Starts and ends
Atlas Mountains to Marrakech
Travel period
17-25 May 2025
Experience
Travel style
Luxury Standard
Explore Morocco’s stunning natural wonders and beautiful cultural sites
Tour Highlights:
- 3 Hour guided excursion of the Atlas Mountains
- Wander through the narrow alleyways of the Essaouira Medina
- Enjoy a delicious tagine lunch at a local Berber home
- Ride a camel through the Agafay Desert at sunset
- Enjoy a hands-on cooking class
- Visit the famous souks of Marrakech
- See the spectacular Jardin Majorelle
Overview
Experience all that Morocco has to offer. This springtime 9-Day tour will take you from the Atlas Mountains, through the desert plains, to the bustling cities.
Inclusions
- 8 nights accommodation
- Meals as per itinerary: Breakfast daily, 6 lunches, 8 dinners including wine or beer.
- Bottled water, tea and coffee with included lunch and dinners.
- Transportation throughout in a luxury air-conditioned vehicle with professional experienced English-speaking driver, including related expenses
- Atlas Mountains Excursion
- 1 cooking class
- Gardens entrances
- Porterage
- Drivers, guides, and restaurants gratuities
- Local tourist taxes
- Bank transfer and currency fluctuation fees
- English-speaking local licensed guides in Essaouira and Marrakech with all entrance fees included to the sites visited with the guide
Exclusions
- Meals other than those specified in itinerary
- All items of a personal nature, telephone, laundry
- Any alcoholic drinks and soft drinks unless stated as included
- International air arrangements and all applicable taxes
- Tourist Visa if required upon entry
- Camera fees at some Historical sights and museums
- Tips for riad staff, Muleteers, Cameleers.
- Arrival and departure Airport transfers and drivers’ tips for these
Itinerary
Arrive at Casablanca or Marrakech airport today, or maybe a day or two earlier so that you have time to rest from your travels -we can organise your pre-tour arrangements.
Private transfer to Kasbah Bab Ourika in the Atlas Mountains, your home for the next two nights, which stands on an exceptionally beautiful landscape. On its hilltop, at the apex of the Ourika valley, it looks down to the river, green fields and groves of olives, oranges and lemons, and up to the dazzling snowy mountain peaks.
The tour will start with a welcome drink before dinner, where you will meet the rest of the group and hear from your host about the adventures that lie ahead.
Overnight: Kasbah Bab Ourika
Meals included: Welcome drink and dinner with wine
Morning guided walk in the surrounding valley and National Park. The walk will take about 3 hours on uneven ground, and requires a moderate level of fitness (sturdy, closed in shoes required, full hiking boots not necessary). If you feel like the walk would be too demanding physically, do let us know as we can organise the vehicle to collect you instead, and bring you to the village where the everybody will meet for lunch. Enter a Berber home to experience a delicious tagine lunch savouring the local produce and the hospitality of the Berber Culture. Return to Kasbah Bab Ourika in the mid-afternoon. Massages can be pre-booked, and the pool is incredibly inviting!
Overnight: Kasbah Bab Ourika
Meals included: Breakfast, lunch and dinner with wine
Depart for Essaouira after breakfast, visiting a garden en route, and on the outskirts of Essaouira, an Argan oil cooperative that supports divorced and widowed women by giving them work; learn about the processing of the unique argan nut that grows locally and is used to produce argan oil for cooking and for cosmetics. Arrive in Essaouira for a late lunch at a seafront restaurant, and an afternoon at leisure. Check-in at the prestigious Relais and Chateaux property L’Heure Bleue, where you will have dinner tonight.
Overnight: L’Heure Bleue
Meals included: Breakfast, lunch and dinner with wine
Discover Essaouira with your local guide this morning. With the gentlest of touches, Essaouira stirs awake the artist that slumbers within each of us. Abandoned by the Portuguese in 1541, it was not until 1765 when the Alaouite Sultan Sidi Mohammad Ibn Abdullah transformed Mogador into a fortified city. The ramparts were never that effective in keeping out the marauding tribesmen but now a charming artist’s town with its old port and cannons overlooking the fishing fleet, Essaouira invites you to wander through the narrow alleyways which make up the Medina to witness artisans at work making their wooden tables, boxes and sundry items in lemon or Thuya wood inlaid with mother of pearl. The Romans used the purple dye produced by the shellfish to color the togas of the rich. Lunch is at own arrangements today, giving you time to explore the medina on your own in the afternoon. Dinner will be at a local restaurant.
