Imperial Cities Tour from Casablanca

Tour Overview

 
Throughout Morocco’s history is written on the walls of the 4 Imperial cities Tour: Marrakech and the Jemaa El Fna place, Fez and the Nejjarine Fountain, Meknes and Bab El Mansour, Rabat and the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, but also Volubilis and Casablanca with the Hassan II Mosque, all classified as World Heritage by Unesco.

“A great king, great city,” wrote in the fourteenth century illustrated by Maghrebian historian Ibn Khaldun. Obviously, the imperial capitals are the heritage of the different dynasties these rulers wish to set in stone the power of their reign. When a Moroccan dynasty chooses his residence in Fez, Marrakech, Rabat, or Meknes, the city became the capital is adorned with monuments (palaces, mosques, mausoleums) that reflect the prestige of the prince in the eyes of his contemporaries and historians. World of grandeur, refinement, and luxury, the royal city is a mythical universe that inspires medieval authors’ legendary images.

Itinerary:

– Day 1:  CASABLANCA  

Pick up from the airport and transfer to the hotel and meet the guide to highlights the tour.

– Day 2: Casablanca – Rabat – Volubilis – Meknes.

After breakfast, we’ll head to Rabat – the famous blue-walled capital of Morocco and visit the Oudaya Kasbah, and then we carry on our way to Meknes for a guided visit to Meknes, a Unesco World Heritage, the 16th-century capital whose ruler, Moulay Ismail, modeled himself on France’s ‘Sun King’, Louis XIV. After plundering his entire country he opened his amazing palace decorated with the most intricate colorful stucco work, huge beautifully detailed bronze doors, and stunning mosaics via Volubilis, the westernmost outpost of the Roman Empire. Wonderfully isolated, set amongst gorgeous rolling hills and olive groves, it is a haunting sight, silent and almost ghost-like. Here our guided tour will ensure you appreciate Volubilis’s historic importance and its stunning mosaics. Night stay in Meknes.

– Day 3: Meknes – Fès

After breakfast, we will head to Fes. The whole day will be devoted to discovering Fez, a Unesco World Heritage and the oldest of the imperial cities, home to the world’s first university dating from the 9th century and one of the most complete medieval cities in existence. Surrounded by huge defensive walls, it seems suspended in a time warp, somewhere between the middle ages and the modern. But it’s more than that, it is a living city almost devoid of tourists, where whilst wandering amongst its amazing 9,000 tiny streets you experience its noisy hawkers selling everything from colorful vegetables to delicious middle eastern pastries flavored with cinnamon and honey. Mind your backs for the passing of the only transport-mule or donkey! The haunting sound of the call to prayer resonates over the traditional rooftops whilst skilled artisans noisily beat metal into pans and intricate metal-ware as they have for centuries. . Visit of the medieval Medina. You will also explore the famous souks where craftsmen still labor in the age-old oriental tradition. After lunch, we will continue sightseeing in the afternoon. Night stay in Fes

– Day 4: Fès – Ifran – Midelt – Errachidia – Merzouga

We leave for Midelt through the Atlas Mountains and the cedar forests of the middle Atlas. We pass by Ifrane, a charming ski resort. We arrive at Midelt for lunch then we will drive to Erfoud and into the desert. You will have a camel ride into the beautiful Erg Chebbi Sahara desert dunes, where you will spend the evening in the desert camp. There you will enjoy a Berber dinner and sleep in a traditional nomad camel hair tent.

Day 5: Merzouga – Erfoud – Todra Gorge.

Wake up to watch the sunrise and take lovely pictures, and have breakfast, after that, we drive to Erfoud which is known by fossils’ preparation, and through palm trees groves. We stop for some lunch in Tinghir city, then arrive at Todra Gorge and go for a walk in one of the best places for rock climbing. Night stay in Todra Gorge.

Day 6: Todra Gorge – Valley of roses – Ouarzazat – Ait Ben Haddou.

After breakfast, drive along the Valley of the Roses to Kalaa Mgouna where you will have the opportunity to visit one of the Rosewater cooperatives and learn how the locals prepare rose-scented perfumes based on distilled rose water.

We continue to Ouarzazate past Skoura oasis famous for its date palm trees, then to Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou where you will have lunch before a visit of the Kasbah, a UNESCO world heritage site that has been used as a set for various Hollywood movies, fashion and commercial shooting. The Kasbah is well preserved and consisted of various Kasbahs packed together and appears as a single unit. night stay in Ait Ben Haddou.

– Day 7: Ait Ben Haddou – Tichka Pass – Marrakesh

After breakfast, we begin our descent through the Atlas Mountains past Tizi Ntichka Pass passing by various Berber villages with houses built with stones and mud. You immediately notice that life here never changed centuries ago and most of the locals are shepherds.

We arrive at Marrakech. Guided visit of Marrakesh, a Unesco World Heritage, once and an oasis on the caravan routes to the south, it became a natural center of commerce and the capital city during medieval times. Wealth poured in from Moorish Spain and the city you see today was built. Surrounded by almost intact medieval walls little has changed and in the central square, Jemaa el Fna is one of the world’s greatest spectacles. That is listed by UNESCO, as an Oral heritage of humanity. Here, especially atmospheric at dusk, street restaurants serve all kinds of delicacies with mouth-watering aromas filling the air, surrounded by what only can be described as a medieval circus. Storytellers recount tales of old, whilst fire-eaters and skilled acrobats entertain onlookers. Scribes write letters and open-air dentists and barbers industriously practice their trades. Have your shoes cleaned, watch snake-charmers and see herbalists dispensing mystical remedies. Musical troupes lithely move to the soulful heavy drumbeat which thuds hypnotically in the balmy warmth of the Moroccan evening. This eclectic mix makes Marrakesh one of the most exciting and romantic places you will ever visit.

– Day 8: Transfer

After breakfast, and according to flight hours, free time then transfer to the airport.