11-Day Morocco Tour from Tangier to Casablanca

Your driver-guide meets you at Tangier port or airport. You walk through the old medina and the Kasbah above the straits, then drive out to Cap Spartel, where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean, and the Caves of Hercules with their sea opening shaped like Africa. In the afternoon the road climbs into the Rif to Chefchaouen. Evening walk through the blue lanes to Place Outa el Hammam.

Morning in the quiet blue medina before the drive south. At Volubilis a local guide walks you through the best-preserved Roman city in Morocco, with mosaics still in place. In Meknes you see Bab Mansour, the grandest gate in the country, and El Hedim square. You reach Fes in the late afternoon.

A full day in Fes el-Bali, the largest car-free medina in the world, with an official local guide. Bou Inania madrasa, the Al Quaraouiyine mosque and university founded in 859, the Nejjarine fountain, the Chouara tanneries seen from a leather-shop terrace, and the golden gates of the Royal Palace. Free time in the souks before dinner.

Over the Middle Atlas by Ifrane and the Azrou cedar forest, lunch in Midelt, then the Ziz Valley down to Merzouga. A relaxed evening at a hotel at the foot of the dunes.

Sunrise over the dunes, then a 4x4 loop around Erg Chebbi: a nomad family's tent for tea, Gnawa musicians in Khamlia and a lunch of medfouna, the Berber stuffed bread baked in the sand. In the late afternoon you ride a camel to your private desert camp.

Sunrise from the top of a dune, then breakfast at camp. In Rissani, the old caravan capital of the Tafilalet, you walk the local souk. The road follows palm oases to the Todra Gorge, where you walk between cliffs up to 300 m high. Evening in the Dades Valley among red rock formations.

The Road of a Thousand Kasbahs: the Roses Valley, the palm oasis of Skoura and Kasbah Amridil, then Ouarzazate, Morocco's film capital. At Aït Benhaddou you climb through the UNESCO-listed ksar seen in Gladiator. In the afternoon you cross the High Atlas by the Tizi n'Tichka pass (2,260 m) and reach Marrakech by evening.

A morning with an official local guide: the Koutoubia minaret, the Bahia Palace, the Saadian Tombs and the souks of the medina. The afternoon is yours, perhaps the Majorelle Garden or a hammam, before the storytellers and food stalls of Jemaa el-Fna come alive at dusk.

West across the plains to the Atlantic, through argan forests where goats sometimes climb the trees. Essaouira is a white-and-blue fortified port with a gentle pace: walk the Skala ramparts, the art galleries and the fishing harbour, and eat grilled fish by the boats.

Up the Atlantic coast to Casablanca, with a stop in El Jadida's Portuguese fortress and its vaulted cistern. Afternoon at the Hassan II Mosque and the Corniche.

Transfer to Casablanca airport for your flight.