Tangier to Marrakech: north, Sahara and coast in 14 days

Itinerary: Tangier to Marrakech: north, Sahara and coast in 14 days

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   Day 1 · Tangier

   We meet you at the port, the airport or your hotel. We start with the kasbah, overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar, then the Petit Socco and Café Hafa on the cliffs. In the afternoon Cape Spartel, where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic, and the Caves of Hercules. Night in Tangier.

   
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   Day 2 · Tangier — Asilah — Tangier

   Half an hour's drive along the ocean to Asilah, a town fortified by the Portuguese in the 15th century. Its white houses are decorated with murals that artists repaint every summer during the festival. Fish lunch and, on the way back, sunset at Cape Spartel.

   
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   Day 3 · Tangier — Tetouan — Chefchaouen

   A short transfer to Tetouan, where we visit the white medina and the Jewish quarter with its wrought-iron balconies. Then the road climbs through the Rif to Chefchaouen, nestled on the slopes of Jebel Kelaa. Check-in at a riad and a free afternoon among blue lanes, cats asleep on the steps and shops selling wool and handmade soap.

   
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   Day 4 · Chefchaouen

   A free day in Chefchaouen. Walkers can head to the Akchour waterfalls and God's Bridge; those who prefer to stay in town can get lost in the blue lanes, buy wool blankets and goat's cheese and climb to the Spanish mosque for sunset.

   
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   Day 5 · Chefchaouen — Volubilis — Meknes

   Last breakfast on the terrace in Chefchaouen and departure south through the Rif hills. At midday Volubilis, the most important Roman city in Morocco: you walk past the Arch of Caracalla, the forum and the houses with the mosaics of Orpheus and the labours of Hercules. Nearby is Moulay Idriss, the white holy town on two hills. In the afternoon arrival in Meknes, the capital of Sultan Moulay Ismail. Night in Meknes.

   
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   Day 6 · Meknes — Fez

   A morning in Meknes, the city of Moulay Ismail, the sultan who wanted to make it the Versailles of Morocco: the Bab Mansour gate, the mausoleum, the royal stables and the granary with its towering vaults. Lunch in el-Hedim square and a short transfer to Fez, an hour away. Free afternoon in the medina.

   
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   Day 7 · Fez with a guide

   A day devoted to the oldest city of imperial Morocco, with an official guide who knows it lane by lane. You enter on foot through Bab Boujloud and walk down the Talaa Kebira among communal bakeries, date sellers and slipper shops. We see the el-Attarine madrasa, the most refined in Fez, the Karaouiyine mosque from outside, home to one of the oldest universities in the world, and the tanneries from above. In the afternoon a weaving workshop where agave silk is worked and, at sunset, the Marinid Tombs viewpoint, from where you watch the whole medina light up.

   
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   Day 8 · Fez — Midelt — Merzouga

   We leave Fez early and climb into the Middle Atlas: Ifrane with its mountain houses, the ancient cedars of Azrou where the macaques live and the Midelt plateau, dominated by Jebel Ayachi. After lunch the road drops into the Ziz gorges and runs along an endless palm grove to Erfoud. The last kilometres towards the Erg Chebbi dunes, which suddenly appear on the horizon. Sunset camel ride and a night at camp.

   
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   Day 9 · Merzouga — N'Kob — Zagora

   Sunrise on the dunes and departure west on one of the most beautiful and least travelled roads in the country. In Alnif we stop with the trilobite fossil hunters, then cross the Jebel Saghro plateau, among volcanic rocks, nomadic shepherds and earthen villages. Lunch in N'Kob, the village of forty kasbahs. In the afternoon we drop into the Draa valley down to Zagora.

   
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    Day 10 · Zagora — Agdz — Ouarzazate — Aït Ben Haddou

    Up the Draa valley with stops at the ksars and the Agdz viewpoint, then Ouarzazate and arrival at Aït Ben Haddou in the afternoon. Night in a kasbah.

    
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    Day 11 · Aït Ben Haddou — Marrakech

    Early risers can see the ksar in the first light, when the village is still empty. Then we climb the High Atlas: hairpin bends, Berber villages of red earth clinging to the slopes and the Tizi n'Tichka pass at 2,260 metres. On the way down we stop at an argan cooperative and at a viewpoint over the valley. Arrival in Marrakech in the early afternoon (about 4 hours).

    
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    Day 12 · Marrakech with a guide

    Marrakech on foot with a local guide. We start from the Koutoubia and its surrounding gardens, then the kasbah with the Saadian Tombs and the El Badi Palace, huge and in ruins, where storks nest on the walls. A break for orange juice and then the Bahia Palace, with its courtyards and painted cedar ceilings. The afternoon is devoted to the souks: spices, lanterns, leather, carpets and the dyers with their coloured skeins hanging in the sun. Free evening in Jemaa el-Fna.

    
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    Day 13 · Marrakech — Essaouira

    About three hours' drive to the Atlantic, with a stop at an argan cooperative where women process the fruit as they always have. Essaouira greets you with the wind and the cry of the seagulls: it's the most relaxed town in Morocco. A free afternoon among the art galleries, the thuya wood workshops and the harbour, where at sunset you choose the fresh catch and have it grilled on the spot.

    
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    Day 14 · Essaouira — Marrakech

    Free morning in Essaouira: a stroll around the fish market, a coffee on Moulay Hassan square or a walk on the beach. Fish lunch at the harbour and back to Marrakech in the afternoon, about three hours' drive, in time for your flight.