17 Days North to South Morocco Cultural Tour from Tangier

What's Included

Meeting and pickup

Itinerary

Day 1
Arrival to Tangier
1 stop
1
Tangier
Welcom to Morocco! Either you come by plane or by ferry you will find our shuttle with a card by your name waiting for you to drive you to your hotel. NOTE: Ideally arriving by ferry across the strait of Gibraltar to feel the thrill of crossing from Europe to Africa.
Admission ticket free
Day 2
Tangier City Tour
3 stops
2
Cap Spartel
Welcome to Morocco! We start this tour from the gateway of Europe to Africa, Tangier named for the goddess Tinge, lover of Hercules, who legendarily pulled Europe apart from Africa to form the Strait Gibraltar. A dramatic drive takes you through La Montagne over a pine-covered headland to the Cap Spartel Lighthouse that lies just 14km west of Tangier. 5km further you’ll get to Grottes d’Hercule where you’ll have much-photographed view from within the mythical dwelling cave of Hercules that resembles a map of Africa. Back to the Medina where you’ll spend a few hours Meandering down the alleyways, within its 15th century Portuguese fortress walls to visit the Kasbah Museum of Mediterranean Culture. Wander up St Andrew’s Church for a spot of gravestone reading, then take in the latest art exhibition at Centre Culturel Ibn Khaldoun.
1 hour • Admission ticket free
3
Caves of Hercules
5km further you’ll get to Grottes d’Hercule where you’ll have much-photographed view from within the mythical dwelling cave of Hercules that resembles a map of Africa.
1 hour • Admission ticket free
4
Medina of Tangier
Back to the Medina where you’ll spend a few hours Meandering down the alleyways, within its 15th century Portuguese fortress walls to visit the Kasbah Museum of Mediterranean Culture. Wander up St Andrew’s Church for a spot of gravestone reading, then take in the latest art exhibition at Centre Culturel Ibn Khaldoun.
4 hours • Admission ticket free
Day 3
Tangier - Chefchaouen - Fes
1 stop
5
Chefchaouen
Leaving the famously decadent Tangier, with its Europe-facing Medina and head into the Rif Mountains. European influence continues in Chefchaouen with its bright blue, Andalusian-tiled medina, with its grand red-hued Kasbah lording it over the Main square of Outa Hmam. Chaouen a city that perched beneath the raw peaks of the Rif Mountains. The « Blue Town » has a mystical blue-washed Medina, surely the prettiest and the smallest when compared to others in the country. The town remained isolated with the Andalusian character architecture. Chaouen is undoubtedly a place to enjoy exploring at random. Afternoon, you head to the Imperial city of Fes, it is more quintessentially Moroccan in its ancient Medina
2 minutes • Admission ticket free
Day 4
Walk and Talk Fes Medina Tour
1 stop
6
Medina of Fez
Do not panic the guide will show you the must-see sites. With your private Fes born and bred guide you will have the opportunity to discover the ancient breeding ground for scholars and artisans and the largest medina of the world. Your will see the America Fondouk, Nejjarines, the Tanneries, the Medersa (Theological college) and Karauine the most ancient university in the world. Your guide will shed light on many tales and 1200 years of history of this UNESCO-protected Medina. When you finish your visit of the medina we will drive out of Fes to have a delicious local food in Lalla Fatiha’s house in Sefrou.
5 hours • Admission ticket free
Day 5
Fes - Meknes - Rabat - Casablanca
3 stops
7
Meknes
We leave the mazing Medina of Fes with its mysteries and secrets of the 9000 alleyways head west to Casablanca. We stop over first for the imperial city of Meknes, we start discovering it from the famed gate Bab El Mansour, Dar Jamai Palace and Museum, the royal stables, Hedim square and Moulay Ismail tomb. Through the narrow lanes to the Mellah where the Jewish families used to live.
1 hour 30 minutes • Admission ticket free
8
Rabat
After Meknes, Rabat the administrative capital will be waiting for you, salute the soldier-knights riding horses in front of the gate to the monumental Hassan tower with the pillared stumps of its mosque being all that remains from the earthquake of 1755. There is also the near-by Mausoleum of the royal family.
1 hour • Admission ticket free
9
Hassan II Mosque
