Customer Reviews

Morocco (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I think this series of guides is very good. I've just come back from Morocco and found this to be the better of the books to be carrying (others I met had Footprint, Rough Guide or Lonely Planet). It is as good as an inspiration to go as it is as a reference inside that mosque, market or on that mountain. It must not be confused with the 'comprehensive' reviewed/listing/directory book of the Lonely Planet genre (for people who call themselves adventurers yet cannot go to a hotel that has not been 'bigged up' in their 'bible' - well at least they're all guaranteed to end up in the same shed based on one person's opinion!). There's rarely a book with as many photos and full color diagramatical explanations - call me illiterate but sometimes I just want to see a photo of something and say 'I want to go and look at that'!

Of course the DK guide mentions some of the finer hotels, restaurants etc - but it is limited and one needs to supplement the book with some advance research (and/or booking) or just go and take good advice from locals or other travellers. It has rarely failed me.

I would like to see slightly more detailed maps, however, it is often more convenient to pull out a local copy of a detailed city map when one is strolling around town.

Recommended for before, during and after a trip.

The eyewitness travel guides have 1 thing going for them --- the pictures. You know what you are you looking for and looking at. They are perfect for looking a buildings, or gardens etc.

The bad thing about this guide in particular were the maps were dreadful. The maps for casablanca and marrakech lacked detail and left off major sections especially in the medina. If you are looking for details on mosques and art this is the best book, if you are looking for a guide with maps, reccommendations on food etc this is not the book for you.

I like the Eyewitness Travel books because they are full of full color pictures and diagrams of famous buildings. Unlike other guide books, you get to see the places you plan to visit. I'm planning a trip to Morocco so I got the Eyewitness Travel book. While the pictures are fantastic, the travel information is limited. You get a good brief history and description of a location but travel information is very limited. I miss the rich detail of other guidebooks like THE LONELY PLANET series. The hotel and restaurant sections are brief as is information on the background of the country. This would be a fantastic book for someone who has been to Morocco and wants pictures as a keepsake. Morocco is new and exotic for me and I wanted as much detailed information as possible. The EYEWITNESS GUIDES don't get you information on how to travel in the country. Locations are listed as if you are traveling by car. No details on operating hours or entry fees are given. Of course, specifics always change year to year but it is good to have a rough idea. I would recommend this book as a companion to a more thorough guide book but not as your one and only guide

I have used Eyewitness guides in the past and found them to be excellent, but the Morocco guide is an unfortunate exception. It makes a fine complement to a more informative guide such as Lonely Planet, but on its own, it is severely lacking. If you are traveling Morocco with an organized tourgroup and don't have to make too many decisions on your own, then this book is fine. However if you are traveling independently, I would strongly consider another guide--this book will be of little use to you. Partway through our trip we met up with a couple using the Lonely Planet guide and found it to be infinitely more helpful (we actually borrowed it for several hours to get info for the remainder of our trip). Here are a few of the major areas where the Eyewitness guide comes up short:

Cursory Content: true, there are a ton of pictures, but there is very little relevant information. Want to know how to use public transportation to reach the smaller cities? Not in there. Want to know basic prices and distances and what to expect when traveling on your own? Better look somewhere else. Want to know what areas are unsafe, when to bargain, and how to behave in a culturally respectful manner? Nada. Want to know more about the unique cultural identities of the different areas and what activities to "take in" while you're there? Not in this guide. Want to know how to pronounce city names like Essaouira and Ouarzazate? Nope. (FYI, it's "essa-wera" and "war-za-zaht")

Minimal Maps: with the exception of the 6 or so major cities, there is not a single street map. This means you don't know where the bus and train stations are located nor will you be able to find the hotels and restaurants it recommends. The maps it does have only show major streets and do not include hotels or restaurants. They also fail to point out some of the features that the copy references. For example, in Meknes the guide says "Place el-Hedime is a good starting point for exploring the city" but the city map doesn't point out Place el-Hedime. Perhaps the most frustrating (and laughable) element of this book is that the restaurant and hotel pages refer you to the country map on the back flap. It becomes immediately clear that this is of no help when you discover that Fes, Meknes and a dozen other cities are located in box D2.

