Morocco-Spain-Portugal

[Scout]

My wife and I are going to be visiting Europe with family next summer. We’re going to have 10-14 days to ourselves before family’s arrival and hoped to explore Morocco, Portugal and western Spain. We’ve also considered flying into the Canary Islands before starting in Morocco. I have a feeling this is overly ambitious, but hoping to query people experienced with this region to see what is doable and must-see highlights.
We’re in our 40’s and enjoy diving, hiking, mountain biking, etc. Not so much into bastilles, museums, etc. We both like the beach for a few days, but prefer being on the go.
Thanks in advance !

 

[OldShooter]

When we did a similar trip, we hired a private guide that traveled with us in Spain and another who traveled with us in Morocco, in both cases handling the car and the lodging. That is our general habit; we eat when and where we want to, we don't get lost, we don't waste time at places that turn out to be a waste of time, we stay in the kind of hotels we like and specify, we learn about the country in a way that cannot be done by following the line on the GPS. Spain and Morocco guides are cheaper than more Northern Europe like Norway, but in most cases our cost for private guides anywhere is not a huge percentage of the total trip cost including air fare.

We always go with locals and check references carefully. Two or three phone calls to recent clients will tell the tale.

 

[Scout]

Thanks Old Shooter. Do you still have contacts for your guides by any chance?

 

[walkinwood]

Oldshooter, Is there a site that you use to find guides?

 

[OldShooter]

Thanks Old Shooter. Do you still have contacts for your guides by any chance?

Oldshooter, Is there a site that you use to find guides?

Sorry, I think our Spain guide is no longer working there and she had set up the Morocco gig, so no joy there either.

Here is my process:

I avoid sites like toursbylocals.com because I'd rather engage a guide directly and save them the fee they'd have to pay.

I use various Google searches to find guides. I am looking for sites like https://www.bulgariaprivateguide.com/ (Patrick. Great guy!) I am also looking for agencies who advertise private trips. Often guides who advertise will not or cannot arrange trips; they just concentrate on one city. But not always.

Once I have a half-dozen or more candidates I email inquries outlining what we are looking for. Most of the responses come back offering standard itineraries and standard hotel options. That is not custom travel. I look for true custom offerings. https://www.bushbaby.co.za/ is an example of a true custom travel arranger. (Pierre and Karen are great, too!)

I try to downselect to two candidates because I don't think it's fair to exercise four or five companies to develop itineraries, hotel recommendations, etc. and I tell both candidates what I am doing. At this point I send a sort of traveler resume telling them about ourselves, our likes and dislikes, etc. (Those people have a terrible time separating the tire-kicker time wasters from serious prospects and I sympathize.) Usual from that work, a clear winner will emerge. Price is never the primary criterion.

Another method is to use https://www.intltravelnews.com/, where all the articles are written by subscribers and usually include arranger names and contact information. (That's how we found Patrick.). Much of the ITN material is in the open, but $25 for a subscription may be the best travel investment you've ever made. TripAdvisor is sometimes helpful here too, but I put more credence in the much more thorough ITN reports.

Sometimes a single city guide works out. We booked Daniel Petrov in Moscow for a day away from Viking Cruises. https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTop...d_a_guide_book_him-Moscow_Central_Russia.html or danpetrov74@gmail.com but I don't know if he is still in business. In St. Petersburg we booked through our hotel, our guide fell and broke her collar bone the night before the tour, so the hotel owner ended up guiding us. Fascinating guy but that's another thread.

I always insist on two or three recent references. Every travel arranger on the internet has a pet list of references but they are usually old. By insisting on recent clients I feel like I have a better chance of getting a good, contemporary picture. I try to make phone contact if possible; email is a distant second place.

HTH

 

[OldShooter]

More ... financial:

Small operators and guides are rarely set up to take credit cards or, if set up, will ask for a surcharge to cover their costs. Maybe 3%. We typically pay partially in advance via a wire transfer, then offer to pay the rest in US cash when we arrive. In many countries, cash is highly desirable and not subject to the watchful eyes of the authorities. I do not speculate or involve myself in these matters.

In many countries, "cash" means US $100 bills in perfect, as-issued condition. No wrinkles, folds, marking or writing, etc. When I pick up the cash at the bank, the teller and I go through the stack of bills and select only the perfect ones. Counterfeiting of US hundreds is a popular activity overseas, most notably in N Korea where I've read that it is a government business. It is not obvious to me how having perfect bills is any defense against this, but it seems to be the belief.

I have always felt that carrying cash on arrival gives me pretty good assurance that the tour person will show up for the airport pickup.

 

[walkinwood]

Thanks for the information, OldShooter. We've never used guides before, but we've mainly traveled in western European countries where it is easy to find information online and plan our own trips. I wouldn't be as comfortable doing that in say, Egypt or Morocco.

 

[RetireeRobert]

Did a tour company tour of Spain/Portugal four or five years ago, and it included day trip to Morocco. Went with Grand Circle Tours. Madrid, Toledo, Cordoba, the Alhambra, Malaga (beach town on southern coast of Spain), Seville, Ronda, and Lisbon region. Tour included a leader and same bus driver for the entire trip, and also local guides at each stop.

Not quite the more self-personalized type trip you might be looking for, but you might request Grand Circle's Spain/Portugal/Morocco booklet for general knowledge and ideas.

I did like their tours for the included "lunches with locals" they featured along the way, in the homes of people who lived in those areas, the easy included access to the most popular attractions, and the all tips inclusive pricing of the tours.

We had a three day two night stayover in Malaga, and we really enjoyed strolling the Mediterranean beaches and the good food there.

Enjoy!

 

[brett]

Waiting for the latest Lonely Planet Morocco to be released this month.

And a post covid independent trip. We are budgeting four weeks, including some beach time on the southern Atlantic coast. Could be extended or shortened once we are touring. We will fly into Morocco and have a return air home from Lisbon or Paris eitght weeks later. Easy to get LC flights from points in Morocco to those departure cities. We plan to leave the back end open so we can adjust travel as we go.

We have had good success finding guides in other countries through tripadvisor. It takes a little work but the reward is that we have yet to end up with a dud. Quite the opposite in fact.

 

[Bamaman]

We've been traveling to Europe since 1970, and we've changed our mode of operation over the years. We used to rent a car and hit as many cities as we could in 2 weeks and 3 weekends. $9.00 a U.S. gallon gasoline in Italy many years ago opened our eyes to traveling SLOWLY.

Now, we take in 3 great cities spending more time in each. And we try to travel in a straight line to cities that are in proximity to each other--like Munich, Salzburg, Vienna. Or visit London, Paris and Barcelona. Or, visit Rome, Florence and Venice.

With the advent of European budget airlines, we'll often fly at the end to a completely different place--like Bergen, Norway or Dublin--and then fly home from there.

We've been so fortunate to see most major European cities 4-5 times, and we've taken 4 major cruises there. We are leaving in 3 weeks for Berlin & Dresden which are two cities we've been close to but never seen.

Right now, the travel world is in an uproar--with Covid getting worse. This trip, we're just sticking to one country to minimize dealing with ever changing governmental regulations. Even now, it's unclear what hoops we'll have to jump thru just to fly into Amsterdam and change planes. We're now of real retirement age, but not yet ready to put down our 21" carry on bags.