Hello
Just planning a trip to Marrakesh for Easter and need a bit of advice.
1. How many days would you advise spending in Marrakesh with a toddler?
2. Is it worth travelling to the Dadis Gorge? (of course our son can not walk very far so if there is nothing to do but hiking it might not be the best use of our limited time, given the amount of time it takes to get there)
3. Could we have any desert experience? (all I have read about consists of 2 days on a camel and a night under the stars, again quite a long car trip from Marrakesh and I dont think we can expect our son to spend 2 days on a camel; also I am pregnant and thinking that might not be the best idea for me!!)
I am not desperate to see everything during this trip, especially as we will only be there for 10 days!! I would rather we all had a happy and healthy time. We will definitely be returning to Morocco as my partner is often there for business.
All advice gratefully received, including recommendations for places to stay, things to do and ways to occupy our son!!
Thanks in advance everyone and happy travels :)
You might do better over on the Morocco board;
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forum.jspa?forumID=9&keywordid=35
I've been to Morocco with a two year old but we were in a different part.
We went to Morocco this summer for ten days with our five year old and 2 year old. We started in Fes for 2 days (we flew into there from Spain), hired a driver out of Fes to the desert, did an overnight in the desert and then up to Marrakech for 3 days (stopping overnight on the way.) And then a train back to Fes.
All in all, I thought this was a nice pace with the kids. The highlights for us were definitely Fes and the Desert. We spent about two hours on the camel to the tent but ended up being very far from civilization, which was wonderful. The kids loved sleeping in the tent. The Camel ride was a little tricky with the two-year old, after awhile the motion of the camel put her to sleep, which was tricky because holding a child who isn’t holding on AND holding onto a camel was a challenge. But it was well worth it and definitely a highlight. We ate dinner very late in the dessert (takes awhile to get out there and get stove going, etc.) so you might want to bring some items along for the little one. Also, we did a private trip, just our family and a guide and I really liked this personal attention and with the kids, it was really nice and really not terribly expensive.
Fes was great with the kids, less crowded than Marrakech and no motorbikes, so a lot more peaceful to walk around. It did help a LOT to have a guide with us, very easy to get lost in that medina and we stayed in a Riad so sometimes it was tricky to find our way home.
Marrakech was great, definitely do it, two days was enough for us and it is more stressful with a small child, we ended up always having her in a stroller or backpack and she could hardly walk around because of the motorbike traffic. We watched motorbikes run over cats and hit people, so really, be careful of kids. But there is no city like Marrakech for sure. We also stayed in a Riad in the Medina, which I recommend.
I highly recommend hiring a driver, very inexpensive and the drivers are crazy and roads not well marked. He was able to stop whenever we needed to. Take a car seat! The gorge was on our way from the dessert to Marrakech, so we didn’t hike but we did see it, definitely a beautiful area.
Hope you have a great trip! I didn’t find Morocco with kids to be a relaxing vacation but it was incredibly fun, amazing people, great food and definitely memorable! (You will find that people are EXTREMELY kind to you with kids, it is a whole different country with a little one, for us that was the best part.)
Marrakesh is going to be quite noisy and hectic with a toddler, so I wouldn't spend a long time there.
My son rode a camel in Egypt when he was two, and didn't enjoy it: it's very high up, and sways a lot. But you will be able to do the desert in a 4WD, which will still be jolty but more comfortable.
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