17-Day Morocco Cultural Tour from Tangier to Marrakech via Erg Chigaga

About This Tour

About Bin El Ouidane

Morocco

Bin El Ouidane

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What's Included

• English-, French-, and Spanish-speaking professional driver/tour guide
• Shuttle from and to the airport
• Accommodation is organised at all stages of the tour
• Air-conditioned vehicle
• Visit to women's cooperatives
• Toll road fees, fuel charges, and all taxes
• Transport insurance
• An opportunity to give back and meet up with locals
• Camel ride in the desert
• Daily breakfast

Not Included

• Flights
• Travel insurance
• Gratuities
• Entrance fees to historical monuments
• Additional services
• Drinks
• Anything not mentioned in 'included'

Itinerary

1. 1
   Day 01

   Arrival in Tangier

   If you arrive by plane or ferry, our shuttle, holding a card with your name, will be waiting to drive you to your hotel.

2. 2
   Day 02

   Tangier, Cap Spartel, and the Medina

   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 of Gibraltar. A dramatic drive takes you through La Montagne over a pine-covered headland to the Cap Spartel Lighthouse, just 14 km west of Tangier. Five kilometres further, you'll reach the Grottes d'Hercule, where you'll enjoy the much-photographed view from within the mythical dwelling cave of Hercules that resembles a map of Africa. Back in the medina, 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 to St Andrew's Church for a spot of gravestone reading, then take in the latest art exhibition at the Center Cultural Ibn Khaldoun.

3. 3
   Day 03

   Tangier to Chefchaouen and Fes

   Leaving the famously decadent Tangier with its Europe-facing medina, you 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. Chefchaouen is a city perched beneath the raw peaks of the Rif Mountains. The "Blue Town" has a mystical blue-washed medina, the prettiest and the smallest compared to others in the country. The town remained isolated, preserving its Andalusian character and architecture. Chaouen is undoubtedly a place to enjoy exploring at random. In the afternoon, you head to the imperial city of Fes, quintessentially Moroccan in its ancient medina.

4. 4
   Day 04

   Guided Medina Tour of Fes and Sefrou

   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 1,200 years of history in this UNESCO-protected medina. When you finish visiting the medina, we will drive you out of Fes to enjoy delicious house-made food at Lalla Fatiha's place in Sefrou.

5. 5
   Day 05

   Fes, Meknes, Rabat, and Casablanca

   We leave the amazing medina of Fes, with its mysteries and secrets of the 9,000 alleyways, and head west to Casablanca. We stop first at the imperial city of Meknes, where we begin discovering it from the famed gate of Bab El Mansour, Dar Jamai Palace and Museum, the royal stables, Hedim Square, and Moulay Ismail's tomb, then continue through the narrow lanes to the Mellah, where Jewish families used to live. 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 nearby mausoleum of the royal family. After a one-hour drive, if time allows, take the highway to Casablanca, Morocco's economic capital. You might like to discover some of its sights, including the architectural masterpiece Hassan II Mosque, completed in the 1990s, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and featuring a retractable roof to let in sunlight. It is one of the few mosques that non-Muslims are accorded the rare opportunity to enter.

6. 6
   Day 06

   Casablanca to El-Jadida, Safi, and Essaouira

   Around 8 am, you'll head southwest of Casablanca to the 15th-century Portuguese fortified city of Mazagan, now known as El-Jadida, nicknamed "the Deauville of Morocco". Its Portuguese structures, fortified ramparts, and the system of defence surrounding the medina that advances out into the sea all evoke the city's past history. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is an ancient coastal town with impressive testimony to Portuguese architecture. When you leave El-Jadida, your road takes you to Safi, the sardines and pottery town, where most of the old medina was built by the Portuguese in the 16th century. From Safi, continue to the most laid-back beach city in Morocco. Essaouira is more than just a town - it is a muse, Jimi Hendrix's inspiration site, and a source of undying inspiration.

7. 7
   Day 07

   Explore Essaouira's Medina

   Today, you'll have plenty of time to explore Jimi Hendrix's town. After breakfast, you're free to roam in the city that once was, and still is, a haven for hippie backpackers and Gnawa musicians. You can book a local guide, or if not, you can start your visit at the ramparts, a series of forts built in the 15th century around the medina of Mogador. Inside the medina, you'll have the chance to visit the Mellah, the former Jewish quarter, and Morocco's third fishing port, where you can enjoy a delicious fish meal. For sports-oriented travellers, Essaouira is also a place for fine windsurfing and kitesurfing schools.

