Full-Day Private Guided Tour in Tangier

This was the worst tour we have ever experienced in a foreign country. Despite booking a private tour, the company contacted us a few days in advance of the tour to let us know that we would be combined with other groups on a big group tour but that we would receive lunch included as a consolation. We obviously were disappointed, but this change was made so close to the date of the tour we did not have time to make other plans. Then, the tour started a full hour late with no explanation or communication. They took us to a false grotto instead of the real Hercules cave and then told us we would have to pay an extra $10/person to go to the real thing. The "free" lunch was also a joke. At the end of the meal, the waiters shook us down and demanded payment for all drinks, even though drinks were supposed to be included per the original booking. Overall, this tour felt like a bait-and-switch shakedown, and it's a shame that we spent our only day in Tangier with this crooked company.

Choosing Said as my guide was the highlight of my trip. He’s attentive, kind, and ensures everything is taken care of. If you’re visiting Tangier, don’t miss the opportunity to book him. Thanks, Said!

We had an excellent experience throughout the day. The places that we visited were very interesting and our guide Abdul was excellent in explaining the facts about the city and the camel ride was hilarious.

Our guides were greatt but we have dropped a star since the trip was only just over 5 hours long, not the 7 as advertised and paid for. We were due to start at 10am but the boss man called me the day before and said can he start at 12:30pm as he had an important meeting. I asked if the tour would still be 7 hours long and he replied ‘no, only 6’. Not sure of the relevance of this late start as he wasn’t the guide anyway.

I originally posted the review below and then was approached by the owner and begged to remove it. I said I would if he would refund us part of our money - to pay for the things that we were not taken to. But he hasn’t refunded the money and after reading another review where they also didn’t get their money back, I am reposting my original review. BE CAREFUL if you book this tour! I'm not sure how to rate this tour. So I'll provide a run down of our day. Early in the morning I got a message about where to meet our guide. I asked for the guide's name, but didn't get a response. Our ferry was running about 20 minutes late and I sent a message and didn’t get a response. After we got off the ferry we went to meet our guide, but we were a little confused, because many people were trying to get us to go with them as we walked to the meeting place. A man came up to us and had our name and my photo and introduced himself as Mawlud, so we assumed we had found the right person/tour. He wasn't wearing a company shirt or anything like that and I didn't think to ask to see his license. He took us by taxi all over Tangiers and to some lookout points. He pointed out the clean streets, a plastic surgery hospital, the governor's mansion, vacation homes that you can rent, nice hotels, the king's palace and other odd things at times. We got out at some of the places to take pictures, but it was very rushed. Looking back at what was supposed to be included in the tour, we didn't do everything that we paid for. According to the what's included on Tripadvisor we were supposed to do the following: - Cap Spartel - admission included - Achakar - ride a camel, visit a local market and sample some local cuisine - Caves of Hercules - admission included - Musee de la Kasbah - museum - admission included - Medina of Tangiers - American legion museum (only thing mentioned that wasn't included in the price other than lunch), Mandubia gardens, 9avril monument, walk through the streets and bazaar, sample street food - Cafe Hafa - enjoy mint tea, relax and enjoy the beautiful view - Parc Perdicaris - stop to look at view Here is what actually happened, in the order that it happened: - Parc Perdicaris - we stopped at a lookout point for a few minutes and our guide took a few pictures of us. - Cap Spartel - we stopped here and, again, took pictures only. Admission was supposed to be included. We were not taken to the lighthouse. - Achakar - The description said we would ride camels on the beach. We rode on camels in a dirt area up above the beach. We did not go to a local market or sample any local cuisine in Achakar. We got to ride the camels for about 7 minutes (we did one loop around the dirt area) and then we drove on. - Hercules Cave - The description said admission was included and showed pictures of inside Hercules Cave, including the "map of Africa". Our guide tried to convince us to go into the grotto next door instead. He told us that our tour only included the grotto and we would have to give him 80 more MAD each to get tickets to go into the cave. The pictures online clearly show the cave, so we told him no and that we had paid for the real cave and that we would wait in line and he would need to figure out the tickets. He said it would be an hour wait and we should see the small cave instead. We held our ground and waited in the long line for about 5 minutes when he came back with another guy who took me by the hand and quickly walked us in through the cave exit. We were rushed through several places inside the cave to snap quick photos. We were in the cave for about 5 minutes then rushed out to the taxi and drove away. - Cafe Hafa - the description says you will enjoy mint tea or coffee, relax and enjoy the beautiful view - 30 minutes. We did not stop or sit down or have tea or relax. We just went in, our guide took some quick photos of us again and we moved on. - Musee de la Kasbah - The description says museum admission is included. Our guide took us to the entrance but did not take us inside. He also didn't take us to Mandubia gardens, the 9avril monument or the American Legion Museum. - Medina - We stopped at the Phoenician tombs for a quick photo and then walked through a gate where our guide led us over to a man that had some snakes in a box. He told us to pay the man some euros and we got to see a Cobra dance to the drum beat and also got to have a different snake draped over us. He walked us through a local neighborhood. He pointed out murals on the walls and some pretty doors. He took us into a rug shop where we got taken upstairs without our guide and we were shown a bunch of rugs and table toppers. It was a high pressure situation and we felt a little trapped. We did end up buying something in order to leave. Next we walked through a market to a restaurant where we were left alone again. We ate lunch and the food was delicious. It was a lot of food and it cost us 20 euros each. They didn't have a card reader and since we didn’t have any cash, one of the waiters walked with my husband through the market to pay for our meal at some “family” member’s shop about five minutes away while I waited alone at the restaurant. When we came out of the restaurant we spotted our guide. As we were walking toward him, he was approached by two men wearing vests and armbands that said " tourist police". Our guide told my husband to keep walking and kind of not be near him. My husband overheard them asking our guide for his papers/documents. They took him away and he was put into a van and driven away. We didn't really know what to do at that point. Our ferry was not leaving until 5 and it was about 3:30. I tried to use Whatsapp to contact the tour agency but we were having connection problems. We googled about the tourist police and read that tour guides need to have a license that they carry with them and wear a badge. In hindsight, we should've asked for his papers at the beginning of the day. We ended up walking back to the port and boarding our ferry. We never went to the Mandubia Gardens or the 9avril monument. Although we don't think there is a cost for those, they were supposed to be part of the tour and we did not go to them. He also did not take us to the American Legion Museum, which we understand would've been an extra cost to us as it was clearly stated in the tour description. Did we enjoy our day in Tangiers? Yes. Would I book with this company again? No. We reached out to the tour company to ask for some money back for the places that we didn’t go to that we were told admission was included and basically they said that they didn’t drive a Ferrari and that we got a good price on the tour and should be happy and that the tourist police coming up to guides and taking them away was normal. I am going to reach out to TripAdvisor and see what they say/can do about the situation. We kind of feel like we got hustled since we didn’t get everything that we paid for. We never felt unsafe or anything, but looking back, I am just grateful that nothing bad happened and that we made it back to Spain safely. Be aware of what you are doing and ask to see a license from your guide and get a clear description of what is and isn’t included in the tour up front.

