stay 4 days in Tanger

If you choose to fly then you can fly to either Fes or Marrakesh. Both equally good places in my view. this link may be helpful.

As mentioned the alternative is to take a ferry from Spain. There are slow boats from Algericas and fast ones from Tarifa.

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If you are not wanting to fly, you can take a ferry to Ceuta along Morocco's northern coast and then hire a car and go to Chefchaouen. It is a beautiful little city and very relaxing. Ceuta is nice as well although much more modern and full of clothing stores and resturants. You can see what Chefchaouen is like by checking out my article here.

Having seen the state of certain roads in Morocco, plus the way certain locals drive on them I would think long and hard before I hired a car there. That is just my impression.

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If you've got just 4 days, maybe the best option is to stay 4 days in Tanger

Tangier is worth a day AT MOST. There are nicer places to go, like Chefchaouen (bus) or Fes (train). I haven't been to Chefchaouen myself but everyone who has been seems to rave about it.

Finally, before you goto Morocco read up on the various scams. Don't accept invitations from 'unofficial' guides, who often lurk at the bus or train stations. Always make taxi driver's use the meter, or make them agree a fare before you get in.

Just so you know, it is a very looooong trip from Spain to Morocco. We hit everything just right and it was still a very long way and we started at Malaga. We got up at about four in the morning to catch the first bus, had to take two taxi's a ferry and loooong train ride to Fez. If we had to wait for the train, it would have been a lot longer, but we lucked out and caught one as soon as we arrived. The next one left several hours later. It is not bad, just long. We were not hassled much.

Make sure you get first class tickets for the train which is more like second class in other places ( and second class looked really bad in Morocco). I really can not see doing this both ways for a 4 day trip, but each to his own.

As it was we barely got to Fez before it got dark and would have arrived at night in the medina if we had to wait for a train. It is not the kind of place ( think 3rd world,looks like the middle ages) I would want to be wandering alone at night as a woman.

That said, we took a budget flight back from Marrakech to Madrid and it took even longer than the hard way in because of the endless delays that had us stuck at the airport from morning to the middle of the night. Only in Morocco can you watch a cat fight at the airport!!

Things do not always go as planned in Morocco, so keep that in mind and also be careful with the food. My friend rented a nice 4x4 and when he showed up none were left, so he got a real clunker. The roads are dangerous, no seatbelts and top in the world for auto deaths, but we would still probably rent a car next time since the transportation system is pretty bad.

Still... it is an exciting adventure! ( Truly, but good to be prepared as well for what is in store). Oh, it will help immensely if you speak French.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I will most likely be flying in from Barcelona or Madrid, as although taking the train is appealing, I don't really have that much time.
I can't drive, so driving anywhere is really out of the question.
I am now choosing between Fes & Marrakech and thinking about whether or not I should just ditch going to Barcelona (have been there) and spend more time in Morocco and in that case take some sort of organised tour...

Thank you again, if you have any more advice of any kind, would appreciate it.

To be honest, we didn't find the roads that bad. We were in Morocco for 2 months and drove all over Northwestern Morocco. We had a Toyota 4 x 4 and even when the roads did get a little rough we didn't have that hard a time. Even going to Chefchaouen on back roads from Tangier there were no issues.

If you really only have 4 days I would not even think about going to far into Morocco. There just its time unless you are going to fly. I stayed in Tangier for a little over 2 months. I would leave Tangier periodically and explorer farther south. I got as far as Marracech and visited many cities in between.

You don't want to spend more than a day in Tangier believe me. It is really not that impressive and we walked all over the city. There is sewage pumping right out into the ocean so the beaches are really not doable either.

