Tangier, Morocco Day Trip from Costa del Sol

Trip was great for what it is. If you want to visit Morocco for a day and not have to worry about planning anything, this is your trip. Yes, there are the prearranged shopping stops where you will be pressured into buying things you may not want, but that’s part of the fun. Lunch was spectacular, and overall we had a good time and all the planning and transportation was taken care of.

Okay the bad part believe the other reviews . This is not a tour but a multi hour opportunity for Morocco side tour guides to take you from one joint to another for sales pitches , that are never ending and organized effort by tour guide that sells access to to tour groups to street hawkers the same (5-8) to follow you for three hours. Shame on travel Agency "Julia" for continue in this effort. I am all for support local shops etc. but this was worse than anything else i have seen. Avoid this tour and do a day trip yourself. Tour guides were nice enough , picked up at agreed times.

We had confrimed with our hotel at least 48hours and then again the day before and they told us that the bus would come pick us up at 8:30 am - We were there waiting in the lobby and then called again at 8:45 am to which they said...okay, we're coming AT 9:20 AM, the conceirge called them and they said they were waiting OUTSIDE our hotel at 8:30 am and left when they did not see us. No phone call and why would they tell us at 8:45 am that they are on their way? After which my husband had to SPEED drive for over an hour and half away using our rental car, our gas, paying tolls to the port where we met with the tour. The tour guide was like 'Oh well and then proceeded with the tour like it was no big deal. We then naturally had to drive back as well in the evening. after the tour, We want at least a refund for the portion of our trip that we had to drive ourselves - the gas and toll alone were over $100 Euros!

Most time was spent waiting. Did not see any snake charmers and had no/little time in some places and way too much time waiting in line for the ferry or waiting for it to take off. Need at least 2 days to see the place.

This tour was great, it was an early start and a late finish. we were picked up at 7 am and there was a lot of stops on the way picking up from other areas, we did not get home till 10.30 so it was very very long and we were exhausted.. but if you can put up with the bus journey then this was well worth the visit. Tangiers poured rain all day but it did not stop us having a fab day. the shopping experience was something else. and the lunch was very good the food was delicious and wine too. it was an experience i would not have missed and so glad we did it even though it was a very long day. excellent value for money i would recommend it to all.

This whole trip was not even planned- but when I knew I was going to Southern Spain, close to the Strait of Gibraltar- this became a MUST do. Value was good after we realized the RT cost of the ferry was 70 Euros. For some reason, our pu time got pushed back to 7:30- maybe it was the time of the year- Not so crowded (kind of nice). We had a small crowd on the bus, nothing overwhelming- I think 13 of us. Got to the port in decent time- but then waited for a while to board(don't know?). Trip across the strait was good- not an overly crowded boat. LISTEN To instructions... your guide probably has an accent (not Amer.)- hard to understand. I WOULD recommend that VIATOR print out instructions and hand them out to its customer visitors. You can get easily mixed up on what to do. DO NOT stray from your group/guide. Don't get side-tracked w/ local peddlers trying to sell you stuff. ALSO- we began to believe that Viator must have some agreement with the Rug guy and the Oil guy. I bought a little pair of leather slipper shoes from the rug guy- later saw the same ones on the street at a lower Euro price than I bargained for. Also, the Oil guy told our group that the ounce size would go through the airport security. There is NO quantity marking on the bottle package. The Malaga airport security took my small bottle for these reasons. HOWEVER- depends who you get, my girlfriend was able to get thru with hers. SO, be careful about purchasing from the Oil guy. Overall, I liked the trip, even though it was a very long day. Most is traveling to and from, but I knew that and it didn't discourage me. I was thrilled to step onto the African continent. The tour of the city by bus was informative- seeing different culture sections. The camel rides have a lot to be desired- but was cheap, only 2 Euros (very small camels). I didn't bother. The lunch restaurant was great, Loved the Moroccan Mint Tea at the end of the meal. I was glad I did this, it was a great experience- would probably not do it again. If you are in the southern Spain region, i would say to go if you have some time. I would NOT take small kids on this tour- too easy to lose people. You really have to pay attention & be aware of your safety and surroundings. Use your head- overall, it was great.

Our tour guide was great, helpful and went out of his way to answer questions. Very much enjoyed the camel ride and going through the open market

The trip was organized by local spanish travel agency. First 3 hours were devoted to the picking up of touritst from Malaga to Estepona resorts. Then the crossing of the Gibraltar straits. Spanish guide served rather as steward giving only main information about the region etc. But he was very helpful with marrocain passport administration. The local tour was very very poor - starting with "camel stop" - miserable attraction with some camels on tarmac - you could get on paying 2 Euros. Then "traditional" marrocain lunch in a drove approach restaurant. There were two visits in shops with a specific manifestation of local products (carpets and perfums). Local guide was very poor - no historic information about the city of Tanger, no remarkable stories etc. And over-all presence of the group of importune vendor which was following the group of tourists. I would not recommend

Tangier is very beautiful city,camels,beautiful views, Tangier bazaar,but one day tour is to short because much time take a way

Pros: -We got to say we were in Africa -Neat experience in Morocco Cons: -This tour did not do a thorough job of explaining the day's itinerary. This amounted to a 14+ hour day. -We arrived for the ferry 2 hours before we needed to board. There was no reason for this. We were told to be ready for a 7am pick up only to sit around and wait. -The security checks for Spain going to and from Morocco were fine, but Morocco has some major catching up to do to get themselves into the 21st century. 6 check in's total throughout the day, and 4 of the 6 were repetitive, unnecessary procedures. No one checked your purses, and the body scanners were a joke! -Passports were of course a must when traveling to other countries, but to look at them 6 times?... why?! -We were given slips to show we paid for round trip on the ferry. Many people had to wait in line while the ferry was headed to Morocco just to show a slip and have our passports scanned... again. -Our precious slips were not collected on the way back to Spain. Why have them if you're not going to check for them? -The tour guide going to Morocco and back was nice enough, but many times we were told we were headed somewhere only to sit around for an hour or two in the middle of nowhere. Much longer day than expected or necessary. The Moroccan tour guide would come and go when he wanted, and leave us alone for an hour or so. -Tour guide who took over and showed us Morocco was a JOKE!! Our first part of the tour was to the market. We briefly went through the market to head to lunch. The tour guide told the restaurant owner that we didn't have time for lunch, and made the waitstaff rush to serve our food and beverages. Many did not have enough time to eat. Lunch was not until after 2pm, so it made for a long day for those who had not eaten that morning. ****DO NOT EAT OR DRINK ANYTHING WHEN IN MOROCCO UNLESS ITS SEALED BOTTLED WATER!!! Even the cooked food made using Moroccan water made us sick the next day. -If you think Morocco will be like the movie Aladdin, guess again. So many people following us and waiting for us while on our tour trying to sell us magnets, plastic toys, hats and scarves. They touched you, got in your face, and were very pushy. Your only relief was moving into a building for the next part of the tour only to deal with pushy store staff. -This was NOT a tour. This was a way for pushy store owners and staff to sell their products and force you to feel you had to buy to make them go away.