The Rough Guide to Morocco 7 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) [Paperback]

Mark Ellingham (Author), Shaun McVeigh (Author), Daniel Jacobs (Author), Hamish Brown (Author), Don Grisbrook (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 29, 2004 | Series: Rough Guide Travel Guides

The Rough Guide to Morocco is the ultimate guide to this fascinating country. A full colour introduction includes the ''Things Not to Miss'' colour section, showcasing the country''s highlights, from dune-boarding in the Southern Oasis to exploring the medieval souks of Marrakesh and Fes. With each chapter covering a region of the country, there are evocative accounts of all the sights from Casablanca''s Art Deco architecture to the unique Djemma el Fna in Marrakesh. There are insider reviews of all the best hotels, restaurants, cafes and bars and practical advice on outdoor pursuits including trekking, mountain biking, surfing and camel-riding. For every town and region there are detailed maps, pin-pointing the locations of the listings.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Written by a very experienced team of authors and contributors. Mark Ellingham is a co-founder of Rough Guides and author of the original Rough Guide to Morocco. Daniel Jacobs is a long-time Rough Guide author and has written the Rough Guides to Jerusalem, Israel, Tunisia and Egypt.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

When to go

As far as the climate goes, it would be better to visit the south – or at least the desert routes – outside midsummer, when for most of the day it’s far too hot for casual exploration, especially if you’re dependent on public transport. But July and August, the hottest months, can be wonderful on the coast, while in the mountains there are no set rules.

Spring, which comes late by European standards (around April to May), is perhaps the best overall time, with a summer climate in the south and in the mountains, as well as on the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts. Winter can be perfect by day in the south, though be warned that desert nights can get very cold – a major consideration if you’re staying in the cheaper hotels, which rarely have heating. If you’re planning to hike in the mountains, it’s best to keep to the months from April to October unless you have some experience of snow conditions.

Weather conditions apart, the Islamic religious calendar and its related festivals will have the most seasonal effect on your travel. The most important factor is Ramadan, the month of daytime fasting; this can be a problem for transport, and especially hiking, though the festive evenings do much to compensate. See p.65 of the Basics section for details of its timing, as well as that of other festivals.

Product Details

• Paperback: 800 pages
• Publisher: Rough Guides; 7 edition (November 29, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1843533138
• ISBN-13: 978-1843533139
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,575,895 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Covers the whole country in a depth unmatched by other guidebooks, and up-to-date too, January 13, 2008

By 

Christopher Culver - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Rough Guide to Morocco (Paperback)

During a recent visit to Morocco, hitchhiking across the whole of the country from north to south, I used the 8th edition of THE ROUGH GUIDE TO MOROCCO (published October 2007) and its main competitor, the 2007 edition of Lonely Planet Morocco.

For the independent traveler who wants to explore Morocco in depth, the Rough Guide is clearly the best option among current guidebooks. It is much more detailed than the Lonely Planet, covering charming smaller towns left out of the LP and other guidebooks. If you are planning to go from Morocco to Mauritania overland, the Rough Guide is extremely helpful. While Lonely Planet didn't even update their Western Sahara cover in the latest edition, Rough Guide gives information on the new opportunities for those without their own vehicle. (Be aware, however, that the Mauritanian visa must now be requested in Rabat, not in Casablanca as RG advises.) Unlike Lonely Planet, which is now abandoning its traditional demographic of backpackers on a budget, the Rough Guide has as much guidance for shoestring travelers as for people with money to spend.

If you are curious about Morrocan history and culture, the Rough Guide makes other guidebooks look like they were meant for rude and insensitive package tourists. It contains a hundred-page supplement which not only explains the whole of Moroccan history and its prominent writers and artists, but it even gives some short pieces by Morrocan traditional storytellers. The Rough Guide does a good job throughout of trying to put tourists in contact with the locals. The hammams (Turkish-style baths) listed in the book are those frequented by ordinary Moroccans, not expensive spa-type locations as in other guidebooks. I was unhappy, however, with the Rough Guide's mention of hitchhiking. While it does mention it as an option, and doesn't try to scare people away from it, it suggests that it is difficult and requires payment. That's odd indeed, since hitchhikers consider Morroco one of the easiest countries on Earth, and my usual waiting type was just a couple of minutes, and I didn't have to pay a dime.

If you are an independent traveler, the Rough Guide is probably the only book you need. Lonely Planet does have a whole section dedicated to trekking, but even for those keen on trekking this may not be worth it. All in all it's funny how the Rough Guides, held in scorn for so long because they contain ads and are published by a major corporation (Penguin), now seem the best guidebooks for solo shoestring travelers.

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The new edition is excellent, April 17, 2005

By 

J. A. C. Linden "Neil" (Amsterdam) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rough Guide to Morocco 7 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

I have no experience with the previous edition, and until now I only used the Lonely Planet on Morocco, but I did some tests on issues I had found missing in the Lonely Planet and the new Rough Guide passed the test excellently.

For instance the Lonely Planet had hardly anything on the nice road between Taroudant and Ouerzazate, in between two Atlasses, so almost fully skipping saffron paradise Taliouine and carpetters paradise Tazenaght, while the Rough Guide does not assume you will pass that road through Marrakch, which requires crossing the High Atlas twice.

And even on the road from West to East behind the Anti-Atlas through Tissint etc. the Rough Guide has a feature.

It is more weighty than the Lonely Planet, but that is because it has more information, and that is what one eventually needs.

Neil in Amsterdam

29 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Unfulfilling, December 11, 2000

By 

"pmichna" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Morocco: The Rough Guide, Sixth Edition (Rough Guide to Morocco) (Paperback)

As we loaded our backpacks hours before our jet departed Vancouver, my partner and I debated about whether to bring Lonely Planet's Morocco guidebook, or the Rough Guide. In the end, mostly due to weight considerations, we left the Rough Guide at home. I would advise any first-time traveller to Morocco to do the same. It's a tired, rambling, incomplete guide, full of inconsequential information and generic descriptions. Hotel prices, strangely, are not listed. There is scant reference to Morocco's massive social ills. And there are too many references to writer Paul Bowles, who, I admit, is the be-all-and-end-all of western Moroccan ex-pats. But enough about him, already. Lonely Planet gets all the promotion it needs from other reviewers, so I was hesitant in writing this review. But for those looking for a more concise, insider view of Morocco, LP's the way to go.