MOROCCO IN ONE WEEK

We have the itinerary for you and tried it out.

This tour can start from Marrakech or any other airport.

We prefered Marrakech as it gives us the chance to do a complete circle.

This way we can avoid to do the same road twice what comes in handy.

We will discover the diversity and richness of Morocco with the Imperial cities and the incomparable south.

The cities on our road map are Marrakech the trendiest city of Africa. Casablanca the world-famous financial capital and known thanks to the film "Casablanca". (Yes, Ricks' Café exists.)

Meknes the city with a hundred minarets, a UNESCO world heritage site. Fez (the religious capital ) of Morocco with one of the most beautiful and original medinas ( going back to the 8th century) in the Arab and Oriental world.

Ifrane, nicknamed Little Switzerland, for the beauty of its mountains and its typical architecture.

Erfoud, situated north of Rissani and the gateway to the desert situated north of Rissani.

Tinghir, a small but crucial city situated in an oasis in the south of Morocco,

Ouarzazate is known mainly as the Hollywood of Morocco where, several international blockbusters, were recorded and where the purity of the light will enchant you.

We used during these trip accommodations adapted to what we were doing. So we looked for a quality product easily accessible, clean and respecting all safety regulations. Once we had them, we filtered them further by sleep comfort, quality of breakfast and free wifi.

We left our car always by the hotel and took small taxis to bring us where we needed to be so that we could save some precious time.

We used local guides for guided visits to the medina and the musea.

The rest we did by ourselves with the help of our GPS.

D - 1 Marrakech / Casablanca (240 km) Highway

There is an alternative panoramic road, it is free but takes time.

At around 8.30 am, after having a delicious breakfast, we decided to start slowly and let the country and city work in on us. The objective was the Medina and the surroundings. We visited the " Koutoubia" from the outside and enjoyed the beautiful gardens and patios. We strolled further and landed on the Jma el fnaa place where it was still quite early in the morning. This was also the spot where we met with our guide to show us the medina and the souks. We ended up in the Moroccan Culinary arts museum where we had an early lunch.

If you go to a country that you did not know very well, try to avoid in the beginning to exotic meals and drink from a closed bottle.

We planned to start at 1 pm and with 15 minutes delay, we took the road to Casablanca (depending on the traffic you will need between 2 and 3 hours ) to reach the financial capital.

First, we checked in our hotel.

We started or discovery on the Ain Diab Corniche, next to the Atlantic ocean. At the end of the Corniche, we already discovered the Hassan II Mosque, the biggest in Africa the second highest with a laser on top (visible 3O km and directed to Meka) and the seventh-largest ( capacity in the world ). If you like shopping with a view over the ocean Menara Mall is the best place to go and you will find all international brands. Will you find here things cheaper, I would say no. What we did, we prefered to go to the United Nations Place in the heart of the city, settled on one of the many terraces and saw the daily life passing in front of us.

Depending on the season you can either stay in Casablanca or Rabat.

The distance between both is only 1 hour but since Rabat is the Capital with a lot of international meetings it is not always easy to find a room.

We finished our evening with a lovely dish of fresh fish on the corniche and went back to the hotel for an early start the next morning.

D - 2 Casablanca/Rabat/Meknes/Volubilis/Fez (km 310).

Biggest part Highway.

Early breakfast at the hotel.

Departure to Rabat. Every time I have the ^pleasure to visit Rabat, I have this feeling. I am still figuring out why. Is it the Sea, the ambience of the capital? I do not know for the moment but will inform you once I know the answer.

You can visit the Royal Palace, the Hassan Tower and the Mohamed V Mausoleum but as we have not much time we chose for Kasbah des Oudaias which is amazing ( a part of it is being renovated.) After our lunch with consisted out a delicious " Friture de Poisson," we continued on our way to Meknes, the imperial city founded as the capital at the time of Sultan Moulay Ismail. Meknes is a nice city but we chose not to stress too much and visit Volubilis which is a must and combine it with visits to 2 beautiful wineries. Chateau Roslane and Volubilia-Domaine de la Zouinia.

As there is only a small distance between Fez and Meknes, about a 50 minutes drive, you can stay in either of the cities but we decided to go to Fez as we wanted an early start in the religious capital, to cover as much of their beautiful medina as we could.

We decided on a small snack in an international fast-food ( sorry) and went to our small hotel next to the Medina.

D -3 Fez.

Another early breakfast as we left at 7 am ( yes it hurts during holidays)

Discovery of Fez, the spiritual capital of the kingdom and the most majestic of the imperial cities: Fez Elbali ( ancient Fez) spoils us with its historical monuments:" the medersa ( school) Attarine, the Karaouine mosque, the first university in the world, the Nejjarine fountain, the district of the "teinturiers" and the souks and the Medina ( that dates from the 8th century). We started at the medina and the crazy thing is that when you go early you feel the daily life and the rhythm sippling in the medina and noises gain from the quiet in the morning.

At 5 pm we went back to the hotel as we wanted to prepare us for the desert and the long road that laid ahead of us.

D - 4 Fez/Ifranches/Midelt/Erfoud (km 420).

After breakfast, we took some time to control the vehicle as roads would become difficult, anyway if you compare it with the highways that we have taken from the beginning. We also for the first time we had a picnic with us which gave us the liberty to stop where we wanted without losing to much time with a meal in a restaurant.

Ifrane situated in the heart of an impressive cedar forest surrounded with several rivers was the first city to tick off.

(we put it on our bucket list to visit again in winter.)

Midelt situated in the Mid Atlas was a nice and necessary pipi stop before we continued in the direction of Rich via the pass of Tizi-n-Talrhemt (camel pass) with an altitude of 1907m.

After having conquered this pass we continued in the direction of our final destination of the day "Erfoud" leaving the Ziz valley and the lake of Hassan Addakhil behind us.

Dinner and overnight stay in a luxury camp .

J - 5 Erfoud/Tinghir/Ouarzazate (km 310 )

Breakfast at the hotel.

After having dedicated the last day at driving and enjoying the most beautiful panoramas we wanted some more action.

The first stop on our road map was the green oasis of Tinghir.

Next on our todo list, the "Gorges de Todra".

We left our car parked in safe hands and discovered them on foot which was an impressive experience amongst steep walls up to 300 meters high. Here we had our second picnic as we wanted to have time to visit the "Georges du Dades" which we reached after passing Boulmane" the city on a mountain slope".

After we called it a day we headed for Ouarzazate which we reached after passing through Kelaa Megouna" the region of roses, and the Palmeraie de Skoura.

Here we settled for a small beautiful hotel in the Palmeraie of Ouarzazate.

D - 6 Ouarzazate/Marrakech (km 210)

Breakfast.

As the rhythm has been relatively high during the entire week, we planned today only one visit.

Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou is a UNESCO world heritage site but also has served as a perfect backdrop for countless films, for instance, the game of thrones. The last laps weigh the heaviest. That was also the case here. We had still to overcome the many hairpin bends of the Tizi-n-Tichka pass (2260 m altitude) before we arrived safely back in Marrakech.

D - Marrakech

We decided on a nice hotel next to the medina this time and were ready, after this intensive week, for everything that Marrakech us had to offer.

The itinerary is built this way that you can start it from Casablanca, Fez or Ouarzazate. We went into the desert and did some off-road , so we recommend a 4x4 for this trip.

(Due to the current outbreak of Covid-19, the activities and monuments mentioned are likely to be inaccessible at this time. For more information on travel conditions in Morocco)