Morocco family adventure holiday
| country: | Morocco |
| location: | Atlas Mountains |
| departures: | 2009: 20 Dec 2010: 11 Apr, 19 Dec 2011: 17 Apr |
| price: | From £835 - £875 (8 days) per adult and from £780 - £820 per child including flights from the UK. From £535 - £560 per adult and from £535 - £560 per child excluding flights. Single supplement £25. Minimum age 11 yrs |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
photo gallery
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1of2the amazing things you'll be doing
Mountains, Kasbahs & Oases
From Marrakech we head straight into the High Atlas mountains. From the Tizi n' Tichka pass we pass the crumbled ruins of Telouet kasbah before taking to mules to explore the dramatic scenery arriving eventually at our remote gite in Tourza. We hike the following morning along a rugged valley carved deep into the mountains before continuing south through palm-fringed oases to Ait Ben Haddou. Here we find Morocco's most famous kasbah used in films including Gladiator and Lawrence of Arabia.
On the Edge of the Great Sahara
Our next form of transport is bike and we pedal ever south towards the edge of the desert at Ouarzazate. Here we tour the Atlas Film Studios before heading down the Draa Valley to Tamnougalt where we stay overnight at a traditional kasbah set among the lush palms of a village oasis. We discover the desert settlement and sacred Zaouia at Tamegroute and head into the Sahara for a camel ride and a night Bedouin-style under the huge African sky.
Souks of Marrakech
We return to Marrakech via Ouarzazate where we have a full afternoon to discover the souks and winding alleys of this exotic city. You can explore, haggle and chat to the locals and will probably want to return in the evening to the famous Djemma el Fna central square - considered the 'Heart of Morocco', the square comes alive with acrobats, snake-charmers, drummers, fortune-tellers, jewellers and food sellers in the biggest (an noisiest) feast of colour you'll ever see!
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Join Marrakech. |
| Day 2: | Drive into High Atlas; mule trek to Tourza. |
| Day 3: | Valley hike; drive and visit Ait Ben Haddou. |
| Day 4: | Cycle towards Ouarzazate; visit Atlas studios; drive Tamnougalt. |
| Day 5: | Drive to Tinfou dunes; camel ride and desert camp. |
| Day 6: | Drive and visit Tamegroute; continue to Ouarzazate. |
| Day 7: | Drive Marrakech; city tour. |
| Day 8: | End Marrakech |
small group family holiday - teen
This is a 'small group family adventure' - specifically for families with teenagers. They are imaginative, fun and challenging itineraries, designed specifically with teenagers in mind. The minimum age on these Teenage tours is 11 (‘teen’ used with poetic licence!) and 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 family 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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Environment
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. 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. Community 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. 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. |
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. |