19-Day Tangier to Casablanca Grand Morocco Tour

Your journey starts in Tangier. Your driver meets you at the airport, port or station and takes you first to Cap Spartel, where the Mediterranean and the Atlantic meet.

Next are the Caves of Hercules, with their sea opening shaped like Africa, and then the old city: the kasbah, the medina and the Petit Socco.

Finish the day at Café Hafa, sipping mint tea on terraces overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar.

We collect you in Tangier, at your hotel, the airport or the port, and drive to Tetouan, a white medina of Andalusian origin listed by UNESCO.

After a short walk, the road climbs south into the Rif, through cork oaks and pine forests.

Chefchaouen comes into view in the early afternoon. Spend the afternoon in its blue lanes, the kasbah square and at Ras el Ma, and finish at the Spanish Mosque for sunset.

No car today, just Chefchaouen and its blue lanes. The town was founded in the fifteenth century in the Rif and settled by families from Andalusia.

Go out early for the quiet light, then visit the kasbah's museum and garden, a weaver's workshop and the spring of Ras el Ma.

The afternoon is free for tea, shopping or a walk into the hills. Ask us about a hike in Talassemtane National Park if you want more.

The morning road leaves the mountains for Volubilis, the best-preserved Roman city in Morocco, with its arch, basilica and mosaic floors.

Moulay Idriss, the holy town of Morocco's founder, overlooks the site. In Meknes you have lunch and see the great gate of Bab Mansour.

In the late afternoon you arrive in Fes for the night.

Today is devoted to Fes el-Bali, explored on foot with a licensed local guide. Bab Boujloud leads into a medina of countless lanes where every turn reveals a workshop, a fountain or a mosque door.

The visit includes a madrasa of carved plaster and cedar, the doors of the Al-Qarawiyyin, the coppersmiths of Seffarine and the Chouara tannery, viewed with a sprig of mint from a terrace.

In the afternoon you drive to the Royal Palace, the Mellah and a pottery cooperative, ending at a viewpoint. Tomorrow you head south across the Middle Atlas.

You leave Fes early for the drive to the Sahara, climbing to Ifrane and through the cedar forest, where Barbary macaques often sit near the road.

After the high plateau, lunch is in Midelt beneath Jbel Ayachi. In the afternoon the Ziz gorges and the palm-filled valley lead you south.

The first sight of Erg Chebbi comes shortly after Erfoud. In Merzouga a camel ride takes you into the sand for sunset, and the night is in a desert camp.

Your full day in the desert begins with sunrise from a high dune. After breakfast in camp you return to Merzouga for a shower.

A 4x4 then takes you around the region: Gnawa music in Khamlia, the stony black desert, the old lead mines and a nomad family's tent, where tea is poured and stories are shared.

The afternoon is free for resting or sandboarding, and you sleep in a hotel by the dunes before heading to the Draa Valley.

After a last sunrise on the dunes and breakfast in Merzouga, you head west through Rissani, the historic capital of the Tafilalet, with its imposing gate and busy market.

Crossing the stony plateau past the craters of old khettara wells, you reach the green oasis of Tinghir and walk into the Todra Gorge, where sheer rock walls close in around a clear stream.

In the late afternoon you continue a little further to the Dades Valley, lined with kasbahs and strange rock formations, for dinner and the night at a guesthouse above the river.

Today you follow the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs west, stopping in Kalaat M'Gouna for its rosewater cooperatives and in the oasis of Skoura to visit Kasbah Amridil, a fortified family house among the palms.

You have lunch in Ouarzazate, then visit Taourirt Kasbah, the former stronghold of the Glaoui family, or the Atlas Film Studios on the edge of town.

In the late afternoon you reach Ait Ben Haddou and explore the UNESCO-listed ksar as the walls turn gold in the evening light. You spend the night in a guesthouse facing the village.

Wake up beside Ait Ben Haddou and take a last walk around the ksar in the soft morning light before setting off south-west across the high plateau between the High Atlas and the Anti-Atlas.

