Tangier Private Customized Tours

Really, really good; covered everything expected, knowledgeable and English fluent guide. There were just 4 of us in the 7 passenger van. I didn't feel Tangier was quiet as touristy as most European stops. The medina, casbah, souk seemed pretty authentic to me (yes, there was a carpet stop). Just residents living their lives, little kids on their scooters bumping into us in the narrow alleyways (it was a school holiday????). One concern; the lunch was great (20 Euros pp), but the dining room for our group was upstairs. The only way up was a narrow, slick stone spiral staircase with no handrails. One lady with a cane fell (she was able to get up), but there were two waiters who made sure it didn't happen again on the way back down. After lunch and a couple of more walking stops, the guide said we could have more time to walk around and shop on our own if we wanted. We were 65-70ish and had already walked 10,000 steps, so we said "take us home."????

Based on the reviews, I think our guide was having a bad day. He was nice, but was on his cell phone for most of our tour and said he was having trouble with a rug one of his clients was trying to buy. We didn't get much information about the area and felt pushed to buy things. We wanted to see the market, but he told us he didn't like going there, so handed us off to another guide who rushed us from one "authentic" vendor to the next. We were really disappointed in our experience.

From the beginning/ booking, I sensed this would be a better than normal experience I spoke with Nabil late-ish the night before and didn't even have a booking yet. He took the time to explain everything about the tour and several times told me o could customize essentially as much as I wanted. We decided on a private day and made the booking. I had just experienced cooking a private day tour in Gibraltar and getting both overcharged then rushed since the other party (on my private tour) didn't book all the things we did. That guide also skipped one of the stops. Then I saw the comment in a previous Nabil review stating the same. I asked about it and it was clear that Nabil was unhappy about that review as he took it as an insult since it seemed not to be true. He assured me our tour would be private (it was). Nabil asked us several times during the tour if there was anything we wanted to do different. We asked for vegetarian meals and he accommodated...every person in the restaurant knew and reiterated vegetarian (wife has seafood allergies on top of our choices). Each spot was explained with gusto. His uncle met us and said "vamos" a lot lol. His english wasn't perfect (another complaint of a previous reviewer) but it was fine for the day. One of the things I can't stand about tours is when they take you to shops where a hard sell is done. Without even asking, the moment I expressed a doubt, he stood up and said "ok let's go" and said something to the shop owner. It was greatly appreciated and I told him so. He helped us with the ferry from Spain. He had a good sense of humour and told some good stories. It was, in all, a good day.