Two weeks for all of Morocco: the Rif, the imperial cities, two nights in the Sahara, the Dades valley on foot, Marrakech, the High Atlas and the ocean in Essaouira.
The great journey across Morocco, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Atlantic, at a pace that leaves time to live every place: two nights in Chefchaouen, a guided day in Fez, two nights in our camp in Erg Chebbi and two nights in the Dades valley with a walk among the canyons.
The second week continues through the kasbahs to Marrakech, with a day in the High Atlas at the foot of Toubkal, and ends with the sea breeze of Essaouira before your flight from Casablanca.
Highlights
Chefchaouen and the Akchour waterfalls
Fez, Meknes and Volubilis
Two nights in our desert camp
Walk in the Dades valley
Marrakech, Imlil and Essaouira
Day by day
Day 1
Tangier – Cap Spartel – Chefchaouen
Your driver meets you at the port of Tangier Med, at the airport or at your hotel. If time allows, we start with a short tour of Tangier: the viewpoint of Cap Spartel, where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean, the Caves of Hercules and the old kasbah overlooking the Strait, from where you can see the coast of Spain. Then we drive south-east into the green Rif mountains, through hills of olive trees and small villages where women wear the traditional striped skirts and straw hats. In the afternoon we arrive in Chefchaouen, the famous blue town built on the slopes of the mountain. You have time to wander through its blue-washed alleys, sit in the square of Outa el Hammam under the walls of the kasbah and walk up to the Spanish mosque to watch the sunset over the town. Dinner and night in a riad in the medina.
Day 2
Chefchaouen: Akchour waterfalls and the God's Bridge
A day of nature in the Rif. After breakfast your driver takes you to Akchour, about forty minutes from Chefchaouen, at the entrance of the Talassemtane National Park. From there a beautiful path follows the river through a green canyon, with natural pools of turquoise water, small cafés where you can stop for a mint tea and, after about an hour of walking, the God's Bridge, a huge natural arch of rock above the river. If you prefer a longer walk, the trail continues to the great waterfall. In summer many people swim in the pools; in spring the river is full and the forest is in flower. In the afternoon you return to Chefchaouen for a last walk in the blue medina, maybe to buy a wool blanket or a woven hat in the small shops. Dinner and second night in your riad.
Day 3
Chefchaouen – Volubilis – Meknes – Fez
After a last morning walk in Chefchaouen, when the streets are quiet and the light is soft, we leave the Rif and drive south through fertile valleys of cereals and olive trees. We stop at Volubilis, the best-preserved Roman city in Morocco, where you can walk among the columns of the basilica, the triumphal arch and the houses with their beautiful mosaics of Hercules, Bacchus and Orpheus. Nearby is Moulay Idriss, the holy town where the founder of the first Moroccan dynasty is buried. We continue to Meknes, the imperial city of Sultan Moulay Ismail, with its monumental gate of Bab Mansour, the royal granaries and stables where 12,000 horses once lived, and the lively square of El Hedim. We arrive in Fez in the late afternoon. Dinner and night in a riad in the medina.
Day 4
Fez: a full day in the medina with a local guide
Fez el Bali is the largest medieval medina in the world still alive, a maze of more than 9,000 alleys where cars cannot enter and donkeys still carry the goods. With a licensed local guide you discover its treasures: the Bou Inania and Al Attarine medersas, decorated with zellige tiles, carved cedar and stucco as fine as lace; the Qarawiyyin, founded in the year 859 and considered the oldest university in the world; the fountain of Nejjarine; and the souks of the coppersmiths, weavers and spice sellers. From a terrace you watch the famous Chouara tannery, where leather is still dyed in stone vats as it was centuries ago. In the afternoon your driver takes you to the Royal Palace with its golden doors, the Jewish quarter of the Mellah and the panorama from the Merinid tombs at sunset. Dinner and night in your riad.
Day 5
Fez – Ifrane – Azrou – Midelt – Ziz valley – Merzouga
Today we leave the cities behind and travel towards the Sahara. The road climbs into the Middle Atlas to Ifrane, a mountain town of red roofs and gardens, and crosses the cedar forest of Azrou, where you can stop to see the Barbary macaques. We continue across the high plateaus, grazed by flocks of sheep, to Midelt for lunch, with the snowy peaks of the Jebel Ayachi in the background. In the afternoon the landscape becomes desert: we descend the Ziz gorges, a narrow canyon carved by the river, and follow the palm valley of the Ziz, with its old ksour of earth, through Errachidia and Erfoud. At sunset the dunes of Erg Chebbi appear on the horizon, glowing orange and pink. Dinner and night in a hotel at the foot of the dunes in Merzouga.
