A magical Moroccan trip from Topdeck

Itinerary

• Day 1: Marrakech, Morocco

  Transfer to your hotel, ditch the map, turn off your phone and get hopelessly lost in a maze of mosaics and souks in the Red City. Then, get acquainted with the gang at tonight’s welcome meeting.
  
  Included today:
  Airport transfer

• Day 2: Marrakech

  Today is all about the city tour. See the Bahia Palace, visit the Saadian Tombs and then work your way past the snake charmers and sip fresh orange juice in Djemma el-fna square.
  
  Included today:
  Marrakech half-day city tour
  
  Meals:
  Breakfast

• Day 3: Marrakech to Rabat via Casablanca

  Today we visit the Hassan II Mosque – bearer of the world’s largest minaret (210 metres), with a frickin’ laser beam on top. After lunch, head to the UNESCO World Heritage capital of Rabat and paint the town blue in Kasbah des Oudaias.
  
  Included today:
  Hassan II mosque in Casablanca
  Rabat city tour
  
  Meals:
  Breakfast

• Day 4: Rabat to Fes via Volubilis and Meknes

  Live la dolce vita in Volubilis, or at least get a good idea of what it was like during Roman times at these well-preserved ruins. Think: historic public buildings dating back a whopping 2,000 years ago. Then, walk through Meknes and go into pattern overdrive in Fes.
  
  Included today:
  Volubilis Roman ruins
  Visit to Meknes
  
  Meals:
  Breakfast

• Day 5: Fes

  Mausoleums, mosques and medinas are in order today on a full-day whip around the city with a local guide. Lose yourself in the 9,000 narrow cobbled streets – and world’s largest car-free urban area – in Fes el-Bali, lined with spices, food stalls and tanneries. Or hunt down a hammam for a (body) shine and polish.
  
  Included today:
  Day tour of Fes
  
  Meals:
  Breakfast
  Lunch

• Day 6: Fes to Errachidia via Ifrane and Midelt

  She’ll be comin’ over the (Atlas) mountains when she comes today. Adjust to the altitude in Alpine-fresh Ifrane, then carve back through cedar forests to Midelt for lunch and head south to Errachidia.
  
  Meals:
  Breakfast

• Day 7: Errachidia to Merzouga Desert Camp

  Merzouga looks as if it might be engulfed by the red dunes of the Sahara Desert at any moment. Pull up a pool lounge and savour the view before setting off on camel (optional) to get Berber fever in a desert camp. Climb the dunes and feel your hair stand on end as the sky burns away the last sunlight of the day and melts into a blanket of diamonds. Epic doesn’t even cut it.
  
  Included today:
  Overnight in Berber desert camp
  
  Meals:
  Breakfast
  Lunch
  Dinner
  
  Optional activities:
  Camel ride (no extra cost)

• Day 8: Merzouga to Dades Gorge via Todra Gorge

  Step into your own Roadrunner cartoon today in the rock climber's nirvana of Todra Gorge. With a 3D landscape of imposing orange sandstone peaks, streams and the odd camel playing outside your window today, the trip to Dades Gorge will seem quicker than a coyote.
  
  Meals:
  Breakfast
  Dinner

• Day 9: Dades Gorge to Marrakech via Ait Ben Haddou

  Aït Ben-Haddou is UNESCO World Heritage and ‘Desert Hollywood’ beauty combined on an old caravan route between Sudan and Marrakech. The fortified city’s imposing walls have got nothing on the switchbacks of Tizi n’Tichka Pass, though.
  
  Meals:
  Breakfast

• Day 10: Marrakech

  Don’t cry into your couscous. The trip might be over after breakfast but your adventure doesn’t have to be.
  
  Meals:
  Breakfast