Intrepid Morocco Real Food Adventure

• Meals: 9 breakfasts, 4 lunches, 6 dinners
• Transport: Train, Private Vehicle, Public Bus, Taxi
• Accommodation: Hotel (5 nights), Gite (1 night), Guesthouse (1 night), Riad (2 night)

Casablanca – Welcome Dinner

Moulay Idriss – Cous cous demonstration and dinner

Casablanca – Street Food Breakfast

Moulay Idriss – Olive Press Visit

Guided walking tour – Meknes

Fes – Guided walking tour

Fes – Medina Tasting Trail including Pastilla Demonstration

Marrakech – Cooking Class (Moroccan Salads)

Marrakech – Medina Tasting Tour

Marrakech – Home-cooked Meal

Aroumd – Berber home-cooked meal

Aroumd – Berber Tagine Cooking Class

Essaouria – Wine Tasting

Essaouira – Argan Oil Cooperative Visit

Essaouira – Village and Market Tour

Day 1: Casablanca

Salaam Aleikum! Welcome to Morocco. Your adventure begins today with a welcome meeting at 6 pm where you’ll meet your tour leader and fellow travellers. As there’s little free time included in Casablanca on this trip, consider coming a day early to fully explore the city.

Day 2: Meknes/Moulay Idriss

After a local street breakfast in Casablanca, take an early train to Meknes – in the 17th century, Sultan Moulay Ismail turned Meknes from a provincial town to a spectacular Imperial city – on arrival, get to know Meknes on an orientation walk with your leader. For lunch, visit a friendly local restaurant in the medina and try a Moroccan delicacy – a camel burger! Next, drive approximately 1 hour to Moulay Idriss where you’ll visit a local olive press and learn the secrets behind their fragrant olive oil, a speciality of the region.

Day 3: Chefchaouen

This morning, drive to Chefchaouen, or the ‘blue city’, arguably one of the prettiest places in Morocco. Set against a wide valley and nestled between two peaks in the stunning Rif Mountains, Chefchaouen may take you by surprise. Its medina has been lovingly cared for with striking blue and whitewashed houses, red-tiled roofs and artistic doorways. Much of Chefchaouen was recreated by Andalusian refugees escaping the Reconquistia, so you might feel like you’re in the hills of Spain while exploring its streets.

Day 4: Fes

Enjoy your morning in Chefchaouen exploring the sights, sounds, and smells of the medina, the shops in the square selling woven goods and small sweets, and, most importantly, enjoy a taste of the town’s famous goat’s cheese. Herds of goats wander the sparse hillsides that surround Chefchaouen, and their cheese is sold in great fresh rounds in the street markets. In the afternoon travel to Fes, the most complete medieval city in the Arab world. Fes is the spiritual and cultural heart of Morocco – vibrant, noisy, fascinating and overwhelming – a visual and pungent feast for the senses.

Day 5: Fes

Take a guided group walking tour of the old city, known locally as Fes el Bali. Step back into the Middle Ages as you explore the labyrinth of the Medina, which is alive with craftsmen, markets, tanneries and mosques. Pass donkeys piled high with goods (this is one of the largest car-free urban zones in the world) and explore the specialty sections that divide the souk. Look out for the Medersa Bou Inania, one of the city’s most beautiful buildings, which has recently been restored and is now open to tourists. Also, visit a ceramics factory where you can see traditional handmade pottery being made. Your local leader will guide you on a ‘tasting trail’ along the way today before enjoying a cooking demonstration, where you’ll learn how to create one of the city’s signature dishes – pastilla (or b’stilla) – a salty and sweet pastry parcel.

Day 6: Midelt

Leave the intensity of the city behind for the simplicity of the scenic Middle Atlas Mountains. Drive south, inland through a variety of spectacular scenery – fertile valleys, cedar and pine forests and barren, rocky landscapes (approximately 4 hours). The area is populated with wandering nomadic shepherds attending to their flocks.

Day 7: Merzouga

Enjoy a stunning drive towards the Sahara Desert (approximately 5 hours) with plenty of opportunity to stop and admire the panoramic views of the Kasbahs and palm groves (valleys lush with date palms, fields and orchards). You may also have a chance to pause in some of the frontier towns such as Erfoud and Rissani before reaching your destination, the small Saharan settlement of Merzouga. Enjoy a demonstration of medfouna (also called ‘Berber pizza’), a traditional stuffed bread prepared with meat, herbs and spices by the nomadic peoples of the High Atlas.

Day 8: M’Goun Valley

After breakfast prepare for a scenic drive filled with stunning landscapes on the way to the M’Goun Valley. The journey will take you past ancient kasbah ruins, former colonial military outposts, austere mountains and valleys of palm trees and irrigated fields. Dinner tonight is a Berber tajine prepared in a traditional clay pot cooked over an open fire.

Day 9: M’Goun Valley

While the morning holds the option of exploring the nearby village souk of Kelaat M’gouna or witnessing Moroccan bread-making techniques in action, today’s adventure will give you until sunset to explore the beauty of this largely untouched Moroccan backcountry. Accompanied by a local guide, pass through Berber villages, meeting local people along the way. You’ll take a trail that undulates slightly but isn’t too challenging if you have a basic level of fitness – and the scenery is certainly worth the walk!

Day 10: Marrakech

Today, head to your final destination, Marrakech. On the way, stop by a women’s cooperative working on the production of Argan oil, a product that’s endemic to Morocco and used for both culinary and cosmetic purposes. Marrakech is a feast for the senses, upon arrival a local guide will take you on an orientation walk and tasting trail. Be enticed by the alluring scents and brilliant colours of the spice markets, the sounds of the musicians, the rich folds of carpets, delectable foods, acrobats and perfumed gardens.

Day 11: Marrakech

Commence your day by learning to prepare sumptuous Moroccan salads, a staple of the table, at the amazing Amal Women’s Cooking Centre – a non-profit empowering women through culinary skills and education, then feast on your creations for lunch. The afternoon is free to explore the sights of the city, you might like to drop by the Koutoubia Mosque or the dazzling Bahia Palace.

Day 12: Marrakech

Your food adventure across Morocco comes to an end this morning.

Please note, prices listed are guide prices only and are based on 2 people sharing and don’t include any additional supplements. Holiday prices are fluid and dynamic and may be changed at a moment’s notice, prior to booking, at which point they are confirmed. Please call the team free on 0800 707 6229 for more departure dates available and a quote.