Two week trip to Morocco in December
 

Hi,
I've planned a two week trip in a 4x4 to Morocco from 22.Dec to 4.Jan.

The plan is...

Tanger to Marrakech, stay in Marrakech for 4 days
Marrakech to Foum Zguid
Foum Zguid to Mhamid
Mhamid to Merzouga, stay in Merzouga for 2 nights
Merzouga to Outat El Haj
Outat El Haj to Fes, Stay in Fes for 2 nights
Fes to Tanger

I would've loved to have done Gorge Dades and Todra as well but I am tight on time :(

What is your opinion of the itinerary vs timeline for this time of the year? In my mind this is a pretty relaxed itinerary giving me a few days to enjoy the desert and the cities. Your thoughts?

I've just arrived back in Spain after a couple of weeks in Morocco in my little Panda 4x4.

If you are planning to cross Lac Iriki for the Foum Zguid to M'hamid link you'll need a GPS and some waypoints as the routes are not at all clear. Experience in sand would be useful!

The routes from M'hamid to Merzouga are clearer but you may hit problems crossing the very wide sandy/rocky bed of the Rheris river by Rhemlia and one option is to avoid this by heading north via Foum Mharech

Thats a lot of miles. Why 4 days in marrakech ? A trip to Marrakech is easyto make other times of the year. An extracday or two in less accessible places might work better. Just a thought.

+1
I tell the family when they wan't to stay in a comfy place "one day more here means one day less in some really remote place later on".
Then we compromise.
Marrakech is just a budget flight away.

Believe you me guys I wouldn't stay in Marrakech for more than 24 hours but the family wants what the family wants

You dont seem to have much contingency in that plan. Does it matter if you are 2 days late?You could do Marrakech at the end to give you four days contingency. And it really is a lot of miles!! You may all want a rest part way through.

I think that that might be a bit too much, Tangier to Marrakesh is a long day in itself, even if you start out first thing!

You might find the pistes will require a very steady touch which time constraints and a family in the vehicle might not help M Hamnid to Mesouga is a very long day and you need to be prepared to stop the night if you get held up.

add in a few more days to the traveling and I'm sure you'll have a great trip.

If you have not already done so, look up the miles for each day. I see when it gets dark. I don't know what others think, but driving on motorways (Tangier to Marrakech) after dark seems safe, but other roads are not, I've been tempted on occasions, and afterwards looked back and thought how foolish.

Two week trip to Morocco in December
 

Plan is to gun it from tangier to Marrakech. I'm gonna have to put my foot down and limit Marrakech stay to two days. This way I'll have two day contingency. Current daylight is limited to 7am - 5pm. I will definitely add 2/3 more days to the trip. Thanks for the input!

Second contingency is to drive straight to Fes from Merzouga, no detours

Some thoughts

Tanger to Marrakech - This will be a very long day, allow 8-10hours plus time to negotiate Marrakech Traffic and find your accomodation

stay in Marrakech for 4 days - You can knock out most of the sites in 2 leisurely days,use the other 2 to make more of the rest of the journey

Marrakech to Foum Zguid - another long day but great drive. Stop at Teluet and Ait Benhaddou


If it was me I'd do Marrakech to Ouarazazate stopping at Teluet and Ait Benhaddou. Then south to Zagora before heading across to Merzouga. You'd miss Erg Chegaga but you'll still see dunes in Merzouga

Zagora to Merzouga is possible in a day but add a wildcamp and another half day and it'll be much more relaxed.

From here I'd be tempted to head to the Todra Gorge and the road upto Imichil and then to Midelt. Tar the whole way and with some snow stunningly beautiful

Tanger to Marrakech is not difficult on the motorways. A couple of days ago I drove from El Jadida to Tanger Med. We set out at 0815 and arrived just in time for the 1335 ferry. Just over five hours. Didn't speed at all. There's extensive roadworks where the authorities are building a southern 'rocade' around Rabat, but otherwise easy to maintain a steady 110-115 kph speed.

It's about 90km less from El Jadida but then we were heading for Tanger Med rather than Tanger which is another 45km.

We then crossed to Algeciras and drove another 380km to the other side of Granada.

I like the idea, thanks. I'm gonna plan it in my Basecamp and see what it looks like. Seems like 2 days in Marrakech is a real possibility :clap:

The Tanger - Marrakech day will be the day you arrive by ferry?

Did you schedule 4 hours at customs/border?

Fes to Merzouga will also be a long day, but possible.


A few days ago i wrote some recommendation for accomodation in Fes, Marrakech and Merzouga in this thread:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ntribute-39077

Have fun, will be a great time.
Try to get in touch with the locals, especially around merzouga and erfoud. Very nice people!!

I've never, ever, encountered a delay of four hours.

The easiest crossing is Algeciras to Tanger Med and the cheapest ferry is normally Acciona Trasmediterranea. Passport control is done on board the ferry, so look for a queue by a desk and join it.

Plan on the ferry leaving at least 30 minutes later than scheduled, plan on the crossing taking longer than stated, plan on delays on unloading, then allow 45 minutes for the customs.

And watch out for speed cameras! The highways are swarming with cops - stay within the limits and avoid the delays! Entering and leaving towns also often have cops waiting to catch you speeding up too soon before leaving the 40 zone.
Drive safe and enjoy the trip,
Simon.