Sun Trails Morocco Review

Our Sun Trails Morocco Review: What the Tour Was Actually Like

This Sun Trails Morocco review comes from three weeks driving across the country with two kids, from Marrakech to the cedar forests, Fes, Aït Benhaddou, the Sahara and finally the coast. Here is what the company actually did for us, what surprised me, and whether I would book them again.

Why Sun trails Morocco? For all the reasons!!!  Seriously, I can’t list a single reason to not use Sun Trails Morocco to traverse this beautifully diverse country.  I do realize that it may not be in everyone’s budget, but the cost is still pretty marginal (more on that in a bit).  In a country like Morocco, where public transportation is minimal and almost non existent in the more rural areas, a car is your only option if you want to see more than just Fes, Marrakech or Casablanca.  Beyond the obvious need for getting too and fro, having a personal guide that basically becomes an extension of your family on your journey, who can navigate the land, translate for you, and connect you with personalized experiences is priceless.  Sun Trails Morocco and our driver Boujeema, (pictured with us below) made our Morocco trip everything that it was, and more than I could have hoped for.  Please read on for a breakdown of all the reasons you should choose Sun Trails Morocco to host you on your journey and a look at our experience!

1. Communication & Flexibility

If you are looking for a company that offers professional, prompt communication and the flexibility to create your own itinerary, Sun Trails cannot be beat!  Cristian, the owner of the company and the one who you will connect with to set up and plan your trip, is the most genuine and professional individual.  I reached out to several tour companies in Morocco getting started and Cristian was the fastest to respond, provided the most thorough responses to my initial questions and was polite.  I had one company tell me that they won’t take kids near the desert when it’s hot (as if I was a bad mom for suggesting it!  Rude).  Anyways back to Cristian!  We traveled during covid and right when Morocco was re-opening its borders so things were more complicated than usual.  Our airline rebooked our flights on different days and different routes FIVE times leading up to our arrival (literally we did not know when were actually arriving until 2 days prior to our arrival!!!).  Each time Cristian was so gracious in changing all of the dates to accommodate the craziness.  I would have been so stressed if it weren’t for his flexibility and prompt responses and communication.  If you like to have things planned out and not have to worry once you arrive at your destination, you will be in good hands with Sun Trails!!

2. Convenience & Time Management

Who doesn’t like having a car and personal driver at the ready?!?  No one!  That’s right, I said it.  If I am wrong, please tell me who prefers to hop in a taxi (if you can find one) to catch a public bus at a specific time (can’t be late!) to ride through windy mountain roads for hours upon hours, probably with no air conditioning, to reach their next destination?  That’s what I thought.  Especially with young kids, the convenience of having your ride pull up to your hotel or rental when you (and your hooligan children) are ready, is priceless.  And if you are traveling in the summer, don’t you want air conditioning for those half day or longer drives? You bet!!  Just look how comfortable these kids are…

What about bathroom breaks?  Can’t do that on a bus.  If you want to stop to stretch your legs, use the restroom or snap a photo of the beautiful landscape you are driving through, no problem!!  Our driver Boujeema also knew where to stop for a European style bathroom for our comfort.  Good luck figuring that out if you are driving yourself!

3. Traversing the Land & Police Checkpoints

Morocco terrain is so incredibly diverse, it is almost shocking as you drive through different parts of the country.  Your Morocco trip just wouldn’t be the same without seeing the landscape by car.  Here are a few photos for example…

Incredible right?!?  If you simply fly from Marrakech to Fes, and never drive anywhere, you are missing out on SO much!  Renting a car and figuring out how to get everywhere and read signs in Arabic can be stressful for some travelers.  So this provides you the opportunity to see all of these amazing landscapes without having to think about the logistics.

