From Fez: imperial cities, the blue north and the Sahara in 10 days

Itinerary: From Fez: imperial cities, the blue north and the Sahara in 10 days

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   Day 1 · Arrival in Fez

   Welcome at the airport or station and check-in at a riad in the medina. In the evening a walk up to the Marinid Tombs viewpoint, where you can see the whole city.

   
2. 2

   Day 2 · Fez with a guide

   Visit of the medina with an official guide: madrasas, fountains, craft souks and the Chouara tannery. In the afternoon, the Jewish quarter and the gate of the royal palace.

   
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   Day 3 · Fez — Meknes — Volubilis — Chefchaouen

   Meknes with the Bab Mansour gate and the royal stables, the Roman ruins of Volubilis with mosaics still in place, then the Rif hills to Chefchaouen.

   
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   Day 4 · Chefchaouen

   A free day in the blue city. We recommend the trip to the Akchour waterfalls and God's Bridge in the morning and sunset from the Spanish mosque.

   
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   Day 5 · Chefchaouen — Fez

   A relaxed drive back to Fez, with a stop in Ouezzane, a town of wool carpets and pilgrimages. Free afternoon in the medina for shopping.

   
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   Day 6 · Fez — Ifrane — Midelt — Merzouga

   Departure around eight to cross the Middle Atlas. First stop in Ifrane, a town with pitched roofs built by the French, which is covered in snow in winter. Shortly after, the Azrou cedar forest, where the macaques come up to the cars. Lunch in Midelt, at the foot of Jebel Ayachi; then the road drops into the Ziz gorges and passes the Legionnaire's tunnel. From there the Ziz valley becomes a river of palms all the way to Erfoud. We reach the dunes in the late afternoon (about 8 hours with stops).

   Night in a hotel at the foot of the dunes.

   
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   Day 7 · 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 8 · Merzouga — Todra — Dadès

   Early wake-up to watch the sun rise behind the dunes: it is the quietest moment in the desert. After breakfast we return by camel or 4x4 and take the road west. In Tinejdad we stop at the khettaras, underground channels dug by hand to bring water to the oases. Then Tinghir, with its palm grove kilometres long, and the Todra Gorge: you walk along the bottom of the canyon between walls almost 300 metres high, with the stream beside you. In the afternoon we drive up into the Dadès valley, where the road makes spectacular hairpins among rocks that look like fingers.

   Night in a guesthouse.

   
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   Day 9 · Dadès — Skoura — Aït Ben Haddou

   A morning along the road of a thousand kasbahs. The Valley of Roses offers scents and little shops of rose products; Skoura, a walk among palms, barley fields and irrigation channels to the Amridil kasbah. A short stop in Ouarzazate and then Aït Ben Haddou, the UNESCO ksar where Gladiator and Game of Thrones were filmed. You cross the river and climb the earthen lanes to the top for sunset. Night in a kasbah facing the ksar.

   
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    Day 10 · Aït Ben Haddou — Marrakech

    Last morning in the south. The road climbs the valley towards the High Atlas and the Tizi n'Tichka pass, the highest drivable pass in Morocco. On both sides the villages change colour, from red to grey, and the terraced fields follow the bends of the river. A break for tea at a panoramic café and arrival in Marrakech around midday. End of services at your accommodation.