Private day trip to Chauen, the blue city, from Tangier

Wonderful overview of the magical Chefchaoeun with Ahmed. We learned so much in a short time and were able to tailor our stops to our interests. A really memorable day!

Cruise stop for my wife and myself and Chefchaouen caught our eye for a more immersive experience than what we saw available in Tangiers or closer excursions. Said picked us up at the cruise port in front of the mosque at the entrance to the pier. He is known by an official port employee who helps direct people coming from the ship and called him for a quick pickup. Great car, as advertised, with water bottles. Said is sufficient at English and we communicated fine. We also listened to a lot of Arabic popular music on the drive which surprisingly leans heavily to western hip hop and similar. The drive was interesting in that much of what we saw was similar to a California landscape with at least some glimpses into how life is lived there. Our cruise departed at 5:00, so his guide, Ali, had a firm 2:00 limit for our departure. We were a little later than that leaving, and were a bit anxious to meet the 4:30 boarding time due to some traffic congestion and a a 5-10 minute walk to get to the ship. We made it with some time to spare, but don't press it. So, why were we late? Ali! In a good way. He's excellent with English, lived in the city a long time, and has a fairly clear path to show you everything the town has, while giving the history of the place as well as how things are currently. He'll take you to all the "Instagram" spots, but there's so much more to it than that. My wife and I took many photos both with our phones and a "real" camera - there's good use for both. As Ali says, he knows everyone and everyone knows him. We were not pressured by Ali in any situation to buy anything (our friends who went to the market and similar in Tangiers were negatively overwhelmed with sellers pressing them to buy things). That said, Ali knows everyone and I'd guess he makes a regular habit of stopping at preferred shops featuring local art of the city, leather goods and Persian rugs for example. Each visit had no sales pressure but a "happy to meet you and take a look around if there's something you like" - a very welcoming approach. If you don't want to visit a shop, no problem. If you want to stop and shop at another place or a vendor in the streets, no problem, but he chose what we would consider quality shops. When it comes to the Persian rug shop, it's worth visiting. Just brush up on prices in advance if you have an interest in getting one. They're not inexpensive and shipping is included to wherever you live. We spent a lot of time in the store and enjoyed the experience as well as conversation with the owner and Ali. And hot mint tea. We spent all our time in the Blue City itself - other tours may take you to a market or the local mosque plaza - and we took our time taking lots of photos (Ali was very patient), so much so we didn't have time for lunch but did enjoy a quick beverage before returning to the port. The time in town was ample, but it really depends on what you want to do and get out of the visit. For any with safety or cultural concerns or out-workings of world conflicts, just book the trip and enjoy yourself. It's a great place to spend some time - just watch the clock!

Our guide, Ali grew up in the area and still has family in Chefchaouen. He was able to give us a lot of historical background and took us to beautiful areas of Chefchaouen for pictures that were off the beaten path and not only the Instagram famous stairs with flowers. The store owners all knew him. We still haggled and got some wonderful deals. This was our second visit to Morocco but our first to northern Morocco. The Moroccan people are wonderful and nice. We felt very safe here.

Our driver was waiting for us nice and early. He was very polite and professional. We picked up our guide along the way and had an excellent day.

Unbelievable experience. If i could give it 10 stars I would.. We were delighted with our private driver from Tangier to Chafchuen. He even stopped at a nice place for traditional moroccan mint tea. Once we got to Chafchuen we were greeted with our private tour guide who was so friendly. Took all of our family photos. Introduced us to local artists, shared the rich history of the city and arranged a private lunch for us. Our driver met us when the tour was done and took us back to the ferry.