Guided Day Tour to Fez from Casablanca

First off I want to stress that our driver, Kirem, was amazing! The rating is more for the actual tour, itself. Kirem stopped twice on the drive to and from Fes to give us a bathroom break and stretch our legs. They told us it would be a 3 hour drive but it was closer to 4 and a half hours. Kirem spent the drive pointing out historical sites and points of interest. He was amazing! As for the tour itself, a complete and total waste of time and money. Bedia was our tour guide and appeared to be extremely annoyed with us at all times. The only time we got out of the car for more than a brief moment was at the Medina. The Medina itself was charming, however, Bedia spent the entire time rushing us through it only to say, stop and take your time, and then would rush ahead without letting us stop to look around. She, however, did think it was appropriate for her to stop and do her own personal shopping at 4 different stores while making us wait on her. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she took personal selfies while we waited on her and also made us take ones with her at very inconvenient times. We’ve taken numerous tours in countless countries and this was the first time we have had a tour guide that did not feel like a guide at all. To me this should be a definite pass

We thoroughly enjoyed the Fes excursion. Although the ride from Casablanca took 4 hours, we had an excellent, cautious driver who unfortunately did not speak English. But we managed to communicate with him successfully in our limited French. In Fes we were met by our guide Bedia, who spoke beautiful English and provided a running description of where we went and what we saw. Since Fes is known for its handicrafts, we visited a mosaic and pottery school and factory, a leather tannery, a weaver, and rug cooperative, and learned about the creation of these works of art. Our visit to Fes was on Friday prayer day when some of the shops were closed, but the alleys of the medina were crowded with people leaving the mosques. Since we were new to an Islamic environment, Bedia explained cultural and religious practices. We took a break for a Moroccan lunch at a lovely local restaurant. Bedia made our visit to Fes educational and enjoyable. She provided details about local history not included in most guidebooks. We headed back to Casablanca late in the afternoon. It was a very long day, but well worth it.