Essaouira Private Tour from Marrakech

driver was ok. pick up was a little late. we were picked up and then transferred to a different van. besides making a stop to take pics of goats in argan trees and stopping at the argan oil co-op that was as far as the "tour" went. we were dropped off in essaouira around maybe 11am and told to meet up at same location at 4:30. we were completely on our own in essaouira. nice town we managed on our own.

The small group tour was not worth the extra $$ as compared to just taking the public bus down and back. I had to call/email the company multiple times the day before the trip to find out where they would be picking me up. I was then transferred between a few busses as all the drivers seemed to be trying to figure out seats. The driver stopped to pick up a friend as we were leaving Marrakech, whom he talked to the entire way to Essaouira. No "guided" narration as we went. Despite the fact that all of us on the bus stated we did not want to stop at the argan cooperative, he did anyways. Nobody left the car and he came back 15min later. The tour in Essaouira was in Spanish, despite the fact that I had signed up for a tour in English. That guide did spend some extra time talking to me in his limited English, which I appreciated. On the way home, the driver dropped us all off at the main square. The tour stated we would get hotel drop-offs. I then found out he couldn't see to read directions or Riad/street names so he was unable to even help any of us figure out where to go. Essaouira itself was a beautiful and fun city to enjoy and explore. I am glad I went. I just wouldn't recommend this tour. CynthWu's review was fairly spot on to my experience. I had booked through Viator and didn't know about it being on TripAdvisor as well. Viator asked me to review it here as their review site is down.

1st driver 40mins late. 2nd driver rude and non-communicative. English guide? What English guide? Oh and don’t bother pre-booking before arrival. It’s cheaper to book whilst at Morocco. I booked this small-group tour in UK. We were told in the confirmation email 1) pick up at 7:30am 2) pick up at the Riad that we’re staying at 1) Driver turned up at 8:10am, a whopping 40mins late! I tried calling the number on the voucher, but it was probably “too early” and the line went straight to voice mail. I ended up calling the Spanish number for the same company, and was then advised that the driver was on his way. 2) He came on foot, and took us back to his vehicle through the narrow uneven alleys, which took an extra 15-20mins! Bearing in mind that my father is 80 with mobility issues (using walking stick and needing to put one hand on one of our shoulders to help stabilise him while he walks), we were not best pleased. The description of the package mentioned English guide even for small group, and the voucher said so too! Was there one? Nope. If the driver was meant to give brief introduction as to where we were going, he failed miserably. He was silent all along the drive If there isn’t one, it shouldn’t be listed as part of the information for this day trip! By the time the driver parked up near the square, we thought we parked up to wait for the rest of the group. But after waiting a little while, we were advised to disembark the original vehicle and board a different mini bus. For some reason there were a great deal of confusion between drivers of different minibuses and someone who appeared to be a manager/owner. None of them introduced themselves to us, nor did they explain briefly what was going on or what the schedule would be like for the day. The driver did not start the trip to Essaouira till around 9:15am. Along the way, when we stopped to look at the goats in the tree and Argan oil cooperative, the driver did not say anything to any of us to advise how long we were stopping for. By the time we got to Essaouira, he finally spoke to us in English, saying he’d be leaving at 4:30. Someone else (a couple) in the group was not impressed, saying the information provided indicated it should be a 5-hour stay at Essaouira. The driver very rudely suggested that they could, and they should take a bus back to Marrakech at their own expense. On the way back to Marrakech, we had a pit stop, or that was what we guessed, because once again, none of us were told what it was for or for how long. Language barrier should not be an excuse, because we could have use simple words like “toilet” or raise his palm(s) to suggest 5-10mins... in all fairness, the fact that he was able to say 4:30pm at Essaouira, it showed us that he had an attitude problem, and not a language problem. My father has mobility issue, so climbing on and off the minibus was a task. The driver did not press the button to extend the extra step to help my father get on and off the minibus. The only thing we were grateful was that he did take us back to our Riad first after dropping some guests off at Jamaa el Fna. Again, at that point, because he wasn’t the original driver who picked us all up, he asked where we needed dropping off. He was rude to some guests, suggesting it would take 1hr or more to take them back to the hotel. When the guests protested, he quickly suggested they could get off the minibus, find and pay for their own transport. At first he seemed to be a competent driver. Making many overtakes in what appeared to be a safe manner. On the return journey his braking was aggressive and he used the pedal as a switch On or Off. We became very concerned when most of his attention was taken up by chatting with the pretty girl sat on the middle front seat next to him. He kept looking at her whilst chatting and we felt very unsafe with the speed and the overtaking coupled with the stabbing of the brake pedal. All in all, apart from the fact that we ticked all the “main things to see” for the trip (the only thing that worth a star for this day tour) A) goats in tree B) argan oil cooperative C) Essaouira the customer service was worse than non-existent. As it turned out, pre-booking in U.K. meant we paid at least 100 dirham per person more than other group members who booked at their Moroccan hotels/riads.