The trip
Morocco is the trip people come home from with the most stories. It's loud, fragrant, a little overwhelming, and incredibly hospitable. Someone will offer you mint tea about every forty minutes, and the right answer is usually yes.
We do a big loop. North to the blue town of Chefchaouen in the Rif Mountains, into the maze of the Fes medina, then over the Middle Atlas and down to the Sahara at Erg Chebbi, where the dunes go orange at sunset. We come back west through the gorges and the old kasbahs, over the High Atlas, and finish in Marrakech.
We timed this one for mid-April, after Ramadan, when the days are warm and the desert nights are cool. Your Moroccan guide is with you every day. Having someone who speaks Darija and knows the shopkeepers by name makes the medinas a lot more fun and a lot less stressful.
Highlights
- A guided tour inside the Hassan II Mosque, one of the few in Morocco open to non-Muslims
- Getting happily lost in the blue lanes of Chefchaouen
- The Fes medina with a local guide, including the leather tanneries
- A camel ride into the Erg Chebbi dunes and a night in a desert camp
- Jemaa el-Fnaa square in Marrakech as it fills up at dusk
Day by day
Texas to Casablanca
An overnight flight, usually through a European hub. We land and go straight to the Hassan II Mosque, which sits right on the ocean with a minaret over 600 feet tall. Then an hour up the coast to Rabat for the night.
Chefchaouen
North into the Rif Mountains to the town painted every shade of blue. No agenda for the afternoon. Wander, take too many photos, drink tea in the square.
Volubilis to Fes
South past the Roman ruins at Volubilis, which have mosaics still in the ground, and on to Fes in time for dinner.
The Fes medina
A full day in Fes el-Bali, one of the largest car-free urban areas in the world. Copper workers, weavers, the Bou Inania madrasa, and the Chouara tannery, which you view from a terrace with a sprig of mint under your nose. You'll see why.
Over the Middle Atlas to the desert
A long, beautiful driving day. Ifrane, a town of chalets that looks oddly Swiss. The cedar forests near Azrou, where wild Barbary macaques hang around the road. Down through the Ziz Valley to Merzouga, where camels carry you out to camp at sunset. Dinner under the stars, and drumming by the fire.
Erg Chebbi
Climb a dune for sunrise (everyone grumbles, then everyone's glad), breakfast at camp, and a visit to Khamlia, a village known for its Gnawa music. An easy afternoon and a second night in the desert, in a camp with real beds and private bathrooms.
Todra & Dades Gorges
The walls of Todra Gorge rise straight up from a shallow stream. Then the switchbacks of the Dades Valley, where we stay the night in a kasbah hotel.
Aït Benhaddou
The road of a thousand kasbahs to Ouarzazate and on to Aït Benhaddou, the mud-brick fortified village where half of Hollywood has filmed. Sleep at the foot of it.
Over the High Atlas to Marrakech
The Tizi n'Tichka pass at about 7,400 feet, with Berber villages hanging off the slopes, and down into Marrakech by mid-afternoon.
Marrakech
The Bahia Palace, the Jardin Majorelle, and the souks with your guide. Free time for a hammam or more shopping, then dusk in Jemaa el-Fnaa, when the food stalls light up and the storytellers, musicians and snake charmers come out. Farewell dinner in a riad.
Home
Flights home from Marrakech, landing in Texas that evening.
What's included
✅ Included
- Round-trip economy airfare from DFW or IAH
- 10 nights in riads, kasbah hotels and a private desert camp
- Breakfast daily and 8 dinners, including dinner at camp
- A private air-conditioned vehicle with a driver and a licensed Moroccan guide throughout
- Local city guides in Fes and Marrakech, the camel ride, and all listed entry fees
➖ Not included
- Most lunches (cheap and excellent) and 2 dinners
- Hammam treatments and anything you haggle for
- Tips for guides, drivers and camp staff
- Single supplement (from $690) and travel insurance
Good to know
Dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered, especially in Fes and the villages. It's respectful and it'll make your days easier. Haggling in the souks is expected and it's supposed to be fun, so start at about a third of the first price and smile.
The drive from Fes to the desert is long. We break it up with stops, but it's a full day in the vehicle. If you get carsick on mountain roads, bring something for it.
