Tangier → Tetouan → Chefchaouen
Your driver picks you up in Tangier in the morning. You drive south-east to Tetouan, a white city at the foot of the Rif Mountains. Its medina, listed by UNESCO, mixes Moroccan and Andalusian styles, because many families came here from Spain long ago.
Then the road climbs into the green Rif Mountains to Chefchaouen, the famous blue town. Walk through the blue lanes, have a mint tea on the Outa el Hammam square and climb to the Spanish Mosque for sunset over the town.
Key stops
Tetouan medina · Rif Mountains · Chefchaouen · Spanish Mosque
Stay
Traditional riad in Chefchaouen
Chefchaouen → Volubilis → Meknes → Fes
After breakfast you leave the Rif and drive south through farmland and olive groves to Volubilis, the best-preserved Roman city in Morocco and a UNESCO site. Walk among the columns of the basilica, the triumphal arch of Caracalla and the floor mosaics of old houses, with wide green hills all around.
Next is Meknes, the imperial city of Sultan Moulay Ismail. See the huge Bab Mansour gate and the old granaries and stables, then continue to Fes. You arrive in the evening and check in to your riad in the medina.
Key stops
Volubilis · Arch of Caracalla · Meknes · Bab Mansour · Fes
Fes Guided Medina Tour
Today a licensed local guide takes you into Fes el-Bali, the old medina of Fes and one of the largest car-free city areas in the world. It is a maze of more than 9,000 narrow lanes. You see the Bou Inania and Al-Attarine madrasas, with their carved cedar, stucco and colourful zellige tiles, and the outside of Al Quaraouiyine, founded in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri and known as one of the oldest universities in the world.
In the afternoon you visit the craftsmen: weavers, coppersmiths, and the famous Chouara tannery, where leather is dyed in big stone pits the same way it was done centuries ago. From a terrace above, you see the colours below. You also visit the Royal Palace gates and the old Jewish quarter, the Mellah. In the evening, rest at your riad and enjoy a dinner of pastilla, the famous sweet and salty Fes pie.
Key stops
Fes el-Bali · Bou Inania · Al-Attarine · Al Quaraouiyine · Chouara tannery · Royal Palace
Fes → Ifrane → Azrou → Midelt → Ziz Valley → Merzouga
You leave Fes in the morning and climb into the Middle Atlas. The first stop is Ifrane, a clean little town with red roofs and parks that people call the Switzerland of Morocco. Then the road enters the cedar forest near Azrou, home to the Barbary macaques, small wild monkeys that live only in Morocco and Algeria. After the forest come wide high plains, and you stop for lunch in Midelt, the apple town under the snowy peak of Jbel Ayachi.
In the afternoon you cross the Ziz Gorges and follow the long green Ziz Valley. At Erfoud the sand begins, and soon the orange dunes of Erg Chebbi stand in front of you. Tonight you sleep in a desert hotel at the foot of the dunes. Climb the nearest dune for sunset, then relax by the pool before dinner.
Key stops
Ifrane · Azrou cedar forest · Midelt · Ziz Gorges · Ziz Valley · Erg Chebbi
Stay
Desert hotel in Merzouga
Merzouga → Khamlia → Nomad families → Erg Chebbi
Today there is no long drive. After breakfast, your driver takes you around the dunes by 4x4. First you visit a nomad family in their tent of dark goat hair. They move with their goats and camels to find water and grass, and they will offer you tea and bread baked in the sand. Then you drive to Khamlia, a small village whose people came across the Sahara from West Africa long ago. The Gnawa musicians welcome you with deep drums, iron castanets and old songs.
After lunch you see the black stones of the hamada and the old mines of Mifis. In the late afternoon you meet your camels and ride into Erg Chebbi for sunset. At the camp, the team welcomes you with mint tea, a big dinner and music by the fire.
Key stops
Nomad family · Khamlia Gnawa music · Mifis · Dayet Srji · sunset dune
Stay
Desert camp in Erg Chebbi
Merzouga → Rissani → Erfoud → Tinghir → Todra Gorge → Dades Valley
Wake up for sunrise on the dunes, then ride back for breakfast. You drive through Rissani, the heart of the Tafilalet and the old land of Sijilmassa, and Erfoud, where workshops cut black marble full of 350-million-year-old fossils. Then you cross the open hamada, flat and dark, with small oases here and there.
At Tinghir the green palm grove appears, and you walk into Todra Gorge between walls of rock about 300 metres high. After lunch you continue to Boumalne and into the Dades Valley, where the soft red rocks look like giant fingers. Your guesthouse waits by the river, and dinner is a warm tagine as the cliffs go dark.
Key stops
Rissani · Erfoud fossils · Tinghir · Todra Gorge · Dades Valley
Stay
Kasbah-style hotel in the Dades Valley
Dades Valley → Valley of Roses → Skoura → Ouarzazate → Aït Ben Haddou → Marrakech
Today you follow the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs. You pass Kelaat M'Gouna, the town of roses, and stop in the Skoura palm grove to see Kasbah Amridil, which was once printed on the 50-dirham banknote. Then you reach Ouarzazate and continue to Aït Ben Haddou, the UNESCO clay ksar. Walk up through the narrow lanes to the granary at the top, where the view goes all the way to the mountains.
After lunch, the road climbs the High Atlas over the Tizi n'Tichka pass, at 2,260 metres. It twists and turns past small Berber villages built from the same red earth as the mountain. In the evening you come down into the warm air of Marrakech, and your driver drops you at your riad or hotel.
Key stops
Valley of Roses · Kasbah Amridil · Ouarzazate · Aït Ben Haddou · Tizi n'Tichka
Stay
Tour ends in Marrakech
