I am thinking of taking a boat from Gibralter over to Tangiers and then drive down to Cassablanca, sight see and return. Any advice or experience shared would be welcome. Trip in February with wife and children. Thanks.

Tangier is well, not what it was once upon a time and I would recommend going to Fez rather than Casablanca, much nicer to visit. You can also visit the old Roman ruins at Volubilis and Meknes which has been called the Versailles of Morocco. I think this would be of much more interest and fun than Casablanca.

In Fez I would highly recommend the Palais Jamai Fes Hotel. http://www.sofitel.com/sofitel/fiche...he_hotel.shtml

Sam

I am also worried about my safety. I would be most likely hiring a car. It will only be a day trip, not an overnight and not for submersion but just to get a taste of the country and basically say we went over there.

I spent three weeks with a pal driving from one end of the country to the other and had no problems at all. Could not have been a nicer and safer country. Just avoid the simple things such as not leaving valuables exposed in the car, basic theft prevention 101.

Violent crime is quite low...now scams and rip offs....that is another story. Nearly everyone you meet in Tangier and any touristy city will be after your money. They will be your friend and offer to share tea and all sorts of hospitality but it is usually (not always but usually) going to end in them wanting you to buy something and much pressure comes along with this.

Just know if you stand your ground and even become aggressive with them if necessary they will back down. They may yell and gesticulate but they won't become violent normally. If you do choose to buy something know that they will ask for about 10 times or more the proper price so if you want it you need to argue...

In most places if a stranger is too interested in knowing you they normally have nefarious purposes in mind...don't let your hope for humanity drop your guard.

i've been to morocco twice, doing a road trip both times. highly recommend! roads a very good, people are nice (as long as you keep your guard) and there's a lot of cultural richness. however, i think a daytrip may be challenging. did you check the ferry schedule? the last one can't be too late(i'd guess around dusk). maybe i'm wrong. but if the last ferry is around 5-6, and you won't get there much before 10 at best, i don't think you have enough time to get out of Tangiers (especially if you plan to rent a car in Tangier - that's another hour). if you plan to bring a car from Spain (as we did), it's fine, but on the 2nd trip we were stuck in Tangier customs for 2 hrs before they allowed us to go back to Spain while they "verified" the paperwork on the car. thankfully, we weren't planning for a last ferry. in the end, nothing bad happened, but it took extra time.
I think you have two options - do a day trip and stay in tangiers (to say you've been in Morocco). or commit to at least one overnight, which would allow you to drive to Fez (i'd advise against Casa since it's nothing like rest of Morocco, has few historical/cultural sights and is a huge modern city).
if you want to get a taste of morocco, tangiers will do that for you. you won't see the best of it, but best things take time.

I was thinking of flying to Marrakech with the family and spending a few days there and then perhaps renting a car and driving to Fes and the Atlas mountains. Any tips appreciated!

Any recommended websites on Moroccan travel?

i have been to casablanca about 15 times on business in the last three years, and i really don't recommend it to anyone.

morocco is a tourist friendly destination, due to simple economics. they have no oil or gas like algeria, and other than agriculture, the is little other major industries.

driving in the country is fine, as the volume of traffic on the roads is low, outside the cities that is.

seriously, to go for a day trip, would in my mind be a waste of a day.. to go for a week with a car and head of at random is much more like it.

Now I'm leaning towards driving to Gibraltar or somewhere close in Spain and taking the ferry across. That way I won't need to rent a car. Anyone done that recently?

So if the choice is to take a ferry over from Spain for a day and return or to not go at all, you say I should just not go at all. Right?

I would agree that one day isn't worth it. I'm thinking of taking the ferry over for 2 or 3 days.

It's akin to going to Tijuana from San Diego. Mexico - yes, the "real Mexico" - no. Interesting nonetheless, IMO.

Ryanair has flights to Marrakech and I believe Fez these days - maybe an alternative is a quick there and back.

I just had an extended weekend trip in Morocco and all was well until we got back to Tangier and found the ferries are not running due to the weather. It seems that the tiniest bit of weather cancels the ferries here. Probably EU lawyer regulations or something. Anyhow what it means to me is that I'm stranded in Tangier and not at all happy about it. If I can't get back tomorrow I think I will drive over to Ceuta and try from there.

I don't think I will ever come back here by car in the winter due to the uncertainty of the ferry. Everything else was great though. We drove to Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakesh.

I spent 2 weeks in Morocco last summer.

Tangier and Casablanca are the least appealing parts of the country for me. I would pick up a cheap flight from Spain, I flew MAD-CMN in the summer with Easyjet for about 30 Euros all in, cheaper than the ferry and less time consuming

If I was on limited time, I would totally skip Casablanca, and spend time in (in order of preference)
Marrakesh
Fes/Meknes
Essaouira
Rabat

I found the touts in Morocco more obnoxious than in Turkey and Egypt, especially in the tourist areas.

If you only had two days what would you make sure you saw in the country?