Wish I could give them - 5 stars. We toured with them on May 19th. Our tour guide was Omar and he was the worse tour guide my sister and I have EVER had. He made us miss our ferry to return to Spain. He was more interested in talking to others either in person or on his cell phone than he was us. He didn't speak english well and didn't understand us. He gave hardly any information about the places we went. He kept walking off and leaving us. He only took us to places where I'm sure he got a commission. He lied to us about being able to get us to ferry on time. This is my third review. The owner called me and asked me to remove my review and promised to refund my money. I decide to do that with the idea I would post a new review with an update on my refund. I never got a refund so I am posting again. I contacted him several times and got no response. He promised me twice he would refund my money after I removed the review-He Did NOT!

5-star experience. Mr Abdul and Mr Badar were splendidly helpful and went out of their way to make our tour comfortable - very kids friendly. They knew well how to be helpful without pervading your privacy! I absolutely recommend to have your tour booked with these two gentlemen!

Other than our guide I was completely disappointed in this trip, the camel ride was basically a circus camel ride around a parking lot. We did not get to explore the beach, we did not get full entrance to the Hercules Cave, but only the entrance to a smaller cave with peddlers. We did not get to enjoy or explore the cap spartel, the couple we ended up being on the tour with (not a private tour, this makes it a semi-private tour) had very limited walking capability, so he literally drove in and drove out, not allowing us to see anything including the local snake charmer which would have been entertaining. Lastly the tour of the market was not at all a tour of the market, but a deceptive attempt to have us purchase oils and carpets from what was obviously a set up. We were told by our guide once we were done shopping he would be called to come back and pick us up and take us back to the cruise ship, but once we said no to buying a carpet, we were told “bye bye, your tour is done” and we were left to find our own way back to the cruise ship.

We had a great time on this private tour. We were picked up at our hotel Enrique was our driver and Abdul was our tour guide for the first half of our tour. The second half of the tour (and the walking portion into the Medina) was with Badr. Both guides were fabulous not only sharing historic information about Tangier, but sharing personal stories of their culture and life in Tangier. We loved the tour and had a great day.

The tour of Tangier was wonderful . Very informative . Both our guide and driver were very knowledgeable , and took turns sharing a world of information with us. I highly recommended .