Morocco Immersion

Your ultimate journey begins with a welcome by your private driver upon arrival in Casablanca. He will meet you after you exit customs/baggage claim and then head to Oualidia, a small village on the Atlantic coast, facing a salt water lagoon and beach.

It has been a long travel day so enjoy the rest of the day at leisure.

This morning, relax on the private beach, swim in the pool or 5 sea water Jacuzzis, enjoy the spa, workout in the gym, play billiards or perhaps indulge in a cooking class. After lunch, depart to Ouirgane in the Atlas Mountains, at the foot of the highest peak in North Africa (Jbel Toubkal). Check in at your hotel Domaine Malika which is nestled in a large valley abundant in pine trees and olive groves, surrounded by the peaks of the High Atlas mountains and bordering Toubkal National Park.

After settling in, enjoy a delicious dinner prepared by Domaine Malika’s chef.

After breakfast, enjoy exploring the stunning villages in the High Atlas Mountains, you can hike for several hours with a guide, walking along the hillside around villages and ride a mule to a Berber Village where you will have a traditional lunch at a Berber family house. Or, visit Tin Mal Mosque, the sole survivor of the once holy 12th century city built by the founder of the Almohad dynasty, Mehdi Ibn Toumarte. Return to Domaine Malika for a delicious dinner made with fresh ingredients from the garden.

Today you will continue your journey to Marrakesh. If you prefer you can hike around Toubkal national Park in the morning then head to Marrakesh for the afternoon. Check in at La Maison Arabe where you will say 3 nights.

As night falls, watch the city come alive in the legendary square, Djemaa el Fna, a UNESCO World Heritage site that hums and pulsates day and night with mystery and magic. By day, feast your eyes and taste succulent dates and the freshest orange juice. See the alchemists, acrobats, plier-wielding “dentists.” At sunset, the carnival atmosphere comes alive, as delectable fare is grilled over coals in the bustling torch-lit open-air markets, while snake charmers, whirling dervishes, musicians, and engaging storytellers seduce the crowds.

After breakfast, meet your guide who will take you on a half day tour of this enchanting palm oasis set where buildings are blushed in hues of rosy earth, the signature color of Marrakech. Visit the remarkable Bahia Palace from the days of the harem, enter the ancient royal Saadian Tombs, explore the vibrant and historic Jewish mellah where some of the best jewelry is found in Morocco, and view the majestic Koutoubia Mosque that dominates the landscape of the 9th century walled medina.

Wind your way through the labyrinth of the spice-filled air of the bustling souk, unchanged for over 1000 years. The maze of alleyways leads to tiny shops flaunting Berber carpets, kilims and caftans, leather goods, silver jewelry, copperware, other handicrafts, stylish dresses, medicinal herbs, and gorgeous antiques.

Enjoy the afternoon at leisure. Take a cooking class, enjoy a Hammam or perhaps do some shopping in the souq!

Depart after breakfast for the seaside town of Essaouira, a former Portuguese settlement and sparkling whitewashed fishing village trimmed in the brilliant azure blue of its skies.

Relax and stroll among woodshops and art galleries, boat builders and sardine fishermen. Among the souks worth visiting are the Fish Market, Spice Market, and Jewelers’ Market. After exploring the old city and artisan shops, head down to the port to indulge in the freshest seafood, or to the beach for camel rides or world-class wind surfing. Return in the late afternoon to Marrakesh.

After breakfast, traverse the breathtaking snow-capped peaks of the High Atlas Mountains, the largest mountain chain in Africa. Follow the Tizi’n’Tichka; one of only two passes through the famed Atlas. Wind your way amid stunning vistas, spectacular rock formations, lush river valleys, and breathtaking natural beauty.

Visit to the fortified village of Ait Ben Haddou, a UNESCO world heritage site and the backdrop for famous films such as Lawrence of Arabia, the Four Feathers, and Last Temptation of Christ. After lunch, on the other side of the mountains, visit the 17th century Taourirt Kasbah while you are in Ouarzazate.

After breakfast, continue your journey along the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs that rise up like turreted sand castles along this ancient caravan-trading route to the Dades Gorge. The fortified villages traditionally were inhabited by specific Berber tribes or single extended families. Today most Kasbahs are in ruin and inhabited by families of storks. Travel through the Dadès Valley past dramatic escarpments and plunging gorges via Tineghir. After checking in at Chez Pierre, head out with a picnic lunch and enjoy hiking in this beautiful region.