Here are a few things I would do. You can travel southwest along the coast and go to Cap Spartel which is a lighthouse on the most northwestern point on the African continent (it is a been there done that kind of thing).. Near by you can visit the Grottes of Hercules. It is a cave that when you looked out onto the ocean, the shape of the mouth of the cave is the African continent. Leaving you can travel back through Tangier (Don't stop) out to the Moroccan side of the Pillars of Hercules (Jbel Musa), the tiny island town of Ceuta, Tetouan (only to make a turn) and finally Chefchaouen where I would spend a day or 2 max... Then you can go back to either Ceuta or Tangier to take a ferry back to Spain.

I think that a realistic iteniery.

Layne

I agree flying is your best bet if you only have 4 days and want to see Fes or Marrakesh.

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Just so you know, it is a very looooong trip from Spain to Morocco.

Not necessarily, it depends where you leave from. From Tarifa to Tangier the boat takes just 40 minutes.

Fez, but Marrakesh isn't a bad choice either.

Check out the Riads for acommodation.
www.riadsmorocco.com

There's no point in going to Tangier if you're flying. It's really only a 'city of convenience' when traveling overland.

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Not necessarily, it depends where you leave from. From Tarifa to Tangier the boat takes just 40 minutes.

True, but most people do not want to hang out in Tangier and most people do not come to Spain to see Tarifa. It is a 6 hour train ride from Tangier to Fez ( and one could wait several hours to catch that train) and much, much longer to Marrakech.

Thanks again for all the advice! I have decided to fly into marrakech from barcelona as it is hard to find flights into Fes. (i found one but the times aren't really convenient) I'm staying from Feb 6-9 and am looking at staying at a hostel that is also a Riad. If you guys have any suggestions on what to do and see that would be great! thank you.

If Marrakech gets to you after 2 days ( and it often does) you could go to Essouria which is close by and on the sea and all white and blue. We liked this riad which includes a fantastic hammam which is as close as you will ever get to a roman bath in ancient times. The hammam experience is well worth doing and this is the perfect place to do it.

Marrakech is worth seeing, but we liked nearby Essouria much better. So sorry you can not get to Fez which we found much better than both of these, but the combination could give you a taste of two very different parts of Morocco on your short stay. Four days is a long time to be in Marrakech, so plan at least a day trip somewhere like Atlas mountains if not Essouria.

If you are a shopper, you will like the souks which is the big hit in Marrakech.

We took a day trip to the Atlas mountains from Marakesh and had a great time. It was a nice break as WT suggests.

Our guide was great. He picked us up right in the Medina in Marrekesh and drove us to to the mountains, with several stops along the way, including the small village of Imlil, a camel ride, and a stop for a delicious lunch at his house in the mountains. He's actually a friend of my friend's uncle, and I still have his contact info so if you're interested let me know.

While I disagree that four days is a long time (that's rarely long in any city), I do think it's a great idea to break up your stay, as Marakesh can get a bit hectic.

Hello!! Marrakech is the best bet,there you'll get all the energy and color of Morocco.the hotel Toulousain in the ville nouveau section,quiet enough to reflect,if you get rm 31 or any of the rooms on that side,you can boot on to the internet at the bookstore/cafe next door.Square of the Jah Fna at night is not to be missed but keep your head up!Spain ,personally Granada's Alhambra at sunrise can't be beat.Seville in nice.But Granada...sigh.. But seriously,Marrakech is our favorite city so far..and we've seen lots..It actually pulsates and is alive!!!Let us know what you think if you do go..have fun..We're still figuring how to squeeze Marrakech in on our return to Canada..Say hi to the cat at the hotel for us..She likes Friskies!!

Thanks again everyone!

My trip is shifting around and taking a life of its own, I am still trying to work out when I am going to get to Morocco but I am definitely going. I have a few other questions.
- Has anyone done a tour of the desert? I found something online about 2 day tours from marrakech to zagora, including camel rides and sleeping in a nomad tent (through authentic morocco tours). Do you think that it would be better to do this or should I just take a day trip to Atlas Mountains and/or go to Essouria?
- Is it relatively easy to get from the airport to wherever you are staying? In theory I should have an airport transfer but just in case...

thank you

I’ve never been to the desert, but it sounds like bit much for your time there. I feel two days is too short for a desert tour, and I wonder how the travel time from Marrakesh to the desert would factor in. Would it end up taking up more than two days, or would your two days turn into less when you take out travel time? And then you would not have much time in Marrakesh, so you might end up feeling like you were rushed through both places. Just some thoughts...

