Marrakech Trip Overview
Start and end in Marrakesh! With the In-depth Cultural tour Mind the Gap – 11-Days tour from Marrakech, you have a 11 days tour package taking you through Marrakesh, Morocco and 8 other destinations in Morocco.
Additional Info
* Duration: 11 days
* Starts: Marrakech, Morocco
* Trip Category: Cultural & Theme Tours >> Cultural Tours
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What to Expect When Visiting Marrakech, Marrakech-Safi, Morocco
Start and end in Marrakesh! With the In-depth Cultural tour Mind the Gap – 11-Days tour from Marrakech, you have a 11 days tour package taking you through Marrakesh, Morocco and 8 other destinations in Morocco.
Itinerary
Day 1: Marrakech airport transfer
Pass By: Marrakech, Marrakech, Marrakech-Safi
Pickup from Marrakesh airport to your accommodation. Overnight stay in Marrakesh.
No meals included on this day.
Accommodation included: Overnight stay in Marrakech: Riad Anya or similar
Day 2: Marrakech guided visit
Pass By: Marrakech, Marrakech, Marrakech-Safi
After breakfast, our licensed local guide takes you for a visit to Marrakech.
Stop At: Jemaa el-Fnaa, 38 Jemaa el-Fna, Rue El Ksour, Marrakech Morocco
Think of it as live -action channel-surfing. You will discover drama already in progress. The hoopla and halpa (street theatre). The daily performance is underway. Snake charmers blast oboes to calm cobras hissing at careening Vespas; henna tattoo artists, water sellers in fringed hats, and musicians tune up their instruments.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: Koutoubia Mosque, Rue el Ksour, Derb Sabai, 13, Marrakech 40000 Morocco
The Koutoubia serves a spiritual purpose, but its minaret is also a point of reference for international architecture. The 12th-century 70m-high minaret is the prototype for Seville’s La Giralda and Rabat’s Le Tour Hassan, and it’s a monumental cheat sheet of Moorish ornament: scalloped keystone arches, jagged merlons (crenellations), and mathematically pleasing proportions. When the present mosque and its minaret were finished by Almohad Sultan Yacoub el-Mansour in the 12th century, 100 booksellers were clustered around its base – hence the name, from Kutubiyyin, or booksellers.
Duration: 10 minutes
Stop At: Medersa Ben Youssef, Ben Youssef Square, Marrakech 40000 Morocco
The Ben Youssef Madrasa is an Islamic madrasa functioning today as a historical site, the Ben Youssef Madrasa was the largest Islamic college in Morocco at its height. The madrasa is named after the adjacent Ben Youssef Mosque founded in the 14 th century by the Almoravid Sultan Ali ibn Yusuf. “You who may enter my door, may your highest hopes be exceeded” read the inscription over the entryway. This Quranic learning center was once the largest in North Africa, and remains among the most splendid
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: Palacio da Bahia, 5 Rue Riad Zitoun el Jdid, Marrakech 40000 Morocco
What you could build with Morocco’s top artisans at your service for 14 years, and here you have it: The Bahia palace. The palace is a 19th century building, consisting of rooms decorated with stunning stuccos, paintings and mosaics palace and a set of gardens located in Marrakech, Morocco. intended to be the greatest palace of its time. The name of the Bahia Palace means in Arabic “brilliance”. As in other buildings of the period in other countries, it was intended to capture the essence of the Islamic and Moroccan styles. There is a 2-acre (8,000 m²) garden with rooms opening onto courtyards.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: Saadian Tombs, Rue De La Kasbah, Marrakech 40000 Morocco
Anyone who says you can’t take it with you hasn’t seen the Saadian tombs, near the Kasbah mosque. Saadian Sultan Ahmed Al Mansour Ed Dahbi spared no expense on his tomb, importing Italian Carrara marble and gilding honeycomb muqarnas (decorative plasterwork) with pure gold to make the Chamber of 12 Pillars a suitably glorious mausoleum. Al Mansour died in splendor in 1603, but a few decades later, Alaouite Sultan Moulay Ismail walled up the Saadian Tombs to keep his predecessors out of sight and mind. It was the French who opened them up again in 1917.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: Dar Si Said Museum, 8 Rue de la Bahia, Marrakech 40000 Morocco
A monument to Moroccan maalems (master artisans), Dar Si Said showcases Marrakech’s graceful riad architecture and regional craftsmanship. Grand Vizier Bou Ahmed had the power, but his brother Si Said apparently had the master artisans to make his home a model of quiet elegance.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: Jardin Majorelle, Rue Yves Saint Laurent, Marrakech 40090 Morocco
Other guests bring flowers, but Yves Saint Laurent gifted the entire Jardin Majorelle to Marrakech, the city that adopted him in 1964 After a sequence of events that included, in rather unfortunate order: launching hippie fashion, and an obligatory stint in the French Military. Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé bought the electric-blue villa and its garden to preserve the vision of its original owner, landscape painter Jacques Majorelle, and keep it open to the public. Per his instructions, Yves Saint Laurent’s ashes were scattered over Jardin Majorelle upon his June 2008 passing.
