11 Days Morocco Cultural tour, North & Desert Tour From Marrakech

Day 1: Arrive At Marrakech

Our team will welcome you at the airport and transfer to your accommodation in Marrakech.

Day 2: Marrakech – Tizi n’Tichka – Ait Ben Haddou – Todra Gorge

You will leave Marrakech in the morning towards the High Atlas and Ouarzazate. Our route will take you through the Tizi n’Tichka pass, one of the highest road passes in Morocco at 2260m altitude. On our way you will cross several Berber villages. Your driver will stop for a visit of Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou and you will continue the excursion to the remarkable palm grove of Skoura in the middle of which is the Kasbah Ameridil remarkably maintained by its owner. The trip continues to Todra Gorge famous for climbing through the valley of roses, the village of Kelaa Mgouna and the Dades Valley. Dinner and overnight at the hotel near the Todra Gorge.

Day 3: Gorges of Todra – Erfoud – Rissani – Merzouga

After breakfast departure for a walk in the palm grove of the Todra Valley. You will then take the road to Erfoud through Tinejdad and several Berber villages. At Erfoud, stop to admire the remarkable fossilized marbles. The adventure will continue towards the big dunes of Erg Chebbi in Merzouga. You will abandon your 4×4 for the benefit of the dromedary to reach your camp in the desert. The opportunity to witness a beautiful sunset in the dunes. Dinner and night under the tents of nomads. An experience to live at least once under a sky full of stars and in the extraordinary silence of the desert.

Day 4: Merzouga – Errachidia – Azrou – Fez

Wake up early in the morning so as not to miss the sunrise over the dunes and return to the slow pace of the dromedaries to the hotel where you will have breakfast. The trip continues to Fez through Erfoud, Errachidia, Azrou, Ifran. Stop at Azrou in the cedar forest. Arrival in Fez at the end of the afternoon.

A cultural and spiritual capital, a thousand-year-old city, one is easily carried away through its history, thanks to its numerous mosques, medersas, walls and ramparts, fortified gates, mausoleums, palaces and squares. Guided tour The merinid necropolis, the El Attarin madrassah, the Moulay Idriss zaouïa, the Andalusian quarters and the admirable Karaouyine will provide you with the points of reference necessary for a look at the historical and religious heritage of the Fassie city. Lunch in a Moroccan restaurant with your guide. Dinner and overnight in a guest house. Fez is also a haunting city that lives through the atmosphere of the souks!

Lose yourself in the colorful maze, noisy, with tasty or delicate perfumes and let yourself be carried by your senses … Do not miss the henna souk to discover all the traditional secrets of oriental beauty. For the feast of the senses, go through the souk el-Attarine, a magnificent concentrate of all the colors and scents of spices. And to escape the stubborn odors of the tanners’ district, go up the terraces of the leather goods stores from where the view is panoramic on the multicolored dye pools so photogenic. Free dinner. Night in a guest house.

Day 5: Fes – Meknes (60 Km)

Departure for Meknes, imperial city of Sultan Moulay Ismail, contemporary of Louis XIV. To discover with your guide: the Palais Jamaï, Bab El Mansour, the tomb of Moulay Ismaïl, Hri Essaouani, the royal stables and the medina, classified as that of Fès with the inheritance of Unesco. Do not forget the big covered market which is a feast for the senses with its baskets of spices, its multicolored stalls of olives, its mountains of oranges, its piles of scented mint. Lunch in a Moroccan restaurant. Dinner and overnight in guest house in the middle of the medina.

Day 6: Meknes – Chefchaouen

You leave Meknes to the north. At less than 30 Km, the site of Volubilis offers the most beautiful Roman remains of Morocco, remarkable for its mosaics. To visit with continue to see the Rif.

Chefchaouen delights with its alleys tinged with green, blue, mauve, architectural charm that reflects the footprints of Andalusian civilizations. Its inhabitants, descendants of “Moriscos”, take pride in their wonderful city.

Dinner and overnight in a guest house in the heart of the medina.

