Fly into Casablanca’s Mohammed V International Airport, where you’re met by a driver and transferred to the Royal Mansour Casablanca.

Take some time at leisure to settle in and enjoy the hotel. For years, we advised skipping Casablanca, but the Royal Mansour single-handedly changed that. You might relax in the 27,000-square-foot spa (with an indoor pool), or have lunch in one of the property’s four restaurants, which rank as the best in the city. The guest rooms offer sweeping views of the skyline.

This evening, meet your fellow Signature Tour participants at a cocktail reception at the hotel followed by a gourmet welcome dinner.

Meals included: Cocktail Reception, Dinner

Accommodation: Royal Mansour Casablanca

After breakfast, visit Casablanca’s top attraction, the Hassan II Mosque. Located on the Atlantic coast, the mosque has striking traditional Moroccan architecture and a 689-foot minaret, the second tallest in the world.

Depart Casablanca and drive to Rabat, the Moroccan capital. Do a panoramic tour of city highlights before stopping for lunch at a favorite local restaurant.

Continue on to storied Fes. There are still a few places in the world that seem to transcend time, and Fes is one of them. Scarcely a brick has been moved since the waning of the Middle Ages. Inside the old city, the streets are too narrow to allow for vehicles, and the transport of goods is accomplished by donkey, even to this day. Touring its tangled alleys (with a guide) is a joy.

Arrive in the late afternoon and take time to relax and refresh before dinner together at the hotel.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Palais Jamaï Fès or similar

Make an excursion outside Fes to visit Volubilis, the ancient Roman capital of Morocco. It dates back more than two millennia. Here you can admire one of the most beautiful collections of Roman mosaics that have remained in situ since their discovery in the early 20th century.

Many people are surprised to learn that Morocco, a Muslim country, has a wine industry. Two successive kings have encouraged outside investment in vineyards and wineries, and that encouragement is paying off. Most wine lists now give pride of place to local bottlings, which come from vineyards near the moderating breezes of the Atlantic or the cool foothills of the Atlas Mountains.

Visit a high-end winery not far from Volubilis, where you have a private tour of the facilities, a wine tasting and lunch.

Return to Fes in the late afternoon. Take the rest of the day at your leisure to enjoy the hotel or continue exploring.

Dinner is on your own this evening.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation: Palais Jamaï Fès or similar

Delve into Fes el Bali (old Fes), taking a guided tour of its food and spice markets, communal bakeries, handicraft producers, market squares and colorful storefronts. Visit artisan workshops that produce leather, fabric, wood and metal goods as they have for centuries. The famous tanneries are a highlight.

Break for lunch at Riad Fes. This majestic palace is an authentic example of Hispanic-Moorish architecture, with four harmoniously styled patios with marble basins, carved stucco arcades, sculpted doors and geometric zellij tilework.

This afternoon, you can choose from a number of activities:

• With a local Jewish guide, explore the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter, set next to the 14th-century royal palace.
• Visit the workshop of a traditional babouche (Moroccan slippers) artisan.
• Take a Moroccan pastry-making class.
• Or simply take some time on your own to sightsee, shop or relax.

Have dinner together with the group at Ishq, which serves Moroccan-fusion cuisine in a stylish, airy space just outside the old center of Fes.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Palais Jamaï Fès or similar

After a leisurely morning, transfer to the Fes airport, where you’ll board your private jet. Fly to Ouarzazate, and drive from there to Dar Ahlam.

Dar Ahlam, one of our highest-rated hotels in Morocco, is a dramatically restored mud-walled kasbah located in Skoura, a former caravan crossroads in the Dadès Valley. Accommodations are in the original kasbah and separate Garden Suites building, set a short walk away past the large outdoor pool. All have smooth rammed-earth walls and fireplaces. (Note that all accommodations lack TVs and phones.)

Have dinner tonight at Dar Ahlam.

Meals included: Breakfast, Dinner

Accommodation: Dar Ahlam

Take a full day to enjoy Dar Ahlam and the region around it, choosing whichever excursion or activity suits you best:

• Explore the Valley of One Thousand Kasbahs: Skoura has a small, modern center surrounded by innumerable mud-walled kasbahs, their crumbling towers rising above the palms and olive groves. Visit abandoned kasbahs and have a picnic in a river gorge or beside a lake.
• Learn more about the local community: You might observe the olive harvest, saffron production, bread-baking and/or bee-keeping, depending on what’s happening in and around the town today.
• Skoura’s Monday souk: The Monday market in Skoura is one of Morocco’s largest weekly souks. Locals come to do their grocery shopping and pick up household items; a range of crafts is also available.
• Head off on a hike, e-bike excursion or trail ride: The picturesque countryside surrounding Dar Ahlam and Skoura is ideal for trekking, biking or horseback riding.
• Relax at Dar Ahlam: In lush gardens, the pool is a wonderful spot to while away an afternoon. The property also has a full-service spa that offers traditional hammam rituals, among other treatments.

All meals today are enjoyed at Dar Ahlam, where each is thoughtfully prepared and served in a unique setting.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Dar Ahlam

Midmorning, depart the hotel in 4x4 vehicles and head toward the sands of the Sahara. Going across bumpy, rocky desert, this transfer feels like a bit of an adventure, heading into inhospitable but hauntingly beautiful desert countryside.

