There are numerous trips you can do in the areas surrounding Marrakech. The destination, of course, depends on how much time you have. In our case, we only had half a day left, so we decided to spend it in the “desert” with camels and quads.
Ok. We went to Route des Jardins de la Palmeraie, which is not the real desert! I mean, it is not the one with immense sand dunes, where you hardly see a human being. It is the area just outside Marrakech, where you can find several resorts; but, apart from them, there is almost nothing. Which means it looks desert. If you want to enjoy the real experience, you will need some more time and maybe spend the night outside. But, if you have little time as we did, then this is a good compromise. Take a quick look at our camels & quads experience!
How to get there
The best thing to do is to ask your hotel/riad. This trip is very popular among tourists, so every riad will have its own contacts. Ask them for both camel and quad rides and the taxi route to get there and to come back at the end.
What to bring for the ride
The camel doesn’t run very fast, so with sunglasses and a camera you should be fine.
For the quads, don’t forget to bring a sweater if you are visiting Morocco in the wintertime, as it can get cold with speed. Moreover, if you care about your hygiene, bring a shower cap. Yes, trust me. I didn’t have one and had to use the helmet for the quad with nothing protecting my hair. And I imagine they don’t clean the helmet every time a new tourist wears it…
Generally speaking, don’t bring bulky bags as you will need to be agile and dynamic for both rides, and there is not a place to leave them with lockers. The camels/quads men are usually waiting for customers in the street among the palm trees. Maybe you can leave something in the taxi; but as we usually say in Italy, “to trust is good, not to trust is better“.
What to expect
Once you reach Route des Jardins de la Palmeraie you will see there are several camels men waiting for customers. Your taxi driver will drive you to the one he knows better and will be waiting for you until the end of the rides.
Time to negotiate.
First of all, consider that you are there, you made a 20-minute route from the hotel to reach this place, so you are supposed to want to do the ride; it is not like in the souk where you can easily choose another seller. But, of course, you can still negotiate a bit. Consider that there are no fixed rates. In the very first place, they asked us 100€ per person for a 1-hour ride by camel and a 1-hour ride by quad. In the end, we paid 100€ for two people (taxi excluded, but this has been agreed with the hotel already). Fair enough!
Our experience
Cool! It was a cool experience I would recommend.
We started with the camel ride. First of all, they will provide you with typical clothes and turbans you are supposed to wear. Then the group starts the walk (in our case it was just the two of us) with a man driving the camels. At the very beginning it is fun because you get to know the animal, take pictures and so on. But after 30 minutes of hanging around the palm trees, the excitement goes away… At the end of the ride, you get the cloth and turban off as you are given the helmet for the quad (don’t forget the shower cap).
And, this was the most fun part for me! I mean, you actually drive the quad, while for the camels if was the man pulling the animal, so your role was quite passive. Here, instead, you are given one quad each, while the guide is driving another quad at the top of the line to indicate the path. The first 5 minutes are dedicated to general rules and exercise for those who have never driven a quad before (like me, don’t panic, it’s super easy). Then the ride starts and the fun comes! Enjoy! And don’t forget to take pictures!
That’s all. Needless to say, if you only have the right time to visit the city, then leave the desert behind and focus your tour on the many beautiful attractions Marrakech offers. If you happen to have 4 spare hours, then hurry up and run to the “desert”!
This was our camels and quads experience in Morocco.
For other top things to do in Marrakech, check here!
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