16-Day Agadir to Tangier Morocco Tour via Merzouga

Your driver-guide meets you at Agadir Al Massira Airport, or at your hotel if you are already in town, and the tour begins gently.

If time allows, you ride the cable car or drive up to Agadir Oufella, the hill where the old kasbah stood before the earthquake of 1960, for a view over the whole bay, the port and the mountains behind.

The rest of the day is for the beach and the promenade. Agadir has around three hundred days of sunshine a year, and the long curve of sand is the reason most people come.

The coast road north from Agadir passes Taghazout, where surfboards lean against every café, and climbs over headlands with views down to long, empty beaches.

Imsouane is the natural lunch stop: a small harbour on a point, with fish grilled straight off the boats and a wave that surfers ride for hundreds of metres. Beyond it the road turns inland through hills of argan trees, where you may see goats grazing in the branches.

Essaouira appears in the afternoon, white and blue behind its sea walls. After checking in to your riad you have time for a first walk along the Skala ramparts and through the harbour.

Today you have Essaouira to yourselves. Wander the medina's lanes of galleries and spice shops, visit the thuya wood workshops and climb the sea ramparts of the Skala.

The long beach to the south is ideal for a walk, a camel ride or watching the kitesurfers in the steady wind.

In the evening, enjoy seafood by the harbour and listen for Gnawa music in the squares.

There is no hurry this morning in Essaouira. Take a last walk on the Skala or the beach, or shop in the medina, before heading inland around midday.

The road crosses the argan forest, where goats sometimes climb the trees, with a stop for coffee along the way.

In the afternoon you reach Marrakech, with the evening free on Jemaa el-Fna, where the food stalls light up after dark.

A guided day in Marrakech before heading to the coast. With a licensed guide you see the Koutoubia, the Bahia Palace and its courtyards, and the Saadian Tombs.

After a walk through the old Jewish quarter and lunch, you explore the souks, where your guide introduces you to dyers, slipper makers and metalworkers.

If you like, add the Ben Youssef Madrasa or the Majorelle Garden. In the evening, Jemaa el-Fna is full of life.

An hour and a half from the heat and noise of Marrakech, the village of Imlil sits at 1,740 metres at the foot of Mount Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa. The drive there passes the market town of Asni and follows a river valley lined with walnut and cherry trees.

From Imlil you set out on foot with a local mountain guide. The walk is adapted to your group, from an easy hour to a small waterfall to a half-day loop through terraced fields and stone villages; mules can carry children or bags. Lunch is a home-cooked tagine on the terrace of a family house, with the mountains all around.

On the way back you can stop at a women's argan cooperative to see how the oil is pressed. You return to Marrakech in the late afternoon.

After Marrakech, today you cross the High Atlas. The road climbs over the Tizi n'Tichka pass, past red-earth villages and walnut groves, with stops at the viewpoints.

On the southern side you visit Ait Ben Haddou, crossing the river and walking up through the ksar, before lunch nearby.

In the afternoon you pass Ouarzazate and drive through Skoura and the Valley of Roses to the Dades Valley for the night.

After breakfast, a short drive up the Dades Gorge shows you the Monkey Fingers, then you head east to Tinghir.

In Todra Gorge you walk through the narrow canyon beside the stream before lunch.

In the afternoon the road leads past Erfoud to Merzouga, where you ride a camel into Erg Chebbi for sunset and spend the night in a desert camp.

After the journey from the coast, you have a full day in the Sahara. It opens with sunrise from a high dune, followed by breakfast in camp and the ride back to the village.

Your 4x4 excursion visits the Gnawa musicians of Khamlia, the old lead mines and the black desert, where a nomad family welcomes you for tea in their tent and explains how they move with the seasons.

The afternoon is free for rest or sandboarding, and the night is at a hotel by the dunes before the road north to Fes.

Today you drive from the desert to Fes. The Ziz Valley, a canyon of date palms, is the first highlight.

Then the Ziz gorges lead to Midelt, where you stop for lunch.

In the afternoon you cross the Middle Atlas, its cedar forests home to Barbary macaques, and pass through Ifrane before reaching Fes in the evening.

After the desert and the mountains, a day in the great medina of Fes. A licensed guide leads you through Bab Boujloud into Fes el-Bali, where narrow lanes open onto courtyards, fountains and workshops.

You see a madrasa with exquisite carving, the doors of the Al-Qarawiyyin university, the coppersmiths' square of Seffarine and the Chouara tannery from a terrace above.

After lunch you drive to the Royal Palace gates, the Mellah and a pottery workshop, ending with a view over the medina. Tomorrow you continue to Rabat.

Leaving Fes, you cross the Saïss plain to Volubilis, where Roman villas still have their mosaic floors and storks nest on the ancient columns.

Meknes follows, with the monumental Bab Mansour and the vast granaries of Moulay Ismail, and lunch near the main square.

In the afternoon you drive on to Rabat, where you see the capital's monuments today or tomorrow morning before checking in.

After Rabat, you drive north across the Gharb plain and into the Rif Mountains, passing olive groves around Ouazzane.

Chefchaouen appears below its twin peaks, a town of blue lanes and flowerpots. After checking in, you explore the medina on foot.

You visit the kasbah on Outa el Hammam square and the Ras el Ma spring, and end the day with the sunset from the Spanish Mosque.

No driving today: you have Chefchaouen to explore at your own pace. The blue town was founded in 1471 and still shows the Andalusian style of its first settlers.

Start early, when the lanes are empty, and visit the kasbah museum and garden, a weaving workshop and the spring at Ras el Ma.

The afternoon is free for tea on the square, shopping for wool and leather, or a sunset walk up to the Spanish Mosque.

After a slow morning in Chefchaouen, the road crosses the Rif to Tetouan, a white medina with a strong Andalusian character and few visitors.

You continue along the coast to Tangier for lunch, then explore the kasbah and the medina, from the old sultan's palace to the Petit Socco.

At sunset, enjoy mint tea at Café Hafa, looking across the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain.

Your last morning, depending on your departure time, is for Cap Spartel, where a lighthouse marks the corner of Africa and two seas meet, and the Caves of Hercules, whose opening frames the Atlantic in the shape of Africa.

Back in town you may have time for the Grand Socco and a little shopping.

Your driver then takes you to Tangier airport, the ferry port or the station for the high-speed train south, and your journey ends.