What's in the cost of a travel to Morocco ?

Morocco is not a cheap holidays destination.

If you compare it to Tunisia, for example, average prices are certainly higher, of about 30%. But the country does not offer the same kind of sojourns.

And more important, the cost of life cannot be compared.

Let's have a look at some basic indexes:

• Minimum legal wages are around 315 USD a month, for 220 USD a month in Tunisia. A specialised worker in a factory will earn around 260 USD a month, which is less than the minimal salary in Morocco. Egypt has no official minimal wages, but doctors were recently on strike to obtain a salary of 180 euros a month !.


• Rental cars are also less expensive : in Tunisia, again, you can easily find a Fiat Punto for 30 USD a day (and negotiate to 28), when I would not dare drive what you would get for that price in Morocco. SUV are also around 30% less expensive in Tunisia,


• ... and fuel also (that might change quickly).

No need to go on and expand the list, most of what makes the price of a travel is higher in Morocco than in the rest of North Africa.

In a tour, transportation costs and wages will easily amount to 60%, maybe 70% of the total cost. And as soon as you intend to go in the desert, transportation becomes more important. Morocco is not so large as Egypt or Tunisia, but it's geography lengthens transport times, it is impossible to rally the desert in less than one day from Marrakech, less than two days from Casablanca.

We do our best to make your holidays the most pleasant possible, we select our guides and drivers with the utmost care, we organize our itineraries to limit the driving time and give you plenty of opportunities to discover the land and meet its inhabitants. We can offer a variety of landscapes, of experiences, of cultures that you will not find in Egypt nor Tunisia (even if we cannot compete with their antics). And, last but not least, Morocco has been mostly preserved from a kind of intensive touristic architecture you can find in some other beach resorts.

We are happy that Morocco is a country with relatively higher salaries. We undertake, like the rest of the world, the recent and sudden increase of fuel costs, of basic alimentation prices. Up to now, we suceeded in maintaining the price of our tours and accomodations, without compromising on quality.

News from Morocco

We've been quite silent for a long time, busier working with our customers than writing on the blog.

The spring season is now on in Morocco, and it is one of the nicest times to visit the South. From time to time we can get a sandstorm (and there were a few exceptionnaly heavy ones in April), but that usually does not last more than a few hours, and in the open large open plains that lead to Sahara. As soon as you're in the mountains, for example in Dades or Todra gorges, you're protected from these red hot winds.

Speaking of Dades, in a week, you can attend the Roses Moussem in Kelaa M'Gouna. The Roses Festival is supposed to happen at the end of rose's harvest. Actually, it is now fixed by end of March, and its date is not so tightly linked to the harvest. But it remains a mix of folkloric event, touristic attraction and truly local life, a fair for a whole area, the roses Valley, that lives from the cultivation of these flowers imported from Damas by the early Arabs. In May, at time of harvest, the families sell their flowers, and have a plenty of money.

Hence the fair, which is one of the largest souk (market) in the area. In the morning, on the Saturday, a parade with traditionnal groups, sword dance, ahwach and other dances. After the parade, you can feel free to wander in the streets, haggle a scarf, or just admire the bounty offers. Leaving Kelaa, you can wander in the roses garden, and head to Boutarar, or the M'Goun valley, and pursue your trip in southern Morocco.