In Tazenakht, the town of the Ouzguita weavers, you can visit a carpet cooperative. Further on, Taliouine is the heart of Moroccan saffron, and a small cooperative explains how the purple flowers are picked at dawn and their red threads dried. The road then winds down through argan woodland into the Souss Valley.

After a stop at the ochre ramparts and the souks of Taroudant, you continue to Agadir and check in to your hotel near the long sandy bay in the early evening.

Today is spent around Agadir. In the morning you visit Souk El Had, a huge walled market of about six thousand stalls selling spices, argan oil, fruit and everyday goods at local prices.

Then you drive into the foothills to Paradise Valley, a palm-filled gorge with natural rock pools where you can swim when there is water, and have lunch in a café by the stream.

In the afternoon you return to Agadir for free time on the beach and a sunset view from the hilltop of Agadir Oufella.

The coast road from Agadir takes you through Taghazout, a surfers' village, and along cliffs above empty beaches.

Lunch is in Imsouane, where fishermen land their catch in the little harbour. Then the road climbs inland through the argan forest, where goats sometimes graze in the trees.

Essaouira appears in the afternoon, white and blue behind its walls. You check in and walk along the Skala before dinner.

Today is free in Essaouira, a relaxed port town of white walls and blue shutters. Explore the medina's galleries, spice stalls and thuya wood workshops.

In the afternoon, walk along the long sandy beach towards the ruined fort or take a camel ride by the sea.

In the evening, enjoy fresh seafood in the harbour. Ask us about a cooking class or surf lesson.

Enjoy a final morning in Essaouira, walking the ramparts or browsing the craft shops of the medina, before leaving around midday.

The inland road crosses gentle hills covered in argan trees, and you stop at a women's cooperative to see how the precious oil is cracked, ground and pressed by hand.

You arrive in Marrakech in the afternoon and settle into your riad, your base for the next three nights.

Today you explore Marrakech with a licensed local guide: the Koutoubia, the Bahia Palace with its painted ceilings and the Saadian Tombs.

After a walk through the Mellah and lunch, the afternoon is spent in the souks, where your guide shows you dyers, woodturners and leatherworkers.

Add the Ben Youssef Madrasa or the Majorelle Garden if you like, and finish the day on Jemaa el-Fna.

Today you choose how to spend your time. You can stay in Marrakech and enjoy a free day at your own pace: the Majorelle Garden and the Yves Saint Laurent Museum, the Ben Youssef Madrasa, a hammam, or more time in the souks.

Or you can join us for a day trip into the High Atlas. The road climbs south through the Ourika plain to Asni, a mountain village with a lively Saturday market, then on towards Imlil at the foot of Mount Toubkal, where you can walk between Amazigh villages and terraced fields and have lunch with a local family.

Either way, you are back in Marrakech in the late afternoon, with the evening free for the food stalls and storytellers of Jemaa el-Fna.

After breakfast you leave Marrakech on the motorway north, crossing the wide plains of the Rehamna and the Chaouia and passing Casablanca, with a stop for coffee on the way.

You reach Rabat, Morocco's calm and green capital, in the early afternoon. After lunch you visit the Hassan Tower and the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, then walk through the blue and white lanes of the Kasbah of the Udayas to its terrace above the river mouth.

The evening is free to stroll along the Bou Regreg promenade or through the old medina before your night in Rabat.

This morning the coastal motorway brings you from Rabat to Casablanca in about an hour.

You visit the Hassan II Mosque, one of the largest in the world, standing on a platform over the Atlantic. A guided tour shows its vast prayer hall with a roof that opens to the sky, the ablution rooms and the hammam. Afterwards you drive along the Corniche and through the white Art Deco buildings of the city centre to the Habous quarter.

You check in to your hotel in Casablanca in the late afternoon and spend your last evening in Morocco by the ocean.

Your last morning is free, depending on your flight time. Take a final walk along the Corniche, have a relaxed breakfast or pick up a few souvenirs in the Habous quarter.

At the time agreed with you, your driver collects you from your hotel and takes you to Mohammed V International Airport, about 45 minutes away, for your flight home. For an early departure, the transfer leaves straight after breakfast or before it.