12-Day Morocco and South of Spain Tour from Madrid

We enjoyed Spain and our Spanish guides. The hotel and buffet in Costel del Sol were disappointing. Supposedly, the tour buys the cheapest rooms so plan on an outlook over the garbage and no air conditioning in May. The lines were so long at the buffet that we never got an entree. Plus the tour is dual language but you may find that you are the only English speakers. Morroco was very interesting but our main guide was not very interested in guiding. You'll see all the designated sites but no extra information about the country or culture.

To start with I received very little information from the Julia help desk in Courtyard Marriot Princessa in Madrid. First tour I was picked up on time and given a fair tour in Madrid, tour was in Spanish/English equates to 70 percent Spanish / 30 percent English after tour were taken to bus station and told return to hotel was on our own, sure would have been nice to know ahead of time.Tours between Spain and Costa del Sol were average, at times it felt like Spanish was more spoken the English. Tours in Morroco were given by another tour group that works with Julia. These tour were outstnding and groups were split into English / spanish speaking groups. Upon returning to Cost Del Sol we were again with Julia. Travel guide made a much better effort here. Stopped for tour in Granada and was assigned to local guide who missed tour time on ticket completely and we never got to tour the palace! Bottom line, had very little information, poor translation during tours, and in general wouldn't recommend this group for English speakers, Also there are many other groups to use for this tour.

We are two women (myself and my mum with my two very small kids, one was 5 months when we started the tour) they made us book two rooms even though my son is only 3 and the other is quite literally a newborn and could sleep anywhere, ofcourse we paid an arm and leg for absolutely no reason, we actually ended up sleeping together and keeping all luggage in another room. The tours in the cities were ridiculously rushed we didn’t have time to take photos it was all go go go go. Then we went to morroco which was an absolute nightmare esp with children. We had to wake up at 6, we got to the ferry at 10am, got to morroco at 12, and then they drove us from the port to the city we were staying in that night (fez) which was a 9 hour drive, during which they took us to a restaurant for lunch that was disgusting inedible and just down right filthy purely because they have a contract with them. The hotel in fez (Ramada) was disgusting, dingy, old and we had chosen the more expensive package which is supposed to put us in better accommodations. The drive in morroco was at least 6 hours from one spot to another, the tours and the guides were horrible, the food, the pace in which we had to do things was just exhausting. We come to Granada, to be told we can’t take prams in al hamra, so we had to carry two very tired and hot kids in and around for 3 hours without any help from Marco our very rude guide who yelled at my mum “were waiting!” When she wasn’t sure if she would continue the tour or not with them (if al hamra was not accomodating for kids Julia travel should have told us before we booked and now knowing that they are not accomodating for kids then why not tell us?!!!) When we got picked up in costa del sol we were thrust into a bus of 44 absolutely no space to breathe or move making it impossible with two small kids. Why? Can’t they spare another bus?? And every single hotel we stayed in at check in we had to be the last to go because our rooms were never next to each other, on several occasions we were put on different levels it was only when I would ask to be put together that they would move us. I know Julia travel will say that a lot of this is out of their hands but that is not true. They could have made sure our rooms were together prior to check in; they could have told us this tour isn’t suitable for kids instead of ripping us off just to take out money, they could have made sure to put us in better hotels, better restaurants, they could have told us prior to booking that the distances in morroco were painful and long and so tiring. I am so disappointed I feel so ripped off, so cheated. Do not book with Julia travel, if u really want to see Andalucia go with a private tour, this company is absolutely rubbish.