Questionable Recommendations: Our experience with the hotels was more or less consistent with the guide but our two worst meals (by a long shot) were at recommended restaurants. The prices were way off, all were touristy, and some were downright unsanitary and inedible. I hesitate to make this accusation, but it seemed to us from the generalized reviews and gross inaccuracy that the authors never actually ate at the restaurants the listed; they just scanned the menu and decor while passing by on their medina tour. Conveniently, nearly all of the recs are in the touristy areas, but this also means that your cultural dive will be minimal as you dine alongside English speaking tourgroups.

Inconsistent: its clear this book was not closely edited. Mis-spellings are all over the place--which is also the reality in Morocco--but it is sloppy for a guidebook. For example, the guide lists two restaurants on 'Rue Scala' and 'Rue de la Sqala' in Essaouira, but the city map shows neither; it has 'Rue de la Skala'. All three are the same. Little oversights like this are abundant in the book and make it incredibly frustrating to use.

I can't say it enough: if you are traveling independently this book will let you down. I am sure of it. If you are part of an organized group, then you will appreciate the pretty pictures and be fine.

The slogan across the bottom of the Eyewitness Travel Guide: Morocco reads, "The guides that show you what others only tell you." Especially for aesthetic purposes, this motto could not be truer. Eyewitness Morocco is lavishly illustrated with over nine hundred color photographs, making it a beauty to look at. As far as pictures go this is the ultimate guidebook. No other travel guide to Morocco even comes close in this respect. Lonely Planet, Let's Go, and the Rough Guide are good travel guides for research or backpacking, but Eyewitness Morocco is truly a visual experience, enticing the reader into the richness of the country. Morocco is rated by the travel blog site OpenTravel.com as one of the `Most Colourful Places on the Globe', describing Morocco's "golden glittering sand dunes turning pink during sunset, warm reddish and yellowish spices that fill up the local markets both with amazing scent and brightness and vibrant Moroccan cities packed with any color you can imagine." (`Most Colourful Places on the Globe'.) Eyewitness Morocco illustrates these sites in skillful detail.
The presentation of this striking book says a lot about it. It undeniably pulls people with its deliberate beauty and consciously acts as inspiration for its readers. Pictures consistently interrupt the text and the font is quite small. The author clearly doesn't expect readers to sit down and read every page of this book. Taking the entire book in all at once would be overwhelming, like trying to see an entire art museum in one day. The book is best taken in small bits at a time to look up a specific region or site, or to flip through to admire the pictures, focusing on individual pages when a particular illustration catches the eye. It doesn't have the comprehensive, research feel to it that a lot of other travel guides tend to swear by. As one Amazon customer reviewer wrote, "call me illiterate but sometimes I just want to see a photo of something and say 'I want to go and look at that'!" (`Amazon.com: Profile for Simon'.) Still, Eyewitness Morocco does contain a wealth of information.
Eyewitness Morocco encompasses so much information, in fact, that it begins its picture/fact book hybrid with a two-page "How to Use This Guide" section. This section explains what each of the book's features are, including where the ins and outs of each attraction and place. For that reason, this book is excellent for sightseeing. In addition to illustrating a handful of Morocco's infinite number of historic buildings and landmarks, Eyewitness Morocco details them as well. The book describes Morocco in 13 sections, six of which describe Morocco's cities. All these sites in each city are described along with addresses, phone numbers, hours, admission charges, and directions. The same goes for the other seven sections, which are devoted to the country's regions. It also provides a comprehensive overview of Morocco's history and current state of affairs for the first 50 some pages. It calls this section "A Portrait of Morocco", but I would say that description extends to the entire guide.
The writing of this guide is much like its pictures in that it is inviting and easy to read. Despite that the pictures clearly take precedence over the text, the language flows steadily, with few modifiers or romanticizing. It chooses instead to dazzle with facts and description rather than adjectives and fillers. For example, when describing the famous Saadian Tombs in the historical city of Marrakech, the author writes: "Although they were neglected for more than two centuries, the tombs of the Saadian dynasty constitute some of the finest examples of Islamic architecture in Morocco." (Alaoui 238). It is very straightforward, focusing mostly on the history of each site. However, when the author does attempt to more colorfully describe something, his adjectives come up short. For example, the first few pages of the Eyewitness Morocco can tell you that "profound" is one of the author's favorite words: "profoundly traditional, "profound desire", "profound social change" (Alaoui 17). This again indicates that the reader may not expected to read this book cover to cover in the traditional sense, but rather skim through it in chunks at a time.
