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

1. Day 1: Arrive in Marrakech, gently

   Marrakech Menara Airport to the medina

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Dinner
   • Stay in Marrakech
   Day 1 details

   We meet you at Marrakech Menara Airport (RAK), about 6 km from the old city, and drive you to your riad in the medina, a traditional house built around a courtyard. We collect you whatever time you land, and there is nothing to rush for: rest, have tea in the courtyard or sit on the roof. At about 6:30 pm the group meets on the riad roof with your guide for introductions and an honest briefing on dress, the souks, tipping, photos and how to say no politely. 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.

   Included

   • 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

   Easier option: Go straight back to the riad after dinner

   Free time: Afternoon free to rest before the group meets

2. Day 2: The Marrakech medina, and dinner with a family

   Guided morning in the medina, cooking class in the evening

   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Marrakech
   Day 2 details

   We start at the Bahia Palace when it opens, at about 9 am, before the courtyards fill: the grand viziers Si Moussa and his son Ba Ahmed built it in the late 19th century, with painted cedar ceilings, zellij tilework and a vast marble court. A licensed Marrakech guide, a woman where one is available, then walks the group through the souks of the dyers, metalworkers and leather workers to Le Jardin Secret, a riad garden restored and opened to the public in 2016. There are no shop stops; if you want to buy, your guide shows you how to bargain. 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.

   Included

   • 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

   Easier option: Return to the riad after the Bahia Palace

   Free time: Lunch and early afternoon free

   Activity: About 2 to 3 hours on foot in the morning, on flat but crowded lanes.

   

3. Day 3: A women's co-operative and a hammam

   Marrakech to the Ourika valley and back

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Marrakech
   Day 3 details

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

   Included

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

   Optional experiences

   • A massage after the hammam

   Easier option: Skip the hammam and rest at the riad

   More active option: A short walk up the valley with your guide before lunch

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: About an hour each way in the van, with little walking.

4. Day 4: Over the High Atlas to Ait Benhaddou

   Marrakech to Ait Benhaddou over the Tizi n'Tichka pass

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Ait Benhaddou
   Day 4 details

   We leave Marrakech at about 9 am and the van climbs the High Atlas on the N9, a road of long hairpins, walnut terraces and earth-built Amazigh villages, with snow on the peaks in the winter months. 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. Dinner is at the guesthouse, so nobody has to find a meal alone in a small village.

   Included

   • 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

   Easier option: Stay at the foot of the ksar and skip the climb to the granary

   Free time: Early evening free

   Activity: The climb to the granary is about 15 minutes on uneven steps.

   

5. Day 5: The long road to the dunes

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

   • Drive about 7 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Erg Chebbi
   Day 5 details

   This is one of two long days, and we would rather tell you now: about 420 km and 7 hours of driving, 9 to 9.5 hours door to door. 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.

   Included

   • 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

   Easier option: Sleep in and skip the sunrise walk

   Activity: About 7 hours of driving, with a stop every 60 to 90 minutes. The camel ride is tomorrow at sunset, because in winter the sun sets before we can reach the dunes today.

   

6. Day 6: A whole day in the Sahara

   Erg Chebbi, Khamlia and back to camp

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Erg Chebbi
   Day 6 details

   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. 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. 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.

   Included

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

   Easier option: Watch sunrise and sunset from the camp instead of walking or riding

   More active option: Climb a high dune for the sunset after the camel ride

   Free time: Middle of the day free at camp

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

7. Day 7: Across the Middle Atlas to Fes

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

   • Drive about 8 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Fes
   Day 7 details

   The second long day: about 490 km and 8 hours of driving, 9 to 10 hours door to door with four real stops. 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.

   Included

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

   Free time: Evening free in Fes

   Activity: About 8 hours of driving, 9 to 10 hours with four stops.

8. Day 8: Fes el Bali and the weavers

   Guided day in the Fes medina

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Fes
   Day 8 details

   We start at 8:30 am at Bab Boujloud, the blue-tiled gate of 1913, before the day groups arrive, with a licensed Fes guide, a woman where one is available. Fes el Bali has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981 and its lanes are car-free, so the day is on foot. The Chouara tannery comes first, while the light over the dye vats is still soft, seen from a terrace we can leave without buying. Then the Bou Inania Madrasa, built in the 1350s, the Al-Attarine Madrasa with its carved cedar and plaster, and a look through the doors of al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859. 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. The late afternoon is free; at sunset we drive up to the Marinid Tombs for the view over the old city.

   Included

   • 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

   Easier option: Return to the riad after lunch

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: The medina is steep in places and every lane is on foot; about 3 hours of walking in all.

   

9. Day 9: The potters of Fes, then home

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

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 9 details

   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.

   Included

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

   Easier option: Spend the morning at the riad instead

   Free time: Time for lunch on your own before your transfer

   Activity: Book a flight after about 2 pm to join the pottery morning.

   

Wildlife and weather: October and April are warm by day; December to February bring cold desert nights, cool riad rooms and the chance of snow on the High Atlas, which is lovely on the drive. Barbary macaques often feed in the cedar forest near Azrou on day 7. We cannot promise them.

• Marrakech3 nights
• Ait Benhaddou1 night
• Erg Chebbi2 nights
• Fes2 nights