After the guided visit, free time & overnight stay in Marrakech
Duration: 20 minutes
Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Overnight stay in Marrakech: Riad Anya or similar
Day 3: Marrakech – Ait Ben Haddou – Ouarzazate – Boumalne Dades
Pass By: Tizi n Tichka, Imlil Village, Ouarzazate 45000 Morocco
Our tour driver picks you up from your accommodation in Marrakech. The journey takes via the High Atlas Mountains, through many authentic towns and Berber villages crossing Tizi N Tishka pass which connects Marrakech with pre-Saharan oases. The road ascends and takes a turn for the scenic amid oak trees, walnut groves, and oleander bushes. Past the village of Taddert, the landscape is stripped of color. Atop the Tizi n’Tichka that is 2962m altitude, we gradually descend into the lunar landscape of the Anti Atlas and the desert beyond.
Stop At: Telouet Kasbah, Telouet Morocco
Passing the Tizi N Tishka pass, The journey crosses the village of Telouet visiting Telouet Kasbah. The once-glorious stronghold has been left to crumble, but the best indication of Telouet’s former position as the center of a trans-Saharan trading empire is the ornate 2nd-floor reception rooms. No less than 300 artisans worked on salons faceted with stucco, zellige (colorful geometric mosaic tiles), and painted cedar ceilings that make Marrakesh’s royal Bahia Palace seem like an amateur artisanal effort. After independence, Pasha Glaoui was ousted from the Bahia Palace and died shortly thereafter of cancer in exile in Telouet.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: Ait Ben Haddou, Ait Ben Haddou, Souss-Massa
We visit also the Unesco protected kasbah seems suspiciously frozen in time: with Hollywood touch-ups, it still resembles its days in the 11th century as an Almoravid caravanserai. Movie buffs recognize this red mudbrick kasbah 32km from Ouarzazate from Lawrence of Arabia, Jesus of Nazareth (for which much of Ait Benhaddou was rebuilt), Jewel of the Nile, and Gladiator.
Duration: 30 minutes
Pass By: Ouarzazate, Ouarzazate, Draa-Tafilalet
We drive around 35km from Ait Benhaddou kasbah to reach Ouarzazate. It is Strategically located and has gotten by largely on its wits instead of its looks. For centuries, people from Atlas, Draa & Dades valley converged to do business at Ouarzazate’s sprawling Tourist kasbah, and a modern garrison town was established here in the 1920s to oversee France’s colonial interests. The movie business gradually took off in Ouarzazate after the French protectorate left in the 1950s, and Ouallywood movie studios have built quite a résumé providing convincingly exotic backdrops for movies supposedly set in ancient Rome, Somalia, and Egypt.
Stop At: Taourirt Kasbah, Avenue Mohammed V, Ouarzazate 45000 Morocco
Unlike other Glaoui kasbahs, Taourirt escaped ruin by moonlighting, as a Hollywood backdrop and attracting the attention of Unesco which was carefully restored small sections of the Glaoui inner sanctum.
Duration: 10 minutes
Pass By: Skoura, Skoura, Beni Mellal-Khenifra
We drive from Ouarzazate to Skoura town.
