A Moroccan Christmas & New Year: 9 Days Through the Imperial Cities & Sahara

Breakfast first, then a guided walk through Rabat’s story — the romantic Chellah and the Kasbah of the Oudayas — with free time to lose yourself in the souks and bazaars of the old medina. You pause at the Café Maure on the banks of the Bouregreg for a Moroccan tea break: mint tea poured alongside sweets like Kaab Ghazal and Ghariba. The road to Fez has two stops in store. First, Volubilis, a UNESCO World Heritage site where a specialist guide brings its Roman and Berber ruins to life. Then Meknes — the imperial city Moulay Ismail dreamed up as the “Versailles of Morocco” — where your local guide leads you to the grand Bab El Mansour gate and the Lhri granaries, the city’s beating heart. Onward to Fez. Good to know: Kaab Ghazal means “gazelle’s hoof” in Arabic and, with Ghariba and mint tea, stands for Moroccan hospitality.

Overnight: Fez.

Meals: breakfast, tea break.

Local experience: Café Maure overlooking the Bouregreg River.

Fez was the kingdom’s capital until 1912, and today you give it the time it deserves. Your guided tour centres on Fez el-Bali, a UNESCO-listed medina founded in the 9th century and home to the world’s oldest university. Your local guide walks you past the great sights — the Bou Inania and Al-Attarine madrasas, the tanneries, Seffarine Square, Moulay Idriss’s tomb, Nejjarine Square, the cabinetmakers’ souk and the Jewish quarter (Mellah) — before you sit down with a master potter for a hands-on workshop. Lunch is at a local restaurant; afterwards you choose your own pace, whether that’s back to the hotel or deeper into the maze. Good to know: each October, Fez hosts one of the world’s biggest and best-loved Sufi festivals, with performers from around the globe.

Overnight: Fez. Meals: breakfast, lunch. Local experience: pottery workshop.

Today the landscape changes. After breakfast you travel south through Ifrane and Midelt to Erfoud, the fossil-rich town that opens the door to the mighty Moroccan Sahara. Here you leave the tarmac behind, boarding a 4x4 for an exhilarating ride across bare plains and soaring dunes, the sunset lighting your way to a desert camp at Merzouga. Good to know: Erfoud is famous for “Medfouna”, a Berber meat-stuffed bread you shouldn’t miss.

Overnight: Merzouga. Meals: breakfast, dinner. Local experience: the desert camp.

An early start is more than worth it: you ride a camel to meet the sunrise over the dunes. Then, with your English-speaking driver, you cross from Erfoud toward Ouarzazate, stopping at the towering Todra Gorge — southwest of Tinerhir, about 110 km (65 miles) from Ouarzazate — for photos that won’t do it justice. Further along comes Skoura, one of Morocco’s most beautiful oases: barely a green thread from the road, yet vast and remarkable once you step inside. Meals: breakfast, dinner. Overnight: Ouarzazate. Local experience: camel ride.

Breakfast, then your driver-guide takes you to the famous Atlas Studios, where films and series like The Mummy, Gladiator, Asterix and Obelix, and Game of Thrones came to life. The drive to Marrakech is a show in itself — the dramatic Tizi n’Tichka pass and the UNESCO World Heritage kasbah of Aït Ben Haddou. Reaching Marrakech, the rest of the day is open: explore freely or relax at your hotel.

Overnight: Marrakech. Meals: breakfast.

You wake in the “Ochre City” so many travellers long to see. After breakfast, your local guide and driver begin a city tour at the Majorelle Garden, the labour of love of French painter Jacques Majorelle. Next is the Menara — “lighthouse” in Arabic, though really a pavilion set over a basin among orchards and olive groves. You carry on to the Koutoubia Mosque and the Jewish quarter (Mellah), and after lunch at a local restaurant, you finish in style with a horse-drawn “Kotchi” carriage ride to the electric Jemaa el-Fnaa square. Good to know: Marrakech is held to be holy — “the land of the seven men”, after Sufi scholars who gave their lives to faith and learning.

Overnight: Marrakech. Meals: breakfast, lunch. Local experience: Kotchi horse-carriage ride.

Breakfast, then a free day to write your own Marrakech chapter — the one that starts “that one time in Marrakech…” and stays with you long after. Overnight: Marrakech. Meals: breakfast.

One last leisurely breakfast, then the transfer to Casablanca for your flight home, your festive Moroccan story tucked safely away. Meals: breakfast.