Toubkal Climb

Amazing trip. Fabulous guide. Thoroughly recommend it.

Hamid was an excellent leader. The whole group reached the summit. He sets good pace and schedule, communicated well with the group and explained things along the way with appropriate humour. Food was excellent cooked by our accompanying chef.. All arrangements worked well. Itinerary was goood and better in my opinion that alternative providers , i.e. 3 day trip prior to summit climb which drew group together and enabled acclimatisation, 3 days to climb Mt Toubkal, i.e. 1 day Aremd to base camp, 6am start to summit & back to base camp, 1 day descent to Imlil. It means you don't get to see sunrise from the summit but means much of the ascent is in the light which is easier, you get to see the scenery on the way up, I expect is not as cold and you are less tired.

Great trip good leadership, excellent value

I would recommend this to anyone but would take their capabilities into consideration The hotel was fine but on arrival I could not phone the front desk as the phone. Wire was damaged. Also, I had to ask for a hair dryer ..all other rooms had one. It would have been convenient to have an a la carte menu instead of a buffet.

Excellent guides Rab and Youssef went above and beyond to ensure we were all safe.

Great explore leader and great guide who looked after us very well. We were guided up and back safely and the views were fantastic. The food was plentiful and the whole group were kind and supportive.

The Toubkal trip 09/05/2025 was as expected. The accommodation in the poor Berber villages was basic – functional & clean. This is part of the experience. There were sufficient charging points. The chef was great and made a feast from basic ingredients and in more than sufficient quantities. For me the rate of progress was a little slow and punctuated by stops for some of the slower members of our party. I am 69. Our luggage was transferred without a hitch. The final accent was called short due to unusually bad weather. Very high winds 70mph and a wind chill of -25ºC. Some of our party turned back early. At 3660m it was decided that some in our party were not kitted for this weather so we turned back. Top marks to Omar for calling that!! A generally unpopular decision but safety must come first. Others coming down were like apparitions from the Antarctic. In the lower valleys there were blooms of every type on the trees and shrubs. Very pretty. The website tipping information was somewhat out of date. We paid 500MAD for the support party and an additional 200MAD each for our guide – he was worth it. Overal it was well organised and a great adventure. Culturally an extravaganza and somewhat humbling. Yes I would go with Explore again.

This was a superbly paced and adventurous trek guided by the brilliant Hamid who took time to be sure that everyone was well looked after. The trekking itself was well paced by Hamid with Mustafa supporting. The days preceding the summit day allowed time for beautifully prepared lunches and time to relax (but try to push through to get to Aremd early for a Hammam on day 2). Walking was steady (for me as a regular mountain walker, especially on summit day) but I found poles a real benefit, even though I don't usually use them. Summit day was a cold start in early May, and paced for the whole group to reach the summit together, so more confident walkers were waiting at times. It's a tough day, with very little level walking and a lot of elevation gain (and of course, decent). It feels very different to any UK fell walking, despite the elevation gains not sounding similar to what we have here. The unplanned interaction with locals, the Hamam at Aremd, local knowledge of Hamid and Mustafa and superb support team of porters and chef added interest to the trip. Some of the accommodation was slightly different to advertised, with rooms for 4-5 on one night at Tizi Oussem. Tents and provided camping gear was good quality. The hotel was fine at Marrakech to bookend the trip. I highly recommend bringing one of the Water to Go (or equivalent) bottles. Water is plentiful in streams or other places on the trek, but must be purchased otherwise, and it seems wasteful to rely on this and create a lot of plastic waste. I was on the trek with Mike and Jacqui, so check out their reviews too.

This was an amazing trip. Our guides were fantastic, especially Hamid. The food, the hike, and the mountains were wonderful. The stops to visit locals also great. I did have a very disappointing experience with the pre/post hotel. They stored our bags while we were on the hike. Typically hotels tag your bags. They did not. When we returned from the hike my bag was missing. The Kennedy hotel manager sort of shrugged his shoulders and said someone must have taken it by mistake. I said, why don’t they tag the bags so that doesn’t happen. No answer nor did they ever once check in on me again. Not their problem. I remembered that I had put in an Apple AirTag in my bag and found it was actually in Milan. No one had reported taking the wrong bag the whole time we were gone. Hamid took it upon himself to use the Milan address I had, to google around and find the tour group who might have taken the bag. He found the bag and coordinated with me discussing with the other party to get it sent to Spain where I was to continue my holiday with my wife. The hotel was absolutely useless and I would not recommend them. I asked if they knew someone who could wash my hike clothes and they did that for me. Then tried to charge me for the washing at checkout. Hamid continue to check in with me several days later as the bag took nearly a week to arrive. After being such a wonderful guide throughout the trip sharing personal experiences and taking the time to make sure everyone made it to the top. So Hamid needs to be called out for going above and beyond. According to the guy who had the wrong bag the Hotel just loaded up all of bags and it wasn’t their fault either. Clearly problems with hotel processes and management.

This was a gruelling and awesome trek for me to celebrate 1 year since breast cancer surgery. The tour guides were fantastic. The chef produced the most amazing meals in the middle of nowhere. Be realistic about what to expect regarding mountain accommodation and facilities! the Explore description was pretty accurate. For me hiking poles were a necessity. I couldn’t have got back down without them. My knees were quite shot by the end of it but I wouldn’t change it for anything.