By the time caravans laden with gold and spice reached Skoura, the camels must have been gasping. After a two-month journey across the Sahara, Blue-robed Tuareg desert traders offloaded cargo from caravans in Skoura, where middle Atlas mountaineers packed it onto mules headed to Fez. Ouarzazate is now the region’s commercial center, but Skoua’s historic mudbrick castles remain, and desert traders throng Monday & Thursday souqs brimming with intensely flavourful desert produce. When market days are over and palm-tree shadows stretch across the road, no one seems in hurry to leave. Elsewhere, life goes on as usual – but in Skoura, it remains a wonder.
Pass By: El Kelaa M’gouna, El Kelaa M’gouna, Souss-Massa
We reach El Kelaa M’gouna town. Although it takes its name from the nearby M’Goun mountain, the small town of Kelaa M’Gouna is famous for roses and daggers. Some 50km from Skoura, pink roses start peeking through dense roadside hedgerows. During the May rose harvest you will see rose garlands everywhere, especially during the town’s signature rose festival that takes place on the first weekend of May.
Stop At: Boumalne Dades, Boumalne Dades, Souss-Massa
Nomads crossings rose valleys and two-tone kasbahs: even on paper, the Dades valley stretches the imagination. From the daunting High Atlas to the north to the rugged Jebel Saghro range south, the valley is dotted with oases and mudbrick palaces that give the region its fairytale nickname – Valley of a thousand kasbahs.
Overnight stay in Boumalne Dades.
Duration: 10 hours
Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Dinner
Accommodation included: Overnight stay in Boumalne Dades: Dar Blues or similar
Day 4: Boumalne Dades – Todra Gorge – Tinejdad – Erfoud – Merzouga Desert
Stop At: Todgha Gorge, R 703 near the town of Tinerhir, Tinerhir 45520 Morocco
Being stuck between a rock and a hard place is a sublime experience in the Todra Gorge, where the massive fault dividing the High Atlas from the Saghro mountain is at some points just wide enough for a crystal-clear river and single-file trekkers to squeeze through. The road from Tinghir passes green Palmeras and Berber villages until, 15km long, high walls of pink and Grey rock close in around the road. The approach is thrilling and somehow urgent, as though the doors of heaven were about to close before you.
Duration: 20 minutes
Pass By: Tinejdad, Tinejdad, Meknes-Tafilalet Region
Back when caravans arrived loaded with gold and dazed after months of Sahara sun, they were understandably skittish – but Tinjdad (Nomad in Berber language) put them at ease. Five Berber and Saharan tribes crossed paths at this hitching post, quenching thirsts at the Sources of Lalla Mimouna.
Stop At: Musee des Oasis, Ksar Elkhorbat, Tinejdad, Morocco
We visit Musee des Oasis in Tinejdad. A fascinating museum that traces movements of tribes through artifacts of seminomadic life: saddles worn shiny; contracts inscribed on wooden tablets in Arabic & Hebrew; Tinejdad jars for water and preserved butter; Heavy silver jewelry; and to protect it all from would-be thieves, inlaid muskets and handcuffs.
Duration: 20 minutes
Pass By: Erfoud, Erfoud, Meknes-Tafilalet Region
Fossilized bathtubs and moist, sweet dates are Erfoud’s current claims to fame, though it was once the end of the road. In September or October Erfoud has an increasingly well-attended date festival, with dancing and music. The market at the southern end of town sells local dates alongside fresh produce.
Stop At: Erg Chebbi, Erg Chebbi, Meknes-Tafilalet Region
As the journey ends on the edge of the Merzouga desert, there is an opportunity to enjoy traditional mint tea as prepare for your two-hour camel trek. The trek will take you to your desert camp where you will stay overnight, enjoying dinner, campfires, local desert music under the bright stars of the desert night.
Duration: 10 hours
Meals included:
• Breakfast
• Dinner
Accommodation included: Overnight stay in Erg Chebbi: Tiziri luxury desert camp or similar
Day 5: Merzouga – Errachidia – Midelt – Ifran – Fes
Pass By: Merzouga, Merzouga, Draa-Tafilalet
Early wake up to enjoy the magical sunrise. Breakfast, then we travel to Fes through Errachidia, Midelt, and Ifran. We reach Fes by early evening.
