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South of Spain / Northern Africa travel recs
This thread got me thinking and reading about the solar eclipse next year. Here is the path. It seems like Luxor would be an ideal location, except for the likely huge crowds and the heat. Tarif, Spain or Tangiers, Morocco seems like the next most likely destination. The length of the totality is shorter, but both cities are fully in the totality, so we could likely see it from where we are staying. Another random thought would be taking a boat into the mediterranean north of Tunisia, but I don't know how practical that would be.
What recommendations, if any, do you have for this kind of travel? I am a complete travel noob, so open to all suggestions. This will be my and my wife's 20th anniversary, so it might be okay to splurge a little.
(Speaking only of Spain, not Morocco.)
I've never been but my friends say good things about Tarifa for beachgoing. It's an extremely hot time of the year so you could bathe in the sea and you'd be as close as it gets.
If you want to see old places though I'd personally just vacation in Granada and hop south for the eclipse.
Al-hambra in Granada is really cool and I can recommend it. But if temperature is a problem Granada is even warmer than the places by the sea, with no access to nice beaches (well, double check that last one, but you won't be swimming in the Mediterranean).
Temperature map: https://weather-and-climate.com/averages-Spain-August/temperatures
I just got back from Tamariu in eastern Spain and I cannot say enough good things about it. I am actively trying to get my wife to move there. I cannot get over the beauty, lifestyle, and vibe. We have friends who are from there and have warned when it gets down to 100 people in the winter it can feel very empty, buuuut I'm still game. Anyway it's a wonderful vacation trip!
As to Morocco and Egypt, I went nearly 20 years ago and I will caution that both are on my absolute shit list. If you're looking for beautiful architecture with an Arabic flavor I would recommend Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon ahead of those two. I preferred Morocco over Egypt, as it is visually and culinarily incredible but it came with dealing with a lot of hassle and sexism. I went to Marrakesh, Fez, Tangiers, and Essuria and if I were to go back I think I'd just head back to Essuria. Fez is gorgeous but heavy on the hustle. I did Cairo and Abydos in Egypt and would honestly just skip it. The history is incredible but being in person is nothing how it is presented. I even got to check out an active excavation as I was visiting a friend doing his PhD there and even that didn't sway me.
On the flip side, Syria was absolutely incredible. Friendly people, amazing food, gorgeous architecture. It's my number 1 suggestion. Jordan and Lebanon are also very interesting, but with their tourism industry in full swing it can have a bit of the Morocco feel.
Wildcard suggestion for Pakistan as well. It's a beautiful country with so much variety. I'd suggest heading up north, just towards the east rather than the west. Islamabad is a great jumping off point, as is Lahore.
Haha, this is awesome, but a self described "complete travel noob" should under no circumstances go to Lebanon, Pakistan, or Syria. That's a completely unhinged recommendation ;)
Haha, yeah, e.g. the swedish foreign department says that no-one should go to Syria or Lebanon atm, and avoid big chunks of Pakistan, so there's that.
Rosco's hot take served with a big ol grain of salt. Countries that have experienced recent turbulence but have entered a peace period are my #1 suggested travel location.
Locals will be happy to meet people interested in and excited about their country, the dollars you spend mean so much more, and there will be very little tourism to compete with. Sites that would normally be packed will be all yours. A tack on benefit to you is that travel will also be much cheaper, and I really do think of that as just a tack on if it's important.
Obviously this advice isn't for everyone, and there is a difference between Aleppo and Damascus once you in a post-conflict country, but if you're game I think it's well worth the risk/reward trade off.
Lol, that's fair! But sometimes unhinged trips make for the best trips :)
Most of these are not in the eclipse path
What kind of stuff do you guys like to do? Morocco is fantastic, and offers both high-end luxury (>$2000/night for a single room) and grittier hostel-style stuff (like...$20/night). There are also cruises launching out of Casablanca, if you wanted to be on the water.
I think seeing architecture / ancient places, and anything that puts us in contact with nature. I'd probably be shooting for the $200-$400 "happy medium", though I'd pay more for a unique experience, like the bubble tents in the desert.
Cool. Morocco may not be for you guys then, actually. There are a couple of old Roman forts and one or two other similar things you could look at, but they're not in great condition and it's not like, say, Europe, where you can walk around inside ancient buildings in basically every major city. There's an incredible (non-ancient) mosque in Casablanca that allows non-Muslims to tour it, but I wouldn't go just for that.
Re: nature, Morocco has incredible landscapes, and that's a big part of the appeal, but not a lot of actual nature in terms of wildlife and little to no wilderness. Sort of depends on what you mean there. You could do some hiking in the Atlas mountains and/or do an overnight on the edges of the Sahara if that sounds appealing, but again both are more like seeing landscapes than seeing animals.
I'm thinking very hard about going to Luxor. I know there will be crowds and intense heat, but I really don't know how you can pass up a solar eclipse—especially one that's like 6:30 of totality—in the ruins of Karnak and Thebes.