Also note there are police checkpoints throughout the country when exiting or entering a different region.  I would say we probably went through ten or so of these checkpoints on our journey.  I don’t know about you, but as a foreigner, I never want to be stopped by police and risk not have the proper paperwork, etc to show no matter what country you are in.  That is a situation I would rather avoid.  The police at these checkpoints only stop some of the cars that pass through.  We were stopped maybe three or four times and Boujeema had all of the documentation at the ready and was extremely professional, even when the police tried to hustle him a bit until a superior officer came out and said to basically knock it off.  I don’t speak Arabic but I’m pretty sure that is what went down based on body language.  It was extremely interesting to watch these nuances of the local law enforcement.  I want to highlight, that we NEVER felt concerned about our well being or that we might be taken advantage of by police looking for a shakedown.  Boujeema always took care of us and knows the laws and his/our rights when it came to these checkpoints.  We always had a good laugh about what went down after we drove off and he would translate what was said.  Again, quite entertaining and interesting.

4. Knowledge & Unique Experience

Boujeema has been a licensed guide for more than ten years and it certainly showed in his wealth of knowledge.  I learned so much during our car rides as we passed places and drove through various regions.  He made us feel comfortable enough to ask him anything on our journey.  For example I was super curious what happens if you miss a prayer.  Since there are five prayers a day for Islam, there is no way everyone can stop what they are doing each time, like if they are driving or working or whatever, so what happens?  Rest assured, you can make up for it later and do extra prayers at another time.  I enjoyed very much learning more about Islam and correcting some of the misconceptions I had as a westerner.  I am grateful that Boujeema was comfortable enough to answer all of my questions.

If you are looking for unique, personal experiences on your Morocco trip, then Sun Trails or your driver can arrange this for you.  I threw out some ideas I had while we were on the road and Boujeema always came through.  One of the most appreciated experiences of our trip was having dinner with a local family at their home in Ourika Valley.

You can read all about it on our Ourika Valley page.  It was humbling being welcomed into the home of a stranger as if you were a long time friend, and being cooked the most exquisite homemade food.  Watching our kids play with their kids and seeing what the day to day life of a family in rural Morocco is like was an experience we will never forget.

While we were in the Sahara, it was Dawson’s birthday and the Riad helped us arrange a dinner on the dunes.  But what about birthday cake?  Boujeema to the rescue!!!  He called a baker that lives in area to find out if they could make a birthday cake.  Even though the bakery was closed due to covid, they were still happy to accommodate.  There is no way I could have materialized a birthday cake for Dawson without Boujeema’s connections and happiness to help.

It was the perfect ending to a once in a lifetime birthday in the Sahara Desert!  You can read all about our time in the Sahara Desert.

5. Cost vs Reward

I did not check out the cost of itineraries if you are booking all of your accommodations with Sun Trails as part of the tour, so for that you would need to check out their website and inquire with Cristian.  I do know that they offer different levels based on your budget, which is pretty cool.  Their options include something like , backpacker, mid-range and luxury budget packages and they will book you accommodations accordingly.  Pretty great for those who don’t want to put much effort in.   I read a lot of reviews of those who opted for this and all seemed very happy with their experiences and accommodations etc.

I, however, am a planning freak.  So I wanted to plan our Morocco trip, my way.  I love to research for months: the places I want to stay, where I want to eat, and everything in between.  So I was delighted that Cristian was more than happy to allow me to do that.  I sent him all of the hotels/airBnBs with dates I booked ahead of time and then Boujeema handled the day to day like eating and sightseeing stuff.

Our package at the time of our trip was $200 Euro a day and it included the nice 4WD Toyota, our amazing driver Boujeema, gas and tolls.  In my opinion, the experience of having a comfortable vehicle and driver at your disposal, a guide that basically becomes a part of your family, endless knowledge of the country and culture with you at all times (no not your cell phone), a translator (also not your phone), experiences curated to fit your wants, and everything in between is far more valuable than $200 Euros/day.  I only wish we could travel that well in all the countries we visit!!

