Day 1: Tangier – Tetouan – Chefchaouen

Your tour begins in Tangier, a lively port city that has always been a meeting point between Europe and Africa. Your English-speaking driver will pick you up from your hotel or from the ferry port in the morning.

Before leaving Tangier, you can take a short walk around the old medina and the Kasbah area if time allows. The Kasbah of Tangier sits on a hill above the city and has great views over the Strait of Gibraltar, where you can see the coast of Spain just 14 kilometers away. It is a stunning view and a unique moment standing in Africa and looking across to Europe.

From Tangier, you drive south along the coast and pass through Tetouan, a beautiful white city with a UNESCO-listed medina. You do not need to stop long here, but driving through gives you a feel for the northern Morocco lifestyle relaxed, Mediterranean, and very different from the rest of the country.

The road then climbs into the Rif Mountains, one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in Morocco. The air is fresh and cool, the roads wind through green valleys, and small villages appear on every hillside. After about 2 to 3 hours of driving from Tangier, you arrive in Chefchaouen.

Chefchaouen is one of the most famous towns in Morocco and one of the most photographed places in all of Africa. Nearly every building in the old part of town is painted in shades of blue from pale sky blue to deep cobalt. Walking through the narrow streets feels like walking through a dream.

Spend the rest of the afternoon walking freely through the blue medina, visiting the small shops, sitting in the main square (Plaza Uta el-Hammam), and enjoying the peaceful mountain atmosphere. Chefchaouen is a place where you want to slow down and just enjoy being there.

Overnight: Chefchaouen

Day 2: Chefchaouen – Volubilis – Meknes – Fes

Wake up early and enjoy the morning light in Chefchaouen. The blue streets are at their most beautiful in the early morning when it is quiet and the light is soft. Take a walk before breakfast and enjoy the silence before the day begins.

After breakfast, you leave Chefchaouen and drive toward the ancient city of Fes. On the way, you will stop at two very interesting places.

The first stop is Volubilis the best-preserved ancient Roman ruins in Morocco. These ruins are over 2,000 years old and are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You will walk through the old columns, mosaic floors, and ancient arches of a city that was once one of the most important Roman outposts in North Africa. It is a truly impressive sight, especially surrounded by open Moroccan countryside.

After Volubilis, you drive to Meknes, another of Morocco’s four imperial cities. Meknes is often overlooked by tourists, but it has some very impressive monuments. You will see the massive Bab Mansour Gate one of the most beautiful city gates in all of Morocco and the old medina where local life carries on just as it has for centuries.

In the afternoon, continue to Fes, Morocco’s spiritual and cultural capital. Fes is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, and its old medina (Fes el-Bali) is the largest car-free urban area on earth. When you arrive, check in to your hotel and enjoy a relaxed evening exploring the area near your accommodation.

Overnight: Fes

Day 3: Fes City Tour – Middle Atlas Mountains – Ifrane – Azrou – Marrakech Direction

Today starts with a full guided walking tour of Fes old medina. Your local guide will take you deep into one of the most fascinating cities in the world.

You will visit the famous Chouara Tannery the oldest leather tannery in the world, where animal skins are still dyed by hand using the same methods used hundreds of years ago. Looking down at the colorful dye pots from a leather shop balcony is one of the most memorable sights in all of Morocco.

You will also visit the Al-Attarine Madrasa, a stunning 14th-century Islamic school with beautiful carved plaster, painted cedar wood, and detailed tilework. Walking through it feels like stepping back in time. Other stops include the ancient Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque (founded in 859 AD the oldest university in the world), the old spice and copper markets, and the narrow lanes of the medina where donkeys are still the main form of transport.

After the Fes tour, you leave the city and begin the long but beautiful drive south through the Middle Atlas Mountains. You pass through Ifrane, a small and very clean mountain town that looks completely different from the rest of Morocco. It has red-roofed European-style houses, wide clean streets, and a relaxed atmosphere. People call it the Switzerland of Morocco.

Next stop is Azrou, where you enter a cedar forest and have a good chance of seeing wild Barbary macaque monkeys sitting in the cedar trees. These friendly monkeys are only found in Morocco and Algeria, and seeing them in the wild is a fun and unexpected experience.

Depending on the time and your travel plan, you will either continue to Marrakech tonight (long drive) or stop overnight in a town along the way such as Beni Mellal or Khenifra.

Overnight: En Route (Beni Mellal area) or Marrakech

Day 4: Arrival in Marrakech – City Visit – End of Tour

If you stopped overnight on the way, you will arrive in Marrakech in the morning with time to enjoy the city. If you drove all the way on Day 3, you already have the full Day 4 free to explore.

Marrakech is one of the most exciting cities in Africa. The heart of the city is Jemaa el-Fnaa Square a huge open square that is busy from morning to midnight. In the morning there are orange juice sellers and locals going about their day. By evening it transforms into a giant outdoor festival with food stalls, storytellers, musicians, snake charmers, and henna artists.

Around the square, the old medina stretches in all directions with hundreds of small lanes filled with shops selling spices, leather bags, lanterns, carpets, and handmade crafts. It is easy to get lost and that is actually the best way to explore Marrakech.

You can also visit some of Marrakech’s famous sights such as Bahia Palace, built in the 19th century with beautiful painted ceilings and gardens, the Koutoubia Mosque — the largest mosque in Marrakech whose minaret you can see from almost everywhere in the city — and the Saadian Tombs, a royal burial site with stunning tilework and carved plaster.

In the afternoon or evening, your driver will drop you off at your hotel or at Marrakech airport, and your 4 day tour from Tangier comes to an end.

End of Tour: Marrakech