Jul 30, 2024
Very nice excursion - Very pleasant day: camel ride, tea, visit to a cooperative producing argan oil, small hike to the waterfalls
Meal (+7 euro) very good in a Berber house.
All very well orchestrated by our guide Youssef Kamchad who knows the region very well
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jun 11, 2024
Excellent trip. Would recommend! ⭐️ - We really enjoyed this trip. We had Hamid as our driver who was great and explained what we were doing and where we were going. We had Abdul Nidali as our guide for our hike up the mountains. Abdul was brilliant and very knowledgeable and patient! He showed us lots of things going up the mountain, even getting us fresh cherries from the trees and pointing out things to us. He is also a great photographer and part mountain gazelle! We visited the Argon Oil shop and tried the different bits they supply. The peanut butter and honey was yummy! Lunch was at a restaurant and the food was lovely to go with the views and good value! Would 100% recommend to anyone.
Review provided by Viator
May 7, 2024
Fantastic day out - perfect weather and great journey - Baha & Ismail were our guides. They kindly gave up their time during Ramadan to take us on a tour of Argan Oil Women's Co-operative, The Atlas Mountains, a Waterfall and a camel ride. This experience was very well priced for the entire days worth of activities.
You are picked up at around 8am and taxi'd to a main bus, and then you are joined by your guides. We had around 20 people on the tour with us. The tour guides are natural Berber's who are very knowledgable about their culture and how it fits in with the rest of Morocco. You are taken to a vista view, then to a womens co-operative where you are served a nice breakfast of bread and honey. The guide then buses you to the Atlas mountains, where you will walk as a group to a waterfall. You then have lunch at a local restaurant, we had tagine. The restaurant has amazing views of the mountains, they are unparalleled. The air is clean and the people very friendly. You are then taken to a camel riding area closer to Marrakech - and served tea in a tent. The whole experience was very nice, very well priced, and just enough to tire you out for the day.
Thank you to our drivers, and Baha & Ismail.
TIPS:
Bring water with you. We went in March and I was very thirsty during the hike. It is a 8-10 hour day, so make sure you are hydrated. You can bring snacks if you like.
I tipped the locals well, as they have recently been devastated by the earthquake. This is not mandatory - but just something I felt like I owed them for graciously welcoming me into their culture/area,
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mar 19, 2024
Wonderful experience, memories to last a lifetime. - I don’t know where to start. Our guide Baha made our trip so memorable and special. I’m travelling solo with my 2 children, one 13 year old and one 2 year old, the terrain of the trip was quite wobbly and rocky in places and Baha took it upon himself to take my youngest son under his wing to ensure everyone was safe and enjoying their time on the Atlas Mountains. Not only that but Baha is very knowledgeable and knew everything there was to know about the Atlas Mountains and the people who live there.
The Argon Oil making was interesting and there’s lovely products on sale. The scenery is beautiful and you get a really authentic feel of what it’s like in the Atlas Mountains. Plenty of picture opportunities too.
It’s nice and steady, there’s no rush.
The waterfall is small but pleasant!
The breakfast was nice, mint tea and some bread to sample the local Argon Oil, Honey and Olive Oil. The lunch was nice too, chicken/veg tajine with some bread and rice, and nice little cake.
Camel riding was an experience too, all in all a very memorable trip, great value for money. I love Morocco and the people here. So kind and accommodating.
