Tangier Arrival & City Discovery
Welcome to Tangier, where Africa looks at Europe across the Strait of Gibraltar. Your driver meets you at the port, the station or Ibn Battuta airport and takes you to your hotel. In the afternoon you walk into the old medina, through the Grand Socco and the Petit Socco, and up to the Kasbah, with its museum and wide views over the sea.
Later, drive west to Cap Spartel, where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean, and visit the Caves of Hercules, with their opening shaped like a map of Africa. Come back for dinner in Tangier, a city that has inspired many writers and artists over the years.
Key stops
Grand Socco · Kasbah of Tangier · Cap Spartel · Caves of Hercules
Stay
Riad or boutique hotel in Tangier
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
Riad or boutique hotel 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
Stay
Traditional riad in 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
Stay
Traditional riad in Fes
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 pass the Tunnel du Légionnaire, then follow the Ziz Valley, a long green river of date palms below the road. At Erfoud the sand begins. In Merzouga you meet your camels and ride into the dunes of Erg Chebbi for sunset. At the camp you have mint tea, dinner and music by the fire, and then the sky fills with stars.
Key stops
Ifrane · Azrou cedar forest · Midelt · Ziz Gorges · Ziz Valley · Erg Chebbi
Stay
Desert camp 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.
In the afternoon you see the other faces of the desert: the black volcanic stones of the hamada, the old mining area of Mifis and, after a rainy winter, the lake of Dayet Srji, where flamingos sometimes stop. Before sunset, climb a big dune and watch the sand turn red. You sleep near the dunes again tonight, in a camp or a comfortable hotel with a pool.
Key stops
Nomad family · Khamlia Gnawa music · Mifis · Dayet Srji · sunset dune
Stay
Hotel or guesthouse in Merzouga
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
Guesthouse or boutique hotel in Dades
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
Marrakech Guided Tour → Bahia Palace → Majorelle Garden
Today a licensed local guide shows you the secrets of the Red City. You start at the Koutoubia Mosque, whose 12th-century minaret was the model for the Giralda in Seville. Then you walk into the medina to the Bahia Palace, built in the 19th century for a powerful vizier, with painted cedar ceilings, colourful tiles and quiet gardens. Close by are the Saadian Tombs, hidden for centuries and found again only in 1917.
In the afternoon, step out of the old city to the Majorelle Garden, the bright blue garden made famous by Yves Saint Laurent, full of cactus, palms and bamboo. Back in the medina, your guide leads you through the souks: leather workers, metal lanterns, spices, carpets and wooden boxes. It is easy to get lost here, so it is good to have someone who knows the way. The evening is free to enjoy your riad or dinner in the old town.
Key stops
Koutoubia · Bahia Palace · Saadian Tombs · Majorelle Garden · souks
Day 10
Approx. 310 km (round trip)
Marrakech → Ouzoud Waterfalls → Marrakech
Today is a day of water and green. You leave Marrakech in the morning and drive north-east through olive groves to the Middle Atlas. The Ouzoud Waterfalls are the highest in Morocco, about 110 metres, falling in several steps into a deep red gorge. Walk down the path past small cafés, and look for the Barbary macaques that live in the olive trees around the falls.
At the bottom you can take a small boat close to the falls, then have lunch by the water. In the afternoon, walk back up on the other side of the gorge, then drive back to Marrakech in time for dinner at your riad.
Key stops
Olive groves · Ouzoud Waterfalls · Barbary macaques · boat ride
Marrakech → Argan country → Essaouira
After breakfast you drive west across the plains. About halfway, the argan trees begin. If you are lucky, you will see goats standing high in the branches, eating the fruit. You stop at a women's cooperative to see how argan oil is made by hand, from cracking the hard nut between two stones to pressing the oil.
By lunchtime you reach Essaouira, a white and blue town on the Atlantic, once called Mogador and listed by UNESCO. The wind from the ocean is fresh. Walk along the Skala ramparts with their old bronze cannons, and end the day at the port, where fishermen sell sardines from their blue boats and grill them for you.
Key stops
Argan trees · women's cooperative · Essaouira · Skala ramparts · fishing port
Stay
Riad or boutique hotel in Essaouira
Essaouira → Marrakech
After a last morning in Essaouira, maybe a walk on the beach or a coffee by the port, your driver takes you back east through the argan country. The road is easy and takes about three hours, with a stop for lunch on the way.
You arrive in Marrakech in the afternoon, and your driver takes you to your riad, hotel or the airport. Your private journey ends here, after mountains, kasbahs, the Sahara and the ocean, all in one trip.
Key stops
Argan country · Marrakech
Stay
Tour ends in Marrakech