Day 6
Merzouga: Rissani, nomads and Gnawa music, camel ride and night in our camp
A day dedicated to the desert. In the morning your driver takes you around Erg Chebbi by 4x4: the market town of Rissani, heir of the medieval caravan city of Sijilmassa, the tent of a nomad family in the black hamada, where you share tea and bread baked in the sand, and the village of Khamlia, where the Gnawa musicians welcome you with their drums and songs. After lunch you can rest at the hotel pool or add a quad, buggy or sandboard session in the dunes. In the late afternoon you meet your cameleer and ride into the dunes with the caravan, climbing a high crest on foot for the sunset. At nightfall you reach our camp, where you sleep in a private tent with bed and bathroom, after a dinner of tajine and an evening of music around the fire.
Day 7
A second day in the Sahara: free day in the dunes and second night in our camp
Today there is no car waiting for you: the whole day belongs to the desert. After the sunrise and a slow breakfast in the camp, you can climb the highest dune nearby, the Big Dune, for a view over the whole sea of sand and, on clear days, the Algerian border. Many guests choose a sandboarding session on the soft slopes, a visit to a nomad family who live with their goats and camels in the hamada, or a quad or buggy ride with our guides. Others simply rest in the shade of the lounge tent with a book and endless mint tea, listening to the silence. In the late afternoon a short camel ride takes you to a crest for another sunset, and the evening brings a new dinner cooked in the camp, drums around the fire and, if the moon allows it, a short stargazing session with your guide. Second night in your private tent with bathroom.
Day 8
Sunrise – Todra gorge – Tinghir – Dades valley
Wake up before dawn and climb the dune behind the camp to watch the sun rise over the Sahara, the most silent and magical moment of the journey. After breakfast you ride back to Merzouga by camel and we drive west across the desert plateaus, passing small oases and the fossil village of Alnif or the road of Tinejdad, with its old ksour. In Tinghir we walk into the Todra gorge, where the cliffs rise 300 metres on both sides of a clear river and climbers hang from the walls. In the afternoon we continue to the Dades valley and drive up the gorge to see the famous zigzag road and the eroded rocks known as the 'monkey fingers'. Dinner and night in a guesthouse in the gorge.
Day 9
Dades valley: walk among the red canyons and Berber villages
A calm day to discover the Dades valley on foot. With a local guide from the valley, you walk for three or four hours on easy paths: through the fields of wheat, almond and fig trees along the river, past old kasbahs and granaries, and up into the side canyons, where the red rock forms narrow passages and strange shapes. On the way you stop at the house of a Berber family for tea and bread with olive oil, and you may meet women carrying fodder or shepherds with their flocks. Lunch is served in the guesthouse or as a picnic by the river. In the afternoon you can rest on the terrace facing the cliffs, or drive up the zigzag road of the gorge to the viewpoint and continue a little further up the valley, where the villages become smaller and more traditional. Dinner and second night in the gorge.
Day 10
Dades – Valley of Roses – Skoura – Ouarzazate – Ait Ben Haddou
A relaxed day along the 'road of the thousand kasbahs'. We drive down the Dades valley to Kalaat M'Gouna, in the Valley of Roses, where small cooperatives distil rose water and make soaps and creams. Then we visit the palm grove of Skoura, with the kasbah of Amridil, one of the best preserved in Morocco, where you can see how a family lived in these earth castles. After lunch in Ouarzazate, the capital of Moroccan cinema, we visit the kasbah of Taourirt, the old residence of the Glaoui, and drive to Ait Ben Haddou. We arrive in time to climb to the top of the ksar in the light of the late afternoon, when the earth walls turn red and gold. Dinner and night in a kasbah hotel with views of the village.
Day 11
Ait Ben Haddou – Telouet – Tizi n'Tichka – Marrakech
Today we cross the High Atlas. Leaving Ait Ben Haddou, we follow the old salt and caravan route along the Ounila valley, with its terraced fields and villages of earth, to the kasbah of Telouet, the spectacular palace of the Glaoui, whose rooms are decorated with painted cedar ceilings and colourful zellige. Then the road climbs to the Tizi n'Tichka pass, at 2,260 metres, and descends in curves through Berber villages and walnut trees to the plain of Marrakech. We arrive in the early afternoon, in time to drop your luggage at your riad or hotel and go out to the Jemaa el Fna square, which comes alive at sunset with musicians, storytellers and food stalls.
