12 Days Morocco Imperial Cities and Desert tour

We pick up you from your hotel/airport and we will explore Casablanca’s main attractions and cultural places, including the great Hassan ll Mosque. After lunch, we head to Fes via Meknes. Meknes is a former imperial city in Morocco. Our private Morocco tour continues to Volubilis, to visit the Roman ruins. We continue to Fes and we spend here this night in the local hotel/Riad.

After breakfast, the day will be devoted to the discovery of Fez, the oldest imperial city and old town, founded by Idriss II, the radiation center of the Arab-Muslim culture: The Mosque of the Andalusians, tanneries, the district potters, Medina. Lunch at a palace in the Medina. The afternoon continues to visit: Hispano-Moorish buildings, the Medersas, instead of Nejjarine., you’ll visit the new city for a drink. Overnight accommodation is in your Riad.

After breakfast, depart towards the Romain Ruins, Volubilis was a Roman settlement, located close to Meknes and 4 kilometers from the Islamic city of Moulay Idriss, dating from the 3rd century BC. Volubilis was a central administrative city for this part of Roman Africa, responsible for grain production and exports to Rome.

It was also responsible for contact with Berber tribes who were never suppressed but cooperated for mutual benefit, then we continue to Meknes. Visite the Medina, surrounded also by ramparts. Visit the Jewish quarter. Then we drive to Fez. Accommodation at the hotel/Riad in Fez.

We will devote a whole day to visiting the spiritual and cultural capital of the kingdom. You will have the chance of seeing the religious, artistic, and intellectual center of Morocco.

Also, you will take a route through the most ancient Medina, the Medersas of Cherratine and of El-Attarine (construction dedicated to religious studies and profusely decorated in Arabic style), the Karaouiynes University, and the Fountain of Nejjarine.

After lunch, we will visit the souks differentiated by the different handicrafts, such as, for instance, the famous districts of the tanners or the Mechouar of the Real Palace. Night in hotel.

We will leave Fez after breakfast. We will cross the Middle Atlas through the village of Ifran, known as the Switzerland of Africa due to its combination of western architecture with cedar forests. We will stop to see the monkeys that live in the region of Azrou and Midelt. Then we will arrive in Ziz Valley and go to the palm grove of Tafilalet. We will continue our route towards the famous dunes of Erg Chebbi (the great dune), in Merzouga.

Arrival and afterward mounted on dromedaries, we will go towards the dunes to see the sunset and sleep in the wild oases located 2 km away, in the middle of the desert. You will spend the night under the stars in a Berber camp Haima.

After breakfast, we will leave towards the dunes and see the two oases of Merzouga, the nomadic soils, the town of Khamlia (town of the black), the mines of Mifiss, the desert plateaus, the Berber nomads, and the oasis Tissardmine. We will return to the hotel around 3 p.m. Free time to enjoy the swimming pool. Night in desert hotel.

On the 7th day of our private Morocco tour, we will visit the city of Rissani, its souk. Then we will follow the track of the Paris-Dakar Rally until the palms of Ouzina start to appear. We will enjoy a Berber tea sheltered by the hospitality of a family. Later, we will overnight in a desert hotel.

We will go through an Erg, which is a stony desert that has a truly lunar landscape with immense expanses of dark stones, until we lose sight of the horizon, giving a mineral touch to the desert.

We will visit several Berber villages (where authentic nomads live in tents) and oases and we will pass through Maider Lake as well. In Mharech, we will take the road via Mcissi and Tizi-n-Tichka and arrive at the Todra Gorge. We stay overnight in the local riad.

After Breakfast, we drive to the Dades Valley, a Berber village known for its towering gorges and views of the Atlas. We will cross the Dades Valley and the Valley of Roses to Ouarzazate, where we will take the road through the Kasbah of Ait Ben Haddou, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and the scene of major motion pictures such as Oscar-winning “Lawrence of Arabia”, “The Sheltering Sky” or “Babel”. Night in the charming riad.

We will depart after having breakfast to the High Atlas range towards Marrakech. We will arrive at the “Red City” at about 1 pm. You will have a free program to discover medina by yourself.

In the morning we will visit the medina of Marrakech and some more interesting places, such as the Saadian Tombs, the museum of Marrakech, the Madrassa, the Bahia, and Badia Palaces, and the Majorelle Gardens. In the afternoon, we will visit the square of Djemaa el Fna.

This is the best time to go as, in the afternoon, the square is filled with jugglers, story-tellers, fortune-tellers, toothpullers, dancers, juice salesmen, and snake charmers among other picturesque characters. As the night falls, small food stands begin to be set up with outdoor illumination. Here, you will be able of trying a bite of the most typical and traditional local food. Overnight in Hotel/riad. 

Today we departure from Marrakech and transfer you to the airport. That will be the end of our private Morocco tour.