Morocco in Style: Fes, the Sahara and Marrakech

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Fes

   Fes-Saïss Airport to a riad in Fes el Bali

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Repas du soir
   • Nuit : Fes
   Détail du jour 1

   We meet you at Fes-Saïss Airport (FEZ), about 15 km south of the city, whatever time you land, and drive you to your riad inside Fes el Bali, the walled old city. The last few minutes are on foot: no cars enter most of the medina, so a porter brings your bags through the lanes while you follow. Land by mid-afternoon if you can and use the rest of the day to settle in, sit in the courtyard with mint tea or rest after the journey. In the early evening your guide meets the group on the riad roof for a short briefing on the days ahead, the medina, tipping and how to say no politely in the souks. Then we walk a few minutes to a welcome dinner of slow-cooked tagines, pastilla and Moroccan salads, the first of the trip's shared meals.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Fes-Saïss Airport (FEZ) with porter to the riad
   • Rooftop briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Afternoon free to settle in

   

2. Jour 2 : Fes el Bali on foot

   Bab Boujloud, the madrasas, the Chouara tannery and the hammam

   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Fes
   Détail du jour 2

   We start at 8:30 am at Bab Boujloud, the blue-tiled gate built in 1913, with a licensed Fes guide, before the lanes fill. Fes el Bali has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981 and is one of the largest car-free urban areas anywhere, so the whole day is on foot. The Bou Inania Madrasa, finished in the 1350s, comes first, then the woodworkers' Nejjarine fountain and inn, the Al-Attarine Madrasa with its carved cedar and plaster, and a look through the doors of al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859. The Chouara tannery is best in the morning, when the dye vats are fresh and the light over the terraces is soft. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the medina. The afternoon is free, and before dinner you go to a hammam for a steam, a black-soap scrub and a rest, booked for the group.

   Compris

   • Guided morning in Fes el Bali with a licensed local guide
   • Bou Inania and Al-Attarine madrasa entries
   • Nejjarine fountain and woodwork museum
   • Chouara tannery terrace
   • Sit-down lunch in the medina
   • Hammam with steam and scrub

   Option plus facile : Return to the riad after the madrasas and rejoin for lunch.

   Option plus active : Walk up to the Marinid Tombs at sunset with your guide for the view over the whole medina.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free; dinner on your own

   Activité : About 3 hours on foot in the morning, on steep, stepped and sometimes slippery lanes.

   

3. Jour 3 : Volubilis, Moulay Idriss and Meknes

   Fes to Volubilis, Moulay Idriss and Meknes, then back to Fes

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Fes
   Détail du jour 3

   We leave after breakfast and reach Volubilis, about 80 km west, as it opens, while the air is cool and the site is quiet. This Roman town on the edge of the empire, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997, still has its triumphal arch, basilica columns and floor mosaics in the houses where they were laid, and a local guide walks you through it in about two hours. Across the valley the white town of Moulay Idriss Zerhoun wraps around its hill; we stop at the viewpoint above it. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Meknes, the imperial city Moulay Ismail built in the late 17th century, also on the UNESCO list. Afterwards we walk to Bab Mansour, one of the grandest gates in Morocco, and across Place el Hedim, then drive back to Fes by late afternoon. The evening is yours.

   Compris

   • Volubilis with a licensed local guide, entry included
   • Moulay Idriss Zerhoun viewpoint
   • Sit-down lunch in Meknes
   • Bab Mansour and Place el Hedim with your guide

   Option plus facile : Stay in Fes for a slow day at the riad and in the medina.

   Option plus active : Walk the whole Volubilis site to the far house of the Cortege of Venus.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Fes

   Activité : About 2 hours on foot at Volubilis on uneven Roman paving with no shade; bring a hat.

4. Jour 4 : Over the Middle Atlas to the Sahara

   Fes to Ifrane, the Azrou cedar forest, Midelt, the Ziz valley and Merzouga, then into the Erg Chebbi camp

   • Environ 8 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Erg Chebbi
   Détail du jour 4

   This is the longest day, and we would rather tell you now: about 470 km and 8 hours of driving, 9.5 to 10 hours door to door. Adding a night in Midelt would cost a night in Fes or in the dunes, so we break it with real stops instead. We leave at 8 am and climb to Ifrane, the alpine-style town the French built in 1929, then the cedar forest near Azrou, where Barbary macaques often feed by the road. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Midelt, at about 1,500 metres between the High and Middle Atlas. In the afternoon the road drops through the Ziz gorges to a valley of date palms, past Errachidia and Erfoud, to Merzouga on the edge of Erg Chebbi. Camels take you out across the sand in about an hour for sunset, or ride by 4x4, to the camp where you stay two nights.

