Morocco

Hassan II Mosque

Casablanca Cathedral (Church of the Sacred Heart)

Chefchaouen Historic Blue City Gate

Chefchaouen’s Blue Streets

Traditional Berber Clothing

Notes

• Recommended Tour Company: Lopana Travel and Leisure.

• While it is possible to rent a car and book individual tours, Lopana Travel and Leisure truly excels at logistics, guide quality, route planning, and local insight. They also get to know you personally and arrange plans based on your interests.

• Morocco travel can be challenging, especially with an itinerary this comprehensive. Many companies refused to take this route, some even claiming it was impossible. Lopana proved otherwise.

• Have your tour company book your hotels and activities.

• Type C/E adapter needed.

Day 1: Casablanca (Half Day)

• Arrive and meet you pre-arranged private driver at the airport.

• Skip hotel check-in and begin touring immediately.

• Casablanca Guided City Tour

• Hassan II Mosque: guided exterior visit with cultural and religious explanations.

• Optional interior visit if timing allows (check official website for hours; knees and shoulders must be covered).

• Highly recommend visiting at sunset or night — the mosque glowing in moonlight is unforgettable.

• More City Highlights (Drive-By / Photo Stops)

• Bastion

• Downtown District

• Casablanca Cathedral (Church of the Sacred Heart)

• Rick’s Café (quick photo stop; reservations recommended if dining), site of scene from Casablanca movie.

• Mohammed V Square: vibrant government hub

• Palace of Justice

• Main Bank of Morocco

• Central Post Office

• Old Medina

• Additional landmarks your guide points out that you won’t find online.

• Dinner: Restaurant Des Fleurs for classic Moroccan cuisine.

• Overnight at Hotel Moroccan House (1 night).

Day 2: Chefchaouen (Blue City) → Fez

• Morning breakfast at hotel (consider grabbing a few breakfast items for snacks later).

• Scenic drive to Chefchaouen and site exploration.

• Historic blue city gate (original entrance ruins).

• Wander the medina’s winding blue streets.

• Kasbah & Museum (15th-century fortress, old prison, elevated views).

• Lunch at a restaurant of your choice in Place Outta Hammam (main square).

• Note: You may encounter children begging. Some restaurants shoo them away, others do not. Research beforehand and decide what feels right to you.

• Riverside walk with local vendors. Some may have traditional Berber clothes you can try on. It is an awesome photo opportunity!

• You’ll likely have animal photo opportunities as well, you may want to research before participating.

• Hike up to the Spanish Mosque: it’s an easy incline, but absolutely worth it for panoramic views of the blue city.

• Buy fresh tangerines from a local vendor. They melt in your mouth and make perfect road snacks. They’re the best tangerines we’ve had.

• Drive to Fez, have dinner at Fez and Friends.

• Overnight at Le Cedre d’Argent (2 nights).

Day 3: Fez (Full-Day Guided Tour)

Al Quaraouiyine University

Tanneries

• Guide recommendation if touring with Lopana: Mohammad  — he was knowledgeable, personable, deeply connected, and passionate about Moroccan history and women’s rights. A guide you’ll wish you could take for the whole trip. He is like a local celebrity!

• Tour Highlights:

• Royal Palace of Fez (Dar al-Makhzen – exterior gates).

• Al Quaraouiyine University: oldest university in the world.

• Explore the Fez Medina: narrow tunnels, bustling souks, artisan quarters, souvenir opportunities, and easily the best medina in Morocco. This is a living, working market. Photos of surroundings are fine, but ask before photographing people. You may see butchered animals and unfamiliar food preparation.

• Panoramic viewpoint overlooking Fez.

• Brick-making and ceramic demonstration.

• Local snack opportunities.

• Traditional Moroccan tea shop. Try the mint tea, famous in Morocco!

• Tanneries Visit: upper-level view from a leather shop where you can watch hides soaking in colorful dye pools. This is such a unique experience you won’t want to miss.

• Berber rug weaving demonstrations.

• Kairaouine Mosque surroundings.

• Marinid Tombs.

• City gates.

• Dinner at Restaurant Palais La Medina: for traditional food with live music and performances.

• Return to hotel.

