Tailor-made trips reviews

“It was a fascinating and varied programme giving us a whole range of experiences of Morocco. We stayed in small, mostly family-run hotels/riads, which brought us closer to the local community. All arrangements worked like clockwork and we were fortunate in having an excellent driver/guide, Yassin, who couldn’t have been more helpful and obliging.”

“Annalisa M. put together a wonderful trip for us to Sicily and Northern Italy. The trip was absolutely flawless and allowed us to thoroughly enjoy the places in Italy we visited. In fact, everything was better than we expected. The drivers and tour guides were timely and very professional. Transfers happened as planned and without any issues. The accommodations were wonderful! And we really appreciated how Annalisa worked to secure an additional night for us in Catania with very short notice after an airline canceled and rebooked a flight requiring us to arrive a day early. She ensured the hotel staff were aware of our situation and they allowed us to check-in very early so we could get some rest. I can honestly give Insight Guides and Annalisa my highest recommendation!”

“This was my family’s first time taking a personalized tour and working with RoughGuides. We choose RoughGuides after reading reviews on multiple travel-related sights. RoughGuides has direct staff and contracted guides in many countries. Our trip planner was based in Ecuador although our trip was to Chile. RoughGuides utilizes a web chat system to manage planning staff and traveler communications. The traveler provides an initial summary of trip goals and the RoughGuides planner starts building a plan/itinerary for the trip. The process was straightforward but would be easier and more efficient if RoughGuides had a detailed “traveler profile questionnaire.” For example, our family prefers quiet mornings until about 10 AM. This fact didn’t seem relevant until draft plans/itineraries continued to have touring activities start between 8 and 9 AM. Overall our family was impressed by the quality of the RoughGuides team and the local travel guides/drivers who RoughGuides employs. All of our guides spoke understandable to excellent English and were well-versed in local facts, histories, and culture. One of the ways our family enjoys the local flavor of destinations is via food tours. We usually include at least one food tour in our itinerary. This experience sold our family on personalized touring. We’ll continue using personalized touring when traveling to destinations where our native language, English, is less common.”

“As soon as I contacted Rough Guides I was immediately corresponding with an agent who knew the area intimately. We received an initial itinerary to look at and then use that as a rough guide until we had the perfect plan mapped out for my very special vacation for my husband's birthday”

“Our expert in Morocco was a great choice We normally prefer to explore overseas destinations on our own, but for Morocco we decided that it would be less stressful to have a tour company take care of us and we are definitely glad we did! We just came back from a 7-day/6-night tour of Morocco arranged by Rough Guides through a local tour company. Overall it was a great experience. It was good value, the tour company and driver assigned to us were honest, trustworthy and responsive, and the hotels and local day guides that they arranged for us were all good recommendations. The tour company assigned us a driver named Tawfiq for the entire duration of the trip. Tawfiq is a terrific asset to the company. He is a safe and thoughtful driver and we felt safe in his care. Also, although he was not a formal guide he knew a lot about the places we visited and shared many interesting and useful insights about Morocco. Tawfiq also made sure to call ahead and ensure the hotels could meet us on arrival (which sometimes required a porter to carry our bags uphill or down very confusing alleyways in the old city), as well as meeting and handing us off to local guides. Tawfiq was available on WhatsApp (for Americans, it is a helpful texting/phone app overseas), so we had no problems arranging daily logistics for pickup, etc. Our tour started in Tangier where we were picked up at the airport, and continued over 7 days to Chefchaouen, Volabilis, Meknes, Fes, Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakesh, and included drop off at our departure airport at Marrakesh. The tour company was very helpful in helping us modify their initial "best of" recommended itinerary to match our flights and preferences. I would note that we did most of our communications arranging our trip directly with Mohamed, the owner of the tour company. Because of the time we had and the way the different cities are laid out, our itinerary did make for some long drives which they thoughtfully broke up into 1-3 hour segments. Our driver Tawfiq was very helpful planning rest stops and meals along the way, and you should not be shy about letting your driver know if you need to take a break. The hotels that they arranged for us were all quite good, clean with helpful service and good-to-decent breakfasts. I guess there is always a fear of getting sick but we were pretty lucky and no one had any digestive problems even though we ate out almost every day at local restaurants outside our hotels. The tour company also arranged for local licensed guides with expertise in specific locales. These local guides covered a full day in Fes, a half-day in Marrakesh, and 1 hour in Volabilis (ancient Roman ruins) and 2 hours in Meknes. You do not need to pay these guides separately, but it is customary to give them a tip. The guides were generally pretty good (special mention for Amal in Fes), but you should not be shy if you need them to slow down or speak more clearly. One point I think worth mentioning is that in the bigger cities, the guides included stops at various shops, including shops selling berber rugs, leather goods and ceramics. I have been on trips (e.g., Venice) where you find yourself in high-pressure sale situations. This is not that. These stops give you a view into the local culture and economy, and if you are interested, a chance to buy from respectable sellers. If you really do not want to be taken to any shops or merchants, you should say so, or ask your guide if you need help (although normally the guides will sit outside the shop and let you shop at leisure). For our family of three adults (2 hotel rooms each night), it came out to approx USD 330 per person per night, including an English-speaking driver and large van, 2 rooms each night at a 4- or 5-star riad-style hotel, breakfast was inclusive. The expense included hiring the local guides.”

“Antonis, our agent, was terrific; every moment was perfectly planned. Our driver, Marios was well informed, thoughtful and responded to unplanned events like a major strike across Greece on our first day with aplomb. We had a really great trip, which Antonis spent time personalising to our tastes, interests and budget. Couldn't ask for a better experience”