Family holiday to Morocco, Souks & Mountains
| country: | Morocco |
| departures: | 2010: 4 Apr, 30 May, 17 Oct 2011: 10 Apr, 29 May |
| price: | From £689 - £719 (8 days) per adult and from £614 - £644 per child including flights from the UK, from £462 - £487 excluding flights. |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
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introduction to Family holiday to Morocco, Souks & Mountains
Exotic Marrakech
We begin in the 'Red City' of Marrakech - truly a treat for the senses! We take a tour in a horse-drawn caleche before exploring the colourful souks on foot. Here, carpets, ceramics and piles of exotic spices line the maze of narrow streets. Close by is the celebrated Djemma el Fna, where a melée of street vendors, snake charmers, acrobats, story tellers and jewellers congregate in the evening to ply their wares, creating a magical scene and memories that will last long after your return.
Scenery of the High Atlas
From Marrakech a short drive takes us high into the stunning scenery of the Atlas Mountains and the small village of Ouirgane. Here we spend two nights relaxing in this pristine environment, enjoying the facilities at our kasbah hotel. There's the opportunity to explore the village and more of the surrounding countryside - a gentle walk among the foothills allows us to meet the local people and observe the daily life of the hardy berber people.
White-washed walls of Essaouira
Returning from the mountains we make for the Atlantic coast and arrive among the winding streets and long, sandy beach of Essaouira. This laid-back resort, blending Arab, French and Iberian influences, is a great place to end our journey - enjoying pastries at pavement cafés, fresh fish on the harbour, a spot of unhassled shopping, exploring the bright medina and walled ramparts or walks along the wide sandy beach overlooking the mighty ocean.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Join Marrakech. |
| Day 2: | In Marrakech; caleche ride and short tour of souks. |
| Day 3: | Mid-morning drive to Ouirgane in High Atlas; afternoon visit to village and mosque. |
| Day 4: | At Ouirgane; easy half-day walk from hotel. |
| Day 5: | Mid-morning drive to Essaouira; free afternoon. |
| Day 6: | Free to explore Essaouira. |
| Day 7: | Mid-morning drive to Marrakech; free afternoon. |
| Day 8: | End Marrakech. |
small group family holiday - toddler
This is a 'small group family adventure' specifically for families with toddlers. They are designed with very young children in mind so they tend to be at a slower pace with child friendly accommodation. The minimum age for these tours is two, with no upper age limit, so you can bring kids of all ages along, in fact, older kids will love these tours as much as the younger ones! Typically you will join several other families and travel in a group of approx. 16 people. The trips are great value and a great way for you and your children to meet new people! While itineraries are pre-planned there is also some flexibility and you'll have plenty of time to yourselves. award winner
This tourism business won an Award in our 2008 Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards - organised by responsibletravel.com in association with The Daily Telegraph, World Travel Market, Geographical Magazine, of the Royal Geographical Society and BBC World News.Since 2004, the Awards has recognised individuals, companies and organisations in travel making a big commitment to the culture and economies of local communities and helping to conserve biodiversity.
how this holiday makes a difference
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Community
A family tour is a huge opportunity to educate children about the world around them in a fun way and Morocco has a huge stock of cultural and natural wonders for them to explore. All our leaders in Morocco are locals and we’ve personally trained them all too so they are comfortable in their work and you get great service. It is our policy to generate business and employment opportunities in the countries we travel to by employing local people. Furthermore they can give a real insight into the local culture; anything from learning about the education system, to making sure we don’t fall foul of any taboos! As well as respecting local people, we also like to be an economic benefit to them. We do this by using locally owned hotels, spreading our business to a variety of local restaurants (which is a great way to sample delicious Moroccan food!) We like to support local development though business but there are always some who are out of reach of the tourist pound and where we can, we like to extend some support to them. This tour travels through Asni where we are supporting 3 girls through high school. Girls from the High Atlas villages often don’t have access to secondary education as the schools are too far away but thanks to Education for All and our support, 16 girls now have the opportunity to continue their studies. Environment As well as the above, we support a variety of charities and projects worldwide which support vulnerable communities and habitats including Friends of Conservation, Hope Worldwide and Send A Cow. We are also actively engaged with UK travel industry bodies which promote best practice in responsible tourism, such as Tourism Concern, The Travel Foundation and AITO. Our commitment to responsible tourism is not limited to our overseas operation and we have measures to ensure our UK office operates according to our responsible tourism policy. Carbon offsets for all flights booked with us are included in the tour cost. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |
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