RoughTours - www.roughtours.com

This was the most incredible week in Morocco. We were unsure what to expect as had never been to Africa, so booked with Rough Tours after a recommendation and couldn't be more happy. We spent the week here through Fes, Atlas Mountains, Marrakech and of course the Sahara. Every place and city we were toured through with the kindest locals who were full of knowledge. Our guide drove us between locations and was also very well experienced and would answer any question we had. He did his best to make the experience enjoyable and succeeded well! The berber camp was our highlight. It was the most incredible 24h of our lives. I couldn't recommend Rough Tours more!! Best experience I have ever had. Thank you again!

My wife and I did a lot of research on your companies that will do excursions to the Sahara. Eventually, we decided on Rough Tours because it offered guides with local knowledge and avoided the many tourist traps along the route between Marrakech and the Sahara. Some other companies will provide drivers (with little or no English) and stop only at tourist sites where you are hassled by vendors. Rough Tours avoided all of that and at a very reasonable price.

Our guide picked us up at our Riad in Marrakech in a Toyota Land Cruiser and drove us to Boumalne Dades. On the way, he provided a lot of interesting details about growing up Berber in Morocco as well as history of the region. He was deeply knowledgeable and able to answer all of our many questions. He did an amazing job of locating restaurants that were delicious and clean but not overrun with tour buses. After a full day drive with stops at some very interesting kasbahs, we ended at Boumalne Dades for the night.

Early on day two, we drove on towards Merzouga and stopped at some beautiful spots along the way. Our Guide was such a delight, very cheerful and engaging. We especially appreciated that he introduced us to Tinariwen, a famous Berber musical group. We ended the day with a 90 minute camel ride out to the camp site, led by our jovial local camel wrangler. Before we reached the camp, we paused at some of the larger dunes to watch the sunset. Visitors should be prepared to see numerous four-wheel vehicles crisscrossing the desert which does somewhat diminish the exoticness of the desert.

When we arrived at the camp site (Majestic Camp), the host greeted us with tea, nuts, and dried fruit. We met the other groups that would be staying at the camp that night (he speaks Portuguese) and were assigned our luxury tent. Being January, it was quite cold as the sun went down so it was nice to find refuge inside the warm tent. Dinner was sufficient if not extravagant before everyone gathered at a camp fire for traditional Berber music. Travelers should be advised that there are lots of other camp sites very near to each other so it is possible to hear music from next door.

The next day, we woke up early to see the sunrise before jumping back in the car with our Guide to drive to Fez. Along the way, we stopped in the Alpine mountain town of Irfan and in the cedar forest to feed some wild monkeys. From there, we travelled on to Fez where our Guide deposited us at our Riad.

We cannot say enough good things about our guide. He was so nice and easy going, amenable to our desires to pull over and take pictures or change the itinerary as needed. His personal story of growing up a Berber was a unique experience and a wonderful window into a cultural piece of Morocco that can't be appreciated in a medina or souq. Booking with Rough Tours was very easy, travelers should not be alarmed by the inability to pay via credit card.

We will definitely recommend Rough Tours and our Guide in particular to our friends in the future. Thanks!!

This is just an other trip to Morocco with friends of mine after going with family in a previous trip.As last time,even better our drivers/guides were very enjoyable and very knowledgeable and informative. These tours provide a great overview of Morocco. Thoroughly recommend.I am sure we will be back again to Morocco and do more trips with this local company.Thank you for making the trip great.

We have booked a 15-day tour, start from Casablanca. Before the tour start, we discuss the trip details through email, and they always have quick reply and helpful in answering all questions. Our guide,Youssef, is very nice, helpful , knowledgeable and professional. We feel very safe and happy about the trip. Highly recommend

RoughTours organized a 4-day tour for my husband and me: 4 days desert tours from Marrakech to Fez with overnight in the desert. From my first contact with the company, I found Yousef to be wonderful. He carefully answered all of my questions and gave useful recommendations and honest advice. I felt that the itinerary he suggested was tailor-made rather than a standard template and truly appreciated his personal attention. Everything ran smoothly during our entire tour and we had no problems at all.

The desert with Dress (guide) and Ahmed (driver) was absolutely fantastic. I can't say enough good things about them. I highly recommend this company - my only advice: stay as long as you can in the desert.

Our family of four (parents and two young adult children) spent a week in Marrakech (January 2016) and had a fantastic time--in large part due to the excellent guide services. His knowledge of his country and its history and culture, his professionalism, and his personal attention to our wants/needs made this stop a true highlight of our visit to Morocco.

His services began before our arrival in the Marrakech. He checked in with us to see what we wanted to see in Morocco and to make suggestions.

To make the most of your visit to Morocco, we highly recommend using Rough Tours Company.

