6 days Sahara Desert tour from Marrakech Via Fez

6 days Sahara Desert tour from Marrakech Via Fez

Departure at 8 am. from your riad or hotel in Marrakech to Casablanca city by highway, we will be driving for 2.30 min.

After arriving Casablanca we will visit the Hassan II Mosque, the biggest mosque in Africa rises 210 meters (about 700 feet) into the air. It is one of the most ornate mosques in the world. Much of the surface of the mosque is covered in ornate, traditional Moroccan tile work (zellij), woodcarving, and stucco work, of particular note is the vast, decorative prayer hall.

This is one of the few mosques that allowed non-muslims and you will be amazed with it.

After we will do a short drive to the new city of Casablanca and at night we recommend a coffee or a drink at the atlantic sea esplanades before going back to the hotel.

Departure at 8 am and we take the highway directly to the capital of Morocco. Today, Rabat is the political hub of Morocco and the home of the King, His Majesty Mohamed VI, as well as various ministries, dignitaries and embassies. It was re-established as the capital of Morocco in 1912 during the French Protectorate Era and has continued its function as the capital city after Moroccan Independence in 1956 ever since.

In Rabat we will visit the HASSAN TOWER and MOSQUE from the 12 century, This unfinished, ambitious mosque was initially started in 1195 by Yacoub el-Mansour (“The Victorious”) around the same time he oversaw the construction of the Udayas Kasbah. The Hassan Mosque was meant to be the second largest mosque in the world and the greatest in Morocco. Original construction was abandoned in 1199, after el-Mansour’s death, and never resumed. The mosque’s prayer hall was in use until the Great Earthquake of 1755 (the same that leveled Lisbon in Europe) brought down the supporting columns, some of which have been resorted to give an idea of its possible size. It remains one of the most beautiful pieces of Almohad architecture in all of morocco though not as complete as the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakesh.

After lunch time we take the highway again and to Chefchaouen, we will drive along the biggest agriculture fields in morocco and arrive in the end of the afternoon.

Today you will have a free morning. Chefchaouen is a respite of quiet after the busy cities of Casablanca and Rabat. However, it has enough of what is quintessentially Moroccan to be of interest to travelers looking for something a bit more authentic.

Nature lovers will enjoy the easily accessible mountains. And shoppers will enjoy the hassle-free boutique shops for everything from hand-spun pottery to artisanal soaps made right in the city.

Whether you spend your morning wandering the clean medina streets, enjoying a walk through the Rif Mountains, or just want to relax with a book and a fresh mint tea, like most visitors to Chefchaouen, you will walk away having experienced something magical.

At 13 pm. We departure in direction to the South and about 2 hours driving from Fes we arrive to VOLUBILIS.

This was a Roman city whose ruins now constitute a partially excavated archaeological site located north of the city of Meknes. The ruins have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1997.

During and after the French Protectorate of Morocco, about half the site was excavated, many mosaics were discovered, and some of the most important public buildings and houses were restored or rebuilt. The classification as World Heritage is due to the fact that “it is an exceptionally well preserved example of a great Roman colonial city in the limits of the empire”.

After a break to visit we continued our journey to reach the city of Fez at the end of the day.

Fez is a medieval city, a heritage site, and for centuries life has largely gone on unchanged. You’ll find that with globalization, Fez has become a melting pot of languages.

You can choose to visit the medina and as you walk through Fez el-Bali, you are literally walking through 1,300 years of Moroccan heritage that has only recently been touched by the advent of globalization and the recent influx of tourists. Even with this uptick in tourism, the magic of Fez endures. The city has endured through so much history.

The oldest part of Fez, Fez el-Bali, it’s the world’s largest car-free urban space as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is where most travelers spend their time in Fez.

There is a continuous play between the bustle of small, winding medina passages and the quiet, reflective interior spaces that give Fez its charm. Today, the past mixes with the present in some unexpected ways for you to discover. All of this makes Fez a must-see destination for anyone in Morocco.

Departure at 8 am from your hotel in Fez to Merzouga, on our way to the deep south we will do a short stop in Ifrane city, On the outskirts of the city there are three protected natural areas: the Ifrane National Park, the northwest, the Cedar Forest to the south and the Ifrane Game Reserve to the northeast. Located at an altitude of 5,460 feet above sea level in the Middle Atlas region, this small hill town has a Swiss alpine feel to it.

Due to the high altitude, snow is abundant in winter and has a cool summer weather which may be an “exotic touch” on our journey on the way to the desert.

In the landscape arise forests of giant cedars and colonies of monkeys similar to those that populate the rock of Gibraltar.

We will have lunch in Midelt, the great charm of this small town lies in its location between the Middle Atlas and the Grand Atlas. It is surrounded by mountains and has a fantastic Atlas landscape.

After lunch we continue through the mountains of the middle atlas until we reach Merzouga. We arrive before nightfall and will have your camels waiting to take you on a 1 hour trip through the desert dunes to the camp. Dining in a tent under the stars, after you can joint around a big bonfire with local music.

Wake up early in the morning to see the sun rising at the top of a sand dune then have your breakfast and enjoy one more hour camel ride back to our car in Merzouga.

We return on the road towards Marrakesh, pass the town of Ouarzazate and cross the highest mountains of the High Atlas by the passage of the tizin tichka valley, this stretch of road is considered one of the most picturesque of Morocco.

Along the road or near it there are several traditional villages with houses of stone or of beaten earth, surrounded by terraces and walnut trees, in which the inhabitants dedicate themselves to the agriculture, cultivating wheat, barley and dedicating itself to the sale of souvenirs to whom goes by. Among the best-selling products are pottery, crockery, stone handicrafts and fossils, but especially rocks and minerals.

We will arrive to Marrakech in the end of the day.