14-Day Morocco Tour from Tangier to Essaouira with Sahara Camp

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Day 01

Welcome to Tangier

• Welcome 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.

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Day 02

Tangier City Exploration

• We start this tour from the gateway of Europe to Africa, Tangier named for the goddess Tinge, and the lover of Hercules, who mythically 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 a 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.

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Day 03

Journey to Chefchaouen

• Leaving the famously decadent Tangier, with its Europe-facing Medina, and skip inland 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 is 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.

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Day 04

Leisure in Chefchaouen, Travel to Fes

• You will have a free morning to discover Chefchaouen 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. Chefchaouen is undoubtedly a place to enjoy exploring at random.
• Later on, you will be picked up by your driver/tour guide and head south to Fes where you can prepare for tomorrow’s amazing tour in its mysteries and secrets of the 9000 alleyways that make it a maze, do not panic the guide will show you the must-see sites.

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Day 05

Fes Medina Tour

• 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 in the world.
• You will see the America Fondouk, Nejjarines, the Tanneries, the Medersa (Theological college), and Karaouine, the first established 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 to the medina, we will drive you out of Fes to have delicious home-made food at Lalla Fatiha’s place in Sefrou.

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Day 06

From Fes to Merzouga Desert

• An early-morning start is recommended for this day. We leave the amazing Medina of Fes with its mysteries and secrets of the 9000 alleyways and head southeast towards Merzouga and the gateway into the golden dunes of the Sahara desert.
• En route, we will pass by the cedar forests of Ifran, the Switzerland of Morocco, where you might think that you are in the Alps. If we’re lucky, we’ll come across the Barbary Macaques on our way to Midelt where we’ll stopover for lunch.
• After eating, we drive through the Middle Atlas Mountains to reach the Ziz Valley, which is considered to be among the largest producer oasis dates in Morocco. Then it’s off to Merzouga with its highest dunes in Morocco.
• You can store any baggage while packing an overnight bag to bring along. You’ll have the chance to be accompanied by a camel and blue-turban-robed guide into the sandy seas.
• After an hour-long camel ride, you will be among the luckiest to watch the sunset over the Sahara dunes and spend a night in a Bedouin-style tent.

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Day 07

Merzouga Desert Adventure to Dades Gorges

• This morning, you’ll wake up with the sun shining on your face to witness what we hope is a glorious sunrise among the dunes. Meanwhile, watch the light creep slowly down the dunes and pull all the world around you outside their warmth-heavy mound of blankets for an early breakfast.
• After an hour-long camel ride back out of the desert, you will depart and head for Erfoud where you can marvel at the million-year-old fossils that the area is famous for.
• Then heading north for a sublime experience in the Todgha Gorges where we’ll be stuck between the gigantic rock walls.
• Arriving at Dades Gorges, rust-red and mauve mountains. A series of crumbling Kasbahs and Ksours line the valley in the Berber villages to the Monkey Fingers Mountains.
• If we get there earlier and you still have some energy to hike a couple of hours, we will drop off our luggage at the hotel and get dressed for the hike.

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Day 08

Dades Gorges to Taliouine via Ouarzazate and Ait Benhaddou

• Shadowing the High Atlas Mountains as you head west brings you to Ouarzazate via the valley of roses and daggers.
• While you’re in Ouarzazate, you might like to explore home to Taourirt Kasbah and the "Ouallywood" studio.
• From here, head past Ouarzazate to Ait Benhaddou, the 11th-century UNESCO-protected red mud-brick ksar that has formed the backdrop for many Hollywood movie productions such as Lawrence of Arabia, Jesus of Nazareth, Gladiator, Game of Thrones, and many others.
• The next stop is in Taliouine, the African center of red gold- saffron, the world’s most expensive spice.

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Day 09

From Taliouine to Marrakech via Taroudant and Tizi n’Test

• From Taliouine to Marrakech via Taroudant, which is considered to be one of the most elegant purely Berber towns of Morocco with its majestic, tawny-brown, and honey-gold circuit of 7km walls.
• While you stroll and linger around, note the distinctive, highly beautiful blue veils that many older local ladies put on.
• Later on, you will be driven via the road that was blasted through the High Atlas Mountain by the French in the late 1920s and famed by Tizi n’Test, which offers one of the best panoramic drives in Morocco.
• Heading north to Marrakech, we will stop over at Tinmal village to visit the 1156-year mosque.

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Day 10

Marrakech Medina Exploration

• Today, with your private Marrakech born and bred guide, you embark on exploring the Red City from its old part with its Medina’s skinny lanes that lead to lavish sites, tombs, and religious monuments decked out in marble.
• Bahia and El-Badii Palace and Saadian’s Tombs will be your targets.
• Afterward, your driver/tour guide will pick you up for the outside medina visit to explore the Majorelle Garden, Museum Saint Laurent, and 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 to 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's frenetic pulse.

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Day 11

Travel from Marrakech to Essaouira

• After having your breakfast at the Riad, you’ll be picked up by your driver/tour guide around 08:00 am, and you will head to Essaouira.
• Beside the road, we’ll have the chance to see the tree goats’ phenomenon, before having enough time to explore Jimi Hendrix’s town.
• 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 find some fine wind and kitesurfing schools.

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Day 12

Discovering Essaouira and Journey to El-Jadida and Casablanca

• Around 8 am, you’ll head north to the 15th-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 with impressive testimony of Portuguese architecture.
• Driving north to Casablanca where you spend your last night in Morocco before leaving.

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Day 13

Exploring Casablanca and Rabat, Return to Tangier

• If time didn’t allow you to visit Casablanca’s sights yesterday, you must do it this morning. After we're done with Casa, Morocco’s political and administrative capital will be waiting. Rabat may be short on top-drawer tourist attractions, but it compensates with plenty of charm.
• You will have the opportunity to explore the city in a short sojourn, first through the monumental Hassan Tower with the pillared stumps of its mosque being all that remains from the earthquake of 1755. There is also the nearby Mausoleum of the royal family. And do not miss to have a cup of mint tea in red Oudayas, a walled village within a city.
• Head further north to the famously decadent Tangier which has always carried a slightly seedy allure, in part due to its time as a semi-independent international zone that attracted eccentric foreigners, artists, and spies. The corniche bustles.

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Day 14

Farewell from Tangier

• Airport Shuttle!
• We tell you «see you soon» instead of goodbye, and we hope that you’ve spent with us one of your memorable tours ever.