I will come with details of our day trips from Marrakech in an other review.

Excellent tour with Rough Tours Morocco.Thanks for organizing everything.Our driver Yousef was excellent.

Excellent organisation, they helped plan a superb itinerary with a skilled and informed driver Yousef who knew instinctively where to get the best pictures. Accommodation were clean, with good food and also the staff were very polite. Transport again was excellent.

I recently got back from a trip in Morocco. I have only positive things to say about the trip, the company and my guide all the way from the start in Marrakech throughout the desert and to the end back in Fez. It was one of the best 3-day Tour I've ever had.

If you have decided that a private tour through Morocco is the best option for you (and I can't blame you! This is THE best way to see the country), then spare yourself hours of research and trust me when I say Rough tours is the answer. I had researched multiple tour companies excessively and can confidently say Rough tours stands out.

I did the 4 day/3night tour from Fes to Marrakech via the Sahara desert with another solo traveller. Heres the details of my trip:

COMMUNICATION: Youssef was very responsive and courteous with communication and replied very fast. I could just tell he was interested in the business compared to other companies. In fact, I had contacted him just the day before departure after 5pm! This was extremely last minute and yet, Youssef still found me a tour with another solo traveller to join! He was talking to me past 11pm to finalize the plans even though it was too late/last minute.

PROFESSIONALISM: Youssef was very kind and courteous. My trip was last minute but he did not demand any payment or deposit. Instead, he treated me like a normal paying customer and I took 3 days to pay him! Yet he did not mind at all. Everything promised was delivered. There were no annoying stops at carpet/souvenir shops, as promised on the website)

DRIVER: We had the pleasure to drive with Ibrahim. He is a very nice and happy guy and made the trip so much fun! Most importantly, an extremely skilled driver and made us feel safe

GUIDE: Our guide was Driss. He was very warm, welcoming, even bought me free breakfast, water etc, paid unanticipated parking or police tickets etc without any hesitation. He even took us to his home in his village on the way to have tea with his family! I really felt at home. Very knowledgeable as well.

THE RIDE: This was money well spent! We were in a mitsubishi 4x4, very very comfy and spacious! This actually was the best component of the package for me

HOTELS: We stayed in Maison Merzouga, a very quite and calm guesthouse located in Hassa'lbied right at the edge of the golden Sahara sand dunes! It had a great swimming pool even! The owners were extremely kind and fed us very well and treated us like family. Next night was in a small, cozy desert camp. The third night was in the best hotel you can find in the Dades Valley (look it up, its the Xaluca hotel chain) with great panoramic views of the valley. (Note: The WiFi was not working in the rooms though - nothing to do with rough tours management). Dinner and Breakfast were buffet style but felt like we were at a grand luxurious wedding! Very big buffet table!

LUNCHES: Driss chose decent places for lunches. Expect to spend 100-120 Moroccan Dirhams for the lunches; this is pretty much the standard across the tourism industry. In Merzouga, we met Moha, Youssef's brother, and he fed us for free! This was very unexpected and very generous of him. He refused to accept payment for this.

TOUR CONTENT: What can I say!! Best trip of my life and definitely the highlight. Sahara desert is amazing, the night sky, the camel ride into the sunset, the vast orange dunes, you HAVE to do it once in your life! Do expect to pay tips for some of the activities (e.g. watching the khamlia dance, or having tea with nomads). Tips are very important to sustaining the livelihood of these unfortunate individuals

THE BEST PARTS: 1. I was in a difficult situation since the tour was going to end in Marrakech in the evening and I had a very early flight to catch from a different destination the next morning. My fellow traveller and Driss were kind enough to start early in order to get me to the train leaving marrakech on time. But midway through the day, Youssef was kind enough to make special arrangements for his upcoming tours such that Driss and Ibrahim dropped me at the airport in another city on their way. And for free! They made a special detour for me. I was blown away by this act of kindness and they made my journey a whole lot easier and smoother. This sealed the deal for me and I say honestly I couldnt have chosen better.

2. I got a friends out of the whole thing! If you are a solo traveller, consider joining another solo because a friendship might me awating you! I got along very well with the other solo traveller and throughly enjoyed his company. I'm glad we went from strangers to friends in just 4 days. Also, felt like Driss and Ibrahim had known me for years.

SUMMARY: Spare yourself the time and effort and go ahead with Rough Tours. I cannot recommend them highly enough. I was blown away by their kindness, concern and care for their customers, and their amazing delivery of an adventure of a lifetime! Ahmad from Vancouver

If you decide touring Morocco, Roughtours is the perfect option. Friendly, trustworthy company from the first email till the end of the tour and back home.

All the staff we met in our trip to Morocco made us totally want to come back again.

Thank you Youssef,Hassan, and Ibrahim.