Day 12
Marrakech: guided visit of the red city
A day to discover Marrakech with a licensed local guide. We start at the Koutoubia mosque, whose 77-metre minaret has been the symbol of the city since the 12th century, and walk to the Saadian tombs, hidden for centuries behind a wall, and the Bahia palace, with its gardens, painted ceilings and courtyards decorated with zellige. Then we go through the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter with its spice market, and into the souks, where each alley has its craftsmen: dyers, blacksmiths, leather workers and carpet sellers. In the afternoon, your driver takes you to the Majorelle garden, the blue garden of Yves Saint Laurent, full of cactus and bamboo, and to the palm grove. Evening free to enjoy a dinner on a terrace facing Jemaa el Fna. Night in your riad.
Day 13
Marrakech – Asni – Imlil, walk in the Toubkal valleys – Marrakech
A day in the High Atlas, only an hour and a half from Marrakech. We drive south past the Kik plateau and the village of Asni, with its Saturday market, and up the valley to Imlil, at 1,740 metres, at the foot of Jebel Toubkal, the highest mountain in North Africa. With a local mountain guide you walk for two or three hours along mule paths, through terraces of walnut, apple and cherry trees and Berber villages of stone and earth built on the slopes, such as Aroumd, from where the view opens onto the peaks, snowy for half of the year. Lunch is served in a Berber family's house: a tajine cooked on the fire, bread from the clay oven and mint tea on the terrace. In the afternoon we return to Marrakech, in time for a last evening in the medina.
Day 14
Marrakech – argan forest – Essaouira
We leave the red city towards the Atlantic coast. The road crosses wide plains and then the argan forest, where goats climb into the trees to eat the fruit, a curious sight you can only see in this corner of Morocco. We stop at a women's cooperative to see how argan oil is extracted by hand, then arrive in Essaouira, the white and blue city by the ocean, protected by its 18th-century ramparts. In the afternoon you walk through the medina, a UNESCO World Heritage site, full of galleries, thuya wood workshops and small cafés, along the Skala, where old cannons look at the sea, and to the fishing port, where the blue boats return with their catch and you can eat grilled fish right on the quay. Dinner and night in a riad in the medina.
Day 15
Essaouira – El Jadida – Casablanca, end of the tour
A last morning in Essaouira to enjoy the beach, the sea breeze and the calm atmosphere of the medina, perhaps with a walk along the sand where camels and horses wait for riders. Then we drive north along the Atlantic coast, a quiet road between fields, lagoons and fishing villages, to El Jadida, the old Portuguese fortress of Mazagan, whose underground cistern with its columns and reflections of light has appeared in the film Othello by Orson Welles. We arrive in Casablanca in the afternoon and your driver leaves you at the airport for your flight or at your hotel. End of our services, with the hope of welcoming you again in Merzouga.
Included
Private air-conditioned vehicle
Local driver-guide
Pick-up and drop-off at your riad, hotel or airport
Nights in riads, kasbahs and guesthouses
Dinners and breakfasts
Camel ride with cameleer
Night in our desert camp in Erg Chebbi
Not included
Lunches
Local guides in the cities (on request)
Entrance fees to monuments
Tips
Good to know
Pick-up between 7:00 and 8:00 at your riad, hotel, airport or port. Bring a small bag for the desert night: big luggage stays in the vehicle. Hotels can be upgraded on request.
No payment is needed to book: you pay on arrival in cash (dirhams or euros). Free changes if the weather is not good.
Questions
Are the tours private?
Yes. Only your group travels in the vehicle, with your own driver, and the program can be adapted.
Where do the tours start?
Wherever you are: your riad or hotel in Marrakech, Fez, Tangier, Casablanca, Agadir, Ouarzazate, Errachidia or Essaouira, or the airport or port when you land.
Which camp do we sleep in?
In our own camp in Erg Chebbi, with private tents, bathrooms with hot shower, dinner and breakfast, and Berber music by the fire.
Can I change the itinerary?
Yes, every tour is private and flexible: add nights in the desert, a quad or buggy ride, a different finishing city or better hotels. Just tell us when you write.