Pass By: Errachidia, Errachidia, Meknes-Tafilalet Region
Garrison towns are not generally known for their hopitality or culture, but Errachidia is trying to change that with the hospitality of its people. Besides Errachidia is home to a sizable military population stationed here to keep an eye on the nearby border with Algeria, it is also home of the enormous theatre that hosts performers from throughout the Sahara at the festival du Desert.
Pass By: Midelt, Midelt, Meknes-Tafilalet Region
Midelt sits in apple country between the Middle and the High Atlas. The landscape offers some breathtaking views, especially of the eastern High Atlas, which seem to rise out of nowhere. Midelt consists of little more than one main street (Ave Mohammed V in the north, which becomes Ave Hassan II to the south), and a modest souq
Stop At: Ifrane, Ifrane, Fes-Meknes
Tidy, & modern, it feels more like Switzerland relocated to the Middle Atlas than North Africa. the French-built Ifrane in the 1930s, deliberately trying to recreate an alpine-style resort. It has neat red-roofed houses, blooming flower beds, and lake-studded parks, all kept impeccably tidy.
Ifran’s other landmark is the stone lion that sits on a patch of grass. It was carved by a German soldier during WWII when Ifrane was briefly as a prisoner-of-war camp and commemorates the last wild lion, which was shot near here in the early 1920s.
Duration: 15 minutes
Stop At: Fes, Fes, Fes-Meknes
Fez attracted scholars and philosophers, mathematicians and lawyers, astronomers, and theologians. Craftsmen built them houses and palaces, kings endowed mosques and Medersas (religious schools), and merchants offered exotic wares from the silk roads and sub-Saharan trade routes. Although Fez lost its influence at the beginning of the 19th century, it remains a supremely self-confident city whose cultural and spiritual lineage beguiles visitors.
Overnight stay in Fes
Duration: 10 hours
Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Overnight stay in Fes: Riad Ahlam or similar
Day 6: Fes sightseeing
Stop At: Royal Palace of Fez, Avenue Omar Ibnou Khattab, Fes 30004 Morocco
After breakfast, our licensed local guide takes you on a journey to visit the cultural capital Fes starting from the Royal Palace.
The entrance to the palace is stunning, an example of modern restoration, but the 80 hectares of palace grounds are not open to the public. We must suffice with viewing its imposing brass doors, surrounded by fine zellij and carved cedarwood.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: Borj Nord, Avenue des Merinides, Fes 30030 Morocco
We head up here for one of the best panoramas of the city. Like its counterpart on the southern hills (Borj Sud). Borj Nord was built by Sultan Ahmed al-Mansour in the late 16th century to monitor the potentially disloyal populace of Fes.
Duration: 10 minutes
Stop At: Bou Inania Medersa, Rue Talaa Sghira, Fes 30110 Morocco
It is the finest of Fes theological colleges. It was built by the Marinid sultan Bouinan between 1350 & 1357. The madrasa underwent extensive restoration a few years ago, and the results are amazing: elaborate zellij and carved plaster, beautiful cedar, and massive brass doors.
It is the finest of Fes theological colleges. It was built by the Marinid sultan Bouinan between 1350 & 1357. The madrasa underwent extensive restoration a few years ago, and the results are amazing: elaborate zellij and carved plaster, beautiful cedar, and massive brass doors.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: Chouara Tannery, Hay Lablida Chouara, Fes 30030 Morocco
One of the three tanneries in the city of Fez, Morocco. It is the largest tannery in the city and one of the oldest. The tanning industry in the city is considered one of the main tourist attractions. The tanneries are packed with round stone vessels filled with dye or white liquids for softening the hides. The leather goods produced in the tanneries are exported around the world.
After the guided visit, free time & overnight stay in Fes.
Duration: 10 minutes
Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Overnight stay in Fes: Riad Ahlam or similar
Day 7: Fes – Meknes – Volubilis – Chefchaouen
Pass By: Meknes, Meknes, Fes-Meknes
After breakfast, we travel to Chefchaouen via Meknes visiting Bab Mansour gate.
