With five weeks left of our trip we needed to exit the Schengen zone so we could visit some Christmas markets before coming home. Deciding where to go was an easy choice. Morocco is our first African country to visit, as well as being a short flight from Paris. After travelling for 10 months we were starting to tire of organising ourselves so decided to book an Intrepid Travel tour to spend 16 days in Morocco. This was a great choice as it included all of our accomodation, activities as well as mostly private transport. We saw much more of the country than if we decided to plan it ourselves especially in the more remote, rural parts. Morocco is also very different to any other country we have visited on this trip. It is an African and also Muslim country with its own unique style of food and culture.

We couldn’t believe the variation in the climates across the country going from desert, to snow to the ocean within a few hours driving. I could write pages and pages detailing everything that we did, but I can’t really be bothered and the pictures tell a lot haha. Below are the places we visited with a short description as well as photos. We absolutely loved the ease of doing a tour in Morocco and would love to return on our own one day. The food is incredible, the people friendly and the Arabic, African and Berber cultures mixed together create a very unique and magical place to visit.

Casablanca – Financial capital and largest city. Quite modern in parts with the second largest mosque in the world. 2 days here was enough.

Rabat – Official capital, incredible old city walls. Spent a couple of hours here on the way to Meknes.

Meknes – Gorgeous old gates and architecture, cute markets to get coffee and mint tea.

Volubilis – Ancient roman ruin site, stopped for a couple of hours. Nice to see the countryside, very green with lots of olive trees.

Fes – Largest medina (ancient city) in Morocco, a real labyrinth and very easy to get lost. Stayed with a guide to visit multiple souks as well as the leather tannery (very smelly)

Midelt – stayed just outside of this town on the way to the Sahara. Freezing cold, snowed the following day on the drive. Stayed in an amazing guest house. Closer to the Sahara we visited a small town and had lunch at a traditional Berber house which was set up as a museum. Matt enjoyed prunes for the first time in a slow cooked goat tagine.

Sahara – An incredible experience. The dunes are golden orange that stretch for what seems like forever. We rode camels up to a point to watch the sun set. The camels were in good condition and well looked after. We camped (glamped) here complete with drums and a bonfire, very hippy of us.

Todra gorge and Atlas Mountains – Did a nice hike here with a local guide and met a nomadic family who live in caves, they made us delicious wild thyme and mint tea with honey. In the evening we had a party for one tour members birthday. Drums and dancing until late in the evening.

Ait Benhaddou – A filming location for big name movies and TV shows like Game of Thrones and Gladiator. We loved staying across the river in a cool mud brick guest house. Sunrise here was lovely.

Essaouira – A seaside port town. Really relaxed with great seafood. Shopping here was cheaper and way more chill. Went to a great Moroccan/ Asian fusion restaurant.

Marrakech – We loved Marrakech. It was very vibrant and hectic with an amazing maze like Medina with souks offering everything you could think of. A shame we only spent one day here. Visited an old palace and had lunch at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the Medina.

A wrap up:

Favourite parts of Morocco – Tagines, cous cous, dramatic and varied scenery, introduced to Arabic culture and Muslim religion, so much to see and do.

We are currently in London staying in Warwick and Ben’s lounge. Will be here for four days before the final two weeks of our trip visiting some big cities in Central Europe. It’s Matt’s birthday tomorrow so we’re looking forward to an eggs benedict for breakfast, a day out in London and then the evening at Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park with the boys for some mulled cider and Christmas markets.