Morocco

Morocco is a really lovely place so I don’t want to start out with this, but because it’s so touristy, this happens often.

• If anyone tells you about a women’s cooperative, it is a SCAM. Do not believe that this Moroccan man out of the goodness of his heart is giving 80% of his earnings to the women back in the village. The only actual cooperatives to trust are:

• If you meet anyone on the train, don’t trust them. Scammers know that this a frequent way of travel for tourists and will catch you off guard this way.

• Camel leather is not real. Or it might but they don’t use it for commercial purposes. They will say it’s camel stomach to charge you more.Everything you see in the tanneries is either cow or sheep.

From Fez, you can take a car to Chefchaouen. This was one of my favorite rides, as we passed so many beautiful olive and peach vineyards. Even though we missed the olive season (Jan/Feb), the peach blossoms were in full bloom, and the pink was really beautiful.

Don’t try to pick the oranges off the trees! They are very dry and sour. Instead it costs about 25-35 dirham for a kilo, and a little less for strawberries. Good dates are about 40 dirham/kilo while apricots are bit more expensive at 80 dirham/kilo.

We also did a day trip to Meknès, another one of the imperial cities, and Volibulis. We actually went to Carrefour (one of the few places you can buy alcohol) and bought some food to have a picnic at Volibulis. It was nice to visit Meknès but it was a little bit of a nondescript Arabic city.

There’s going to be a huge selection of riads for you to choose from, but for me, but we spent so much time in the Souks that we didn’t spend as much time in the Riad. All Riads have central courtyards, but not all of them have pools. If you are going during the summer, you need to have a pool.

I love Riad Les Yuex Blues and El Fenn, with it's 21 unique rooms is absolutely incredible. Raid Snan13 reminds me of the white washed houses of Zanzibar. Even though Riad Villa Alemeria was a bit outside of the Medina it was still close to the main square (about 20 min walk) and the other sites like the Bahia Palace. This was my favorite one. Of times, even if you don't stay at a Riad, you can go for afternoon tea and take pictures like anyone else.

I think that out of all the cities, Casblanca is the most underrated. Most of my friends are there-- and love buying dates with them. La Sqala is the go to place there, and they have an incredible breakfast spread.

There are grand taxi's (white and blue) that can take you to and from the airport. However, the red petit taxi's, which are metered, cannot take you the airport. A grand taxi one way to the airport is about 250-300 MAD. However, you can just take the train (every 30 min) to and from Casa Voyaguers, and it is only about 60 MAD for first class. From Casa Voyaguers, you can basically go anywhere.