6. Sun Trails & Traveling with Kids

One of the first reasons I reached out to Sun Trails was because I read a travel bloggers page about her wonderful experience with Sun Trails and Boujeema when she and her young daughter traveled through Morocco.  She mentioned that Boujeema also had young kids and therefore he was very thoughtful of the needs of a child.  She was right!  I requested Boujeema when I contacted Cristian after reading about him and was delighted that he was available!

Whether he was racing the kids back to the car or making sure a restaurant had french fries for our picky eater, Kaida, Boujeema was definitely an advocate for the girls.  He was also always mindful of their safety if we were climbing stairs or near an edge.  Boujeema was exemplary in the kid department!

As for car seats…they are not required by law in Morocco.  Most of the time when traveling in foreign countries for short rides or taking taxis we are not concerned about it.  But I knew we would be spending an excessive amount of time in the car so it was important to me that we had access to a car seat for this particular adventure.  After reading on a few blogs how difficult car seats are to come by, and knowing that we were not about to lug one across the world, I was delighted when Cristian told me he could secure not only a car seat for Kaida (then 3) but also a booster seat for Viona (then 7).  It was a huge relief and much appreciated!  And perfect for all of the napping on our long travel days…

This is what our Morocco trip itinerary looked like!

We flew into Marrakech to start our journey…

We spent 5 nights in Marrakech which was packed full of shopping, sightseeing, eating and making a few new friends.  Read all about our Marrakech adventure.  Then we started our adventure with Sun Trails when Boujeema picked us up from our vacation rental.  He took us to a Carrefour (super market) so I could stock up on some snacks and cereals I knew our picky little child would eat as we headed into more rural areas.

We headed to Ourika Valley for a two night stay, the drive was a little over an hour.  This gave us a full day to explore, hike and have dinner with a local family which Boujeema arranged for us.  Some people opt to visit Ourika Valley as a day trip from Marrakech since it is fairly close.

Next we headed to Ouarzazate and Aït Benhaddou.  This was about a 4+ hour drive over the Atlas mountain range.  I was really not sure what to expect the infrastructure to look like as this was our first visit to Morocco.  To be honest I was kind of expecting something similar to the monkey roads in Costa Rica.  To my pleasant surprise the roads are really nice and pretty new through the parts of Morocco we visited, making the rural areas a bit more accessible.  Here are a few photos from this part of our drive…

This stretch was pretty windy, so be prepared if you get car sick like me… but the views were breathtaking!  Boujeema helped break up this drive by taking us to an old Kasbah not far off the route.  The kids had fun exploring and running around and we appreciated the beautiful tile work and architecture.

We spent 2 nights in Ouarzazate which gave us a full day to explore Aït Benhaddou, tour a movie studio, and enjoy a great French/Moroccan dinner (read all about the things we did on our Ouarzazate page).

It also helped us break up the very long drive to the Sahara desert.  There is no way the kids would have made a straight 9-10 hour drive!

From Ouarzazate we headed to the Sahara Desert!  It was about a 5 hour drive and Boujeema took us on a few small detours to break up the trip and let the girls run around.  We stopped at the Todra Gorge.  It was a beautiful spot to the let the the kids splash around in the river, grab some lunch and and watch rock climbers…

Back on the road we took in the beautifully changing landscape and Boujeema told us about the fossils in the rocks in that area.  Viona got so excited and wanted to find some fossils so Boujeema stopped on the side of the road in a good spot to look for them.  Even though it was hot, Viona thought it was the best adventure!

We spent two nights at the gateway to the Sahara desert.  This gave us enough time for a sunset camel ride in the dessert, a little dune riding in Boujeema’s air conditioned 4-wheel drive, 5 hours by the pool, dinner on the dunes and a second camel ride for the kids the morning we were leaving.  Read all about our Sahara Desert adventure!

Next we headed to Azrou on our way to Fez.  It was about a 6 hour drive.  We stopped for lunch and made no other detours so we could arrive early enough to see the Macaque monkeys in the cedar forest around Azrou.  The road trip through the high atlas mountains was beautiful and filled with nomads herding their grazing animals.  Also not too windy, yay for my tummy.  Eventually the landscape started looking a bit like the Italian countryside.