Take the high-way to Casablanca the economic capital of Morocco, after one-hour-long drive (if time allows) You might like to figure out some of its sights, the architectural masterpiece, Hassan II Mosque that completed in the 90s, overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and has a retractable roof to let in sunlight, and one of few mosque the non-Muslim are accorded the rare opportunity to enter.
1 hour • Admission ticket not included
Day 6
Casablanca - El-Jadida - Safi - Essaouira
2 stops
10
Around 8:00am you’ll head southwest of Casablanca to the 15 century Portuguese fortified city of Mazagan known now as El-Jadida, nicknamed «the Deauville of Morocco» its Portuguese structures, fortified ramparts and a system of defense surrounding the Medina which advances out into the sea, all evoke the city’s past history. (Listed as World Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO), an ancient coastal town impressive testimony of Portuguese architecture.
1 hour 30 minutes • Admission ticket free
11
When you leave El-Jadida your road takes you to Safi, the Sardines and Pottery town, most of its old medina was built by the Portuguese in the 16th century. From Safi to the most laid-back beach city in Morocco. Essaouira is more than just a town it is a muse, it’s Jimi Hendrix inspiration site, a source of undying inspiration.
1 hour 30 minutes • Admission ticket free
Day 7
Essaouira City Tour
1 stop
12
Today you’ll have much time to explore Jimi Hendrix’s town, after having your breakfast you’re free to roam in the city that was once and still a haven for hippie backpackers and Gnawa musicians. You can book a local guide, if not you can start your visit by the ramparts a series of forts that were built in the 15th century around the Medina of Mogador. Inside the Medina you’ll have the chance to visit The Mellah (former Jewish quarter), the Morocco’s 3rd fishing port where you can have a delicious fish meal. For the sports-oriented travelers, Essaouira is a place to some fine wind and kitesurfing schools.
8 hours • Admission ticket free
Day 8
Essaouira - Agadir - Tiznit - Sidi Ifni
2 stops
13
Agadir
An early-morning start is recommended for this day. Set your compass for south through the Atlantic Ocean with its white good beaches. You stop for the visit of Agadir, the city that was completely rebuilt following a devastating earthquake in 1960, with its busy port and beach resort sprawling beneath its Kasbah.
1 hour 30 minutes • Admission ticket free
14
Later on, you continue to join the rich and lush lands. The birds national reserve park of Souss-Massa. Mirleft still a nice little place to hole up for a cup of mint tea. You continue onward to the most romantic Art Deco military town ever built on cliff top site. A real Santa Cruz del Mar Pequeno « Holy Cross of the Small Sea » that build in 1930.
1 hour 30 minutes • Admission ticket free
Day 9
Sidi Ifni - Tafraoute
1 stop
15
From Sidi Ifni you head to a village nestled in the gorgeous Ameln Valley and locked in a muscular, red-granite mountains and some rock carvings. Tafrouate the stoned-built villages with around five thousand hardy souls, Tafrouate still one of the must-see relaxed destinations in the country of red and green flag. It worthy a walk around to see curious rock formations such as Napoleon’s Hat or the Pierres Pients, Painted blue and pink by a Belgium artist.
5 hours • Admission ticket free
Day 10
Tafrouate - Akka/Tata
1 stop
16
Leave the village that surrounded by a wind-eroded, jagged panorama of red-granite tors and craggy brown cliffs and rocks through a flyblown roadside town abutted named Akka or oasis « dates », in Berber Language where, are much in evidence. Arrive to Oum El Alek where more rock carvings. Then to Tata, which roughly means « take a break » in Berber Language, to really take a break to recall those days of Saharan caravans, as do the turban-wrapped men sipping tea in the shade. You’ll explore the palmeraie and its orderly array of pink-colored buildings.
4 hours • Admission ticket free
Day 11
Tata - Erg Chigaga Desert
1 stop
17
At the morning you should be prepared to leave the small garrison town that is pretty long way from anywhere, and from whichever direction you’re arriving, head into the largest sand sea in Morocco. To Erg Chigaga through rough-road you’ll encounter a splendid stretch towering dunes and golden sand sea. In the middle of the desert you’ll surely choose to drift off to sleep while watching the twinkling stars after dinner.
