When I initially thought of visiting Morocco, I wasn’t sure what more the country had to offer us other than a bucket-list experience in the Sahara desert–of course this was prior to all the research :). Boy, was I in for quite a pleasant surprise! Hopefully you will be as well, if you decide to make the trip here!
I thought one week in Morocco was more than enough time but we realized we were rushing to get all the sights on our list in. Book a longer trip if you want to see more than the main city of Marrakech (you won’t regret it!).
Day One
We flew into RAK airport and were dropped off to the first riad by our tour guide Go Trips Morocco. I would highly suggest either having your tour guide drop you off or pre-arrange to have your riad/hotel set up a shuttle or car to take you to the hotel. As long as the driver contacts your hotel in advance to let them know you are there, so they can send someone out to help with your luggage and most importantly escort you safely to the correct place! A lot of the riads are located within small alleyways and some with cobblestone roads making it a bit tiresome if you have a lot of luggage like we did.
After check-in, our first stop was Le Royal Mansour for lunch in the garden at Le Jardin and then a visit to their spa. The food was delicious but the star of the show was the coconut ice cream made in-house! Just order it. You’ll thank me later!
After dessert, we were off to the this incredibly stunning spa!
Day Three
Skipping the second day of our trip since it was spent mostly sitting in the backseat of our van. We left Marrakech early morning to make the 10 hour drive to our desert Riad outside the Sahara desert. It was quite the trek to get there but was worth every minute and mile! If you decide to visit the Sahara desert during your trip, booking a tour would be ideal as the drive is long, and the roads are narrow and windy at some points going through the famed High Atlas Mountains. We highly recommend Go Trips Morocco (they were very knowledgable, knew of great photo stops and were both professional and fun!).
We woke up early this morning to catch the sunrise over the Sahara desert dunes. Our riad was conveniently located just outside the desert; we walked maybe 15 minutes to get to actual dunes. The skies were beautiful shades of lavender, pink and peach…it was beyond magical.
We spent the afternoon visiting neighboring Nomad families who graciously welcomed us into their home and gave us a glimpse of their way of life. Seeing families walking miles and miles to collect water from a well to use for all cleaning, cooking and drinking needs, has to leave you feeling quite humbled, am I right?
After lunch, it was time to head back to prepare for the highlight of our desert trip…exploring the Sahara desert at sunset with our new camel friends!
We checked into our luxury berber tent, had the most amazing dinner together and then spent the evening under what seemed like a billion shining stars listening to the drums. We even learned how to play! Although I must admit we weren’t too good of a band haha!
Day Four
The next morning we woke up to catch one last sunrise amongst the sand dunes and packed up to head back to Marrakech. On the way back, we stopped at the UNESCO world heritage site of Ait Ben Haddou. After finding out this was the site where they filmed several Hollywood movies and shows including my favorite, GoT series, we knew we had to see it for ourselves! We shared more mint tea on one of the rooftops of the Kasbah and took in the view of the amazingly preserved city and explored the Kasbah’s halls a bit more before we began our long drive back.
Stopped by the cutest rooftop for a delicious mint tea break complete with a view of the city!
Day Six
Again, day 5 was spent in the car ride back to Marrakech – home base for the next few days! After all that travel, a serene spa day was more than needed! We stayed at the award-winning luxury spa at our hotel, Es Saadi. Note, access to the spa is not included with regular room reservations. I would call or email the hotel to ensure your room rate includes it! You can also find info on the spa pass here if you’d like to visit without booking.a room here: https://www.essaadi.com/en/offre/pool-day-pass.
After exploring the different sauna rooms and more Moroccan tea, we left to check in to our next hotel: La Sultana! This hotel has the most beautiful and unique little pools to relax in!
After unwinding by the dreamiest of pools, we were ready to explore the city! We walked to Djemaa el Fna, the biggest marketplace in Marrakech. This marketplace is a labyrinth of small, dark valleys with shops tucked away in each and every corner selling beautiful Berber rugs, metal lamps, leather goods like poufs, bags and sandals are popular! There are spice stands, straw bags and lots of options for eateries! You can easily spend half a day here getting lost exploring all these options so ensure you have enough time in the day but they usually close later in the day.
Day Seven
This day we started it off with visiting the ever so popular La Mamounia hotel! We had scheduled an appointment for a Hammam experience about 2 months in advance which is recommended. It is a full body scrub that is a regular part of the lives of the locals.
What you can expect going into your first hammam:
You’ll be asked to fully strip down. They can provide a disposable undergarment, which is what we wore. You’ll have about 10 minutes to lay on a very hot marble stone bench in a steam room before being moved to a different room where they will scrub your entire body with a kessa mitt and then rinsed off before relaxing with some Moroccan tea.
Along with the booking, the lunch buffet is also included. The buffet was extraordinarily delicious and was such a nice treat after the Hammam! I’d even add that it was one of the best buffets I’ve ever had!
We then spent the next 8 hours traveling by car with our guide to visit the small but very unique, charming and incredible town of Chefchaouene, also known as the Blue Pearl!
Day Eight
We were up at sunrise to take advantage of the serenity of the quaint little city and discovered the city truly was 50 shades of beautiful Blue! We arrived late the night before we it was hard to see the colors but it was so magical seeing the alleyways, the walls and homes all light up as the sun rose. We had no real agenda but only had half the day to explore before heading back to Marrakech. If there were any city to truly get lost within, this would be it! We just let ourselves turn down any old corner or alleyway, if we thought we saw something we’d like to explore or photograph and walked for a few hours exploring the city aimlessly, only to find we’ve circled the old Medina fully and were miraculously at the front of the hotel lobby! An amazing coincidence? Luck? Maybe a bit of both.
This perfect blue town was quite the opposite of what we grew accustomed to in the big city of Marrakech. It was much cooler, calmer and much more serene with a sense of tranquility even. The locals were less aggressive with tourists and definitely let you take your time looking around before they even bother to approach you. The streets were practically empty and silent when we left our hotel in the morning. The only local company we had were the stray kitties who were also up early to enjoy the quiet morning.
Casablanca – one quick stop!
On the way back to Marrakech, we drove through Casablanca. Although we did not have time to stop here as our drive home was 8 hours, we managed to squeeze in one stop to see the famed city landmark, Hassan II Mosque here!
It is the largest mosque in Africa, with a minaret that scales at about 210 meters and is the world’s tallest minaret. The mosque is infamous for the elaborate design and architecture, with beautiful marble flooring, detailed mosaic tile designs and stone and wood pieces completely hand carved, it was fascinating to see it all!
Day Ten
Our last Riad was the Insta-popular Riad Yasmine! We wish we were able to enjoy our stay here longer but we did what we could and laid out by the beautifully designed pool in the most aesthetically perfect courtyard. I mean, who doesn’t need all of this in their home stat?!
It’s finally time to say your goodbyes to the stray kitty you may have accidentally adopted (guilty!) and enjoy that last sip of Moroccan tea…that last bite of Chicken Tagine…and pack your things because it’s time to prepare for your return flight home!
Morocco…you were absolutely perfect and I hope to see you again soon!
