Tanger Privattour

Ahmed and Moustafa gave us a fine tour of Tangier and the Medina. It was a pleasue watching Ahmed drive and Moustafa guide us through the winding streeets of the Medina. The tour was very reasonably pricedas well

We only had one day in Tangier and knew we wanted to see as much as we could so we hired a private guide for the day. Both our driver and our guide met us at the cruise port very close to where we disembarked from our ship. We were impressed right away as they seemed to know how to stay one step ahead of all of the guided tours. We seemed to be leaving or arriving just as the large groups were leaving. We started at the Spartel Cave and then moved on to a camel ride on the beach. I think we would have liked a bit more time at the Caves as we only really went to the smaller one, our guide assured us the larger one was similiar but more touristy but looking back I think we would have liked to see the larger one as well. However, because we only saw the smaller cave we were able to beat the crowd to the camels. Our guide handed us over to the camel guide and told us to have a good time. We spent the next 30 minutes riding camels on a beach next to the Mediterranean Ocean. We had the whole beach to ourselves and really had a fantastic time. And just as our camels brought us back up the hill to end our ride, we saw crowds of people arriving to take their turns. Next up was the first part of our walk through the medina or old city. I was so thankful to have a guide as we definitely would have lost our way several times. There are so many twists and turns and small alleyways. We stopped and joined delicious Moroccan Green Tea along the way. Up until this point our visit had been absolutely perfect and we were having a great time. Then we went to a shop where we were encouraged to go all the way up to the roof for an excellent view of the city. They weren't wrong it was a beautiful view of Tangier. When we came back down, the shop owner offered us tea and explained they were going to give us a demonstration. We sat down in chairs with our tea and watched as his team brought out rug after rug. They were beautiful rugs and while we briefly thought about buying one, when we were told the price would be 1500 Euros, we apologized and explained we just couldn't pay that much. They eventually dropped the price down to $350 but we had decided we really weren't interested. They continued to press my husband to buy the rug, completely ignoring my firm no thank you. At this point our guide magically appeared and asked what the problem was, he then encouraged my husband to buy the rug, saying it was a really a good price. Whether it was a good price or not, at this point, we just wanted to leave. (Talking to other travellers on our ship later, we discovered this is fairly common and we felt a bit better, so I think it's just important to note that it's fairly common for guides to have arrangements with shops and I'm sure they get commission or kick-backs when tourists make purchases, so just be firm and let your guide know in advance if you are actually interested in shopping). When we finally left the shop (without buying a rug) our guide dropped us off at a restaurant for a late lunch. We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch and the views from the terrace. After lunch we did stop at a couple other places and did make a couple puchases of spices and scarves. We finished with one more short walk through the medina before meeting back up with our driver and being delivered back to the cruise port. Overall it was a good experience and I would recommend this experience to everyone as I think having a private guide is an excellent way to see Tangier. Just be firm with your guide about your interest in shopping before you start the day. Also if you are a female, (or in my case a female, traveling with her husband) understand that culturally you are second class. The guide spoke mainly to my husband and did make the same "lazy women" joke five times about various types of work that women used to do and can now buy or automate (ex: buying tapenade rather than buying the olives and making their own tapenade). As a female, I think it's important to take it in stride, know it's cultural and let it go so you can enjoy the tour and the day! One side note -- our driver was excellent and actually did speak to me and treated me as an equal. I would recommend our driver and a driver/guide without hesitation!

We had a wonderful visit in Tangier thanks to Hamid and Abdul. We did a day trip out of Tarifa using the ferry. We were picked up on arrival even though our ferry was more than 30 mins late. After a light breakfast, which was fantastic, we saw some sights and Hamid talked about the history of Tangier. Then we rode camels near the beach and saw the Hercules cave which was beautiful (even though a little pricey, 6€, for the small cave). The walking tour of the kasbah and the Medina were great. Hamid made sure we we didn’t go where we shouldn’t have. The van was very comfortable for the 4 of us, but could have comfortably seated at least 2 more. For our first trip to the African continent, it was very safe and beautiful.