Eyewitness Morocco is designed to appeal to an audience dazzled by the exquisite, interesting, and culturally rich. Since this description can cross a number of demographic and cultural lines, it easier in this case to pinpoint for whom this guide is not for. It is not for the richest of the rich vacationer, or for the tourist on a strict budget, or for the family with young kids, or even for the seasoned traveler. It is simply an informative, entertaining guidebook for the explorer interested in going to as many remarkable places in Morocco as possible. What I like about Eyewitness Morocco is it doesn't force any prejudices upon the reader. It describes independent from bias or personal flavor, making it a good contrast to most guides that are packed with personal reviews and accounts. Eyewitness Morocco is for the traveler who likes to create their own stories, but who appreciates the guidance on some of the best places to do so.
The guide is useful for before, during, and after the trip. Before the trip it can serve as an introduction and mental preparation because of the inviting illustrations and broad descriptions. The beauty of it all will get the reader excited to travel. Then after the trip, the book can be a keepsake and reference for reflection on the marvels explored in Morocco. The life-like pictures can jog the traveler's memory and can be something fun to show family and friends back home. Most importantly, during the trip, the guide is a reference and guide through the sites and attractions of the country, providing information one might not find at the sites. Especially if the traveler does not speak French, Arabic, or Berber, the guide can give comprehensive explanations not usually available in English.
There are some things, however, that this guide is not useful for during the trip. The maps in Eyewitness Morocco are not nearly as detailed as some of the book's other aspects and though the guide does have maps, they are more for "big picture" references opposed to smaller roads. For example, the book's Rabat section has This again, indicates that the book is written to be skimmed. With the exception of the major cities, there are no street maps whatsoever, and the street maps that are included are not particularly in depth. When strolling around any one of Morocco's intricate cities, a supplementary map would be necessary.
Eyewitness Morocco is not meant to be the all-practical guide. It is small, but not compact enough to carry around in the typical fanny pack. Also, at thirty dollars, it may put a small dent in your travel funds, especially because a second travel guide may be advisable. Reviewers tend to recommend Eyewitness Morocco as a companion to another guide such as Lonely Plant as a way to compliment what each book lacks. Some things Lonely Planet includes that Eyewitness doesn't are more detailed hotel and restaurant descriptions, public transportation, and costs. The restaurant and hotel section of Eyewitness is brief and seems to be more of an introduction to such destinations than a complete guide. The book also often the book seems to be written for those traveling by car and doesn't give information on how to reach smaller cities except by highway. Lastly, the guide neglects to include prices and bargaining tips, which Lonely Planet does a good job of explaining.
Eyewitness Morocco's shortcomings don't make it a great deal less valuable, however, because it doesn't try to be anything that it's not. It embraces its role as a deliriously gorgeous book of pictures, illustrations and straightforward writing. Travel & Leisure calls Eyewitness Morocco "Encyclopedic in scope" and says "it's meant to be used before, during, and after your stay." (`Eyewitness Travel Guides'.) Perfect for someone looking for bustling activity and cultural significance every step of the way, the amount of information and stunning pictures make this guide a great mix of the traditional and more modern. Since Morocco itself is a cultural amalgamation, this captivating guide captures the country's spirit with great style.

It is a colorful book but lack the basic information and tips on basics. Gives you a nice history of Morroco political life. But it was't as helpful on basics like maps, tours.

This is a cheap book its ok for a overview. If your thinking of visiting Morroco with only this book as experience, dont. Always do some research and get maps in the city you visit. Especially Marrakech

This book is a very good overview of the entire country. After traveling there 3 times in the past 3 years I have used this book as a good start for exploring the culture. Although it doesn't touch much on the modern way of Moroccan Culture it gives a good insight to the country and what it has to offer. It also has very detailed maps of all the major parts of the cities one would visit. A must for anyone considering visiting this country.

It is a great book because gives you pictures of what you are expecting to see. Also gives you information.
Very easy to use.

Just returned from Morocco and this book was indispensible! Great insight, great information about what to see. The photos are terrific to look at even if you don't make it to your destination.
Can't wait to use the one from Turkey soon!

The book is very nice for pictures. Information is not in-depth, though. Furthermore, a budget traveller should use it together with some "survival" style book (e.g. "Rough guide").