The Northern Approach

About This Tour

Tangier-start variant. Two nights at Chefchaouen — not as a photo stop but as a place to stay. Three nights in Fès, with Meknès and Volubilis on the way down to Casablanca. For travellers arriving by ferry from Spain, or for anyone who wants Morocco from the top.

• Day 1

  Arrive Tangier

  Met at Tangier Ibn Battouta airport (TNG) or the Tanger Med ferry terminal (about 45 minutes by road from the city) if arriving from Tarifa or Algeciras. Transfer to a riad in the medina. Late afternoon walking the kasbah and the medina with a Tangier-based guide. Sunset at Cap Spartel where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean. Welcome dinner.

• Day 2

  Tangier — the international city

  Morning at the Tangier American Legation Museum, set inside the medina — a long literary and diplomatic history runs through it. Walk the Petit Socco for a coffee at one of the old cafés. Lunch at the Hafa café on the cliff above the strait, with Spain visible across the water on a clear day. Afternoon free. Optional visit to the Phoenician tombs.

• Day 3

  Tangier to Chefchaouen

  Drive south to Chefchaouen (about 2 hours 30 minutes through the Rif). Afternoon walking the blue medina with a local guide — the late-afternoon light is when the colour reads best. Dinner above the kasbah.

• Day 4

  Chefchaouen — walking and host family

  Morning hike to the Spanish Mosque viewpoint (about 1 hour up, 1 hour down). Afternoon at the guests' own pace — the medina, the small museum, the rugs at the cooperatives. Evening dinner with a host family on the upper slopes.

• Day 5

  Chefchaouen to Fès

  Drive south through the Rif (about 4 hours) to Fès. Evening arrival; light dinner at the riad.

• Day 6

  Fès medina

  Talâa Kbira walk with the lead guide — Nejjarine museum, Attarine madrasa, dyers' souk. Afternoon at the Chouara tannery.

• Day 7

  Fès — workshops and Sufi afternoon

  Morning at a partner workshop. Afternoon at a Sufi shrine outside the medina.

• Day 8

  Volubilis, Meknès, on to Casablanca

  Early start. Volubilis with a regional archaeologist (about 2 hours). Mid-afternoon visit to Meknès — the granaries, the medina. Drive to Casablanca in the evening (about 3 hours from Meknès). The longest road day on the trip; named clearly. Travellers who prefer to break it can add an optional Meknès overnight (+1 night, priced separately).

• Day 9

  Casablanca

  Hassan II Mosque guided visit. Afternoon free — the Anfa quarter, the new corniche. Final dinner at a port-side restaurant.

• Day 10

  Until you leave Casablanca

  A morning in your own hand — a final walk along the corniche, breakfast at the hotel, perhaps the hammam before checkout. The driver makes the airport transfer at a time chosen by the guests — to Mohammed V airport (CMN, about 30 minutes) for the international flight.