Morocco 12-Day Luxury Private Tour

Welcome to Morocco. Your private driver meets you at Casablanca Airport. If your flight lands in good time, stop on the way at the Hassan II Mosque, set right on the Atlantic, for a guided visit of its carved cedar, marble and tilework (visits run most days, but not on Friday mornings). From there it is about an hour up the coast to Rabat, the calm and green capital, where you check in and rest. A walk by the river at sunset and a quiet dinner make an easy first evening. Arriving at another airport? We simply adapt the route.

Start with an unhurried morning in Rabat. See the Hassan Tower and the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, then walk the white and blue lanes of the Kasbah of the Udayas, with views over the river mouth to the ocean. After lunch (included in Premium & VIP), the road turns north and climbs into the green Rif Mountains to Chefchaouen, about three and a half hours away, with a coffee stop on the way. Check in, then enjoy your first evening in the blue medina, perhaps with dinner near Outa el Hammam Square as the lamps come on.

A slow day in the Blue City. In the cool of the morning, a local guide walks you through the medina’s blue lanes, the old Kasbah and its garden, and Outa el Hammam Square, where the minaret of the Grand Mosque rises above the cafés. The afternoon is entirely free. Sit by the Ras el Ma spring, browse the weavers’ shops, rest at your riad, or walk up to the Spanish Mosque for the sunset view over the town. Chefchaouen is at its most peaceful early and late in the day.

Leave the mountains after breakfast and drive south through rolling farmland to Volubilis, about three hours away. With your licensed guide, walk among the mosaic floors, the basilica and the triumphal arch of Morocco’s finest Roman site, set among olive groves. A short drive brings you to Meknes, the imperial city of Sultan Moulay Ismail, for lunch (included in Premium & VIP) and a stop at the grand Bab Mansour gate. You reach Fes, an hour on, in the late afternoon. Volubilis has little shade, so a hat and comfortable shoes are useful.

Today is devoted to Fes el Bali, one of the largest car-free medieval cities in the world. With your private guide, enter through the Blue Gate of Bab Bou Jeloud and discover the Bou Inania Madrasa, Nejjarine Square and its fountain, and the workshops where coppersmiths, weavers and leatherworkers still work by hand. Look down over the dye pits of the Chouara Tannery and, if you wish, visit the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter. Lunch is in the medina (included in Premium & VIP), shopping is entirely optional, and the late afternoon is yours to rest before tomorrow’s journey south.

This is the one long driving day of the journey, and one of the most varied. After an early breakfast, climb to Ifrane, the alpine-style town of the Middle Atlas, and continue through the cedar forests near Azrou, where Barbary macaques are often seen. After lunch in Midelt (included in Premium & VIP), follow the Ziz Valley and its long ribbon of palm groves south toward the desert, with regular breaks along the way. At Merzouga, a 4×4 takes you into the Erg Chebbi dunes to your camp, in time to watch the light change on the sand. Dinner is served at camp as the desert cools.

Wake to sunrise over the dunes, then set out on a private 4×4 outing around Erg Chebbi. Visit Khamlia, a village known for its Gnaoua music, and stop wherever the desert invites you, with any visit to local families arranged respectfully. Lunch at camp is included in every package today, and the hottest hours are for resting at camp. In the late afternoon, ride a camel into the high dunes (a vehicle is always possible instead) and watch the sand turn gold at sunset. Dinner is at camp again, and with a second night at the same camp there is no packing today.

After breakfast in the dunes, head west through Rissani to Tinghir and its long palm oasis. Enter the Todra Gorge, where red rock walls rise some 300 meters above a clear stream, and walk at your own pace. After lunch (included in Premium & VIP), follow the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs through the Dades Valley and Kelaat M’Gouna, the town of roses, to Skoura, a quiet palm grove scattered with old kasbahs. You arrive in the late afternoon, with time for the pool and gardens before dinner at your kasbah hotel.

Enjoy a slow morning in the palm grove, with a visit to Kasbah Amridil, one of the best-kept kasbahs in the south. Pass Ouarzazate and continue to Ait Benhaddou, the UNESCO-listed ksar of earthen houses and towers, where the climb to the old granary gives the finest view (a shorter visit is easy). After lunch (included in Premium & VIP), cross the High Atlas over the Tizi n’Tichka pass, at 2,260 meters, with stops for the views. You arrive in Marrakech in the late afternoon, in time for a quiet first evening in the Red City.

Discover the Red City with your licensed guide in the cooler morning hours. See the Koutoubia minaret, the painted ceilings and courtyards of the Bahia Palace and the Ben Youssef Madrasa, then wander through the souks to Jemaa el-Fnaa, the great square at the heart of the medina. After lunch (included in Premium & VIP), your driver takes you to the Jardin Majorelle, with tickets included and booked ahead. The rest of the afternoon is yours, perhaps for a hammam or a quiet hour on your riad’s roof terrace. In the evening the square fills with music and food stalls, best watched from a rooftop café.

A day in the mountains, about an hour and a half from Marrakech. The road climbs through Asni to Imlil, a village at the foot of Jebel Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa. With a local walking guide, follow mule paths through walnut groves and Berber villages, at a pace that suits you, and stop for mint tea with views of the peaks. Lunch, included in every package, is on a terrace in the valley before you return to Marrakech in the afternoon for a quiet evening. Bring layers, as it is cooler up here.

Enjoy a final breakfast and, if your flight allows, one last stroll or coffee in the medina. Your driver takes you to Marrakech Airport, about 20 minutes away, with the timing planned carefully around your flight. If you fly home from Casablanca, tell us and we will plan the day around it. We stay in touch until you leave, and we hope to welcome you back to Morocco soon.