I very much recommend this trip and I hope you are lucky enough to encounter Baha. I feel very fortunate that he was our guide :) thank you!!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Feb 25, 2024
Beautiful day in the Atlas Mountains - We had a lovely day today with Abdul, our driver, and Houssain, our guide for the walk in the Atlas Mountains. It was an entertaining day with lots of different stops. Since there were only five of us, it was the perfect group size and the bus was very comfortable to drive. Abdul drove very carefully and cautiously. First we went to the women's cooperative that produces argan. The dips provided were very tasty, as was the sweetened tea. Anyone who wanted could buy something, but there was no pressure. Then we went to the waterfall in the Atlas Mountains. Although it was very crowded, we still had a lovely walk and the lunch afterwards was very tasty. Houssein was able to answer all of our questions and was very friendly. Finally, we went to the Agafay Desert, where we rode camels for a short distance. We can recommend the trip with a clear conscience.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sep 11, 2024
Value for money was top - Beautiful experience at fair price - The tour was on the whole highly recommended. Value for money is right with this offer. The pick-up worked great, one evening before the time was communicated and then adhered to. Be sure to check WhatsApp here. The valley tour was ok. Unfortunately, it's a tourist thing. Which was to be expected, but it could have been concealed a little more charmingly. Hence, unfortunately, a point deduction. But after the Argan Oil Manufactory was finished, it got better. The small hiking tour to the waterfall and lunch are big pluses! Also the tea at the villagers was very nice. The camel riding was our highlight, even if it was already over after about 20 min. The guide took super creative pictures for this. Overall, this is great value for money! We would book again.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 5, 2024
Great experience, our... - Great experience, our guide in the mountains was very informative and friendly! The camel ride was also really good
Review provided by Viator
Mar 8, 2024
Let’s get real about Morocco Tourism - Look, here’s the deal with these tours.
Most of the companies that offer a “three valleys tour” are going to take you to the same set of places, all of which are little tourist enclaves that just get bus after bus of groups coming through all day. It’s fine, it’s not anything special, and the system is designed to get as many tourist buses in and out instead of offering anything particularly unique. Most of what you’re paying for on this “tour” is a driver to take you between these little enclaves, and once you’re there you kinda just are part of the crowd. The camel ride was just in a dirt lot outside the city and the camels seemed unhappy and badly treated, the argan oil collective is not actually a co-op and the whole tour is just part of this tourist “escalator” that funnels people into and out of the same things. Our “guide” didn’t really explain anything and just played us a video from a Tom Cruise movie from the front seat of the van; I didn’t learn anything new about Morocco from the tour.
None of this is bad, obviously! It helps contain tourism’s impact on the environment and protect local towns from over-tourism and congestion.
That being said, you should know what you’re getting into here. It’s not bad to be a part of a touristy experience, but you should know as a consumer that the tour being offered is not some private vouyage into the deep mountains with untouched nature and cultural immersion. It’s a tour. No more, no less. I wouldn’t recommend it to a friend, but I wouldn’t advise you to stay away, you just need to keep perspective and understand the context within you are visiting, and you must not conflate the experience offered here with Moroccan cultural immersion. If you want to learn about Morocco, read some Laila Lalami or Mohamed Choukri, learn some Darija, listen to Ammouri Mbarek, talk to people respectfully and try to make honest human connections. If you want to take a bus to a waterfall peppered with ring and rug salesman booths, then take this tour. Nothing wrong with it, just a bit uninspired.
Review provided by Viator
Feb 2, 2024
Overall disappointing - The mini bus journey was quite long and our guide barely interacted with us. He tried to use the microphone but it didn’t work. Despite this he did manage to say a few things on the way there. After this there was little information and he kept going off to talk to friends. The picturesque stop was nothing to talk about and the argon oil cooperative was clearly all for show. Ironically they had the only card machine we saw in Marrakech in the ‘mud hut’. They clearly weren’t actually producing anything on site.
The waterfall too was underwhelming and spoiled by stalls.
The camel ride was on a dusty field near to Marrakech and they didn’t seem too well cared for.
Overall disappointing but I think it would have been better with more history and context, particularly given the recent earthquakes
Review provided by Tripadvisor
May 3, 2024
My husband and i payed... - My husband and i payed 60€ ( 30€ each) and the 4 travelers with us that booked this experience through BOOKING paied 15€ each. We payed double. We feel that we have been ripped-off by Viator
Review provided by Viator