10 Days Morocco Private Tour: Tangier to Marrakech

Your driver meets you at Tangier airport or at the ferry port and takes you to your hotel. Tangier has long been a crossroads of African, European and Middle Eastern cultures, and you feel it from the first walk.

If you have time, stroll along the Corniche on the Strait of Gibraltar, enjoy a fresh orange juice or a mint tea in a café of the modern downtown, and pass the Grand Socco, the city's lively main square. It is a gentle first day.

Moment to remember: mint tea in a café as the evening light falls on the Strait.

You start at the Kasbah Museum, in a former sultan's palace with a quiet courtyard of citrus trees, where the exhibits trace Tangier from Roman times to today. Then you walk through the Grand Socco and the medina, with its lantern makers and spice stalls.

A short drive west takes you to the Hercules Caves, where one opening onto the sea is said to look like the outline of Africa, and to the lighthouse of Cap Spartel, where the Atlantic meets the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. In the afternoon you drive into the Rif mountains to Chefchaouen, the Blue Pearl, in time for a walk in the soft late light.

Moment to remember: the ocean framed by the Africa-shaped opening of the Hercules Caves.

Start in the main square beside the kasbah, a small fortress turned museum with gardens; climb its tower for the view over the blue rooftops. Then wander the lanes of the medina, every turn a new shade of blue.

At lunchtime you are welcomed into the home of a local Rif family for a home-cooked meal, such as a chicken tagine with saffron and preserved lemon. In the afternoon, rest by the clear stream at Ras El-Ma, then walk up to the Spanish Mosque for sunset over the town and the Rif peaks.

Moment to remember: sharing a homemade tagine with a Rif family.

You drive south to Volubilis, a UNESCO-listed Roman city where a local guide shows you its basilica, triumphal arch and fine floor mosaics. Then you continue to Meknes, the imperial city of Moulay Ismail, to see the monumental Bab Mansour gate with its zellige tilework and Place el-Hedim, a quieter cousin of Jemaa el-Fna.

After a stroll in the old medina, a visit to the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail when open, and lunch in a local café, you drive about an hour to Fes. You check in to your riad in or near Fes el-Bali and rest before tomorrow's exploration.

Moment to remember: the mosaics of Volubilis with the olive groves all around.

With a local guide, you start at the 14th-century Merenid Tombs on the hill for the view over the whole medina. Then you visit a pottery workshop, where craftsmen shape and paint Fassi ceramics, and a weaving workshop, where textiles are made on traditional looms.

You stop at the golden doors of the Royal Palace, enter Fes el-Bali through the blue Bab Bou Jeloud gate, and see the Al-Qarawiyyin mosque and university and the Bou Inania Madrasa. The day ends at the Chouara tannery, where leather is still dyed in the stone vats.

Moment to remember: the view over the rooftops of Fes from the Merenid Tombs.

You leave Fes for Ifrane, known as the Switzerland of Morocco for its sloping roofs and cool climate, and the cedar forests near Azrou, where you may see Barbary macaques among the trees. The road crosses the Middle Atlas, and you stop for lunch in Midelt.

The landscape grows drier towards Erfoud, known for its fossil workshops and date palms, and you reach Merzouga at the edge of the Erg Chebbi dunes. A private camel trek takes you across the sand to your camp by sunset, where you are welcomed with mint tea and have a Berber dinner under the stars, with drums and stories around the fire.

Moment to remember: drumbeats echoing over the dunes under a sky full of stars.

Wake up for sunrise over the dunes and breakfast at the camp, then drive to Rissani, an old trading town tied to the origins of the ruling Alaouite dynasty, and stroll through its souk of spices, produce and crafts.

You continue to the Todra Gorges and walk along the canyon floor between towering rock walls, then pass the palm groves of Tinghir. In the late afternoon you reach Boumalne Dades, at the mouth of the Dades Gorges, for a traditional Berber dinner at your riad.

Moment to remember: light and shadow on the walls of the Todra Gorges.

Set off along the road of a thousand kasbahs, past the Rose Valley to the palm oasis of Skoura, then to Ouarzazate, the Hollywood of Morocco, to visit the Atlas Film Studios. After lunch you reach Aït Ben Haddou, a UNESCO-listed ksar above a narrow riverbed, and walk its lanes of earthen houses and towers.

In the afternoon you cross the High Atlas on the Tizi n'Tichka pass, with viewpoints over the mountains and valleys, and arrive in Marrakech in the early evening to check in to your riad.

Moment to remember: the first view of Aït Ben Haddou rising above the riverbed.

With a local guide, you visit the 19th-century Bahia Palace with its carved ceilings and courtyards, admire the minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque, and see the stucco and cedar of the Ben Youssef Madrasa. You also walk through the Mellah, the historic Jewish quarter, with its synagogues and lanes.

In the heart of the UNESCO-listed medina, you reach Jemaa el-Fna and the souks around it, then enjoy a Moroccan lunch. Later you visit the Jardin Majorelle, with its cobalt-blue walls, exotic plants and Berber museum.

Moment to remember: the blue walls of the Jardin Majorelle after the busy souks.

Depending on your flight time, you can return to the medina for last souvenirs or relax in a hammam.

Your driver then takes you to Marrakech airport, with memories of the Strait of Gibraltar, the blue town, the Sahara and the kasbahs of the south.

Moment to remember: looking back on ten days from Tangier to the Red City.