Hey!
I'll go to Nepal early Feb '19 with one friend. We'll trek the Annapurna Circuit From Chame to Jomsom. If anyone would like to join, drop me a message. We'll have a guide and could share costs.
Profile: We are both German and are used to hike in the alps, age: 20 & 21
Trekking dates are 3rd of Feb - 13th of Feb
Dominik
Hi,
We have just started planning a trip to Morocco in Easter 2018, would love some tips and thoughts on the below schedule. We would like to visit some coastal areas, do a couple of nights camping in the dessert (camel riding etc.), visit the atlas mountains (maybe some light hiking and stay in the mountains if that's possible). Quite keen to go to places that are a bit off the beaten track and not so touristy.
Seeing as we have quite a lot of time we don't want to be rushing from place to place, want to spend a good amount of time in each area. Our budget is mid range, probably want to keep it quite low but happy to splash out on one or two places if it's worth it!
1 London - Tangier - Chefchaouen
2 Chefchaouen
3 Chefchaouen - Fez
4 Fez - What is there to do here, How long would people recommend staying?
6 Fez
7 Fez - Mergouza - we want to do a couple of nights in the dessert, would this be a good place to do it? any other location suggestions would be good..
8 Dessert camp
9 Dessert camp
10 Dessert - Dades
11 Dades - Ait Ben Haddou
12 Ait Ben haddou - got a couple of spare days here, any suggestions?
13 ……?
14 Essaouira - What is there to do here, How long would people recommend staying? Or is there another nice coastal town in the area work visiting?
15 Essaouira
16 Essaouira
17 Essaouira - Marrakech
18 Marrakech
19 Marrakech
20 Marrakech - London
Any advice welcome! Thanks. :)
Will it be too hot for it even to be enjoyable?
Enjoyable is very subjective. We can't predict the weather but expect dry heat with max day temperatures a bit over 40oC. If acclimatized properly that's hot, but not too bad provided you take a 4wd or camel and are not too active. But it could just as well hit 50oC which is for most people a big challenge. Certainly not the best time to go there.
I understand the trip to this location is not short or overly pleasant.
Whether it's long or short trip depends on where you come from. If you race through coming from Fez or Marrakesh as many do yes it's quite a long ride, there are however plenty of potential worthwhile stops in between.
Wow - Huaraz looks incredible! Thanks for the suggestion
There are quite a few amazing places to visit. Day trips, some pretty easy (assuming you are ok at altitude)e.g. Glacier Pastoruri (see it now as it'll be gone in 10 years 'cos of Climate Change). Others a bit (quite a bit) harder e.g. Laguna 69. And there are treks over several days e.g. Santa Cruz trek.
But it is high and it's about physical activity so you need to be well acclimatised to the altitude.
It's an overnight bus Lima to Huraz. Plenty of hostels (Aklipo http://huarazhostel.com/akilpohostel/ is a good one who know and explain and can even organise tours and treks).
Take a deep breath and relax... You are rushing around the islands like mad...islands like Paros or Naxos deserve at least 2 or 3 full days each. What is the point going to Paros on day 3 just for a night's sleep ? Same question on day 4: you'll just have time for lunch in Mykonos. Also note that ferries sometimes run late or can be cancelled. I'd redesign day 1 to 6 and pick 2 or max 3 islands and stay 2 or 3 consecutive nights on each. That time of year and considering your kids, Santorini and Naxos probably make most sense.
Day 6 to 11 sound good, though again probably a bit rushed for me. On day 6, the 3.5 hrs driving time is what Google maps says, driving non-stop at max allowed speed. In reality, with a few stops, it can easily be 5 hours.
You and the kids will spend many hours in that car for four consecutive days - ask yourself if you love to drive or if you want to do yourself and your family a favour and build in a lazy carless day ?
