Marrakech Desert Tours 3 Days — Local services in Marrakesh Prefecture

I do not recommend this company. My husband and I took the 3 day tour from Marrakech to Fez. There were 8 of us crammed into a van for NO LESS than 10 hours a day. We were not aware that the driving would be 10-12 hours a day. Our driver was rude, he did not speak English (luckily 2 people in our van spoke a little French so we were able to get by), were pretty positive he slept in our van the first night and he reeked of cigarettes and alcohol. He drove 70 mph around winding mountain turns. I was so nauseated and stressed out in the back of the van that I broke out in massive hives.

The accommodation was absolutely nothing like was described. The mountain hotel in Dades Valley was unpleasant. Dark cold rooms with a flooding shower/bathroom. We had "upgraded" so we had a small balcony, which was the only nice thing. Dinner at the hotel was to be at 8:30pm. By 9:45pm I went down to the kitchen to inquire....I was pretty hangry at this point and we had to be up at 5:30 for another 10 hour drive the next day.

The camel camp was horribly unorganized. We were told that half of our group had to ride by 4x4 because there were not enough camels. It wasn't until I asked someone about my husband and I having a "luxury tent" that I was told he and I were at a totally different camp all together. They scrambled for a ride for us (an awesome Spanish man named Carlos) and when we arrived they took our luggage and told us to go get on the camels for sunset, which was 2.5 hours away. No time to refresh or even use the restroom. By almost sundown it was cold and windy and I asked our camel trek guy if we could just go back to camp so I could freshen up. I was told that all the Chinese tourists need to be taken back first, and that wasnt until after sunset. So, we waited with another couple until WAY past sunset before we headed back to camp. The trekker took us to the back side of the camp and then tried to sell us some crappy trinkets. I was so pissed off...and now had to walk through an huge camp in the dark that I had never been to to try and find out where our tent was. The "luxury camp" was not in the dunes at all. It was a huge camp with a restaurant., surrounded by other huge camps in a long flat area just outside the dunes. So, no nice dinner under the stars in the dunes like what was stated. At LEAST we had a shower and toilet in our tent. But we were so exhausted and happy to just finally be in our room at 10pm, we passed out and didn't even get to enjoy the drums. The next morning as we were getting ready to leave the power went out and these tents are pitch black inside. We were told that "as soon as the sun comes up the lights go off". Our van mates had a worse story of only one overflowing bathroom for the whole dunes camp and no way to shower or even clean up. The last day our driver was visibly upset and horribly rude to all of us. We arrived in Fez and our driver would stop at each location and literally yell for us to get out at our stops.

All in all it was awful and really put a strain on my marriage. If there was any point we would have been able to stop and rent a car on our own we would have done it.

I emailed the company, igomorocco, and recieved a reply that they would get back to me with a solution. A week and a half later and no reply. This was our one expensive splurge on our trip and it was beyond awful...and I have traveled around the world and am used to things not always going as planned.

Please, please do NOT book with...

We came with low expectations, but we should have had none at all of the I Go Morocco company. Pick up was fine but complicated and they asked us to give them the money in cash in the middle of the street without any preamble or even introducing themselves, which didn’t feel safe and we were worried it could have been a scam. There was a lot of people from different tour companies mixed in together, which I didn’t expect, and some stayed in different accommodation.

After a while when we left Marrakesh, the driver got in the car without a word and started driving. Again, no introduction, no hello, no description of where we are going next or the plan for the day. He drove, and nothing else. We considered ourselves lucky if, when he pulled over, he told us where we were and how much time we had.

The “A/C” was lukewarm air, and the van/bus itself was really dirty everywhere, uncomfortable, small seats, lots of things were broken. At times after stopping it was 35 degrees inside. Not a comfortable ride!

The guides in the villages themselves were both great, and we had a great time with them, but that’s nothing to do with I Go Morocco itself. The camel ride and desert camp were great too, as were the staff, but again nothing to do with the tour company itself. The driver on the way to Fes, Hassane Boussetta, was amazing, talkative, helpful, and generous. He stopped to give change to the homeless and bought food for the local street dogs, who were all waiting for him, out of his own pocket and expected nothing from us.

HOWEVER, on the first night, we stayed in Hotel L‘Etoile D’Azur, we were given room 5 specifically and it had bedbugs. The mattress was partly covered by a thin non-fitted sheet and nothing else, so it came off during the night. I got over 300 bites on my body, my partner was similar. They are so bad we had to buy steroid creams and will probably also need antibiotics as they’re likely to get infected. When I told the organiser this, they said sorry and “I’ll tell the hotel”. It’s ruined our whole holiday because we are in pain and itching everywhere.

I wouldn’t book with them again. They tell you to have low expectations - they don’t tell you your driver is likely to have no common curtesy and almost no communication, or that you will leave with 100s of bedbug bites and that they won’t try to make it right unless you hassle them.

EDIT: As you can see from their response, the company takes 0 responsibility for THEIR tour. It doesn't matter what supposedly went wrong, it's their job (barring a natural disaster) to make sure it goes right in the first place. Moreover, the "refund" was €30 we had to FIGHT for, it barely covers the medicine we have had to purchase for the bed bug bites. The scars and dark spots left by the bedbug bites may need laser treatment to remove and we may need to sue the company...

We enjoyed our 3 day Marrakech - Fes trip, it was a fantastic way to see different areas of Morocco and learn about the country. It was billed as a perfect tour for easy-going travelers with limited expectations, rather than a private tour. That was an accurate representation and it met our expectations.

Things that went well: There was a good group of people on the tour, a mixture of ages, genders and nationalities. During the three days we saw a good variety of landscapes and places of interest. The camel trek was probably the most anticipated activity for most and it was epic to see the golden desert dunes up close The included accommodation and meals were of a high quality and comfortable. The guide at Tinghir (Ali) was very knowledgable, spoke excellent english and elevated the quality of the tour. Similarly, on the last day we had a taxi to Fes while the rest of the group returned to Marrakech. Our driver on the last day, Hassane, was a friendly local so knew the area well and was more than happy to make photo stops as requested and suggested other attractions such as the monkeys at Ifrane National Park.

Things that could be improved: The tour includes a driver, rather than a guide. At some locations a local guide took over to talk about that specific area or activity, so there isn't a single go-to person for information. There was little communication as to what was happening between guided components. We were fortunate to have someone on the trip that spoke Arabic and kept the group updated with the plan, e.g. in 1 hour we will get to spot x, meet a guide for a tour and then have lunch. Improving the communication could be easily done and would make a big difference.

Our van was a combination of two groups, some that booked through I Go Morocco and some via another agency. In the evening the groups stayed at different accommodation and went on different camel treks. It is a shame that they were split up like this as the shared experience is part of the fun.

One of the camel trek guides behaved inappropriately with my wife, which I reported to I Go Morocco. This was not an employee of I Go Morocco, and hopefully corrective action was taken so that no one experiences anything similar, but may be able to be managed by better selection of local guides. The camel trek component also seemed to be the least organised. We left late as there seemed to be a temporary camel shortage (!) so half the evening trek was quite dark, and we started quite early so a lot of the morning trek was also quite dark. Again, communication between the group and the guides could be improved when we were milling around wondering what was happening before the evening trek.

Overall, the trip was was a very cost-effective option and we would recommend it, though with some minor changes it could be ...