Driving around Morocco in a motorhome

LAST EDITED ON Jul-12-05 AT 07:39 AM (GMT)

Hi there,
I am from the UK and am new to your forum and came across you when searching for info on touring Morocco in a motorhome/campervan. Me and my husband are hoping to tour around Morocco in November this year for approx 6 weeks and would love to hear from anyone who has experience or info on this. We spent a 7 day package holiday in Morocco a couple of years ago and just fell in love with the Country and we cannot wait to return and spend our time seeing the REAL Morocco at our own pace. We would also appreciate some advice on which is the best and most detailed road map available to purchase for our journey? I thank you in anticipation and I cannot wait to hear from anyone who has driven around Morocco and any advice, suggestions, tips etc would be truly appreciated.
Sonesta

Hi, sounds a great way to travel Morocco especially with your accom always with you!! you might want to rent a car or 4x4 for some areas that are passable for a car but too rough for a motorhome, eg driving up through todra gorge to imilchil or dades gorge through to msemrir and imilchil and down to todra gorge - which we have done in a car no probs and probably could do a campervan, old moroccan minivans drive around there....
and the drives from anmiter just past telouet up to tizga or through paradise valley to ait ben haddou but they are better with 4x4 so maybe you could get onto excursions for that. which i am actually looking at going into business to do as i pretty much have a moroccan family now and lots of good and reliable contacts, have had 14 trips over the last 2 years so know lots of good places to stay and visit etc.

but anyway as for your letter i recommend the michelin maps as they show the green/scenic routes around the country. i also recommend the lonely planet in combination with the DK Eyewitness guide (hope im telling you the right one!! ive just put it back into the library, which i will probably buy my own one day. its excellent for recommended drives and visits around each locality, what to see, what the road is like, etc and it is full of lovely colour pictures.

i do particularly recommend going to telouet which is 2-3 hours from marrakech, the whole drive there is lovely and takes you over the second highest pass in morocco which is tizintichka on the way to ouarzazate. its a lovely quiet valley area of berber villages, fetile valleys and purple and orange earth hills, with a gloui palace that i love visiting each time im there, its unesco but not being maintained so slowly deteriorating from its original glorious state and may only survive another few years. telouet is also the best place i know to check out, receive good info sessions on moroccan carpets which are excellent souvenirs and pay decent prices for good quality whereas the hordes of shops all over morocco can become quite off putting. interesting and colourful souk on thursdays where berber villagers come from miles around. good place for berber omelette (at chez mohammed palace restaurant in the centre) and up the vally an excellent place to camp with your camper van at tasgha restaurant camping auberge 4.5 km from telouet beside a bubbling brook under huge walnut and apple trees. some nice walks from there too. kasbahs etc.
november, coming into winter is a nice time too for blue skies, especially in the desert, deeper blue for photos etc. and possibly early snow on the mountains for added scenery!
i recommend places like cascade douzoud and particularly the tafroute tiznit taroudant circuit. and asilah tetouan and chefchouen circuit. the road from chefchouen down to ouazzane is also very scenic and then volibulis is wonderful, but take a guided tour map from out of the lonely planet or eyewitness guide to maximise the visit, locating various mosaics, houses and apartments amongst the roman city ruins.
we visited moulay bousselham and think its also a really lovely coastal spot, i could imagine it as a great place to park a camper van and sit with coffee and watch the sunset.
let me know if you want any more info.

Hi Minnie,
Wow what a brilliant and informative reply - I am so appreciative of the time and trouble you have taken to answer my question. Reading it has made me want to go NOW and you have certainly wetted my appetite. I am just going to read it out to my husband (he can't find his glasses at the moment).
Thanks once again it really was a wonderfully helpful post (you should become a travel reporter!)
Kind regards
Sonesta

Hello Sonesta,
I was most interested to read your item as i hope to travel in Morocco later this year with a campervan.
1 question have you managed to arrange motor insurance for your trip? If so can you give me information on the Company and approx cost.
Regards,
Hedge

>Hello Sonesta, I was most interested to
>read your item as i hope
>to travel in Morocco later this
>year with a campervan. 1 question
>have you managed to arrange motor
>insurance for your trip? If so
>can you give me information on
>the Company and approx cost. Regards,
>Hedge