Hi TT,
Hoping someone may be able to provide some guidance. Does anyone know of the road conditions (paved, dirt, potholed, only accessible by 4x4) of the following;
P2016 - turn left of Souk El Had Zerkte if you are coming North from Ouarzazate. Looking to aim for Tighoudine as a base for some Atlas trekking for 2 nights. Would also be interested to understand the remaining road condition as it loops back around before joining the N9 back toward Marrakesh.
We have 2 nights that we would like to spend somewhere around the Atlas area for some walks. Due to time constraints ideally based somewhere where we can do day walks. We will have come from Merzouga and will finish in Marrakesh. From the research have identified Ourika and Zat valley as possibilities. Are these reasonable options as we wont have the time to drive to Imlil or Megdaz areas. If anyone has any other suggestions would appreciate the help.
Thanks
Rich
Hi,
My partner and I are planning our trip to Morocco but as we only have 16 days we are considering using Visitas Guiadas De Marrakech to do a 4 day private tour through the desert and Altlas mountains between Fes and Marrakech. We never do tours (the idea of being stuck on a fixed route and with a bunch of strangers is not for us) but from the reviews I've read they seem very flexible and could help solve our issue of limited time (no wasting time getting lost, waiting for buses, finding accommodation etc) while also providing great local knowledge.
I've seen loads of positive reviews on Tripadvisor but none here. Has anyone uses them before? We are hesitant about locking ourselves into something that could turn out to be terrible!
Thanks in advance for your advice!
Hello all,
Going to Morocco in a few weeks and I'm planning a few nights in Marrakech. As I don't have time for any excursion to Atlas I was wondering if anyone know a hotel or hostel with a great view of the mountains? Budget around 50-70 USD / night. A bit more for a superb view :)
Thank you so much in advance guys!
Best
Hanksu
.... Amizmiz a mountain village can be reached using the City-bus nos. 41 and 45, ask locally which is quickest or most frequent.
Or number 33 to the Agafay Desert (a Hamada desert)
..... the vagueness continues... not mentioned yet are the dates you'll be there.? and given trains can't go every where, what other mods of transport could you engage with, hired-car or buses, there's a public shared grand taxi system, most of these travel long scheduled routes (limited to a range of a home base/town) some longer trips may involve a process of relay, changing vehicle if your trip crosses more than one taxi range, it happens almost seamlessly, an example of a grand taxi platz beside a bus-station (gare routiere) in Taroudant....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=772uOKMHUUs
By train from Casablanca, the small seaside town of El Jadia is easily reached, about an hour and a half, the most popular attraction is the old town cistern featured in Orson Wells film Ortello, this is a stunningly beautiful building and experience, and interesting coastal views and walks. By bus on the coast road route you can travel south to Safi.
Famous for pottery, an old Portuguese fortified coastal town like El Jadia, Essaouira and Asilah.
Travelling farther south Essaouira has striking Portuguese marine fortifications, whie it can be over-run with tourists during the day, by 18.00h. most have left on buses back to Marrakesh or Agadir, then its a nice place to spend the night in.
http://looklex.com/morocco/safi.htm
http://looklex.com/morocco/jadida.htm
http://looklex.com/morocco/essaouira.htm
All of the seaside towns mentioned above are more worth while visiting than Chefchouen which is just another typical Rif mountain village except for an area around the Mellah painted blue, it can be a long slow twisty journey for not very much.
From Fez and Meknes, both Imperial Cities and just 30 minuter by train apart, the Roman Ruins of Volubilis set on an elevated site above the most Sacred Village in Morocco, Moulay Idriss named after its founder, a rebellious Arab Prince fleeing a vengeful uncle in Mecca, brought Islam here and it took root, two interesting locations within an hour of Meknes, a more meaningful cultural experience covering two historical periods.... Roman and Islamic.
http://looklex.com/morocco/moulay_idriss.htm
for travel farther south read.....
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/africa/morocco/goulimime-or-tafraoute
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/africa/morocco/non-camping-hiking-along-atlantic-coast-ideas