It’s an easy trip from the airport; I’ve taken it a few times. There are always cabs outside and it’s maybe 10-15 minutes to the Medina. The tough part is negotiating a good cab price, so the transfer isn’t a bad idea if you don’t want to deal with that. I can’t remember the prices, but there is advice from some people here. I’m sure there’s a bus, which would be cheaper, but I don’t know schedule or prices.

Fly in to the Marrakech Menara airport on EasyJet from Spain. Do not pay more then 50dh to get into the city. Book ahead in Marrakech if you want to stay in the medina and if it's on a weekend.
There is tons to do in Marrakech and it is an extremely fun city to stay in. I lived there for a while and highly reccomend it. Fez is good too, but it's an old city and very closed to tourists in comparision to Marrakech.
Marrkech proper is chaotic and that can be hard on some people. If you need time out go to the Ourika Valley in the mountains or the Cascades de Ozoud to the north near Azilal. Both are spectacular.

For a desert trip...arrange it at a hotel in Marrakech. You might not have tons of time but if you just want to hang out in some dunes and ride a camel they can take you to Zagora to do it.

4 days in Marrkech is not a lot anyway. I would reccomend people stay there for a week to get into the swing of things. But you'll have a good time regardless. Good luck!

I think everyone is right. I would get a cheap flight to Marrakech and then stay for a couple days and head by shared taxi to the beach town of Essouria (different spellings available). I think given your limited time, you'll need to book ahead for accommodation, unless you just want to risk it. During this time of year, there are many people coming to travel morocco and nice places for reasonable prices may get booked up. Hope this helps

Journey Beyond Travel Morocco team
http://www.journeybeyondtravel.com

Just be aware that there are many nicknames that we & others have come up for easyjet like:

I-will-never-take-this-airlines-again jet
Will-we-ever-get-out-of-this-airport jet
My-butt-is-getting-sore-from-waiting jet

You get the idea. Easyjet is definitely a misnomer. We actually spent MORE time being stuck with easy jet at the Marrakesh airport watching cat fights than it took for us to get from Malaga to Fez taking buses, several taxi's and a 6 hour train.

Things often do not run smoothly in Morocco, so keep that in mind. I know someone who paid for an ordered a nice 4x4 to drive but when he arrived none were available. After tons of hassles, he finally got an old beat up car to use, but they managed to enjoy their stay nonetheless. Be ready for an adventure in Moroccco as is its own world.

I don't think Zagora is worth it and it is not beautiful and classic Sahara like Merzouga area where most people go. If you are only going to do this once, might as well do it right and go to Merzouga, but you will have to add more time and expense. Getting to Merzouga is what will cost unless you take the bus ( which is not a bad idea).You will probably have to stop over in Oarzarte ( sp?) which is also not a bad idea as Merzouga, Ait Ben Haddou & the trip through the atlas mountains is some of the best Morocco has to offer.

If you love to shop, you will like Marrakech, otherwise it is so touristy and full of noise and traffic that it will get to you quickly. Fez medina is MUCH more authentic, but most tourists go to Marrakesh because more flights come there ( & maybe from the song too). It is a popular weekend jaunt from the UK party people.

With four days I would do no more than two days in Marrakech and then go to Essouria. ( Do the Hamman there.) You can ride a camel on the beach there if you need a camel ride ( which you can do most anywhere in Morocco).

Forget the desert this time, OR add more time and do it right in Merzouga. ( Go Les Nomades and avoid the touristy junket big groups that some get sick on).

Quality time in the Sahara is the very best of Morocco, so it is too bad that you are missing that one of a kind experience.