8. 8
   Day 08

   Essaouira to Agadir, Tiznit, and Sidi Ifni

   An early morning start is recommended for this day. Set your compass south along the Atlantic Ocean with its fine white beaches. You stop to visit Agadir, the city that was completely rebuilt following a devastating earthquake in 1960, with its busy port and beach resort sprawling beneath its Kasbah. Later on, you continue through rich and lush lands to the Birds National Reserve Park of Souss-Massa. Mirleft is still a lovely little place to hole up for a cup of mint tea. You then continue onward to the most romantic Art Deco military town ever built on such a site. A real Santa Cruz del Mar Pequeno, "Holy Cross of the Small Sea", was built in 1930.

9. 9
   Day 09

   Sidi Ifni to Tafraoute

   From Sidi Ifni, you head to a village nestled in the gorgeous Ameln Valley and locked among muscular red-granite mountains and rock carvings. Tafraoute, the stone-built village with around five thousand hardy souls, is still one of the must-see relaxed destinations in the country of the red and green flag. It is worth a walk around to see curious rock formations such as Napoleon's Hat or the Pierres Peintes, painted blue and pink by a Belgian artist.

10. 10
    Day 10

    Tafraoute to Akka and Tata

    Leave the village surrounded by a wind-eroded, jagged panorama of red-granite tors, craggy brown cliffs, and rocks, and pass through the flyblown roadside town of Akka, an oasis whose name means "dates" in the Berber language, where they are much in evidence. Arrive at Oum El Alek, where there are more rock carvings. Then continue to Tata, which roughly means "take a break" in the Berber language, to pause and recall the 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-coloured buildings.

11. 11
    Day 11

    Tata to Erg Chigaga Desert

    In the morning, be prepared to leave the small garrison town, which is pretty far from anywhere, and head into the largest sand sea in Morocco. On the way to Erg Chigaga, along rough roads, you'll encounter a splendid stretch of towering dunes and a golden sea of sand. In the middle of the desert, you'll surely choose to drift off to sleep under the twinkling stars after dinner.

12. 12
    Day 12

    Camel Exploration in Erg Chigaga

    The best way to live a nomadic life, explore the desert, and hear its windy whispers is by riding a camel. So today, you will have the chance to fully experience a real desert with your camel guide and discover the desert's fauna, flora, and history. Lunch will be served in the middle of nowhere among the 300-metre-high dunes.

13. 13
    Day 13

    Erg Chigaga, M'hamid El-Ghizlane, and Todgha Gorges

    Wake at dawn to watch the sun begin its daily arc, as the cool blue morning sky replaces the Sahara's shadows before it becomes a glowing ball of fire. You leave Erg Chigaga and head north to see the Todgha gorges by daylight, with their gigantic rock walls changing colour to magical effect as the day unfolds. Before getting there, we'll stop in an unusual place that was once the most important settlement in the Draa Valley, known for its green pottery. The Zawiya Naciria is still a site of pilgrimage and refuge for the mentally ill, and it remains a working Quranic school with a library that was once the richest in Morocco in ancient illuminated texts, containing 4,000 books.

14. 14
    Day 14

    Todgha Gorges to Imilchil and Bin El Ouidane

    Today, we're going to set off for Imilchil and cross the Middle Atlas Berber villages on a dizzying trip that eventually winds its way through Boutfarda and Taglaft to Bin El Ouidane Dam, one of the earliest and most ambitious of Morocco's irrigation schemes, which has changed much of the surrounding land. Recently, many hotels have sprung up on the lake's shores, offering a scenic chance to get away and relax beside the deep-blue waters.

15. 15
    Day 15

    Bin El Ouidane, Ouzoud Waterfalls, and Marrakech

    This morning, with no rush, we head south of Bin El Ouidane, around 167 km from Marrakech, to the spectacular Cascades d'Ouzoud, with their amphitheatre of waterfalls plunging into pools in a lush valley that remains invisible until the last moment. The view only gets better as you walk down into the cool canyon, and in the late afternoon an arching rainbow appears in the mist around the falls. At the bottom, for a memorable and enjoyable short hike, you can walk further along the riverbed, where Barbary apes clamour for attention, and reach the picturesque and fascinating Tanaghemlt, a Berber village connected by semi-underground passages. For longer treks, follow the course of the river valley to the Gramâa Nakrouine caves.

16. 16
    Day 16

    Guided Medina Tour of Marrakech

    Today, with your private Marrakech-born-and-bred guide, you explore the Red City from its old quarter, where the medina's skinny lanes lead to lavish sites, tombs, and religious monuments decked out in marble. Bahia Palace, El Badi Palace, and the Saadian Tombs will be your targets. Afterwards, your driver-tour guide will pick you up for the outside-medina visit to explore the Majorelle Garden, the Yves Saint Laurent Museum, and the Berber Museum. While in Marrakech, you will surely encounter thousands of motorcyclists and horse carts roaming 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.

17. 17
    Day 17

    Departure from Marrakech

    Airport shuttle. Our Morocco Cultural Tour ends today, and we hope you had a good time with us. Please note that your driver will pick you up three hours before your departure.

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