MAGICAL MOROCCO

The Journey to the City was quick and easy and only took 20 minutes!

We stayed at the 5 star modern Movenpick Mansour Eddhabi, which was stunning with a very relaxed atmosphere, luxurious bedrooms and a beautiful pool area.

The Medina and the Square was a short taxi ride away but there is still plenty of modern shops, restaurants and bars at the nearby Menara Mall, which is only 10 to 15 minute walk away from the hotel. On our Visit to the Medina we had a guide to show us around the different Souks, (which I would highly recommend for your first visit), the roads are very narrow and I would only describe the area as a maze! With a lot of activity and motorbikes driving around, you can easily get lost!

Local guides can easily be pre arranged with your holiday reservation or with the hotel you are staying at and well worth the money!

After a day exploring the Souks the highlight for me was having a drink on the terrace at the Salama Lounge & Bar, which also serves food.

The terrace has amazing views over the square and a great place to relax and people watch taking all the sights and smells of the City!

Our next destination was a trip up to the famous Atlas Mountains to visit a very special luxury resort that had magnificent views of the snow capped Atlas Mountains, called the L'Amandier Hotel.

This hotel I can only describe as a perfect balance of a luxury contemporary design hotel, also offering private villas with their own splash pools amongst the tranquillity and back to nature location.

This gives you the best of both worlds! The facilities of a 5 star luxury hotel with the opportunity of a get away from it all holiday, even the lights are kept to a minimum, giving guests the opportunity to enjoy the night time sky and amazing views of the stars!

Our trip continued towards the Atlantic coast and the drive to the famous surfing resort of Essaouira, which is approximately 3 hours away from Marrakesh, but well worth the trip!

We cut the journey time by stopping en route to visit a Argan Oil Co-operative which was a fantastic opportunity for anyone that uses this famous oil and stock up!

The workers were really friendly and helpful showing us how the oil was produced and how they use every part of the kernels in their production including the shells to use for feeding animals.

I really enjoyed trying all their products and of course making the most of this shopping opportunity!

When we arrived at the seaside resort of Essaouira the huge beach was absolutely stunning, there were a lot of surfers including kite surfers, which seemed to be very popular.

The Beach stretched along the whole of the resort toward the Medina, where you were able to visit and explore in a much laid-back atmosphere, very different to the Souks in Marrakesh, and felt like a typical seaside town back home, but with much better weather!

It was without a doubt well worth the transfer and would love to return for a longer stay!

My overall experience of Morocco completely exceeded all expectations, it was a fantastic opportunity to experience old and new, where you have camels, horse and carts, happily going about their business in amongst the modern and luxurious cars and SUVs, all the hotels I visited were fabulous and top class which certainly had something for everyone, and would suit every taste and budget.

The people were extremely friendly, welcoming and accommodating.

Such a fantastic holiday for any type of traveller and I can't believe that such a beautiful and fascinating country as this is only a 3 hour flight away from us.

I would love to return again in the future!