After a picnic lunch in a shady palm grove, continue on to Dar Ahlam Tented Camp. You have the option to ride a camel to traverse the last stretch to your accommodations. The rolling sand dunes stretch endlessly around Iriki, a former salt lake where Dar Ahlam has set up this atmospheric retreat.

After cocktails at sunset, have dinner by the fire under a star-filled desert sky.

Note that although the guest tents have en suite baths with running water, they lack electricity. Lanterns, candles and fire pits provide the lighting. It’s an exceedingly romantic experience in the desert, even if (or indeed because) there’s no in-room power or Wi-Fi.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Accommodation: Dar Ahlam Tented Camp

Your 4x4 vehicle takes you to Zagora, where you reconnect with your private jet. Fly from Zagora to Marrakech and transfer to the Royal Mansour.

The Royal Mansour Marrakech is not only our highest-rated hotel in Morocco, it’s one of our highest rated anywhere. Only four other properties in the world have earned 99 points. This sumptuous palace was made possible by the king of Morocco’s unlimited budget and more than 1,000 master artisans specializing in geometric zellij tilework, plaster carving, woodwork, stone inlay and painting. Guest rooms start at 1,500 square feet and feature mosaic-tiled entry courts, woodburning fireplaces, striking baths with swirling inlaid marble and roof terraces with plunge pools.

Just before sunset, head to the Djemaa el-Fna, a square that’s popular with travelers but nevertheless feels authentic; locals visit for its street-food vendors, storytellers, henna artists and other entertainers.

Nearby, we’ve chosen one of Marrakech’s most fashionable restaurants for a more contemporary dinner.

Meals included: Breakfast, Dinner

Accommodation: Royal Mansour Marrakech

This morning, head to the Dar el Bacha palace for an exclusive pre-opening visit. Transformed into a museum in 2017, the early 20th-century Dar el Bacha Palace is magnificent, with splendid hand-painted ceilings and some of Morocco’s finest zellij tilework. But we’re particularly moved by the Musée des Confluences now housed inside, which displays objects illustrating the similarities among Judaism, Christianity and Islam. After your tour, have a coffee break in the palace’s famed café.

With your guide, explore the labyrinthine medina of Marrakech. Here, you only have to turn a corner to find scenes of local life unchanged for centuries: a baker standing before an ancient wood-fired oven; a craftsman beating brass with a wooden mallet; a dyer with stained hands working beneath gaudy skeins of silk. As you explore, taste local produce, smell local spices and oils and touch colorful handmade fabrics. Learn about the exquisite architecture and the rich history of the medina.

Have lunch on the rooftop of a glamorous riad, El Fenn, before returning to the Royal Mansour.

The rest of the afternoon and evening is at your leisure. Consider booking a spa treatment for this afternoon in advance; the spa is a palace unto itself. Alternatively, relax by the main swimming pool, surrounded by centuries-old olive trees.

Dinner is on your own this evening.

Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation: Royal Mansour Marrakech

Today, you can choose from a menu of tours and activities in Marrakech. Examples include the following:

• Hot-air ballooning: This fabulous sunrise expedition allows you to discover the desertlike region north of Marrakech, with its hills, oases and villages.
• Private cooking class at La Maison Arabe: This recommended hotel offers hands-on cooking workshops for anyone who wishes to discover the pleasures of Moroccan cuisine.
• Contemporary art, fashion and/or design: Marrakech isn’t stuck in the past. It also has a vibrant art scene, unique high-end fashion boutiques and enviable interior design stores.
• Custom sidecar tour: Aboard a vintage-style motorcycle sidecar, go on an off-the-beaten-path adventure throughout Marrakech and its surroundings, led by a knowledgeable insider.
• Escorted souk shopping: Especially if it’s your first time in Morocco, it can be helpful to have a guide to help you find treasures and unusual shops you’d otherwise likely miss.

After a cocktail reception this evening, sit down to an extraordinary farewell dinner in the hotel at La Grande Table Marocaine, one of the best restaurants in all of North Africa. It feels like dining in a Moroccan king’s palace, which is, in fact, exactly what you’re doing.

Meals included: Breakfast, Cocktail Reception, Dinner

Accommodation: Royal Mansour Marrakech

Transfer to the airport according to the time of your flight, or continue your travels elsewhere in Morocco (the Travel Office can help with extending your trip, arranging a sybaritic stay at Kasbah Tamadot in the Atlas Mountains, for example).

Meals included: Breakfast

Price, Deposit, Terms

• $33,500 per person based on double occupancy.
• 50% nonrefundable deposit required to confirm.
• Travel insurance is strongly recommended.
• Terms & Conditions

Inclusions

Accommodations based on double occupancy; arrival and departure airport transfers; ground transportation, internal airfare, sightseeing and activities as indicated; all breakfasts plus at least one lunch or dinner each day; local wine and beer with included meals; hotel taxes; entrance fees to included sites; baggage handling; gratuities for local guides, drivers and porters; professional tour escort throughout; tour development, planning, itinerary preparation and reservation management by Andrew Harper. Rooms can vary slightly and will be allocated according to registration date.

Exclusions

International airfare; costs of passports and visas; personal expenses such as laundry, beverages, liquor/mixed drinks, meals not listed; room service, excess baggage fees, sightseeing not listed; communication charges and personal insurance coverage. Due to the exclusivity of group contracts, member benefits are not applicable on Signature Tours.

For more information, please contact Kari Jones at [email protected] or 630-734-4622.