12-Day Itinerary from Tangier to Tangier

Day 1: Arrival in Tangier and a Panoramic City Tour

Your private driver meets you at Tangier airport or the ferry port and takes you to your hotel. Depending on your arrival time, you start with a panoramic tour of Tangier, a city where Africa looks across the Strait of Gibraltar to Europe. You can walk through the kasbah and the old medina, see the American Legation, the first American property abroad, and enjoy a mint tea at a café where writers and artists once met. In the late afternoon, you may drive to Cape Spartel, where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean, and the Hercules Caves. You spend the night in Tangier.

Day 2: Tangier, Tetouan and Chefchaouen

After breakfast, you leave Tangier and drive southeast to Tetouan, at the foot of the Rif Mountains. Its white medina, listed by UNESCO, shows a strong Andalusian influence, with whitewashed houses, craft souks and the Royal Palace square. Next, you continue into the Rif, through green valleys and mountain villages, to Chefchaouen. In the afternoon, you check in to your riad and explore the blue medina at your own pace: Outa el-Hammam square, the red-walled kasbah and the little lanes painted in every shade of blue. Before dinner, the evening light is perfect for photos. About 3 hours of driving.

Day 3: Volubilis, Meknes and Fes

After breakfast, you drive south through olive groves and rolling hills to Volubilis, the best-preserved Roman site in Morocco. You walk past the triumphal arch, the basilica and houses with remarkable floor mosaics. Next, you continue to Meknes, the imperial city of Sultan Moulay Ismail, to see the monumental Bab Mansour gate, the Sahrij Souani water basin and the old royal granaries. After lunch, you drive the short distance east to Fes and check in to your riad in or near the medina, ready for a full guided day tomorrow. About 4 hours of driving.

Day 4: A Guided Day in Fes

Today a licensed local guide shows you Fes, the spiritual and cultural heart of Morocco. In the morning, you stop at the golden gates of the Royal Palace, walk through the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter, and enjoy a panoramic view over the medina from the Borj Sud fortress. Then, you enter Fes el-Bali, the UNESCO-listed medina, a car-free maze of souks and workshops. Highlights include the Al Attarine Madrasa, the Nejjarine fountain, the outside of the Al Quaraouiyine mosque and the Chouara tanneries, seen from a terrace above the dye pits. The evening is free.

Day 5: Fes, Ifrane, Midelt, Erfoud and Merzouga

Today is a long day, so you leave early. First, you pass Ifrane and its alpine houses, then stop in the cedar forest of Azrou to watch wild Barbary macaques, without feeding them. After lunch in Midelt, you follow the palm groves of the Ziz Valley and pass Erfoud. In the late afternoon, you reach Merzouga at the edge of the Erg Chebbi dunes and check in to your hotel facing the sand. About 7.5 hours of driving.

Day 6: Nomad Families, Khamlia and a Night in the Dunes

After breakfast, a 4×4 takes you across the rocky desert to a nomad family, where you share tea in their tent. Next, you visit Khamlia, a village known for Gnaoua music, and the palm groves around Merzouga. In the late afternoon, you ride a camel into the Erg Chebbi dunes for about an hour, watch the sunset from a high dune and spend the night in a desert camp with dinner and Berber drums.

Day 7: Rissani, Todra Gorge and the Dades Valley

After breakfast, you visit Rissani, an old caravan town whose souk is busiest on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, and a fossil workshop in Erfoud, where ancient marine fossils are cut into polished stone. Then, you drive west through the palm groves of Touroug and Tinjdad to Todra Gorge, where limestone cliffs rise about 300 meters above the river. You walk along the narrowest section before lunch. In the afternoon, you continue up the Dades Valley to see the rock formations known as the monkey fingers, and check in to your hotel for dinner. About 4.5 hours of driving.

Day 8: The Rose Valley, Skoura, Ait Ben Haddou and Marrakech

After breakfast, you drive through Kalaat M’Gouna and the Rose Valley, where roses bloom in spring and cooperatives sell rose water all year. Next, you pass the Skoura palm grove and Ouarzazate, then explore the kasbah of Ait Ben Haddou, a fortified village of red earth used in many films. After lunch, you cross the High Atlas by the Tizi n’Tichka pass at 2,260 meters, with photo stops over terraced valleys and Berber villages. You reach your riad in Marrakech in the early evening. About 7 hours of driving.

Day 9: A Guided Day in Marrakech

Today a licensed local guide shows you the medina of Marrakech. You visit the Koutoubia minaret, the Bahia Palace with its painted ceilings, the Saadian Tombs and the Ben Youssef area, then walk through the souks of spices, leather and lanterns. In the afternoon, you can relax in the Majorelle Garden or at your riad. In the evening, Jemaa el-Fnaa square fills with food stalls, musicians and storytellers, a perfect place for dinner.

Day 10: Marrakech to Casablanca

After breakfast, you leave Marrakech and drive north on the motorway to Casablanca, about 3 hours away, across the Haouz plain and the phosphate plateaus. In the afternoon, you visit the Hassan II Mosque, built over the Atlantic, with a minaret over 200 meters high; it is one of the few mosques in Morocco open to non-Muslim visitors on guided tours. Afterwards, you can walk along the Corniche, see the Art Deco buildings of the city center and the Habous quarter, or enjoy seafood by the ocean. You spend the night in Casablanca.

Day 11: Rabat and Asilah

After breakfast, you drive to Rabat, the capital, and visit the Kasbah of the Udayas with its blue and white lanes, the unfinished Hassan Tower and the Mohammed V Mausoleum. Then, you continue north along the coast to Asilah, a small white town by the sea known for its murals and calm ramparts. You spend the night in Asilah, with time for a sunset walk on the walls. About 4 hours of driving.

Day 12: Asilah to Tangier

Enjoy a slow morning in Asilah, with breakfast by the sea and a last walk in the medina. Then, you drive about one hour north to Tangier. Depending on your flight or ferry, you can visit the kasbah and the old medina of Tangier before your driver drops you at the airport, the ferry port or your hotel, ending your complete loop of Morocco.