morocco with babies ... what do you reckon?

[happyhat]

and what's the best way - are riads (?sp) a possibility? Is Marrakech ok with a toddler and baby?

if toddler and baby best if there are two adults too - Marrakech isn't the best place to take a pushchair and you don't really want to carry both of them yourself.

Apart from that I'd say go for it - a riad is a good idea esp if you can find one with a pool so you can have days where you needn't venture out if you don't fancy it.

we went to marrakech in february with our 5 year old & 18 month old. we all had a ball. we stayed in a riad, & had no problems with our biiiiiig 3 wheeler buggy. everywhere was very welcoming to the children, and the people in the place where we stayed were great (maison arabo andalouse).

we hired a taxi one day & did a trip into the atlas mountains which was fun. otherwise, lots of museums & fresh orange juice & poking around the in the souk. the kids enjoyed a horse driver carriage trip round the city.

go for it!

(aha 3 wheeler different story - was imagining rattling over the cobbles in a cheapy umbrella type)

ow! our mountain buggy urban is rather well travelled........ though in ibiza it didn't get out of the hire car boot.

is february a good time to go hoxton chick? we have a two year old and a teeny 2 month old. and how should we do it? flights and accommodation separately or (deep breath ...)? would you recommend maison arabo andalouse with little ones then? longing for proper holiday!

oh and how about car seats - did you take them?

feb was ok weather wise, it was about 18-20 degrees i think. so hotter than the uk (& just light, wonderful), but not boiling at all. in fact, the riad had a pool but it was too cold for us to swim as it was so shaded.

we did it all independently, flew from gatwick with BA as they had the only reasonable flight times. the people at the riad were fantastic, they really looked after us. there was a lovely cosy sitting room with a log fire. they cooked fabulous food for us one night (wasn't mad keen on the restaurants generally, they all seemed to serve the same stuff. and dp is veggie which was a little complicated).

we didn't take carseats. you would need one for a baby though. it is a short taxi ride from the airport to the city (literally 10 minutes).

ds (the 5 year old) really loved it, was excited about being in africa. and thought the snake charmers were great. dd didn't really notice her surroundings too much, but liked saying hello to people & spotting donkeys in the street (lots).

ooh i think i'm sold. are the restaurants happy to have little ones in the evening?

well we took ours everywhere! there didn't seem to be huge numbers of kids out in the evening but everywhere happily accepted them. they loved the food actually, especially the tagines (and ate a lot of chips ). i don't remember any high chairs or changing facilities if that kind of thing bothers you....

Hi Happyhat,
I spent many years in Morocco & most of my family is there so feel free to ask me questions if you like.

Marrakesh is great as there is lots to visit. I really like Les Jardins de La Majorelle as its very quiet there & away from the madness of Djama Elfan & if youre feeling adventerous you could visit Essaouira which is a great hippy town on the coast about 2 hours away or even the sahara. There are plenty of riads nowadays & prices vary quite a lot.

Dont go in Ramaddan ( i think around sept-oct this year) Feb is a quite a good time to go as it should be starting to get less cold. But March-May is probably the best time of the year as it is warm, but not too hot.

We never bother with carseats unless you're going to hire a car for the whole time you're there (not recommend as driving there is VERY stressful!). Moroccan taxis dont bother with them & most of the touristy places in Marrakesh are not far apart.

Moroccans LOVE kids are they are welcome everywhere and anytime (well, except for nightclubs obviously) But as hoxton said most restaurants dont have any facilities for them ( unless you go to really expensive ones) so take a portable changing mat with you everywhere & bottled water. And nappies & baby things are relatively expensive there so buy everything before you go.

Its quite hard to manouevre prams around as the roads are so uneven & pavement is often non-existant & in the evenings when the souks are really busy so I use a sling quite a bit there.

I ll post again if I think of anything else but let me know if there s anything specific you want to know.

thanks! i checked out the riad you mentioned hoxton and my dh (ever the spendthrift) said it sounded a bit pricey for Morocco - the guy who emailed said a family suite was 130 euros. does that sound a lot? i was thinking of going for about 5 days, would that be long enough do you think?

(oh I can heartily recommend Essaouira too - we legged it out there when Marrakech got too much and it is indeed very chilled and manageable, also much cooler because of the wind off the sea)

we paid 725 euros for 6 nights. so not bargain basement, but cheaper than a lot of the really swishy riads we were considering. our room was massive, double bed at one end then ds's single bed in a curtained off area at the end of the room. there was a travel cot for dd. if you cat me i'll send you some picture if you'd like.

ah - need to register for that don't i? am fairweather mumsnetter ... will find out how and do that.

or i could cat you since i've already paid!

sorry to ressurect - can you do that if you're still about? thanks!

ooh bad spelling

i did cat you, sometime last week........ will try again.