   Compris

   • Ifrane
   • Atlas cedar forest near Azrou
   • Sit-down lunch in Midelt
   • Ziz valley viewpoint
   • Sunset camel ride into Erg Chebbi, or a 4x4 if you prefer
   • Dinner at the camp

   Option plus facile : Ride into the camp by 4x4 instead of by camel.

   Activité : About 8 hours of driving, never more than about 90 minutes without a stop: coffee in Ifrane, a leg-stretch in the Azrou cedar forest, an unhurried sit-down lunch of about an hour in Midelt, the Ziz valley viewpoint and a break in Erfoud before the dunes. The camel ride is about an hour.

   

5. Jour 5 : A whole day in the dunes

   Erg Chebbi, Khamlia and back to camp

   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Erg Chebbi
   Détail du jour 5

   Your guide wakes you before dawn. Rather than climbing the busy dune beside camp, walk out along the dune line, where there are no footprints ahead and the first light rolls across ridges that rise to about 150 metres. Breakfast is at camp, then a 4x4 loop around the edge of Erg Chebbi to Khamlia, a village known for Gnawa music, where a family band plays for us over mint tea; we also stop at a nomad family's tent if they are camped nearby. Lunch is back at camp, and the hot middle of the day is yours: sleep, read in the shade of your tent or try sandboarding on the camp’s boards, included. Because you do not pack up today, nothing is rushed. In the late afternoon we walk up a high dune for sunset, then dinner around the fire and a sky far from any town lights.

   Compris

   • Sunrise dune walk with your guide
   • 4x4 loop of Erg Chebbi
   • Gnawa music in Khamlia
   • Sunset from a high dune
   • Dinner at the camp
   • Sandboarding on the camp's boards

   Option plus facile : Watch sunrise from the camp and ride the 4x4 to the sunset dune.

   Option plus active : Climb the highest dune near camp for sunrise with your guide.

   Temps libre : Middle of the day free at camp

   Activité : Walking on soft sand is hard work; go as far as you like.

6. Jour 6 : The Todra Gorge, then the Skoura palm grove

   Erg Chebbi to the Todra Gorge, then by Boumalne Dades and Kelaat M'Gouna to Skoura

   • Environ 5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Skoura
   Détail du jour 6

   A second long day, about 335 km and 5 hours of driving, broken in the middle by a walk and lunch. It is the price of two nights in Skoura instead of single nights at the Todra Gorge and Ait Benhaddou. We leave camp after breakfast and drive about 3 hours west past Erfoud and Tinejdad to the Todra Gorge, arriving late morning when the sun reaches the canyon floor. A local guide leads a walk of about two hours through the narrows, where rock walls of 160 metres or more stand only about 10 metres apart, and back through the terraced fields of the Tinghir oasis. Lunch is a sit-down meal near the gorge. In the afternoon we follow the road of the kasbahs through Boumalne Dades and Kelaat M'Gouna, in the Valley of Roses, to Skoura, a palm grove scattered with old earthen kasbahs, and stay two nights.

   Compris

   • Guided walk in the Todra Gorge
   • Sit-down lunch near the gorge
   • Kelaat M'Gouna and the Valley of Roses
   • Dinner at the kasbah hotel

   Option plus facile : Walk only the flat floor of the gorge, about 30 minutes.

   Option plus active : Take the longer loop up over the rim of the gorge with the local guide.

   Activité : The gorge walk is about 2 hours on rocky paths with one steady climb.

7. Jour 7 : A slow day in Skoura

   Skoura palm grove and Kasbah Amridil

   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Skoura
   Détail du jour 7

   No early start and no driving today. After a late breakfast a local guide walks you through the Skoura palm grove on paths between irrigated plots of dates, olives, figs and barley, fed by underground channels called khettaras that carry water from the mountains. We stop at Kasbah Amridil, a family kasbah beside the palm grove that once appeared on the 50-dirham note, to see how its rooms, towers and olive press worked, and take mint tea with a family in the oasis if they are home. Back at the kasbah hotel by midday, the afternoon is yours: swim, sleep, read in the garden or walk out alone into the palms in the late light, when the earthen walls turn red. Dinner is at the hotel, as there are few restaurants in Skoura, and the night sky here is dark.

