18-Day Grand Morocco Tour from Casablanca

Welcome to Casablanca. Your driver-guide meets you at the airport and drives you to your hotel.

If you land early, you visit the Hassan II Mosque, whose minaret rises 210 metres above the ocean, and see the Corniche and the city's Art Deco buildings.

Your evening is free. Your guide can point you to a good seafood restaurant.

The road follows the coast north from Casablanca. Your first stop is Rabat, with the Hassan Tower, the royal mausoleum and the Kasbah of the Udayas.

In the afternoon you visit Asilah, a peaceful whitewashed town where murals decorate the walls and the ramparts look out over the Atlantic.

You reach Tangier in the late afternoon, with Spain visible across the Strait on a clear day, and spend the evening at leisure.

Today you explore Tangier, a city shaped by three thousand years of trade between continents. Your first stop is Cap Spartel and its lighthouse, then the Caves of Hercules, with their famous Africa-shaped opening.

In the afternoon you walk through the kasbah at the top of the medina and down to the Petit Socco, once the meeting place of the international city.

As the sun goes down, take mint tea at Café Hafa, with Spain on the horizon.

Today you leave Tangier for the mountains, stopping in Tetouan, whose white medina, built by Andalusian families, is listed by UNESCO.

The road then climbs into the Rif Mountains through pine and cork oak forests.

You arrive in Chefchaouen in the early afternoon. After lunch, explore the blue lanes and the kasbah, then walk up to the Spanish Mosque for the sunset view.

A day of rest and wandering in Chefchaouen. The blue town sits against the Rif Mountains and was founded in 1471 by families from Andalusia.

The quiet morning lanes are ideal for photographs. Visit the kasbah and its garden, watch weavers at their looms and follow the stream at Ras el Ma.

The afternoon is free: tea in the square, shopping, or a walk to the Spanish Mosque, where the view at sunset is unforgettable.

Today you travel from the Rif to the imperial cities, stopping at Volubilis, a Roman site of columns, arches and mosaic floors among olive groves.

Moulay Idriss, the sacred town on its two hills, is next, then Meknes, where you have lunch and see Bab Mansour and the granaries of Moulay Ismail.

By late afternoon you are in Fes, where a short walk through the medina brings you to your riad.

Today you discover Fes el-Bali with a licensed local guide. The medina, entered through the blue gate of Bab Boujloud, has no cars, and its lanes are full of craftsmen, traders and mules.

You visit a madrasa covered in carving, the Al-Qarawiyyin through its doors, the coppersmiths' square of Seffarine and the Chouara tannery, seen from above its stone dye pits.

After lunch a drive takes you to the Royal Palace, the Mellah and a pottery cooperative, ending with a view over the city. You have the afternoon to yourself.

Today you cross the Middle Atlas on the way to the Sahara. From Fes you climb to Ifrane and the cedar forest, where Barbary macaques live.

After the high pastures you stop in Midelt for lunch, then descend through the Ziz gorges, with a view over the long green valley.

Leaving Erfoud, you see the dunes grow taller on the horizon. From Merzouga you set off by camel into Erg Chebbi to watch the sunset, then spend the night in your desert camp.

Sunrise over the dunes, seen from a high ridge, is the best way to start a day in the desert. Breakfast follows at the camp, then the ride back to Merzouga.

In the late morning your driver-guide takes you around Erg Chebbi by 4x4: Gnawa drums in Khamlia, the dark plain of the black desert and tea with a nomad family in their woven tent. Old mines and fossil beds are along the way.

Rest in the afternoon, and spend the night in a hotel by the dunes.

Sunrise from a high dune is your farewell to Erg Chebbi, followed by breakfast in Merzouga.

The road west leads through Rissani, the market town that grew from Sijilmassa, with a souk on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and across a stony plateau dotted with khettara mounds.

After lunch near Tinghir you walk through Todra Gorge, then drive on to the Dades Valley, where you spend the night in a guesthouse among gardens.

A relaxed day after the desert. You follow the Dades River downstream past old kasbahs and fields of almond and fig trees to Kalaat M'Gouna, where a rose cooperative shows how rosewater, creams and soaps are made.

Further west, the oasis of Skoura spreads its palms around Kasbah Amridil, a fortified family house you can visit room by room, from the olive press to the rooftop terraces.

You arrive in Ouarzazate for lunch, then choose between Taourirt Kasbah, once the residence of the Glaoui pashas, and the Atlas Film Studios, before your night at a hotel in town.

After breakfast you leave Ouarzazate and drive half an hour to Ait Ben Haddou.

There you cross the river, wander through the earthen lanes of the ksar and climb to the granary for a view over the valley.

After lunch the road climbs over the Tizi n'Tichka and down to Marrakech, where you arrive by late afternoon.

Today a licensed guide shows you Marrakech. The Koutoubia mosque and its minaret come first, then the Bahia Palace, a vizier's residence of carved cedar and courtyards.

After the Saadian Tombs and the Mellah, you have lunch and explore the souks, with lanes of dyers, slipper makers and metalworkers.

The Ben Youssef Madrasa or the Majorelle Garden can be added to the day. At dusk, Jemaa el-Fna comes alive with storytellers and musicians.

A day in the mountains. The road from Marrakech climbs past Asni to Imlil, a village of walnut trees and stone houses at the foot of Mount Toubkal, North Africa's highest peak.

A local guide leads you on a walk adapted to your pace, through Amazigh villages and terraced valleys, with mules available for bags. Lunch is home-cooked in a village house.

You return to Marrakech in the late afternoon, with an optional stop at an argan cooperative.

Today you drive west from Marrakech, crossing a plain of argan trees on the way to the coast. A stop at a cooperative shows how argan oil is made.

Essaouira greets you with ocean breezes. Explore the Skala ramparts, the medina's galleries and the thuya wood workshops built into the walls.

In the evening, the blue boats in the harbour and the fish grills make a lively scene.

Today you can enjoy Essaouira at your own pace. Its medina is small and easy to explore, with art galleries, spice stalls and craftsmen inlaying thuya wood.

The beach south of town is wide and windy, popular with kitesurfers and lovely for a long walk or a camel ride.

In the evening you may hear Gnawa music in the squares. A cooking class or surf lesson can be arranged.

Today you travel the Atlantic coast. Past cliffs and beaches you reach Safi and its pottery quarter, then Oualidia, where a sheltered lagoon produces some of Morocco's best oysters. Lunch is seafood by the water.

El Jadida, a Portuguese fortress town listed by UNESCO, comes next, with its striking underground cistern.

By early evening you are in Casablanca, where your hotel is waiting.

If you did not visit the Hassan II Mosque on your first day, we will do it this morning, as long as your flight leaves in the afternoon or evening: a guided visit of the prayer hall, ablution rooms and hammam takes about an hour.

If you already saw the mosque on day one, the morning is free for a walk in the Habous quarter, with its arcades and pastry shops, or along the Corniche.

Your driver then takes you to Mohammed V Airport in good time. For early flights, the transfer leaves from your hotel.