Morocco Overland Group Expeditions

Arrival at Boukhalef Airport in Tangier or one of its ports, Your guide will be waiting for you to greet you then transfer to the hotel.  The morning will be at leisure. You will meet the rest of your small group and begin your Morocco adventure trip. The afternoon will be devoted to exploring the marvels of Tangier.  Time mostly will be spent in the Kasbah and El grand Soco.  Mershan quarter in the old city and M’sella quarter.  Dinner and overnight are at Solazure Hotel.

Today we will take you to the picturesque city of Asilah, then Larach to explore the marvels of white towns of Morocco, traditional fishing ports, Rif Mountains evergreen red cedar forests, Berber villages unique to this undiscovered region.  Endly, you will find yourself in  the Marvelous Chefchaouen Mountain town and its vibrant aura of beauty and charm. Your adventure tour will take to the ancient Roman city of Volubilis and the first Islamic city Moulay Idriss before you reach the Marvelous city of Fez. Enjoy a comfortable night in your hotel to be ready for your guided walking tour of the Medina.

Your driver will take you on a day trip visiting historic sites and interesting towns on the road to Fez.  Visit the highlights of Meknes via Volubilis and Moulay Idris, an excursion which  embodies much of Morocco's early history:  Volubilis as its Roman provincial capital and Moulay Idris in the creation of the country's  first Arab dynasty. Continue on to Fez, dinner and accommodation at Hotel Merinides.

The most ancient of imperial capitals, and the most complete medieval city of the Islamic world, Fez is undeniably unique.  Culturally, spiritually stimulating with its haunting and beautiful sounds, infinite visual details, and unfiltered odors, Fez seems to exist suspended in time somewhere between the Middle Ages and the modern times. Besides its electricity it owes absolutely nothing to the West.  As a spectacle, this is an entirely satisfying experience and a learning process about the sophistication of the Moroccan artisan.  Visiting in the morning some of the important sightseeings such as the Bouinania Medersa, the Moulay Idris Mausoleum,  the Karaouiyine Mosque, the Attarine Medersa, and the Nejjarine museum.   We will break for lunch in a typical Moroccan restaurant,  continue exploring the Medina in the afternoon with our best guide who will introduce you to the hidden treasures of the Medina of Fez and its workshops.  Dinner and accommodations are at your Hotel.

We will start the day by an excursion to the ancient city of Sefrou.  The city that has thrived in the Phoenician and Roman time, an out post that has linked Africa to Europe as trade Caravans use to meet there to exchange goods and Vehicle from camel to mule.  An old trade outpost of sub-Saharan, it is also a three thousand yeas old spiritual center with lot of Judaic roots.  Shrines and notable places around the city are pilgrimage sites to Moroccan Jews today.  After a little Middl atlas hiking to explore these landscapes we will proceed to Bhallil to visit the troglodyte dwellings that have existed from Neolithic time and still serve the purpose.  Return back to fez for dinner and accommodation.

After breakfast we will start our overland trekking up to the Atlas Mountains. The first hills you see of the Middle Atlas seem oddly un-Moroccan. Evergreen pines, tall cedar trees on the peaks and poplars stand copiously on the foothills, laced with flowing streams and plowed plots.  The road across is almost ceremonial.  Azrou, Our small group expedition continues on its track hiking across the best Morocco landscapes. The first real town of the Middle Atlas, stands at a major junction of routes, it's an important market center for Berber tribes in the vicinity, and it has long held a strategic role in controlling caravan trade from Saharan desert and the Berbers of these mountains.  The Middle Atlas cease at Midelt, where suddenly, through the haze, appear the much greater peaks of the High Atlas formidably rising behind the town to reach a massive range, the Dgebel Ayashi at over 12,000 ft.  The drama of this sight, tremendous in the clear, cool noon, is the most compelling reason to stop over for lunch.  Erfoud, one of the most pleasing of all southern routes: a dry, red belt of the desert, and then suddenly, a drop into the valley filled  with date palm groves. Dinner accommodations are at camp with the Tuaregs over the dunes of Merzouga. You can ride your camel to camp or simply hop in our Land Rover to cruise these gigantesque dunes.

An experience not to be missed is to watch the sun rises from the spectacular Merzouga dunes of the Sahara, so beautiful that no word can describe. Breakfast with the Touaregs and continue on to explore the holy ancient city of Rissani in your 4X4 Land  Rover.  Dinner and accommodations are in Erfoud.

The highest the narrowest gorges in the region are Todras, only 15 km from Tineghir. Traveling through the Dades valley in spring you will find the bloom of thousands of Persian roses filling up the air with an ethereal aroma certainly from heaven - cultivated as hedgerows dividing the different plots. Thousands of Kasbahs scattered in a surreal fashion as sand castles standing erect in the shadow of time along the Dades river. Dinner and accommodation at Hotel Bougafer in Tineghir.

Travel in the morning to Zagora exploring the marvels of the Anti Atlas mountains and the beauty of the Draa valley oases and Kasbahs, stop in Agdez and other sun baked mud hamlets of small villages among this largest belt of continuous oases in the world.  Dinner and lodging at Tinsouline Hotel.