   Compris

   • Guided walk in the Skoura palm grove with a local guide
   • Kasbah Amridil entry
   • Dinner at the kasbah hotel

   Option plus facile : Visit Kasbah Amridil only and skip the longer palm grove walk.

   Option plus active : A longer walk deeper into the palm grove to the ruined kasbahs at its edge.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free; lunch on your own at the hotel

   Activité : About 2 hours on flat, shaded paths.

8. Jour 8 : Ait Benhaddou and the High Atlas

   Skoura to Ait Benhaddou, then over the Tizi n'Tichka pass to Marrakech

   • Environ 5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Marrakech
   Détail du jour 8

   Today is about 255 km and 5 hours of driving, split by a long visit and a sit-down lunch, and our early start pays off. We leave Skoura at 8 am and reach Ait Benhaddou by about 9:30, before the day trips from Marrakech arrive around midday. This fortified village of earthen houses on the old caravan route across the Atlas has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987 and a film set many times over. Your guide leads you across the river and up through the lanes to the ruined granary at the top, for the view over the Ounila valley. Lunch is a sit-down meal near the ksar. In the afternoon the road climbs the High Atlas to the Tizi n'Tichka pass at 2,260 metres, then winds down through Amazigh villages to Marrakech, where we arrive at your medina riad by late afternoon.

   Compris

   • Guided visit to Ait Benhaddou
   • Sit-down lunch near the ksar
   • Photo stop at the Tizi n'Tichka pass

   Option plus facile : Stay on the lower lanes of Ait Benhaddou and skip the climb to the granary.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Marrakech; dinner on your own

   Activité : About 1.5 hours on foot at Ait Benhaddou with a steep climb at the top. The pass road has long hairpins; tell us if you get carsick.

   

9. Jour 9 : Marrakech: palaces, gardens and a farewell dinner

   Bahia Palace, the souks, the Ben Youssef Madrasa, the Jardin Majorelle and Djemaa el-Fna

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Marrakech
   Détail du jour 9

   We are at the Bahia Palace when it opens, about 9 am, with a licensed Marrakech guide, before its courtyards fill: grand viziers built it in the late 19th century, with painted cedar ceilings, zellij tilework and a vast marble court. Your guide briefs you on prices before we walk north through the souks, then into the Ben Youssef Madrasa, a 16th-century Koranic school with a carved courtyard and pool. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the medina. In the afternoon we drive a few minutes to the Jardin Majorelle on a timed entry, the blue villa and garden of cactus and bamboo later owned by Yves Saint Laurent. The rest of the afternoon is free. At dusk we walk to Djemaa el-Fna as the food stalls light up and the storytellers gather, then sit down to a farewell dinner together.

   Compris

   • Guided morning in the Marrakech medina with a licensed local guide
   • Bahia Palace entry
   • Ben Youssef Madrasa entry
   • Sit-down lunch in the medina
   • Jardin Majorelle timed entry
   • Dusk walk to Djemaa el-Fna
   • Farewell dinner

   Option plus facile : Go back to the riad after lunch and rejoin at dusk.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free

   Activité : About 3 hours on foot in the morning, on flat but crowded lanes.

10. Jour 10 : A slow morning, then home

    Marrakech medina to Marrakech Menara Airport

    • Environ 30 min de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    Détail du jour 10

    Nothing is scheduled today, so you can fly at any hour without missing anything. After breakfast on the riad roof, take a last walk on your own. Le Jardin Secret, a restored riad garden in the medina, opens in the morning and is quiet early. The Koutoubia gardens, below the 12th-century minaret, are a short walk from Djemaa el-Fna, and the square itself is calm before noon, with orange-juice sellers and little else. If your flight is late, leave your bags at the riad and have one more mint tea on a rooftop over the souks. When you are ready, we drive you to Marrakech Menara Airport (RAK), about 6 km from the medina and 20 minutes away, or to Marrakech railway station if you are going on to Casablanca. Book flights home from about midday onwards if you want the morning.

    Compris

    • Drop-off at Marrakech Menara Airport (RAK) or Marrakech railway station

    Temps libre : Morning free

    

Faune et météo : Spring brings green fields in the Middle Atlas and almond blossom, with roses in the Valley of Roses in May. Autumn is warm in the day and cool at night, and the date harvest comes to the palm groves in October. Desert nights are cold from November to March. Barbary macaques often feed in the cedar forest near Azrou on day 4; we cannot promise them. Wind can lift sand in the dunes; bring a cover for your camera.

• Fes3 nuits
• Erg Chebbi2 nuits
• Skoura2 nuits
• Marrakech2 nuits