Admission ticket free
Day 12
Erg chigaga desert roam
1 stop
18
Always, the best way to live the nomad life and explore the desert and hear its windy whisper is by riding the camel. So, today you will have a chance to fully live a real desert experience with your camel driver to discover the fauna, flora and history of the desert. Lunch will be served in the middle of nowhere in the 300 meter-high dunes.
1 day • Admission ticket free
Day 13
Erg Chigaga - M’hamid El Ghizlane- Todgha gorges
2 stops
19
Todra Gorge
Wake by dawn to watch the sun starting its daily arc with a cool blue morning sky as it replaces the Sahara shadows just before becoming a glowing ball of fire. You exit Erg Chigaga head to north to see Todgha gorges by day light with its gigantic rock walls changing color to magical effects as the day unfolds.
8 hours • Admission ticket free
20
But before getting to Todgha Gorges we’ll stopover in an unusual place that was once the most important settlement in the Valley of Draa with its green pottery. The Zawiya Naciria is still a site of pilgrimage and refuge for the mentally-ill and a working Quranic school with a library that was once the richest in Morocco of ancient illuminated texts containing 4000 books.
1 hour • Admission ticket free
Day 14
Todgha Gorges - Imilchil - Bin Elouidane
1 stop
21
Today we’re going to jump-off for Imilchil and across the Middle Atlas Berber Villages, a dizzying trip that eventually wends its way through the Boutfarda and Taglaft to Bin Elouidane Dom which was one of the earliest and most ambitious of Morocco’s irrigation schemes and has changed much of the lands hereabouts. Recently, many hotels have cropped up on the lake’s shores offering a scenic chance to get away and relax beside the deep-blue waters.
Admission ticket free
Day 15
Bin Elouidane - Ouzoud Waterfalls -Marrakech
1 stop
22
This morning with no rush we head South of Bin Elouidane, around 167km from Marrakech to the most spectacular Cascades d’Ouzoud with their amphitheater of waterfalls falling into the pools in a lush valley that remains invisible till the last moment. The view only gets better as you walk down into the cool of the canyon and in the late-afternoon arching rainbow appear in the mist around the falls. At the bottom, and for a memorable short enjoyable hike you can walk further along the riverbed, Barbary Apes clamor for attention, To reach the picturesque and fascinating Tanaghemlt, a Berber village that connected by semi-undergrounding passages. For longer treks, follow the course of the river valley to the Gramâa Nakrouine caves. In about 17pm we head to Marrakech to spend our night
3 minutes • Admission ticket free
Day 16
Walk and Talk Marrakech Medina Tour
1 stop
23
Medina of Marrakesh
Good Morning land of jokes and fun! Marrakech is your last exploring point of our Morocco Cultural Tour with your private Marrakech born and bred guide as it will be in some other spots. You embark exploring the Red City from its old part with its Medina’s skinny lanes that leads to lavish sites, tombs and religious monuments decked out in marble. Bahia and El-Badii Palace and Saadien’s Tombs will be your targets. Afterward, you driver/Tour Guide will pick you up for the outside medina visit to explore the Majorelle garden, Museum Saint Laurent, Berber Museum. While in Marrakech you will surely encounter thousands of motorcyclists and horse-carts roaming in the city and some of them pull over next the vast square of Jemaa El-Fnaa where it’s carnival night every night and musicians, acrobats, storytellers and slapstick acting troupes tap into the Medina frenetic pulse.
1 day • Admission ticket free
Day 17
Departure
1 stop
24
Marrakech
You either leaving from Marrakech or Casablanca, be sure that your driver/tour guide will coordinate the time of departure with you.
Admission ticket free

Additional info

• Wheelchair accessible
• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
• Service animals allowed
• Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
• Specialized infant seats are available
• Transportation options are wheelchair accessible

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