Salam alaikum,
We are all home safe and sound after an epic trip around Morocco, shukran Experience It Tours!
I haven’t stopped thinking about the trip and the fun we all had. Hopefully Youssef, our brother from another mother, had some fun as well. Youssef MADE the trip, without his genuine enthusiasm, knowledge and love of Morocco it would have been a very different experience. I’ve told many people about our adventures and do my cherished ‘Youssef impression’ for them. Makes me reminisce and smile every time.
Your company Experience It Tours was excellent from start to finish, the packet of info was helpful and complete. It was lovely to meet Jill in Fes at the gorgeous Riad.
Some highlights, I’m sure I will realize that I forgot to mention several after I press send.
- The birthday cake Youssef arranged for Lydia’s 70th was perfection. Obviously he was listening and gleaned that Lydia was all about chocolate.
- We had Youssef make a few unscheduled stops like buying rain boots at a roadside souk, stopping at multiple roadside souks to buy 80, yes 80 scrub mitts as souvenirs for our friends back home, a quick donkey ride from a friendly local transporting his goods from the weekly market, buying 3 giant suitcases to transport our rugs home – I could fit myself into the suitcase.
- We experienced a local hammam in Fes with Youssef’s wife and daughter, loved every new experience with ear to ear grins – and a few giggles. We did manage to experience touristy hammams as well, 4 of them.
- If we expressed a keen interest in a particular site, town, view or product, he always took the extra time and effort to pull over, go inside, explain more or say “google xyz”.
- We learned a lot about Islam and being a Muslim – without being too much, I have a new perspective which I appreciate.
- When it came to haggling the Berber way, Youssef helped us get started but gave us the appropriate privacy to go it alone. We felt we got the right price where both parties came away with a win-win.
- Ah, the dessert, with our Djellabas. Youssef arranged for us to borrow 3 from our rug shop owner for the night. Made for exceptional photos.
- We always felt safe.
My #1 piece of advice to anyone wanting to visit Morocco is to do it with a guide, 100%. We highly recommend Experience It Tours.
A few things:
We chose to go the 3-star route, which meant the rooms have beds that are typical with the locals, meaning they are quite hard, firmer than what we would call firm. The first couple of places we stayed I thought they had low quality beds, but came to realize it was not low quality but traditional. Had I known that was the norm I wouldn’t have had a negative response to the comfort of the beds those first few nights. On a side note, we treated ourselves to a luxury hotel where the beds were cozy squishy soft, relatively speaking.
The lunch stop food choices became a bit monotonous, might be nice to have a couple of options to broaden the choices.
Shukran to Youssef and the entire Experience It Tours team, well done!
Jane (January 2026)
