since 2009

Why Sun Trails ?

ON-THE-GROUND MOROCCO TRAVEL SPECIALISTS CRAFTING PRIVATE TOURS OF MOROCCO.

Not someone from an office in London or New York outsourcing their tours to local agencies in Morocco. Our team is made up of European and local Moroccan staff and we have been living in and traveling across Morocco since 2006. Every year, we spend a great deal of time and effort scanning across the country, anonymously testing and handpicking the latest boutique and luxury Riads, eco lodges, kasbahs and hotels. Trying out spas and restaurants, attending music festivals and local events. Curating only authentic and off the beaten track experiences. From being taken by camel ride into the Sahara and spending the night in an ‘Out-of-Africa’ desert tent to a Moroccan cooking class with spice tasting in the souks of Marrakech or Fez. From hot air balloon flight over Marrakech to baking bread with the locals in a village stove. From lunch at Richard Branson’s Atlas Mountains retreat to discovering underground honey comb villages and secluded Kasbahs. Read all about it on our blog

TAILOR MADE ITINERARIES

We don’t book off-the-shelf tours at Sun Trails. Naturally, there are quite a few itineraries available on our site, but they are mere examples of what someone can achieve on a tour in Morocco. Your top priority may be to ride a camel, spending a night in the desert, crossing the Atlas Mountains, wander through UNESCO world site Ait Benhaddou or trekking in Dades Gorges. Send us an enquiry and we’ll gradually add texture and color to the white canvas. A balance must be struck between activity and relaxation, simplicity and grandeur, planned ahead and spontaneous. Then, your particulars come in: your age, whether you are into culture and history or adventure and outdoors ( or both), your culinary preferences, the places you shouldn’t miss, the desired pace and so on. You can also ask us to call you, should you feel more confident chatting for 10- 20 minutes over the phone with a map in front of you and making sure that all options are explored. In general, it takes an average of 50- 60 emails with each of our guests before the final day- to- day itinerary is concluded.

FLEXIBLE BOOKING TERMS AND MEANS OF PAYMENT

To book a tour with us, we only require a 30 % deposit, refundable until 90 days before starting date and the balance for the tour can be paid as late as the first day. For instance, you decide to cancel your tour due to start on 30 April. If you cancel it before 30 January, you recover your deposit. Should you lose the deposit, we are always open to rebook your tour at a later date in the future, subject to availability. Most other agencies require full, non- refundable payment weeks before starting date. To offer further protection, besides bank transfer, we also accept credit card payments, subject to a 3 to 5 % surcharge. Starting in 2023 we are also accepting select cryptocurrencies as means of payment. 

erg chigaga luxury camp

WHILE ON TOUR

The driving is carefully balanced so that you spend no more than 3- 4 hours per day inside the vehicle. The goal is for you to have as much time to spend on site doing and seeing things, but also enjoy the select accommodations, while covering a reasonable distance. Stops are accommodated every other hour to visit a site, take photos, interact with the locals or simply stretch legs. We are in contact with you while on tour once every few days, to make sure your expectations are met all throughout the tour or make additional recommendations. We always do our best to meet our guests in person throughout the tour. With superior accommodation, we try and arrange you a different menu every evening. 

We are able to respond appropriately with emergency situations: last time we had guests falling ill on tour, we had an emergency doctor on site in 30 minutes. There is hardly a country with more days of sun then Morocco. However, this past winter, heavy storms have closed up Tizi n Tichka and Tizi n Test mountains passes. We went out of our way to change or reverse the course of the itinerary and rebook all the accommodations and activities along the way so our guests on tour didn’t have to suffer any upsets.

fez tanneries

DOING THE RESEARCH SO WE SAVE YOU TIME

As you are an intrepid traveller, you know by now that you don’t always get what you see online. Even though Trip Advisor and other similar sites have revolutionized the way we travel nowadays, fake reviews and altered images have ruined quite a few vacations. Every few months we travel, scouting across Morocco, anonymously trying out new and established guest houses, restaurants, things to do and out-of-ordinary experiences. And we have a blog to document it. Our accommodations and activities are constantly reviewed based on our guests feedback. We don’t trust magazines or press releases – our network of insiders and living in- country allow us to quickly get in the know about a new opening or a restaurant/ hotel that is losing its appeal. 

kasbah ellouze morocco

SIZE & TRANSPARENCY 

Some local travel agencies also rent cars, flats and villas so they diversify their range of activities. With a staff of only 7, we’d rather just create amazing travel experiences around Morocco. That allows us to really focus on all the small details that make a difference. It also creates the premises for us to have a more person-to-person approach as our guests are in contact directly with those that travel the country and build their itineraries, not a department or some extension line. You are free to browse the hundreds of reviews available on the next, whether positive or not: TripAdvisor, Google reviews, Facebook reviews, etc.

