Agadir Morocco Advice

Cpu2007

I hope someone can give me some advice on this matter.

I am planning to visit morocco on the 15th of March until the 21st of March. 6 days = roughly £300 per person for flight + hotel (2 in total).
The idea is to find a good hotel with b&b as we would like to spend most of our time visiting.

Any advice as how I should approach this?

Will it be possible to visit Agadir and surrounding in 6 days?

Anything I can do to get better prices for accommodation?


PS: I have noticed there are tours that start from Agadir - Marrakesh - Fes and back to Agadir. They look extrmely good but not sure if we can rely on those websites and how expensive they are. Has anyone experienced this sort of thing before?

Thank you

paddyrg

Morocco is cheap - you'll probably get better deals booking locally for tours. And do you really want to spend hours on a bus?

Are you flying into Agadir? Nearby are Taroudant (1hr inland) which is peaceful and lovely, or up the coast is Essaouira which attracts mostly French tourists (Agadir gets more British). Lovely city, huge Atlantic beach, incredible cheap olives ;-)

Cpu2007

paddyrg wrote: »

Morocco is cheap - you'll probably get better deals booking locally for tours. And do you really want to spend hours on a bus?

Are you flying into Agadir? Nearby are Taroudant (1hr inland) which is peaceful and lovely, or up the coast is Essaouira which attracts mostly French tourists (Agadir gets more British). Lovely city, huge Atlantic beach, incredible cheap olives ;-)

Do you think driving would be better? I would like to go from Agadir to Marrakesh and see some desert too, heard they have some great routes but not sure how difficult and safe is to drive.

callum9999

Cpu2007 wrote: »

Do you think driving would be better? I would like to go from Agadir to Marrakesh and see some desert too, heard they have some great routes but not sure how difficult and safe is to drive.

I have no idea what the highways are like, but there's no way in hell I'd ever drive through Marrakesh! I think they probably meant do you want to spend that time travelling when you're only going to be there for 6 days.

There are buses and shared taxis going between Agadir and Marrakesh. The taxis are obviously quicker, but if you have to wait a long time for it to fill maybe it wouldn't make much difference. The buses take 3-4hrs and shouldn't cost more than £8.

bap98189

Cpu2007 wrote: »

Do you think driving would be better? I would like to go from Agadir to Marrakesh and see some desert too, heard they have some great routes but not sure how difficult and safe is to drive.

Morocco is perfectly safe to drive around in. The only thing is to ensure that you have plenty of water in the car in case of a breakdown. Morocco can get hot, particularly in the summer.

Outside of the cities, driving is easy. The main highways are all in good condition and although the motorway to Marrakesh and Casablanca is busy, most others have very little traffic. Driving in the cities is a little crazy, but it is doable once you get used to the Moroccan way of driving. You can expect a lot of traffic, and you will live on the horn, but it is nothing like as crazy as driving in Asia.

If you are staying in Agadir and have a car, I would highly recommend a visit to Essaouria. It's popular with tourists, but is a beautiful town to visit and just wander around the back streets. Another good day trip would be to drive east up the valley to Taroudannt. It's a lovely area and home to the famous tree-climbing goats.

paddyrg

The highways are excellent, better than some A roads at home.

I wouldn't drive, but then I wouldn't suggest Marrakesh either - it's a big city and a lot of hustling, not what I go on holiday for!

callum9999

paddyrg wrote: »

The highways are excellent, better than some A roads at home.

I wouldn't drive, but then I wouldn't suggest Marrakesh either - it's a big city and a lot of hustling, not what I go on holiday for!

I didn't enjoy Marrakesh one bit, but virtually every one of the dozens of people I've talked to about it have said they enjoyed it.

I'm tempted to give it another go now that I'm more adept at being forceful with scam-artists though!

Cpu2007

bap98189 wrote: »

Morocco is perfectly safe to drive around in. The only thing is to ensure that you have plenty of water in the car in case of a breakdown. Morocco can get hot, particularly in the summer.

Outside of the cities, driving is easy. The main highways are all in good condition and although the motorway to Marrakesh and Casablanca is busy, most others have very little traffic. Driving in the cities is a little crazy, but it is doable once you get used to the Moroccan way of driving. You can expect a lot of traffic, and you will live on the horn, but it is nothing like as crazy as driving in Asia.

If you are staying in Agadir and have a car, I would highly recommend a visit to Essaouria. It's popular with tourists, but is a beautiful town to visit and just wander around the back streets. Another good day trip would be to drive east up the valley to Taroudannt. It's a lovely area and home to the famous tree-climbing goats.

Thank you for the suggestion, your advice is very useful.
I will check those places out as I think 6-7 days in Adagir will be too much.
When it comes to transport to the places you mentioned. How difficult or expensive is it to get to those places?
I can rent a car for a day and drive to such places but if the transport system to such places is decent then I would rather go by bus.

bap98189

Cpu2007 wrote: »

Thank you for the suggestion, your advice is very useful.
I will check those places out as I think 6-7 days in Adagir will be too much.
When it comes to transport to the places you mentioned. How difficult or expensive is it to get to those places?
I can rent a car for a day and drive to such places but if the transport system to such places is decent then I would rather go by bus.

You will be able to get to Essaouira by bus, but I don't know how. I've always driven in Morocco. You'll probably be able to figure it out with a bit of googling.

I suspect you will have a much better time if you rent a car. Certainly if you are going to Taroudannt you will need a car. On the road up the valley, you will almost certainly want to stop wherever you see a sign that is interesting, or to go to one of the Argan oil places, and most definitely if you come across some goats up a tree at the side of the road. Going by bus would make that impossible. I would take a car and enjoy the drive through rural Morocco.

Cpu2007

What is the best way to get the most out of the currency?

I am reading that you can use cards to withdraw cash, should I use this?
I suspect currency exchange at the airport would be expensive, I wanna have the possibility to have local currency as soon as I land without paying too much interest (as most places such as hotels etc want to be paid in local currency)

At the moment I have a lloyds debit card and santander credit card.

bap98189

We usually get our currency at the airport once we land. You can get better rates if you know where to go in the city, but you will need to know where to go and be prepared to barter.

There are ATM's in all the major cities and towns. They may not be quite as widespread as in a UK city, but they aren't difficult to find. The rate you get will depend entirely on your bank/card type. There's a whole article on this on the main MSE website.

You can use credit cards in the big hotels, and in some shops, but on the whole cash is the easiest, and the only option in any of the markets or smaller shops.