Meknes is the fourth imperial city, quieter and smaller than its grand neighbor, it is also more laid-back with less hassle, yet still has all the winding narrow medina streets and grand buildings that it warrants as a one-time home of the Moroccan sultanate. Meknes is blessed with a hinterland abundant with cereals, olives, wine, citrus fruit, and other agricultural products that remain the city’s backbone.
Stop At: Bab Mansour Gate, 17, Rue Ain El Anboub et Rue Lalla Aicha Adouia Quartier HAMMAM JDID, Meknes 52000 Morocco
The focus of the Place el-Hedim is the huge gate of Bab el-Mansour, the grandest of all imperial Moroccan gateways. The gate is well preserved with lavish Zellij and inscriptions across the top. It was completed by Moulay Ismail’s son, Moulay Abdallah, in 1732.
Duration: 10 minutes
Stop At: Heri es Souani, Meknes Morocco
It is Moulay Ismail’s immense granaries and stables, Heries Souani, that were ingeniously designed. Tiny windows, massive walls, and a system of underfloor water channels kept the temperatures cool and air circulating. The building provided stabling and food for an incredible 12000 horses, and Moulay Ismail regarded it as one of his finest architectural projects.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: Sahrij Swani, Meknes Morocco
Immediately north of the granaries and stables lies an enormous stone-lined lake, the Agdal Basin. Fes by a complex system of irrigation channels some 25km long, it served as both a reservoir for the sultan’s gardens and a pleasant lake. There are plenty of benches to break our stroll around the water, and a giant Giacometti-like statue of a traditional water seller.
Duration: 10 minutes
Stop At: Volubilis, Morocco
The Roman ruins of Volubilis sit in the middle of a fertile plain about 33km north of Meknes. The city is the best-preserved archaeological site in Morocco & was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1997. Its most amazing features are its many beautiful mosaics preserved in situ. The site was originally settled by Carthaginian traders in the 3rd century BC. One of the Roman Empire’s most remote outposts, Volubilis was annexed in about AD 40. According to some historians, Rome imposed strict controls on what could sand could not be produced in its North African possessions, according to the needs of the empire. One result was massive deforestation & the large-scale planting of wheat around Volubilis. As the neighboring Berber tribes began to reassert themselves, so the Romans abandoned Volubilis around 280. Nevertheless, the city’s populations of Berbers, Greeks, Jews, & Syrians continued to speak Latin till the arrival of Islam. The building felled by the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755.
Duration: 30 minutes
Stop At: Chefchaouen, Chefchaouen, Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima
We reach the blue pearl Chefchaouen.
Beautifully sited beneath the raw peaks of the Rif, Chefhcaouen is one of the prettiest towns in Morocco, an artsy, Bluewashed mountain village that feels like its own world.
Overnight stay in Chefchaouen
Duration: 10 hours
Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Overnight stay in Chefchaouen: Dar Echchaouen or similar
Day 8: Chefchaouen sightseeing + Akchour waterfalls
Stop At: Chefchaouen Medina, Chefchaouen Morocco
After breakfast, our licensed local guide takes you on a visit to Chefchaouen & Akchour waterfalls.
Chefchaouen medina is one of the loveliest in Morocco. Small and uncrowded, it’s easy to explore, with enough winding paths to keep you diverted, but compact enough that you will never get too lost. Most of the buildings are painted a blinding Blue-white, giving them a clean, fresh look, while terracotta tiles add an Andalucian flavor. The heart of the medina is the shady, cobbled Plaza Uta el-Hammam which is lined with cafes and restaurants, all serving similar fare. IT is a peaceful place to relax and watch the world go by.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: Place Outa el Hammam & Kasbah, Avenue Hassan II, Chefchaouen 91000 Morocco
The plaza of Uta el-Hammam is dominated by the red-hued walls of the kasbah and the adjacent Grand Mosquée. Note-worthy for its unusual octagonal tower and recently restored, the Grande Mosquée was built in the 15th century by the son of the town’s founder. The kasbah is a heavily restored walled fortress that now contains a lovely garden, a small Ethnographic Museum, and an even smaller art gallery. The ethnographic museum contains some fascinating views of old Chefchaouen, including the plaza and the kasbah.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: Cascades d’Akchour, Parc Talembole Medina, Chefchaouen 52450 Morocco
Morocco’s lost paradise Akshour waterfalls, a stunning turquoise waterfall oasis at the end of an easy 5.5km drive in the Rif Mountains, near Chefchoauen.