After breakfast depart to Erfoud via Todra gorge. The area has long been a popular location for Hollywood films such as The Last Temptation of Christ, Jewel of the Nile, Star Wars, the Mummy, and Sahara, to name a few. Arrive in at Erfoud, a thriving trading post and Morocco’s modern-day Hollywood. Here you will transfer to a 4×4 vehicle and head to Merzouga, the point of departure for your Sahara Desert immersion.

Enjoy a camel safari and admire the sunset from the top of the dunes of Merzouga. Explore the mystical landscape as you ride on camelback, led by a Bedouin guide. Look for nomad families and Touaregs, who are known as the “Blue People” for the indigo dye of their robes. Delight in a Moroccan feast cooked in the elements. After dinner, climb to a high dune to appreciate the vastness of the desert and lights flickering from nomad encampments. After dinner you will be able to enjoy a percussion group playing around a camp fire.

After breakfast at the camp, return to Riad Madu by camel. Kasbah Riad Madu is situated at the foot of the dunes of the Erg Chebbi. The riad has a cozy living room with a welcoming fire place, a corner to relax and read, plenty of outside spaces to have tea, as well as a lovely terrace with stunning views onto the dunes. Relax by the cool swimming pool, ride a quad through the dunes or take a hike around the dunes or in the oasis.

Awake with the sunrise to watch the colors of the desert change before your eyes. After breakfast, return to Erfoud then head to Fez. You will have lunch in Midelt, a sleepy village bursting with colorful minerals and fossils on display by roadside vendors. Venture over the Middle Atlas mountains through fragrant, dense pine and cedar forests, terraced farms, and sienna mud-brick Berber villages. Look for the opportunity to feed wild Barbary Apes en route. Arrive in Fez as the sun sets.

After breakfast, begin your full day private guided tour of Fez, the holiest city in the Islamic world after Mecca and Medina. Tour Fez el-Bali (“Fez the Old”) and its medieval medina (old town), a UNESCO world heritage site crammed with narrow, winding streets, where donkeys laden with goods trawl alongside buyers through the ancient market. Visit centuries-old mosques and universities, see the multi-colored vats of the open-air tanneries, tour the ceramic workshops that create prized Moroccan mosaics, and shop for traditional goods made from copper, ceramics, and leather Fez is the perfect place to hone your bargaining skills in buying souvenirs.

Also visit Fez el Djedid (“Fez the New”), built in the 12th century, where you can admire Fez’s Royal Palace. Explore the mellah (Jewish Quarter), founded in 1438 and once home to tens of thousands of Jews, 40 synagogues, the Bet Din, communal ovens, ritual baths and schools. Visit the recently restored Ibn Danan synagogue and the oldest extant synagogue in Fez. And no trip would be complete without a visit to the Merenid Tombs that offer spectacular panoramic views of Fez.

After breakfast, depart to Moulay Idriss, a small-whitewashed town where the first Arab dynasty was founded in 787 AD. Scenically nestled in a fold of the Rif Mountains and named after the great-grandson of the prophet Mohamed, the town was forbidden to non-Muslims until 1916. Just beyond Moulay Idriss lies the ancient city of Volubilis. A thriving Roman settlement until the 4th century, the ruins and mosaics of Volubilis are near-perfectly preserved, providing a clear window into Roman urban planning and design.

After lunch, continue to Meknes, “the Moroccan Versailles” which was founded at the end of the 17th Century by Moulay Ismail, where the Jewish presence is evidenced by Hebraic epitaphs dating from the Christian era as well as Greek inscriptions that still appear in local Synagogues and a place of pilgrimage where the tomb of Rabbi’ David Benmidan, “The Patron of Meknes” is located. Highlights will also include Bab El Mansour, the Hedim square and the mosque of Moulay Ismail. Continue to Casablanca and arrive as the evening sets.

This morning tour the Mosque before heading to the airport for your departure. Casablanca’s modern attitude and big-city edge make it the most cosmopolitan of all Moroccan cities. Admire the majestic Hassan II Mosque, the largest mosque outside of Mecca and the third largest religious monument in the world.