Hi Hedge

My Insurance recently needed renewing and so I shopped around for a better deal and found one that covered us for Morocco and it also includes RAC breakdown cover for Morocco too. It was not the cheapest, but was certainly not the most expensive either, but it gave us all we wanted and is an excellent cover. For Morocco all we need to do is apply for the Green card which you need to travel through Morocco and we get that from our Insurers when we know our exact travel dates and they will then issue us with this card. I think there is a small charge for this but cannot recall exactly how much, but I think it is around £15. I have been told you can buy your Motorhome Insurance at the Moroccan border if your own Insurer wont cover you for (and a lot will not as I found out when I rang around) but we prefer to have all that in order before we go. Our Insurers are Comfort Insurance and they are specialists in campervans and motor homes so cover you for such things as Calor Gas Bottles, and all camping equipment etc. Our Motorhome is 1 year old 6 berth Swift Kontiki valued at £46,000 and the policy cost us £402.76 fully comp with a £150 excess - we were quoted as much as £900+ with some companies and with a higher excess and NO cover for Morocco, So all in all we are quite satisfied with the policy we have from Comfort Insurance. The CIS offered us a lower rate but their cover is just a basic car motor insurance really and does not offer all the benefits of a proper motor home specialist Insurance company. However, CIS did say they would issue us with a green card for Morocco, so might be worth ringing them and getting a quote just to see what they offer you. Just make sure all your accessories and extras are covered too because we were with CIS for a whole year before we realised that not all our contents and extras like our generator and gas bottles etc were covered, thank God we didn't have to make a claim. So just be wary and go over everything you need cover for.
When are you hoping to go to Morocco Hedge? We hope to set off early November and return late December.
I dont know if you have seen the article in a the new Out and About magazine, it's a sister magazine to MMM? If not you really ought to try and get hold of some back issues because there is a repoert on Morocco. It is a personal report written by a couple who toured Morocco in their caravan. It is an excellent report and was covered over 2 Issues. The first part was in the September 2005 Issue and the 2nd part in the October 2005 Issue. I am sure if you contact MMM magazine and request back Issues of the Out and About magazine they should be able to send you them and it really worth reading and will definitely wet your appetite for touring Morocco. It will be a brilliant guide for anyone wanting to tour around Morocco in a caravan or motor home and we are taking both issues with us so that we can use it as a reference for places to visit and also to benefit from the experiences enjoyed by the couple who wrote it.
Keep in contact and who knows we might even meet up on our travels.
Take care
Sue

hello Sue,
Thank you very much for your detailed and helpful reply.
The insurance looks good with comfort and the quote is the same as yours. I will get the out and about article you suggest.
We are hoping to go in Jan/Feb and look forward to reading anything you writ on your trip.
Thanks,
Hedge

Some useful stuff re insurance for Morocco but is costly to cancel present insurance and go with Comfort...Ive heard that you can buy insurance in morocco for the duration of trip....anyone know about this and what it would cover...or has anyone got any other ideas on subject.

theres camping in all majors cities in morocco you can visit thesouth its very interesting i have friends they come bt tanger in van they do tanger marrakesh taroudant tata ourzazate tanger its very interesting so they can see all the side of morocco the bsea the montagnes the desert
if you stop by in tata let us knew we will be happy to have a tes with you

hi folks. hoping to go to morocco sept or jan (if we can wait that long).
the article you mentioned may be the same one that can be read on, and downloaded from www.ukcampsite.co.uk/articles.
its called on the road in morocco 2004. i found it riveting and very informative.
im also with comfort, but i havent costed them for morocco travel yet. what about visas? any other paperwork required?
keithr

thanks, will check that site out. Going in sept from uk and hpope to do morocco end of oct to about beginning of dec.
keithr.

Hi
just found this site and as we are thinking of going to Morocco in our campervan later this year we were interested to see how your trip went, thanks Beth

Hi Sonesta,

My husband and I are thinking of touring Morocco this xmas time and I see that you were intending to go a couple of years ago.

i would be very interested in your thoughts, tips etc on campervaning in this country.

I hope to hesr of your adventures and advice.

yours wendy

Hi wendy, I'm thinking of going myself. I have read a great deal about a company called desert detours & am considering them I'm just waiting for a phone call from them on prices. they supply sites, breakdown assistance with a Mog,& other vehicles, guides, minders for the motorhome, wildcamps in the desert,ferry tickets,etc.& the tour is open ended as I intend to go it alone after the set 17 days or so and stay out for another month or so around Agadia. I left GB in November and have a green card for 3 months, Jan to Mar. I am at present in a small town called Conil between Cadiz & Trafalgar. Hope you and your husband make it out there as I can't wait to go,YIPPEE!
Ken

Hello Wendy. I saw your message today and wondered if you went to Morocco in the end. I'm going on the 22.01.08 or there abouts from Algeciras to Ceuta then cross at Tetouan. Then down the coast to Tan tan stopping off at various places then back up in March via Ait Benhaddou, pass Todra, Merzouga, Ar-Rachidia, Meknes, Volubilis etc. Any positive information, advice would help. Many thank Biffo

LAST EDITED ON Mar-10-08 AT 04:37 PM (GMT)

LAST EDITED ON Mar-10-08 AT 04:36 PM (GMT)

I used to be based in Gibraltar and we caught the ferry over to Morocco quite a lot from Spain. I always used my armed forces travel insurance but as I've recently left and wanted to go back, I spent ages looking around for a decent alternative. I eventually found that www.insurewithease.com was a very reasonable travel insurance company and covered things such as motorhomes, breakdowns etc. Good luck on your trip

Hi I'm planning to visist Morocco next summer for four weeks. we will be traveling in our camper which is a converted race truck so its quite big 7.5m I woul dappreciate any info on the fery crossings e.g reccomendations and costs thansk Doug

It sure is.

We are looking at offering a camper van to rent/hire at African Spirit for our existing guest's if the beaurecy is nt too differcult. You can check out our site as ive put up a page to test the water. unsure what is best may be try a 4x4 with roof tent and all accessories or vito with pop top as i have one in the uK and know it well. [www.african-spirit.co.uk]. Be interested to hear any feed back postive or negative. Even what's a fair price per week. thanks Marcus

That camper van isn't 4x4 is it? Looks like it has very little clearance, which might be a problem.