The Best of Morocco

Casablanca, Morocco's big port city, is where it all starts; its best-known landmark is the Hassan II Mosque. Your Soca Islands airport transfer brings you to a boutique hotel.

Rest up, then meet the group for a welcome dinner of modern Moroccan fusion cooking.

Head north into the Rif Mountains to Chefchaouen, whose blue-washed walls and red-tiled roofs are famous across Morocco.

A guided walk leads you up and down its cobbled lanes, past the Spanish Quarter and on to the old kasbah.

The day is yours. Hike the hills above town, browse the markets, or sit with a glass of mint tea and watch local life unfold.

In the evening you'll be welcomed into a local family's home for a meal of Berber dishes and conversation about traditional life.

A drive of about four hours through rolling country brings you to Fes, long considered Morocco's cultural and spiritual center, with its palaces, mosques and grand old mansions.

As the sun sets, head to a rooftop to look over the city while the call to prayer rings out from its minarets.

A full day in the old medina of Fes. You'll see the famous tanneries, watch artisans in workshops that have operated for generations, stand before the Royal Palace's gates, visit the Jewish cemetery and finish in the pottery quarter, home of the city's blue-and-white ceramics.

Heading for the Sahara, you'll cross the Middle Atlas and stop for a walk in cedar forests where Barbary macaques live. Lunch features Atlas trout, served at a local restaurant.

By afternoon you've reached Erfoud, an oasis town,, with a visit to the Ziz Gorges, a green valley between high cliffs.

Lunch today is medfouna, the stuffed flatbread often called Berber pizza, followed by time with local musicians and a stop at a marble factory that works fossil-rich desert stone.

Then you mount up for a camel trek over the dunes to a remote desert camp. Spend the afternoon sandboarding, or just relax by the fire as the stars come out.

Wake to the quiet of the desert, then trek back to the minibus. The road west leads to Todra Gorge, with its sheer limestone walls, then continues into the Dades Valley, where you overnight, among rose fields, Berber villages and mountain views.

Take it easy: lounge by the pool or explore the valley. Walkers can choose an optional hike in the Rose Valley or out to the rock formations known as the Monkey Fingers.

Follow the old kasbah route, known as the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs, as far as Ait Benhaddou, the UNESCO-listed mud-brick ksar dating from the 11th century that film fans will know from Gladiator and from Game of Thrones.

Wander its narrow lanes and climb to the old granary at the top for sunset over the Atlas.

Crossing the High Atlas brings you to Marrakech. A local guide leads a private food tour through the backstreets, introducing you to dishes you'd never find on your own.

Climb into a vintage sidecar for a spin across the Agafay Desert, a stony, moon-like landscape outside Marrakech. Lunch is farm-to-table at a working farm among olive and pomegranate trees.

Back in the city, drinks on a rooftop lead into the group's farewell dinner.

A vintage sidecar carries you into the Agafay Desert's lunar scenery, followed by lunch on a working farm with olive and pomegranate groves, then drinks up high and one last dinner together in Marrakech.

Say goodbye to the group and head to Marrakech Menara Airport (RAK) for your flight home.