Rental cars and Riads

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sailoress
sailoress

We are putting together a last-minute trip to Morocco for Sept 9-16. Reading similar posts and responses has been very helpful so now I just have a few questions for our suggested itinerary.
1) Are the driving distances reasonable for this quick trip?
2) If we stay in riads, which seem to mostly be in the middle of the medina, where can we safely park the rental car?
3) Is this itinerary reasonable for Eid-al-Adha which appears to occur on Sept 11, 2016?

9/9 arrive Casablanca mid morning; rental car; drive to Meknes - stay in riad there 3 nights
9/10 day trip to Fez
9/11 day trip to Volubilis & Moulay Idris and/or to Fez : this is day of Eid-al-Adha
9/12 drive to Sefrou and Midelt - stay in riad in Midelt
9/13 drive to Marakesh - riad 2 nights
9/14 Marakesh
9/15 drive to Casablanca - see mosque and Rick's Café; stay ? hotel near airport ;
9/16 depart CMN early morning

Or would it be better to reverse this itinerary, to be in Marakesh 9/10-9/11 during the Eid-al-Adha? My companion lived in Izmir, Turkey many years ago and remembers this festival. Is it still so many sheep crowding streets everywhere, even in big cities?

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Heathermo1
Heathermo1

I think you will struggle to get parking in or near the medina. I woukd say drop the car back at airport on way back and get taxi to riad. That woukd save money on car hire too.
You wont need car for exploring the city its easy to walk or get petit taxi.

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khamlia
khamlia

I wonder how you will do - you say you will go to Sefrou (wonderful nice and calm city, highly recommend it) and then to Midelt - why to Midelt? There is nothing to see, or do you think go then across Atlas towards Ouzoud and to Marrakech? In any way if you want do it, you cannot do it in one day, road is good but slowly and it is about 400 km, so you need one more night on the way, Ouazoud?
Rest of driving distances is OK.
How it is to park in Fes I don't know but in Meknes it is possible, ask your Riad, they show you where you can park, though not in Medina of course. In Marrakech do the same, ask your Riad if they have parking. When I was there I got to park in theirs place near.
Skip Rick's Café, it is not as in the movie of course. Go instead to Marabout de Sidi Abderrahmane, nice holy mausoleum on rocky outcrop of land near Plage Ain Diab.

We travel because we need to. Because the distance and difference are the secret tonics to the creativity. When we get home, home is still the same, but something in our minds has changed, and that changes everything.
Jonah Leher
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moroccotraveler
moroccotraveler

...... have you got a confirmation of a car to hire or accommodation yet.? .....and avoid the most sacred site in Morocco on the day of Eid, everyone will be attending to their religious duties, this holy village will be heaving with the Faithful, visiting Dignitaries religious and political for ceremonies.

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sailoress
sailoress
In response to #3

We have the car hire in Casablanca airport but have not done the accommodations yet. Thanks to your response we will reverse our itinerary and go to Marakesh first. I see that most Riads have their own websites, but wondering if there is one site that lists many with pictures and info and perhaps booking. It would be easier to do that in one place as we are late in getting this together.
Thanks!

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khamlia
khamlia

Look at booking.com, they have big selection of the hotels and many pictures.

We travel because we need to. Because the distance and difference are the secret tonics to the creativity. When we get home, home is still the same, but something in our minds has changed, and that changes everything.
Jonah Leher
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Heathermo1
Heathermo1

We used hotels.com for our 3 riads in Essaouria and Marrakech. Great service and prices too
Try MOBA discount code for extra 10% off

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Thorn Tree

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