Morocco for First-timers: A 7-day tour of Morocco for those who want to explore, not just drive past, in 2023.
©Aussies In Morocco Tours™
We are pleased to offer the following 7-day/6-night tour in July 2023, starting in Fez and finishing in Marrakech.
Cara will accompany you.
* A version of this tour can also be done as a private tour, at any time. *
If you are visiting Morocco for the first time, and you have seven days to explore it (not just drive from panorama to panorama), then Fez and Marrakech are the *big* ones to see and the bases from which to experience Morocco. Remember July is hot, but we have an airconditioned vehicle and cool riads and it may be that July is when you are already in Europe anyway.
For July 2023 tour – bookings close
April 1, 2023
Prices are in the table at the conclusion of this itinerary.
Please also read our blog posts here, for example about traditional accommodation to have some idea of what you are in for, so that your expectations equate with reality.
Fez
July 5-7
July 5: Fez (Wednesday)
Meals: Dinner (D)
Arrive in Fez, the food and artisan capital of Morocco. Welcome dinner at the Dar Roumana (or equivalent). The website is here: Welcome to Dar Roumana
Be prepared for confronting sights in Morocco.
July 6: Fez medina (Thursday)
Meals, Group Tour: Breakfast (B) & D
Meals, Private Tour: B
Morning tour of the medina, visiting various artisans that we have featured in the facts sheets made available to you on our website’s Client Resources page. Lunch (not included) will be at the famous Café Clock – a well-known cultural hub of Moroccan music and storytelling that has recently revamped its menu of Moroccan food. It is located near Fez’s famous old water clock, hence the name. Afternoon is free. Perhaps you would like to have a hammam and massage at the riad (not included). Dinner will be at a restaurant serving traditional Moroccan food with music and dancing and mosaics like a Matisse! (Dinner is only included for the group tour.)
July 7: Fez – Bhalil or Seffrou – Fez (Friday)
Meals, Group Tour: B & D
Meals, Private Tour: B
Drive to either Bhalil the cave village or Seffrou, known also for its artisans, the Jewish mellah and its waterfalls. Choices on the day will depend on your preferences and local circumstances. These will be unguided visits to, in effect, small country towns near Fez. Just wander like the free spirits you are inside. We will rendezvous with our driver and guide to return to Fez, and later we will leave our riad for dinner at a renowned French restaurant. (Dinner is only included for the group tour.)
Marrakech
July 8-11
8 July : Fez – Ourika (Saturday)
Meals, Group Tour: B L & D
Meals, Private Tour: B & D
Drive from Fez to Ourika in the cooler mountains about 30 minutes from Marrakech. It will be a long drive today. Soak in Morocco through the car window. Stop at road-side stalls along the way. Picnic on the way (provided by our Fez riad) journey. Stay at Les Jardins de Taja or similar. It has good food, nice Amazigh interior design and a lovely farm with farm animals.
Freshly picked berries for sale by the side of the road, at Ourika
July 9: Ourika – Marrakech (Sunday)
Meals: B & D
Whilst at Ourika we will visit (with the help of a guide and subject to preferences on the day) Anima Garden with its interesting artwork displayed throughout, a Berber village, a herbalist, a waterfall and adjacent river at which to lunch, a donkey sanctuary and perhaps a saffron farm. In the cool of the evening, we will drive to our riad in Marrakech, being Riad Houdou (or equivalent) and dine at the riad. Its’ website is here.
At Anima (“Soul”) Garden you will find sculptures by Auguste Rodin and Pablo Picasso.
July 10: Marrakech (Monday)
Meals, Group Tour: B & D
Meals, Private Tour: B
Today our guide will take us to the garden and palace at Le Jardin Secret, the Chichaoua Tea Room for a tea and Riad Yima for art work of Hassan Hajjaj. (We have written about him in our blog post “Colours, Naturellement”.) Hopefully we will also have time to visit Dar El Bacha, a former palace now art gallery with a highly recommended coffee house, for a light lunch (not included). We will talk about the options with our guide before confirming what is best to include and the route to take. In the afternoon we can take you back to the riad, perhaps for a hammam and massage (probably the last opportunity to do so – at your own cost), or you can continue with the guide to the famous Majorelle Gardens. For our final night we have a guided street-food tour of the famous night markets of Marrakech replete with acrobats, snake-charmers, musicians, storytellers, food stalls and so much more. A sensory experience not to be missed! (Guided food tour is included in the Group Tour and is an optional extra for private tours.)
Perfume-making lessons are available in the medina of Marrakech. Ask us for details.
July 11: Departure (Tuesday)
Meals: B
Airport drop-off.
Please note that quoted prices do not include drinks, entrance fees to venues, meals not specified to be covered, airfares to and from Morocco, tips and personal expenses or anything else not specifically included. If we don’t mention something is covered by the tour fee, best to assume that it isn’t.
Your diary checklist
January 31, 2023:
Payment of $500, to secure most sought after accommodation.
(Refundable if tour does not proceed but on no other basis).
April 1, 2023:
Bookings close
April 1, 2023:
Final payment due (less $500.00 already paid)
Note: all prices are shown in Australian dollars.