Day 4: Fez → Sahara Desert (Merzouga)

Barbary Macaque

Camel Ride in the Sahara

Nomadic Berber Village

• Early breakfast or to-go option before long scenic drive to Sahara Desert. Bring layers as the mountains are cold year-round. A lot of this day will be driving with a few stops to break it up. You won’t want to dilly dally too much at the stops, so you can make it to the final destination right before sunset. The drive is very scenic.

• Stop in Ifrane for Lion statue (Barbary lions once lived here). Also, stop in town to see Barbary Macaques.

• Rachidia for lunch stop.

• Reach Merzouga near sunset and take a camel ride to Africa Luxury Camp, a glampsite (1 night).

• Dinner at camp (included) with live campfire music and stargazing.

• Explore the dunes at night!

• Weather Note: Desert nights can be extremely cold, especially in winter. December nights were cold enough to skip showers and bundle heavily.

Day 5: Merzouga & Rissani

• Head outside and watch the sunrise over the dunes.

• Breakfast at camp.

• Enjoy some sandboarding (boards are limited, grab early as they are first come first serve.)

• Desert Excursion: 4x4 drive through dunes to visit nomadic Berber village to see how they live. Eat with them and hang out for a bit!

• Stone mine ruins. (See where they used to mine material for eyeliner).

• Enjoy a traditional Gnawa music performance. Many of the Gnawa are have roots from Mali, Sudan, and Senegal as their ancestors were once enslaved in this area.

• Next head to the town, Rissani and stop on the way to purchase and be fitted with a turban.

• Visit a local, less touristy market in Rissani.

• Dinner: Try medfouna, the equivalent of Berber pizza!

• Hotel en route to Marrakech (selected by your tour company) (1 night).

Sunrise Drive to Marrakech

Todgha Gorge and Dades Valley

Marrakesh City Tour

Day 6: Merzouga → Marrakech

• During your travel to Marrakech stop at these spots along the way:

• Todgha Gorge and Dades Valley: geological formations in a drive-thru canyon with gorgeous orange rock walls and rural civilizations built into the earth in the sides of the desert canyons.

• Get out and walk through some of the canyon gorge.

• Stop at the top of Zik-Zak road for a spectacular view of a zig zagging road through the mountains.

• Ouarzazate: Hollywood of Morocco where scenes from The Mummy, Gladiator, and Game of Thrones were filmed.

• Choose one depending on time: Taourirt Kasbah (historic residences) OR Atlas Film Studios (largest film studio in the world). You can decide day of.

• Stop at Ait Benhaddou (UNESCO Site): village built of earth into the side of a hill.

• Continue to Marrakech and have dinner along the way.

• Overnight at Imperial Holiday Hotel & Spa Marrakech (2 nights).

Day 7: Marrakech (Guided City Tour)

• Kutubiyya Mosque (from the exterior)

• Souk Semmarine market

• Musée des Confluences

• Mellah (Jewish Quarter)

• Souk Place Des Epices: spice market demonstration

• Lunch at a restaurant overlooking Jemaa el-Fna

• Jemaa el-Fna Square

• Warning: You will likely see captive monkeys and cobras kept in poor condition doing tricks for tourists. I would suggest not participating as it encourages these practices.

• Return to hotel. Once you’ve toured all of Marrakech above, you’ve seen the best of what the city has to offer! The hotel has a beautiful pool, a bar, and a restaurant. We chose to go back and drink and swim, though there are plenty of nightlife options in the area if that is your interest.

Traditional Berber lunch at Café Azrrabzou

Ourika Cascades

Day 8: Ourika Valley → Departure

• Breakfast at hotel and drive to Ourika Valley.

• Enjoy scenic Berber villages on the river en-route.

• Stop at one of the people bridges along the way for photos with the river and surroundings.

• Experience a riverside traditional Berber lunch at Café Azrrabzou with private floor seating on padded rugs and pillows.

• Multi-course meal, cats, flowing water, and relaxed atmosphere.

• Take a guided hike to Ourika Cascades (2 medium waterfalls). The way out definitely has an elevation gain. It was not super easy, but we had older and younger people doing it and we were fine.

• Quad biking (4-wheeling) in Marrakech to end the day.

• Driver transfer to airport for departure.

Quad Biking (4-Wheeling)