Day 7: Chefchaouen – Tetouan – Tangier

To reach Tangier, we will go through Tetouan the Arab-Andalusian, nicknamed “the White”. Built in the time of the Marinids in 1307, it was the starting point for privateers, given its strategic position. The city reached its peak at the time of Sultan Moulay Ismail in the 18th century.

The Muslims of Andalusia, the Andalusians, have fled from Spain since the beginning of the 16th century and have recreated in Ttouan the refinement of the cities of Muslim Spain. She has kept her Andalusian soul that makes her the most Spanish-Moorish Moroccan cities.

To visit the souk El Hot known for its beautiful pottery; that of the tanners or the market of the fabrics where women Rifaines dressed in their traditional costume, sell their pieces of striped fabrics red, white and blue, typical of the Rif. Do not miss the Hassan II Square (FEDDANE) the royal palace built in the seventeenth century and restored in the 20th century.

Lunch before continuing on Tangier, where we will settle for 2 days in a historic site built by Eastern Telegraph Company, in the Kasbah district.

With the development of the telegraph, the English connected Tangier and Gibraltar by a telegraph cable. They built in 1884 the current building to install its offices and welcome their guests.

Day 8: Exploring Tangier

The Herculean legend gave it the name of Tanga, the woman or daughter of Ante, because Hercules would have rested in the caves of Cape Sartel. Land of passage, because Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, all the peoples of the Mediterranean followed one another in Tangiers. Carrefour maritime, Tangier will be the diplomatic portal of Morocco in the early twentieth century. With its “special” status of free city it will be the place of all traffics. Tangier the mythical, has also attracted many artists and writers, such as Delacroix, Saint-Saens, Pierre Loti, Matisse, Van Dongen, William Tenesse, Paul Morand, Jean Genet, Joseph Kessel, William Burroughs or Paul Bowles; she invites you to discover her muses. Follow in their footsteps, enter Tangier through the big gate, that of Bab Erraha; it leads you to an unforgettable panorama of the city and the bay. Listen to the rumor of the port and the kasbah.

Day 9: Tangier – Asilah – Rabat (280 Kms)

“Azayla”, as pronounced by the inhabitants of the Rif, is a small town located on the Atlantic coast 40 km southwest of Tangier. It was first a Carthaginian then Roman city. In 1471, it knew a Portuguese invasion, until its liberation in 1589, by Sultan Saad Ahmed El Mansour. It remains its walls, built in the fifteenth century by the Portuguese. Later, the Spaniards took possession of it, before it was liberated by Moulay Ismaïl in 1691. Three monumental doors and a discreet passage allow to enter its discreet medina.

Lunch en route, before ending our trip to Rabat. Administrative capital of the Kingdom, Rabat, the city of Andalusia owes its name to the rock of the Udayas.

Rabat-Salé is an old Carthaginian and Roman counter. Salted, the port city on the right bank of Bou Regreg is a vast medina enclosed behind its ocher-pink ramparts. One of its doors, Bab el Mrisa – the door of the small Port – was built to let the privateer boats in the heart of the city.

Dinner and night at the riad located in the medina near the famous “rue des consuls”. Enjoy your evening to discover in all freedom the Kasbah of Oudaïa and its beautiful Andalusian gardens nearby reminiscent of the time when the city has served as a refuge to Moriscos hunted Andalusia.

Day 10: Rabat – Casablanca – Marrakech

Take the morning to explore Casablanca to explore the largest city in Morocco; Casablanca is a modern city with major French influence. An architectural treat, visit the popular Hassan II Mosque and admire its exquisite craftsmanship. Sitting pretty on an outcrop over the Atlantic Ocean, the Hassan II Mosque is estimated to house 25,000 worshippers inside with additional room for 80,000 in its courtyard. Unique to Morocco, Hassan II is one of few mosques where non-Muslims are permitted to enter. Feast your eyes on the intricate marble work, wood and stone carving, and gilded cedar ceilings, stop for lunch at the Cornish then continue to reach Marrakech and visit the blue botanic gardens of Majorel. Dinner and Overnight in hotel or Riad.

Day 11: Marrakech Departure

Depending on the time of departure. Transfer to the airport and assistance until boarding.