Imperial Morocco

🍽️ Breakfast & Rabat City Tour

Breakfast at the hotel. Enjoy a guided city tour of Rabat, visiting:

• Kasbah of the Oudayas – constructed during the Almohads dynasty (12th century)
• Mohammed V Mausoleum – home to the tombs of the current king’s father and grandfather
• Hassan Tower – a minaret built in 1195

➡️ Transfer to Meknes

Continue to Meknes, known as the "Moroccan Versailles" and one of Morocco’s oldest cities. Tour highlights include:

• Bab El Mansour Gate – the grandest of all imperial Moroccan gateways
• Hri Souani – a complex built for granaries and stables, featured in films such as The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

🍴 Optional: Lunch at a local restaurant.

🏛️ Visit Volubilis

Explore the UNESCO-sponsored Roman ruins in Volubilis, an ancient city partly excavated by UNESCO. Developed from the 3rd century BC as a Berber and proto-Carthaginian city, Volubilis grew rapidly under Roman rule from the 1st century AD.

➡️ Transfer to Fes

In the late afternoon, transfer to Fes, the spiritual capital of Morocco.

🍽️ Optional: Dinner at the hotel.

Overnight in Fes.

🍽️ Breakfast & Fes City Tour

Breakfast in the hotel. Enjoy a guided city tour of Fes, starting with:

• The entrance to the largest royal palace in Morocco
• A panoramic view of the ancient medina
• Visit to the traditional ceramic crafts village for an authentic experience

Continue to Fes El Bali, the ancient medina that has remained unchanged for centuries.

🍴 Optional: Lunch at a local restaurant.

Key Visits:

• Al-Karaouine Mosque & University – built by Fatima Al Fihria in 857, this mosque and university are recognized as the first in the world and have been a leading center of spiritual and educational learning since 859
• A Merdersa – a traditional Quranic school
• The famous leather Souq and the oldest Leather Tannery in the world, dating back at least nine centuries

🍽️ Optional: Dinner at the hotel.

Overnight in Fes.

🍽️ Breakfast & Transfer to Marrakech

Breakfast in the hotel. Transfer to Marrakech, famously described as the “Paris of the Sahara” by Winston Churchill.

The journey takes you through the Middle Atlas Mountains with a stop in:

• Ifrane – a charming town and ski resort known for its Alpine climate and European-style houses. Located at 1,665 meters (5,460 ft) in elevation, it holds the record for the lowest temperature in Africa (-24°C in 1935). Look out for the Barbary Macaque and native trees like Atlas cedar and Scrub oak.

Continue to Beni Mellal, an important economic center known for petrochemical production, textile manufacturing, and agriculture.

🍴 Optional: Lunch at a local restaurant.

Arrive in Marrakech late in the afternoon and check in to your hotel.

🍽️ Optional: Dinner at the hotel.

Overnight in Marrakech.

🍽️ Breakfast & Marrakech City Tour

Breakfast in the hotel. Enjoy a guided city tour of Marrakech with visits to:

• Koutoubia Mosque – built under the reign of Almohad Caliph Yaqub al-Mansur (1184–1199); it inspired the Giralda in Seville and the Hassan Tower in Rabat
• Bahia Palace – built in the late 19th century, reflecting Islamic and Moroccan architectural styles
• Madrasa Ben Youssef – Morocco’s largest Coranic school, named after Almoravid Sultan Ali Ibn Yusuf (reigned 1106–1142)
• Saadian Tombs – dating back to the time of Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur (1578–1603), discovered in 1917 and restored by the Beaux-Arts service

🍴 Optional: Lunch at a local restaurant.

Continue the tour with:

• Jemaa El Fna Square – enjoy performances by storytellers, snake charmers, and peddlers of traditional medicines
• The bustling souks of the old medina

🍽️ Optional: Dinner at the hotel.

Overnight in Marrakech.