Tangier Eclipse and Sahara Desert Tour 2027

Breakfast marks the start of your first full day of discovery. Your guide introduces Casablanca through one of its greatest landmarks: the Hassan II Mosque, an immense structure built right at the water's edge, its minaret rising over 200 metres above the Atlantic, one of the tallest in the world. A drive along the corniche reveals the city's coastal character, followed by a wander through the atmospheric Habous district and a stop at the gates of the Royal Palace.

From Casablanca, you travel to Rabat, a capital city with a quieter confidence than many expect. Its name derives from "Ribatu l-Fath", meaning stronghold of victory, and it was founded with military purposes by the Almohad ruler Abd Al-Mu'min. A guided tour takes in the Royal Palace, the stately Hassan Tower, and the picturesque fortifications of Kasbah Oudaya. Free time in the old medina lets you browse at your own pace: leather slippers, hand-painted pottery, woven bags, antique silver, and Berber textiles all await.

Overnight: Rabat

Meals: Breakfast

Breakfast, then north to Tangier, Morocco's legendary gateway to Europe. The city has always been liminal: it sits precisely at the point where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean, and where Africa's coast comes within nine miles of Spain's. Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Portuguese, and British have all claimed it over the centuries.

Your tour begins at the Kasbah Museum of Mediterranean Cultures, housed inside Dar el Makhzen, a former sultan's palace above the medina. Below, the Petit Socco and Grand Socco squares pulse with traders, café-goers, and street life. At the American Legation Museum, look out for the arresting painting known as the Moroccan Mona Lisa.

The final stop is St. Andrew's Anglican Church, a remarkable building where Gothic bones are dressed in Moorish detail, and the Lord's Prayer is inscribed in Arabic above the chancel arch.

Overnight: Tangier

Meals: Breakfast

Nowhere on earth today offers what Tangier does: a front-row seat to the Solar Eclipse, a once-in-a-generation celestial spectacle that darkens the sky and stops time. Gather with your group, put on your eclipse glasses, and experience one of nature's most profound performances.

With the sun restored and spirits high, you make for the mountains and the town of Chefchaouen. Your guide meets you for a tour of this celebrated Blue Pearl: the Kasbah Ali Ben Rachid, the grand square of Plaza Uta el-Hammam, and the medina's winding lanes bathed in every shade of blue imaginable.

The colour is no accident; it was adopted by the Jewish families who made Chefchaouen their home generations ago, painting their walls blue as a symbol of the sky, heaven, and the divine. Walking through it feels genuinely otherworldly.

Overnight: Chefchaouen

Meals: Breakfast

The morning road runs east through green hills toward a pair of remarkable historical sites. Volubilis is the best-preserved Roman city on African soil, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A specialist guide decodes the ruins: a triumphal arch built to honour Emperor Caracalla, the grand Capitoline Temple, and a series of mosaic floors depicting Orpheus and the animals, remarkably vivid after nearly two millennia underground.

On to Meknes, an imperial city that rarely makes the tourist headlines but absolutely deserves to. Its builder, Sultan Moulay Ismail, declared it Morocco's answer to Versailles, and the monumental Bab El Mansour gate, one of the finest examples of Moorish architecture in the country, makes you understand the ambition. Tonight you arrive in Fez, the oldest and most complex of Morocco's imperial cities.

Overnight: Fez

Meals: Breakfast

The ancient medina of Fez el-Bali, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the world's oldest university town, demands a full day and could easily consume several more. Your knowledgeable guide steers you through its labyrinthine alleys to the landmark Bou-Inania and Attarin Medersas, the famous tanneries (best seen from the leather shop balconies above), Ess-Seffarine Square ringing with the sound of copper-beaters, the mausoleum of Moulay Idriss, the woodcarvers' souk of El-Nejjarine, and the old Mellah, the Jewish quarter that tells its own complex chapter of Moroccan history.

A pottery workshop with a master artisan gives you a practical glimpse into one of Fez's oldest craft traditions. Lunch at a local restaurant, then the afternoon is yours, independent exploration of the medina, or a quiet return to the hotel. Every October, Fez transforms into a global stage for one of the world's most celebrated Sufi music festivals. Worth knowing if you're planning a return visit.

Overnight: Fez

Meals: Breakfast

Today's drive is one of the great Moroccan journeys. The route passes through Ifrane, a mountain town that looks improbably European with its cedar trees, red-roofed villas, and cool air, a world away from the desert you're heading toward.

Then, Midelt, known for its apple orchards and fossil markets, marks your crossing of the Middle Atlas.

By the time you reach Erfoud, the landscape has shifted entirely: the Sahara is at your doorstep. This is fossil country, where ancient marine creatures lie locked in the red rock. From here, 4-wheel-drive vehicles take over for the final approach across the dunes to your desert camp in Merzouga. The sunset over the Erg Chebbi dunes is your evening's spectacle.

Overnight: Merzouga Desert Camp

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Rise before dawn for one of the tour's most quietly unforgettable moments: watching the sun rise over the Saharan dunes from the back of a camel. The silence, the colours, the scale, it's the kind of thing that defies description.

Your driver then takes you west across the desert, with a detour to the Todra Gorge, where the sheer canyon walls rise hundreds of metres from a narrow river valley, where the light at midday is extraordinary. Continuing toward Ouarzazate, you pass through Skoura, an oasis that unfolds along the road as a ribbon of palms and rose gardens before revealing its true extent once you step inside. Dinner and overnight in Ouarzazate, the "Moroccan Hollywood."

Overnight: Ouarzazate

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Film lovers will find this morning particularly special. The Atlas Film Studios in Ouarzazate have hosted productions including Gladiator, The Mummy, and Game of Thrones. The sets and scale are remarkable, even if you're not a particular fan of any of them. It's a fascinating look at how Morocco has doubled for ancient Egypt, Rome, and fictional continents alike.

Heading toward Marrakech, the road climbs over the Tizi n'Tichka pass, the highest drivable mountain pass in North Africa, with views that stretch to the Sahara on a clear day. A stop at Ait Ben Haddou, the honey-coloured fortified village that has starred in more films than most actors, is the day's final highlight before Marrakech welcomes you for the night.

Overnight: Marrakech

Meals: Breakfast

The Red City gets its due today. Your guide begins at the Majorelle Garden, a place of extraordinary beauty: the intense blue paintwork of the pavilion, the rare cacti, the reflecting pool, and the memories it holds of the artists and designers who have loved it over the decades.

From there to the Menara, a royal garden and olive grove centred on an ancient pavilion whose image has appeared on a thousand postcards, with the Atlas Mountains behind it on good days.

A walk to the Koutoubia Mosque and through the Mellah follows, then lunch at a local restaurant before the afternoon is returned to you. The rooftop cafés near Jemaa el-Fna are an ideal place to spend the fading hours of your last full day in the field.

Overnight: Marrakech

Meals: Breakfast

A final, unhurried morning in Marrakech. Whether you choose to lose yourself in the souks of the medina, book an optional excursion with your guide, take a cooking class, or sit with a mint tea and watch the world pass by, the morning is entirely yours. In the afternoon, your transfer to Casablanca covers the three-hour drive back to the coast for your last night in Morocco.

Overnight: Casablanca

Meals: Breakfast

Breakfast at the hotel, then the final transfer to Casablanca's Mohammed V International Airport. Your Morocco journey has taken you across imperial cities, through Roman ruins, over the Atlas Mountains, deep into the Sahara, and under a total solar eclipse. Go well and come back soon.

Meals: Breakfast