Morocco Grand Loop: the High Atlas, the Sahara, Chefchaouen and Tangier, 9 Nights

Your driver meets you at Mohammed V airport and brings you into Casablanca. On the way there is a stop at the Hassan II Mosque, one of the largest in the world, its minaret rising above the Atlantic, with a guided visit inside when it is open. The rest of the day is free, and dinner is at a place of your choosing.

A drive of about three hours south across the plains to Marrakech. After checking in you have the afternoon to find your way into the souks and to reach the great square of Jemaa el-Fna by dusk, when its food stalls light up and the musicians and storytellers gather. A dinner show can be added.

A guided morning at the Saadian Tombs, the Bahia Palace and outside the Koutoubia mosque, then the road climbs into the High Atlas over the Tizi n’Tichka pass, with Berber villages clinging to the slopes. On the far side you visit Aït Benhaddou, a fortified clay village used in many films, before reaching Ouarzazate for dinner.

A long, beautiful day east past the palm groves and kasbahs of Skoura, the rose-growing villages around Kelaat M’Gouna and the Dadès and Todra valleys near Tinghir. From Erfoud you switch to 4x4 jeeps for the last stretch to a camp at the foot of the Erg Chebbi dunes, with dinner and a sky full of stars.

Watch the sun rise over the dunes, then drive north up the Ziz valley with its gorges and palm oases to Midelt, below the peaks of the eastern High Atlas. The road continues through Azrou and the cedar forests, where Barbary macaques are often seen, and on through Ifrane to Fez by the evening.

A guided morning in the medina of Fez, with the Bou Jeloud gate, a madrasa, the tanneries and the Nejjarine fountain. Then west to Meknes for its royal granaries and stables and to the Roman ruins of Volubilis, before climbing into the Rif mountains to Chefchaouen for the night.

A guided morning in Chefchaouen’s medina, where almost every wall, step and doorway is washed in shades of blue, and the square below the old kasbah is lined with cafés. In the afternoon you drive north past Tetouan to Tangier, arriving in time for an evening walk above the port and the Strait of Gibraltar.

Time in Tangier for the kasbah and the viewpoints over the strait, where Spain is often visible on clear days. Then south along the Atlantic coast to Asilah, a small walled town known for the murals painted on its white houses, and on to Rabat for the night.

A full day in the capital: the Kasbah of the Udayas with its blue-and-white lanes and Andalusian garden, the medina’s souks, the Hassan Tower and the royal mausoleum of Mohammed V. In the late afternoon you drive down the coast to Casablanca for a final night close to the airport.

Breakfast at the hotel, then your driver takes you to Mohammed V airport for your flight home. If you have time before leaving, a walk along the corniche at Aïn Diab or a coffee in one of the city’s Art Deco cafés rounds off the trip.