Duration: 5 hours
Stop At: Spanish Mosque, Chefchaouen 90001 Morocco
Looking west, you will easily spot the Spanish mosque on a hilltop not far from the medina. It is a pleasant walk along clear paths and well worth the effort. From the hilltop minaret, you will have a grand view of the entire town sprawling over the green hills below.
After an enjoyable day, free time, an overnight stay in Chefchaouen.
Duration: 20 minutes
Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Overnight stay in Chefchaouen: Dar Echchaouen or similar
Day 9: Chefchaoun – Rabat – Casablanca
Pass By: Chefchaouen, Chefchaouen, Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima
After breakfast, we travel to Rabat via Ouazane and many other villages and small towns. The visit includes Rabat the UNESCO World Heritage Site Oudaya, and Hassan tower. In casablanca we visit Mohammed 5 square & Hassan II mosque
Departure from Asilah to Rabat. We visit Hassan tower.
Stop At: Hassan Tower, Boulevard Mohamed Lyazidi, Rabat 10030 Morocco
Towering above Oued Bou Regreg, and surrounded by well-tended gardens, is Rabat’s most famous landmark. The Almohads’ most ambitious project would have been the second-largest mosque of its time, after Samarra in Iraq, but Sultan Yacoub al-Mansour died before it was finished. He intended a 60m-tall minaret, but the tower was abandoned at 44m. The mosque was destroyed by an earthquake in 1755, and today only a forest of shattered pillars testifies to the grandiosity of Al-Mansour’s plans. The tower is built to the same design as the Giralda in Seville, and the Koutoubia in Marrakech.
Duration: 10 minutes
Stop At: Mausoleum of Mohammad V, Boulevard Abi Regreg, Rabat 10030 Morocco
Near the tower stands this marble mausoleum, built in traditional Moroccan style. The present king’s (the late father Hassan II) and grandfather have been laid to rest here. The decoration, despite the patterned mosaic and carved plaster, gives off an air of tranquility.
Duration: 10 minutes
Stop At: Square of Mohammed V, Casablanca 20000 Morocco
Our tour driver takes you to Casablanca. The journey includes the visit of Mohammad V square, an Airy square built in 1916 amid French Colonial buildings, with a statue and pigeon-covered fountain.
Duration: 10 minutes
Stop At: Hassan II Mosque, Blvd Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah, Casablanca 20450 Morocco
Hassan II mosque was completed in 1993, designed by Michel Pinseau, and built by Bouygues. The mosque is considered the second-largest in Africa after the Algiers grand mosque, and 7th in the world. The mosque also has the world’s second tallest minaret at 210 meters.
Overnight stay in Casablanca
Duration: 30 minutes
Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Overnight stay in Casablanca: Hotel Val D’anfa or similar
Day 10: Casablanca – Essaouira
Pass By: Essaouira, Essaouira, Marrakech-Safi
After breakfast, traveling to Essaouira by the coastline via El Jadida Mazagan, and Safi then free time. Overnight stay in Essaouira.
Meals included:
• Breakfast
Accommodation included: Overnight stay in Essaouira: Riad Mimouna or similar
Day 11: Essaouira at your leisure – Marrakech
Stop At: Essaouira, Essaouira, Marrakech-Safi
Free half-day to explore the costal wind Essaouira or Taros in Berber. The city attracts plenty of windsurfers between April and November. The city is well known also with its fortifies medina and its art galleries and boutique, or watch the fishing nets and traditional boats constructed in the hugely atmospheric port. The city also has a vibrant cultural mix.
Duration: 5 hours
Pass By: Marrakech, Marrakech, Marrakech-Safi
Your tour driver picks you up at around 4 pm to drive you to Marrakech. Drop off at your accommodation.
Meals included:
• Breakfast
No accommodation included on this day.