marrakech palmeraie sunset

BOUTIQUE ACCOMMODATION 

We select our accommodations based on how they integrate the local culture: cuisine, architecture, staff, decor, activities . You might have guessed it by now- we favor small family owned riads, kasbahs and eco- lodges versus large international chain hotels. In most cases, they are run by people with a passion for Morocco and it shows. Wouldn’t you rather spend the night where the owner/ manager joins you for a coffee and shares local insider tips, over breakfast ? Where you can peek into the kitchen and even help preparing the dishes ? Where you can get invited to one of staff’s home for tea or lunch and see how the locals live. Not only we are familiar with each property but also know which one would fit best your particular profile: honeymooners, families with children, group of friends, retired couples and so on. To most of these accommodations, a star rating per se wouldn’t make any sense. We have therefore decided to replace it with our own rating and name it with words that best resume the different levels: Dreamers, Privilege and Divine. For details on our accommodation options, please visit our selection of guest houses.  

kasbah tamnougalt tour

VALUE FOR MONEY

We are certainly not the most affordable private tours agency in Morocco. However, we regularly conduct studies to make sure our prices are still competitive compared to our competition locally. Whereas foreign based agencies are concerned, their rates are usually higher, as they usually hire local agencies like ours, and then add their markup. Besides, why would you book a holiday in Morocco with someone that sends their staff to visit the country once in a while

Last but certainly not least, we are proud that 1 % of what you are paying for your holidays with us is being donated towards helping young girls from rural areas in Morocco continue their education and make a difference within their community. We are also donating part of our receipts towards the restoration of ancient granaries

berber door detail

© Sun Trails 2023. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher

Sun Trails
5.0
Based on 25 reviews
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Zach TobinZach Tobin
22:16 29 Jan 23
Traveling alone internationally with a 7-year-old for the first time had me a bit nervous, but Sun Trails made our week-long visit to Morocco a flawless and unforgettable experience (we toured the south of the country). Daoud was an exceptional driver through all sorts of terrain while also being so kind, patient, and personable to my daughter and me. The accommodations, food, and activities throughout were excellent in terms of value. I would recommend Sun Trails to anyone who is looking to have an incredible time in Morocco.
gosia lukomskagosia lukomska
13:46 29 Jan 23
We had the trip of a lifetime with Cristian's company. We feel like we made life long friends with his amazing guides who are knowledgeable, kind, and excellent at their profession. The hotels that he chose were boutique gems and our itinerary was so well executed. We even had some surprise desert picnics! The attention to detail and level of customer service surpassed our expectations. I would highly recommend anyone visiting Morocco to do so with this company.
Henri OrmusHenri Ormus
19:43 15 Jan 23
We had a great off-the-beaten-track experience with our guides Majid, Daoud, Leila and rest of the crew. The whole trip was well organized and our wishes were handled with care. Our group of adventurers got some very real local experience. We had too many interesting experiences to describe but of course the Western Sahara desert hike was superb (but I would recommend definitely 3 days instead of 2 days what we did) but actually the best was the hike in the deserty mountains with staying overnight in large tent carried by donkey... beautiful landscapes, very different actually, over the hills and through the valleys and dried-out rivers. One evening dinner was a goat bought from local nomads once arrived at the camping site. End of the hike was beautiful pools of water to swim in. Thank you Sun-Trails crew, it was great! Henri from Estonia
Rob MRob M
22:51 27 Dec 22
I highly recommend Sun Trails for your Morocco adventure. Our guide, Mustafa, was top notch and an incredibly fun and knowledgeable person for our 6-day journey from Marrakesh to Fes (via Merzouga). Sun Trails has some fantastic vehicles that can get you through the toughest terrain (including through sand dunes). The staff seem to know someone or something cool to see (or something delicious to eat) in just about every town on your journey. We felt safe and secure with our wonderful guide and friend. Yes, a private tour with Sun Trails is going to cost a bit more than the ones you may stumble across online. But trust me when I say you get what you pay for with Sun Trails. I’ve already recommended them several times to friends and strangers.
Kristi HarmarKristi Harmar
08:09 03 May 22
I wish I could give this review more than 5 stars. We are doing a world tour - and this trip with Suntrails (with Daoud as our guide) is by far the highlight of the entire trip. We did a 4 day tour to the Erg Chigaga dunes in the Sahara and it was incredible. The accommodations, sights and car were great but what made this trip so amazing for us was our guide, Daoud. In order to see the things we wanted, we had several long days in the car and we did the trip with 2 small children (2 and 5). Daoud was fantastic with our kids - playing with them and entertaining them and the kids are still asking me to see him 2 months later.We decided on the "dreamer" level of accommodation with an upgrade to a luxury tent for the night in the Sahara. I deliberated a lot about which level/price point to choose but what we chose was perfect. The tagines were amazing and the riads were beautiful. Cristian took care (and a lot of emails) to help me include everything I requested out of this trip: camel riding, adventure off the beaten track, hiking to a kasbah, etc. Our guide, Daoud even walked to the next closest desert camp to find us a sand board one morning.I could go on and on about this experience but I will just say that I have recommended it to anyone I have spoken to about Morocco. I never repeat trips but I am planning a future trip to come back to Morocco just to do another trip with Suntrails to explore more of the country off the beaten track.
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EARLY BIRD

Book your private tour with us in December, January ( outside holidays) or February before 1 September and enjoy 10 % discount on our normal rates. Send your enquiry using #earlybird here.