Overnight: L’Heure Bleue
Meals included: Breakfast and dinner with wine
Leisurely breakfast this morning, leaving the coast behind mid-morning, for the approximate two-and-a-half-hour journey to La Pause, set in the Agafay desert, on the outskirts of Marrakech. You will change vehicles near Marrakech and reach the camp by 4×4, so you will need a little overnight bag to take with you – bring bathers! Nestled in an oasis of olive trees and palms, this stylish hideaway is truly magical and entirely lit by candlelight (please note there is NO electricity). Enjoy lunch and a wander around this amazing eco-friendly oasis. Appreciate a swim in the pool and a delightful mini desert experience with an hour sunset camel ride. Dinner is served under the stars by the fire, with musical entertainment.
Overnight: La Pause
Meals included: Breakfast, lunch and dinner with wine
Leave the desert after breakfast, a short drive to reach a fabulous cooking school set in an organic garden. Visit the garden with a welcome mint tea; enjoy a fun, hands-on cooking class followed by lunch with what you have prepared. After the leisurely lunch, drive to Marrakech and check-in at La Maison Arabe, a legendary riad-hotel that still echoes the footsteps of celebrities and dignitaries who came here to dine. Some time at leisure to refresh, then your guide will collect you at 5pm for a late afternoon stroll to Djemaa El Fna Square to see the jugglers, storytellers, snake charmers, acrobats and vendors performing at sunset much as they have done for centuries. Return to the property for dinner.
Overnight: La Maison Arabe
Meals included: Breakfast, lunch and dinner with wine
Your English-speaking local guide will join you this morning for your Historical tour, with all the delights this fascinating city can offer. Some of the most interesting places to visit are the Bahia Palace located in the Jewish quarter known as the Mellah, the Dar El Bacha museum, the newly renovated Medrasa; no tour of Marrakech would be complete without walking through the souks, where you will see everything from exquisitely embroidered shoes and belts to every type of spice, woodwork, brass and copper-work, kaftans ranging from the simple cotton to the elaborately embroidered – all enhanced by the smiles of the shop owners. Dinner at a local restaurant.
Overnight: La Maison Arabe
Meals included: Breakfast, lunch and dinner with wine
Your drivers will collect you at 8am to take you to the spectacular Jardin Majorelle, with its abundance of giant bamboo, yucca, papyrus, palm, cypress and banana trees, philodendrons and bougainvilleas and amazing cacti with natural colours that contrast vividly with the bright blue façade of the villa, which was lovingly restored by the late Yves St Laurent and where he spent much of his leisure time. Have an independent tour of the gardens, then a coffee and a wander in the fabulous boutiques by the garden, then into the YSL museum, which is just a stone’s throw away from Majorelle; It is a stunning 4000m2 building hosting a permanent exhibition devoted to the work and heritage of the couturier. Lunch is at own arrangement today, and the afternoon is at leisure; you may choose to return to the hotel for some pampering at their spa, or head back into the souks for a bit of shopping. Farewell dinner at a local restaurant.
Overnight: La Maison Arabe
Meals included: Breakfast and farewell dinner with wine
Various transfers to airports, or post-tour arrangements – the Sahara Desert, Fes, Chefchaouen, Tangier, Casablanca, are all possible destinations to visit after your tour, depending on how much time you have -discuss with us if you would like to extend your Moroccan sojourn on a private basis.
- By Prior Arrangement has the right to change the accommodation and aspects of your itinerary, if necessary, due to unforeseen circumstances.
- All pricing and itinerary content is subject to change due to currency fluctuation, availability, and unforeseen circumstances beyond the control of our company.
- Travellers must possess a moderate level of mobility (i.e. ability to use combined shower/bath facilities if no other option possible, undertake 2-3 hours guided walks including using stairs, walking over eneven surfaces, stand for some time in some museums or other sites, embark/disembark vehicles without help) -we can possibly accommodate for lesser level of mobility if we are notified in advance and condition, illness or disability was declared to the true nature of such condition.
- 20% Deposit due upon booking
- Balance due March 23, 2025
- Please refer to booking form for terms and conditions
