Women-only Morocco: Marrakech, the Sahara and the crafts of Fes

Arrive in Marrakech, gently

Marrakech Menara Airport to the medina

• Repas du soir
• Nuit : Marrakech
• Environ 30 min de route

Soir

Dinner is at about 7:30 pm, a short walk away, so your first walk in the medina is with the whole group. Afterwards, anyone who wants it can walk on with the guide to Djemaa el-Fna, the square UNESCO recognised in 2001 for its storytellers and musicians, at its liveliest after dark.

Compris

• Pick-up at Marrakech Menara Airport (RAK)
• Welcome and briefing on the riad roof
• Welcome dinner
• Optional evening walk to Djemaa el-Fna with your guide

The Marrakech medina, and dinner with a family

Guided morning in the medina, cooking class in the evening

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
• Nuit : Marrakech

Après-midi

Lunch is yours, and the afternoon is free to rest at the riad or wander. At about 5 pm we walk to the home of a family in the medina, who show us how to make a tagine and bread, and we eat what we cook together.

Compris

• Guided morning in the Marrakech medina with a licensed local guide
• Bahia Palace entry
• Le Jardin Secret entry
• Cooking class and dinner at home with a family in the medina

A women's co-operative and a hammam

Marrakech to the Ourika valley and back

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Marrakech
• Environ 2 h de route

Matin

After breakfast we drive about an hour south into the foothills of the High Atlas, where the Ourika valley runs up between red earth villages and walnut trees. Here we spend the morning with a women's co-operative: the members show how they crack, roast and grind argan kernels by hand, or roll couscous, and talk with the group about how the co-operative works, with your guide translating. It is a visit, not a sales stop; buy something only if you want to.

Après-midi

Lunch is with a family-run place in the valley, by the river when the weather allows. We are back in Marrakech by about 3 pm for a women-only session at a hammam in the medina: steam, a scrub with black soap and a rough glove, then rest with mint tea.

Soir

The evening is yours, and your guide can suggest a roof terrace for dinner.

Compris

• Visit to a women's co-operative in the Ourika valley
• Lunch in the valley
• Women-only hammam session in the Marrakech medina

Activités en option

• A massage after the hammam

Over the High Atlas to Ait Benhaddou

Marrakech to Ait Benhaddou over the Tizi n'Tichka pass

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
• Nuit : Ait Benhaddou
• Environ 4 h de route

Après-midi

We stop for photos and tea at the Tizi n'Tichka pass, at 2,260 metres, and for lunch on the far side at a place we choose for the food. By about 3 pm we reach Ait Benhaddou, a fortified village of earthen houses on the old caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987 and a set for Lawrence of Arabia and Gladiator. A local guide walks us through the lanes in the late afternoon light, up to the ruined granary at the top for the view over the Ounila valley.

Soir

Dinner is at the guesthouse, so nobody has to find a meal alone in a small village.

Compris

• Photo stop at the Tizi n'Tichka pass
• Guided late-afternoon walk in the Ait Benhaddou ksar with a local guide
• Dinner at the guesthouse

The long road to the dunes

Ait Benhaddou to Merzouga via Ouarzazate, Skoura, the Todra Gorge and Erfoud

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Erg Chebbi
• Environ 7 h de route

Soir

It is long because the trip gives Marrakech three nights and the dunes two within nine days, which leaves one night between them. If you are up for it, watch sunrise over the ksar from the hill first. We leave at about 8:30 am and drive east past Ouarzazate and the Skoura palm grove, scattered with old kasbahs, with a tea stop in the Dades valley. Lunch is included in Tinghir, then a short walk into the mouth of the Todra Gorge, where the rock walls close in over a clear stream. From Merzouga a 4x4 takes us across the sand to the camp in the Erg Chebbi dunes, where you sleep two nights and dinner is waiting.

Compris

• Sunrise over Ait Benhaddou from the hill
• Skoura palm grove
• Lunch in Tinghir
• Short walk into the mouth of the Todra Gorge
• 4x4 into the Erg Chebbi camp
• Dinner at the camp

A whole day in the Sahara

Erg Chebbi, Khamlia and back to camp

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

Matin

Your guide wakes you in the dark for sunrise. Rather than climbing the busy dune beside camp, walk along the dune line or go deeper into the sand with the guide, where there are no footprints ahead and the light rolls across ridges that rise up to about 150 metres. Breakfast 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.

Après-midi

Lunch is back at camp and the middle of the day is yours: sleep, read in the sun, or try sandboarding. Because you do not pack up today, there is no rush.

Soir

In the late afternoon the camels take us out across the dunes for about an hour to watch the sunset, then back to camp for dinner and the stars, far from any town lights.

Compris

• Sunrise dune walk with your guide
• 4x4 loop of Erg Chebbi
• Gnawa music in Khamlia
• Sunset camel ride, about an hour

Across the Middle Atlas to Fes

Merzouga to Fes via the Ziz valley, Midelt, Azrou and Ifrane

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Fes
• Environ 8 h de route

Soir

There is no shorter way from the dunes to Fes, and a night on the way would cost a night in the desert or in Fes. After breakfast we head north through Erfoud and Errachidia and stop above the Ziz valley, a ribbon of date palms cut into the desert. Lunch, included, is in Midelt, an apple-growing town at about 1,500 metres between the High and Middle Atlas. In the afternoon the road climbs into the Atlas cedar forest near Azrou, where Barbary macaques often feed by the trees, then passes Ifrane, an alpine-style town of steep roofs founded by the French in 1929. We reach your riad in the Fes medina in the early evening, and the guide points out a few places for a light dinner nearby.

Compris

• Ziz valley viewpoint
• Lunch in Midelt
• Atlas cedar forest near Azrou
• Ifrane

Fes el Bali and the weavers

Guided day in the Fes medina

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Fes

Après-midi

Lunch is at a cafe run by women in the medina. In the afternoon we visit a weaving workshop, where you watch the handlooms and try a few rows yourself.

Soir

The late afternoon is free; at sunset we drive up to the Marinid Tombs for the view over the old city.

Compris

• Guided morning in Fes el Bali with a licensed local guide
• Chouara tannery terrace
• Bou Inania and Al-Attarine madrasa entries
• Lunch at a women-run cafe
• Weaving workshop with a try at the loom
• Sunset at the Marinid Tombs

The potters of Fes, then home

Fes to the Ain Nokbi potters' quarter, then Fes-Saïss Airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 30 min de route

Soir

After breakfast at the riad, those with an afternoon or evening flight drive a few minutes to Ain Nokbi, outside Bab Ftouh, where the potters of Fes moved their kilns out of the old city. From about 9 am to 11:30 am we watch the work in order: clay shaped on the wheel, pieces painted by hand in the blue and white Fes style, and the slow cutting of zellij tiles into small shapes for mosaics. You can try painting a plate or bowl, and there is no obligation to buy. We drop the group back at the riad for lunch on your own, then drive you to Fes-Saïss Airport (FEZ), about 15 km south of the city, or to Fes railway station if you carry on by train to Rabat, Casablanca or Tangier. If your flight is early, we take you to the airport in time and you miss only the pottery.

Compris

• Ceramics morning at the Ain Nokbi potters' quarter
• Drop-off at Fes-Saïss Airport (FEZ) or Fes railway station