Family-Friendly Morocco Tour in One Week

The local guides in Marrakech and Essaouira were terrific and our driver was very good. We had a glitch with the cooking class, where the class was evidently moved, but the communication between the driver and the guide from our riad in Marrakech was nonexistent, so we spent many hours waiting and doing nothing.

We had a truly memorable tour of Morocco and were delighted with the experience from start to finish.

Zicasso’s travel specialist was a pleasure to work with throughout the planning process. He was knowledgeable, responsive, flexible, and consistently helpful. The pre-trip materials were comprehensive and made preparation easy and stress-free.

The travel specialist designed an excellent 11-day itinerary showcasing Morocco's remarkable diversity, including the historic cities of Marrakech, Fes, and Chefchaouen, along with Rabat and Casablanca, as well as the Atlas Mountains, Sahara Desert, and cedar forests. Each day offered unique experiences, including vibrant souks, artisan workshops, scenic hikes, camel rides, a traditional hammam, Roman ruins, film studio, and wine tasting.

Every destination featured a dedicated local guide, all of whom were excellent. We traveled in a comfortable SUV and spent the entire trip with our driver. Friendly, professional, and fluent in English, he consistently went above and beyond to ensure our comfort and enjoyment, while sharing valuable local insights along the way.

Several thoughtful touches further enhanced the experience: unique accommodations, memorable welcome and farewell dinners, a dedicated messaging group for seamless communication, prompt responses to questions and requests, and assistance with restaurant reservations, even at short notice.

We are deeply appreciative of the travel specialist and the entire team at this travel company for creating such a memorable journey, and would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone seeking a well-planned, authentic, and high-quality Morocco experience.

Our trip to Morocco was absolutely perfect from start to finish. Our driver was excellent and an excellent companion throughout the journey—reliable, friendly, and always helpful.

The guided tour through the medina in Marrakech with our guide was a standout experience, especially with the bonus of dining at a fantastic restaurant he recommended. Two major highlights of the trip were the unforgettable hot-air balloon ride and our magical night in the desert.

Although our time in Casablanca was brief, we thoroughly enjoyed it. Our guide in Rabat was knowledgeable and made the experience engaging and informative. We ended our trip in the stunning town of Chefchaouen, where another guide provided an exceptional tour—he was informative and passionate about his city.

The accommodations were perfect at every stop, and we truly appreciated the welcome gifts and meals provided by Zicasso's travel specialist and his team. Their attention to detail made all the difference.

I would highly recommend him and his company to anyone planning a trip to Morocco. It was an unforgettable experience that I will be sharing with friends and family for years to come.

We just returned from a 13-day trip covering Porto, Lisbon, Rabat, the Agafay Desert, and Marrakech, and the trip exceeded what we had hoped for. We are a family of five, ranging from our early 60s to mid-20s, and Zicasso's travel specialist built an itinerary that worked well for all of us, with some unique experiences that suited our interests and travel style.

He was consistently responsive throughout the planning process and followed through on every detail. More importantly, the on-the-ground logistics in both countries worked well: private drivers arrived on time, guides were knowledgeable and personable, and the accommodations were well chosen. Our camp in the Agafay Desert was a particular highlight.

What made the trip genuinely worthwhile was the texture of it. The Portuguese side offered the kind of immersion you don't get from a highlights tour: a sidecar ride through Porto's historic quarters, a kayaking day in the Douro Valley, and a cooking class the morning we flew to Morocco. The Moroccan half was equally substantive, from the Rabat medina to the Berber family lunch in the Ourika Valley. We came back feeling like we had experienced both cultures, something that we try to really accomplish when we travel.

If you are considering this type of itinerary, this travel specialist is the right person to plan it. I'd book with him again without hesitation.

Morocco, a country that stimulates all the senses: tastes of tagines, smells of orange blossoms, textures of handmade Berber rugs, sounds of the call to prayer, and sights that are imprinted on my brain.

Our tour guide in the Atlas Mountains was exceptional in bringing us to the home of friends to cook a meal and then safely guiding us through the extraordinary mountain area of Imlil. Our driver navigated the mountain roads and medina traffic equally skillfully and safely, and became a friend.

Our stay in Marrakech was exceptional; doing a food tour and experiencing the breaking of the fast in Ramadan was a highlight. Learning about the culture and history from the knowledgeable guides enriched our experience.

We could not have planned this on our own and are truly thankful for Zicasso’s travel specialist’s guidance in orchestrating this amazing trip.

This is our third trip planned with Zicasso, and we’re less excited about this particular experience with this travel company. Overall, we made the most of the challenges and loved many of the days there. Here are some highlights and lowlights:

Pros:

Mostly well-planned excursions and transfers.

Digital app was easy to use and communicate.

Loved the service at one or two of the hotel locations. The last hotel in Casablanca was more like where we are used to staying.

We loved the Costa Brava, Toledo, and national park days!

The travel specialist’s team sent some nice birthday chocolates on my birthday.

Cons:

The trip did not adequately represent our family or interests. It also had hotel groups that we would not usually stay in. We would have paid more for different hotels. For example, the hotel in Essasouria did not have air conditioning. We were told that all hotels would have this. When we inquired, they acted like it was not a big deal or did not make other arrangements. They said it was usually windy and fine. We had to keep the windows open and were there for two days where it was not windy, so it was highly uncomfortable. This brings me to my second big issue.

The support team did not go above and beyond to ensure we were well taken care of. Particularly the weekend support. Three examples:

I was nervous about the hot air balloon ride pick-up at 4:50 a.m. The day before, I contacted the support team to ask for some specifics about the pick up location and if we needed to walk somewhere since our hotel was not near the main road. The response was just to meet someone outside our hotel. On the morning at 4:50 a.m., no one was there and we did not know where to meet them, only to learn that we were contacted via a messaging app about a meeting location. We did not have the app downloaded or were aware that it was needed. It took us 40 minutes to find the driver with no Wi-Fi.

I also contacted the team about the riad in Essaouira not having air conditioning and they did not seem to care. My hunch is that they did not know it did not. I never received any sort of apology.

We were supposed to get swords from one of the experiences to take home and there was a miscommunication. The support team said the travel company would reimburse us for the swords but we still have not heard how this would happen. My suggestion would have been for them to have them shipped back to the US. Instead, we had issues getting the swords we bought into Morocco and had to have our bags searched multiple times.

Was not a fan of the owner of the riad in Marrakech. She basically scolded us for our two teenage boys forgetting to turn off the air conditioning one day. It was also too small of a location for us. We did not like that she came and spoke to us every day at breakfast. A larger hotel would have given us more anonymity than we like on vacation.