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Day
1 Arrival in Casablanca,
Morocco
After you check into your hotel, there’s
time to rest or start exploring Morocco’s
pulsating business capital. At 7 p.m. meet the driver either in the hotel or in the airport.
Day 2 Casablanca-Rabat-Meknes-Fez
Follow the infamous Barbary Coast to the imperial city of Rabat,
once lair of the corsairs and now the country’s capital. Sightseeing focuses on the Royal
Palace and residence of King Hassan II, MOHAMMED V MAUSOLEUM, Hassan Tower, and the fortified KASBAH OF OUDAIAS.
Today’s second imperial city is Meknes, with its monumental
gates and city walls, known as the unfinished dream of Sultan Moulay Ismail. Visit the impressive OLD GRANARIES and STABLES,
which housed up to 12,000 horses, and stop at the Market Square
to admire Bab el-Mansour, the finest gateway in North Africa. Continue your journey to Fez.
Day
3 Fez
Snap pictures of the magnificent entrance to the Royal Palace, drive through the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter, and travel on to beautifully ornate Bab
Bou Jeloud, the traditional entrance to old Fez. Today’s
highlight is a visit to the labyrinthine FES-EL-BALI, Morocco’s largest medina: follow your Local Guide to exquisite MEDERSA BOU
INANIA, admire Nejjarine Square and its fountain,
the Karaouiyne Mosque and University, and the Mausoleum of Moulay Idriss. Enjoy a ten-mile drive along the panoramic Route
de Fez, stopping at its best vantage point. Back to your hotel with time to relax by the pool. Tonight your Tour Director
may suggest an optional folklore dinner at a typical Moroccan restaurant.
Day
4 Fez-Erfoud
An unforgettable scenic journey through ever-changing landscapes
on your way to the mystical deep south. Morning break in the quiet Swiss-style village of Ifrane.
Verdant cedar forests give way to volcanic mountains and wind-swept plains as you motor across the Middle Atlas range to Midelt.
Pass fortified mud-and-straw villages, and spot young shepherds driving their flocks to scant pastures. Descend into the spectacular
Ziz Gorges, and arrive in Er-Rachidia, an important crossroad once controlled by the French Foreign Legion. Afterwards, the
landscape becomes progressively more arid, and you enter a stony desert. On your last stretch to Erfoud, an unexpected and
breathtaking surprise: the miraculous and peaceful oasis of Ziz
Valley, dotted with palm-fringed towns, fortified strongholds, and scenes
of timeless rural life.
Day
5 Erfoud
A short drive takes you to holy Rissani, gateway to the Sahara Desert, where a few bowing date palms recall what was once a luxuriant oasis. For a
thousand years this was the principal trading post for caravans from the Niger River, where
gold was exchanged for salt and sugar. See the Grand Gateway of the town and the Mausoleum of Moulay Ali Sharif, the first
ruler of the Alawite dynasty. A thrilling experience is the visit to the colorful SOUKS, the desert tribes’ market,
where Tuareg, Berber, and Blue People meet and animatedly swap silver jewelry and rugs for vegetables, salt, and other goods,
by slapping one another’s hands. just 45 klm from erfoud you will discover the real desert called ERG ECHBBI,there you
can have a camel short trip to catch either the sunset or the sunrise.
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Day
6 Erfoud-Ouarzazate
Motor along the eastern slopes of the High Atlas Mountains to
the enchanting oasis of Tinerhir. Follow its lush valley, where crops grow in the shade of date palms, hemmed in by mud-brick
villages and barren mountains, to one of Morocco’s most impressive natural sights: the Todra Gorge, or the “Grand Canyon
of the Sahara.” After lunch explore its narrowest point, just 33 feet wide, but some 950
feet high, with a crystal-clear river running through it. Drive further west through the Dadès Valley, called “Valley of the Thousand Kasbahs”
for its superb and noble fortresses, and “Roses Valley.” Arrive at the resort town of Ouarzazate,
famous for its film studios. Before heading to your hotel, time for a visit to the carefully restored TAOURIRT KASBAH, where
outstanding views of the fortified town and valley can be seen from the terrace.
Day 7 Ouarzazate-Marrakesh
Pass
through picturesque villages surrounded by craggy mountains while motoring towards the 7,414-foot-high Tizi-n-Tichka Pass
in the heart of the High Atlas mountains. Each new twist in the road leads to a different, more dramatic landscape. Leaving
the pass behind, the landscape gradually changes to a green mantle. Lunchtime arrival in the red-colored imperial city of
Marrakech situated in an oasis of more than half a million
palm trees and surrounded by deep walls. In the late afternoon enjoy a leisurely carriage ride and a stroll through the exquisite
YVES SAINT LAURENT
GARDENS.
Day 8 Marrakesh
Guided half-day
sightseeing includes MENARA PARK with its man-made lake and quaint pavilion, BAHIA PALACE, the elaborately decorated 16th-century
SAADIAN TOMBS, and Djemaa El-Fna, the palpitating town center dominated by the 222-foot-high Koutoubia Minaret. Afternoon
at leisure to catch up on your postcards or bargain hunt in the souks. Tonight an optional excursion not to be missed: the
30-horse fantasia and Moroccan feast “Chez Ali.”
Day 9 Marrakesh-Casablanca
Head across farming country towards Casablanca,
Morocco’s modern seaport with a strong French accent,
recalling scenes from the film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Sightseeing focuses on the magnificent United Nations Square, the Arab
League Park, Anfa’s residential quarters,
the SYNAGOGUE, the church of OUR LADIES OF LOURDES,
and to top it off, the imposing HASSAN II MOSQUE, built in a breathtaking setting on the shores of the Atlantic
Ocean. Tonight enjoy a farewell dinner celebrating the success of your fascinating Moroccan adventure.
Day 10
transfert to the airport
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