From Tangier: three weeks from north to south

Itinerary: From Tangier: three weeks from north to south

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   Day 1 · Tangier

   Welcome at the port, the airport or your hotel. A first day in Tangier, a cosmopolitan city on the strait: the kasbah, the Grand Socco, Café Hafa on the cliffs and, at sunset, Cape Spartel and the Caves of Hercules. Night in Tangier.

   
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   Day 2 · Tangier — Tetouan — Chefchaouen

   We leave Tangier heading east and in an hour we're in Tetouan, the 'white dove': its Andalusian medina is a UNESCO World Heritage site, with the craftsmen's quarters still divided by trade. After lunch the road climbs into the green mountains of the Rif, among olive groves and villages with tiled roofs. We reach Chefchaouen in the afternoon, just in time for a first stroll among the blue houses and sunset from the Spanish mosque.

   
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   Day 3 · Chefchaouen and Akchour

   A morning in nature: Akchour is about 45 minutes from Chefchaouen, at the end of a lush green valley. The trail follows the river among oaks, oleanders and small waterfalls; in summer you can swim in the pools. You reach the big waterfall and, if you like, God's Bridge, a natural arch over the canyon. Lunch with tajine under a pergola and back to town for sunset.

   
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   Day 4 · Chefchaouen

   A free day in the blue city, with no schedule. We suggest going up early, before the tourists, towards the Ras el-Maa spring and then up to the Spanish mosque. The kasbah, with its garden and small museum, is perfect mid-morning. On Mondays and Thursdays the Rif women come down from the mountains in their straw hats for the market.

   
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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

   The Fez medina isn't visited, it's crossed: with the official guide we start at the top and walk slowly down towards the river. Along the way we stop where the craftsmen work: some carve cedar, some glaze zellige tiles, some dye wool. We visit the Bou Inania madrasa and the Nejjarine fountain, and climb to the terrace overlooking the Chouara tanneries, in use for almost a thousand years. After lunch, the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter with its wooden balconies, and the great gate of the royal palace with its seven golden doors.

   
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   Day 8 · Fez

   A free day in Fez. You can return at leisure to the lanes you visited with the guide, shop for blue ceramics and brassware, relax in a hammam or join a cooking class that starts with shopping at the market. In the evening, dinner at a rooftop restaurant in the medina.

   
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   Day 9 · Fez — Ifrane — Midelt — Merzouga

   A driving day heading south, but full of stops. In Ifrane we have a coffee among houses that look Swiss; in the Azrou forest we stop with the macaques; in Midelt we have lunch and look at the minerals found in the surrounding mountains. In the afternoon the Legionnaire's tunnel, the Ziz gorges and the viewpoint over the Errachidia palm grove. We reach the Erg Chebbi dunes in the late afternoon. Night at the foot of the dunes.

   
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    Day 10 · Day in the desert

    If you like, get up for sunrise on the dunes; then breakfast and off by 4x4 around the desert. We visit a nomad family who offers us tea in their tent, the village of Khamlia, where families of sub-Saharan origin have passed down Gnawa music for generations, and the old lead mines. After rain there's also Lake Dayet Srji with its flamingos. Lunch in Rissani with medfouna, the stuffed bread baked under the sand. In the late afternoon you ride a camel to the camp: sunset from the dune, tajine for dinner and drums around the fire, and a night under a sky full of stars.

    
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    Day 11 · Merzouga — Todra — Dadès

    Sunrise on Erg Chebbi is worth the early start: the dunes turn from grey to pink to orange in a few minutes. Breakfast at camp and departure west through Erfoud and Jorf, among mud-brick ksars and date fields. Lunch in Tinghir overlooking the palm grove, then a walk in the Todra Gorge, where climbers scale the walls and Berber women cross the stream with their goats. A last hour's drive to the Dadès valley, among abandoned kasbahs and the famous winding road of Tamellalt.

    
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    Day 12 · Dadès — Skoura

    The Valley of Roses in the morning, with a visit to a cooperative, and arrival in Skoura. A walk through the palm grove to the Amridil kasbah. Night in the Skoura palm grove.

    
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    Day 13 · Skoura — Ouarzazate — Zagora

    From the Skoura palm grove we pass through Ouarzazate and then cross Jebel Bani to the Agdz viewpoint. From here the Draa valley runs south among palm groves and mud-brick ksars; we stop at Tamnougalt and reach Zagora in the afternoon.

    
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    Day 14 · Zagora — M'Hamid — Erg Chigaga

    In the morning Tamegroute, a village famous for its green pottery and its Koranic library with manuscripts more than seven hundred years old. We continue to M'Hamid, the last village before the desert, where the tarmac ends. From here, about two hours of 4x4 track among dunes, acacias, nomad camps and the oasis of Sacred, to Erg Chigaga, the biggest and wildest desert in Morocco. Sunset from the highest dune. Night in the most remote camp of the trip.

    
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    Day 15 · Erg Chigaga — Zagora — Agdz

    Sunrise on the Erg Chigaga dunes and breakfast at camp. Back along the track to M'Hamid, among acacias and low dunes, then up the whole Draa valley, with its palm groves, to Agdz. Night in a kasbah in the palm grove.

    
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    Day 16 · Agdz — Aït Ben Haddou

    In the morning we visit the Tamnougalt ksar, with its multi-storey earthen houses and the caid's kasbah. Then the viewpoint over the Draa valley, Ouarzazate and arrival at Aït Ben Haddou in the afternoon. Night in a kasbah at Aït Ben Haddou.

    
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    Day 17 · Aït Ben Haddou — Telouet — Imlil

    The Ounila valley and the Telouet kasbah, then the Tizi n'Tichka pass and the descent towards Asni and Imlil. Night in a High Atlas village.

    
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    Day 18 · Imlil — Marrakech

    A last morning walk among walnut and apple trees, with Toubkal in the background, and tea in a village home. Then we drive down to Asni and Marrakech, about an hour and a half away.

    
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    Day 19 · Marrakech with a guide

    Visit of the red city with a guide: the Ben Youssef madrasa, with its marble and stucco courtyard, the Marrakech Museum and the Almoravid Koubba, one of the oldest buildings in the city. Then the souks, where the guide explains how to bargain without stress. In the afternoon the Majorelle Garden and the Yves Saint Laurent Museum, or a break in a hammam. At sunset, a terrace overlooking Jemaa el-Fna square as it fills with smoke and lights.

    
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    Day 20 · Marrakech — Essaouira

    We head for the ocean across the Haouz plain and the argan hills. We stop at a women's cooperative where you see the whole argan oil process, from harvesting to the press, and taste amlou with warm bread. Essaouira appears with its white walls and seagulls: an afternoon around the Skala, the harbour with its blue boats and the workshops of the carpenters who work thuya wood.

    
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    Day 21 · Essaouira

    A last free day in Essaouira between the harbour, the medina and the beach. The next day we take you to Essaouira or Marrakech airport.