A very interesting full day excursion to the real gateway of the Moroccan Saharan Desert. We will drive through the lowlands and then along the mountain passes to Tamegroute.  There, we will stop to visit the famous Moorish Koranic Library, with rare books and documents, some are written on gazelle hide from the 13th century.  Return to Zagora.

Travel between the Sahara and the Atlas mountains across some of the most remote and breathtaking landscapes in the Sahara desert to reach the Oasis of Foum Zguid where the horizons stretch the imagination to a feeling of vastness and isolation of the Sahara desert.  After lunch we will cruise to Tata where we will enjoy a night in a typical Kasbah raised from the ground to challenge the tallest palm trees.  

After breakfast we will travel Bedouin Caravan Trails west to Guelmime, an ancient trade outpost, the exotic oases of Goulimine.  Caravans still gather once a year to buy, sell and barter from major sub-Saharan countries of the Sahel and West Africa.  Sometimes even from East Africa, a journey that takes months to sail the vast desert of the Sahara.

Travel in the morning from the best oasis of Goulimine to the Jewel of southwestern Morocco, the magnificent Tiznit.  Named after a woman who has marked the Moroccan myths,  the “Seductive”,  Tiznit still lives up to the reputation of its founder.  Lunch on the road in some of the best eateries this well cultured region of Souss has to offer in its varied staples of Berber tagines cooked as in earthen pots in the same way ancient ancestors did.  Dinner and accommodation are at hotel Tiznit. 

Travel from the stark desert to the lush plateaus of the High Atlas Mountains where this ancient village is nestled among groves of almond groves.  The afternoon will be devoted to the natural sites and Neolithic rock carvings this region is so known for.  A natural library scattered all over these slopes with a rich collection of archives of mankind ancient history.  Dinner and Lodging are at hotel Les Amadiers.

We will travel across great Berber villages known for their distinguished beauty, especially Through Ait Baha that overlooks a valley with unique rock formation.  Reach the walled medieval city of Taroudant at the gate of the rich valley of Souss.  Dinner and accommodation at a dignitary dwelling converted in our days to an atmospheric and intimate guesthouse Riad Ennakhil.

Explore the city surrounded by regal, red-ochre walls, often referred to as “Little Marrakech”.  With its authenticity and conservative style, today Taroudant surpasses the charm and beauty of Marrakech in the eyes of many discoverers,  a day to enjoy the colorful pallets of a typical Moroccan city.    

Depart to Imlil via Asni and Tizi n’Test pass at an elevation of 11,000 ft. in an impressive site dividing these mountains in two distinct aspects.   One side acts as a shield to protect the hinterland from the Sahara harsh and dry expansion, the other side collects the moisture of the Gherbi winds from the Atlantic ocean, soft and evergreen.  Such is the life of the Berber dwellers,  a day of mountain hiking through the high peaks and deep valleys.  This is an experience to treasure for a lifetime. Overnight and dinner will be at a guesthouse. 

Morning will be devoted to trekking in the Toubkal plateau.  After lunch we will proceed to Marrakech visit cliff hanging villages and wards like Asni and Tahnaout. Arrival in Marrakech the "Morocco City" as the early travelers called it for it has always been something of a pleasure city, a market place where the southern tribesmen and Berber villagers bring in their goods, spend their money, and find entertainment.  For tourists, it's an enduring fantasy  - a city of immense beauty, low, pink, and tent-like before a great shaft of mountains, and immediately exciting.  Visit of the famous Jemaa El Fna square. Dinner will be in a typical Marrakesh  restaurant,  Overnight at the hotel.

Morning devoted to discovering the historical sites, visiting at the Menara irrigation pools, Bab Agnaw Gate, the Saadian Tombs, the Bahia Palace, the Badia Palace, Dar Si Said museum.   Explore the vibrant souks of Marrakech in the afternoon. Dinner Fantasia, will be reserved for you at a typical festivity of neighboring tribal dances and spectacular displays of horsemanship. Overnight will be at the Hotel.

Travel to Essaouira (Mogador), apart from the immediate impact of sea air and the friendly animation of the town, the predominant images of Essaouira are of the Atlantic - of the ragged coast and offshore islands, the vast expanse  of empty sands trailing back along the promontory to the south, and the almost Gothic scenery of the eighteen century fortifications. Lunch will be at Chalet de la Mer restaurant overlooking the ocean.  Dinner and accommodations are at Hotel Des Iles.

Travel to Casablanca via El Jadida with a stop at El Oualidia for a seafood lunch.  Drive along the coastline to El Jadida to visit the citadel, a vestige of the Portuguese occupation during the 11th century.  Continuation to Casablanca with an accomplished feeling that you have traveled in the same footsteps of antiquity, leaving you with an immediate  nostalgia for this hospitable land.  Goodbye dinner and overnight at Zohor Restaurant.

Morning Departure to Mohamed V Airport  to connect to your flight back home