We spent just one night in Azrou, had dinner near the city center, in the morning the girls picked cherries on the orchard at our hotel, I did a little shopping at the souks and we saw the monkeys one more time.  Read all about our visit to Azrou.

Next destination, Fez!!  We stopped for lunch in Ifrane and then Boujeema took us to see a cave house and how those families live.  It was an eye opening experience and good for the kids to see that not all houses have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  This particular family was a family of seven and they shared one bedroom and their bathroom was basically part of the kitchen.  The mother was so welcoming to show us their personal space of which we were grateful to be invited into.

This is another example of an experience we wouldn’t have otherwise had without Boujeema and Sun Trails.

We spent 5 nights in Fes, 4 days.  One of the days we took a day trip to the Volubilis Roman Ruins (an UNESCO site) and Moulay Idriss.  This is only about an hour and 30 minute drive from Fez and totally worth a visit.  Below is a pick of the landscape on that journey.

Totally worth the day trip, read more about our experience at Volubilis and Moulay Idriss.

The rest of our time in Fes was spent seeing SO many things, shopping in the souks and eating really great food.

Boujeema was happy to drive us around the outside of the Medina to get us to our sites faster.  This was helpful since it was hot and we have littles whose legs poop out fester than ours.  Boujeema also arranged a tour of an old synagog and took me shopping around the souks when I was looking for some specific items.  He also recommended the place we had the best dinner of our trip!  Fes was our favorite city in Morocco, there was so much history and great food.  Read all about our Fes adventures.

After Fez we headed to the Atlantic Coast about an hour south of Casablanca, to a beach resort called Mazagan.  We stopped in the capital city of Rabat for lunch on the harbor, about half way to our destination.

We arrived at Mazagan Beach Resort and it was time to say goodby to Boujeema.  This was quite hard to do after spending everyday with him over the past couple of weeks.  He became an extension of our family, a friend.  My kids still talk about him and we think about him all the time.  We are so grateful for the once in a lifetime trip he contributed to and hope we get to see him on our next Morocco trip.

We spent 5 nights, 4 full days at Mazagan Beach resort.  It was a well deserved rest time after all of the exploring we did.  There were so many activities for the kids, great pools and a private beach.  There are a multitude of restaurants on site so we never had to go anywhere, which was a nice change of pace.  Read all about our time at Mazagan Beach Resort, including our accommodations, activities and food!

Upon departure, the resort drove us to the airport in Casablanca on their complimentary shuttle/van.  Easy peasy!

In Conclusion…

If you are considering a Morocco trip and want to see more than just one or two cities, I strongly encourage you to reach out to Sun Trails to see if they can help you make your dream vacation in Morocco a reality, like they did for us!  Thank you Cristian and Boujeema!!!!

https://www.sun-trails.com/

Is Sun Trails Morocco Worth It With Kids?

For our family it was, and the reasons are almost all practical.

• Ask for a driver who travels with kids. I asked for Boujeema specifically because I had read he had young children of his own, and it showed in everything from restaurant choices to how carefully he watched the girls near stairs and drop offs.
• Ask about car seats when you book. They are not required by law in Morocco and they are hard to find, but Cristian arranged a car seat and a booster for us in advance. On days with hours of driving and a lot of napping, that was the single best thing we asked for.
• Say yes to building your own itinerary. Being able to stretch a day out or cut one short is worth a great deal when your kids have run out of patience.
• Let someone else handle the road. The mountain routes are long and winding and the police checkpoints are routine, and none of it was ours to manage.
• Ask which budget tier you are booking. They arrange accommodation at backpacker, mid range and luxury levels, so be clear about which one you want before anything is confirmed.

The stops from this trip, in order: Marrakech with kids, the Ourika Valley, Azrou and the cedar forest, Fes with kids, the Sahara Desert, Ouarzazate and Aït Benhaddou, and finally Mazagan Beach Resort on the coast.