Riad Almaha

Journey to the Sahara

Off-the-beaten-track Adventure

Luxury desert camps, Berber culture, and endless landscapes.

10 days

from £3,550 pp

including flights

Imperial Cities by Rail

Foodie Culture & History + 1 more + 2 more

Ride the rails on a journey through Morocco’s historic heart.

12 days

from £3,570 pp

including flights

Classic Morocco

Classic Beach + 2 more + 3 more

The classic Moroccan trio: Marrakesh, the Atlas Mountains & Essaouira.

11 days

from £2,955 pp

including flights

Best of Morocco

Classic Adventure + 2 more + 3 more

An action-packed adventure through Morocco’s must-sees.

14 days

from £4,580 pp

including flights

Morocco Summer Sun

Family Classic + 2 more + 3 more

Our perfect Morocco escape for the summer months.

11 days

from £2,960 pp

including flights

Morocco with Teenagers

Family Adventure + 2 more + 3 more

The best of Morocco, designed for all ages.

10 days

from £2,940 pp

including flights

Quirky excursions

View all excursions in Morocco

Majorelle Gardens & YSL Museum

This tour from Marrakesh takes in a number of museums and a couple of beautiful gardens: all of them are tucked away and provide educational and informative respite from the bustle of the city. Bert Flint, a Dutch anthropologist and long-time resident of Marrakesh, has spent a lifetime studying and visiting all the peoples of the Sahara along the trade routes from Morocco to Timbuktu, and collected an impressive array of artefacts along the way. These form the basis of the Maison Tiskiwin museum, as good an overview of the culture and history of the region as you’ll find. Next door is the Dar Si Said Museum, a small 19th Century palace, and home to an interesting and attractive collection of traditional Marrakesh arts and crafts dating back many generations. From here you head just outside the city walls to the Jardin Majorelle. Created by a French painter, the compact and attractive garden houses plants from across the globe, dotted with fountains and hiding a beautiful villa. The villa and fountains are painted an electric and eye-catching blue colour and it’s perhaps this boldness which appealed so much to Yves Saint-Laurent that he bought the gardens! The former director and designer at the Jardin Majorelle, Mr Chabane, has a gorgeous garden and museum in the Palmeraie outside the city, where he keeps a private art gallery of contemporary Moroccan artists, and this will be the final stop for the day.

Classic Marrakesh

All roads in Marrakesh lead to the Jemaa el-Fna square, an irregular open space with its origins shrouded in mystery. On the edge of the Jemaa is the Koutoubia Mosque, where the tour starts. The apogee and template for Islamic architecture in Morocco, the minaret, topped with its three distinctive gold balls, is visible from anywhere in the medina and often from much further afield. You move on to the Bab Agnaou (Gate of the Slaves), entrance to the Kasbah quarter, where tucked away and for years a hidden secret (until discovered in an aerial survey in 1917) are the Saadien Tombs, a necropolis from the 16th Century where humble tombs are cosseted in mausoleums of incredibly delicate and intricate tile work. A short walk through the Kasbah souq, an everyday souq selling meat, fish, vegetables and spices, brings you to the El Badi Palace. Although only the outer walls remain, the scale of this 16th Century palace is incredible, and the sunken gardens in the courtyard give some hint of the opulence of the original building. Continuing on foot, you come to the similarly named Bahia Palace, a more modest 19th Century affair: more modest in size, but much more impressive in decoration, with tile work, carved wood and stunning plaster friezes to admire. The Bahia is on the fringe of the mellah, the Jewish quarter. Although many of the houses are now empty as the Jewish community has shrunk, there is a working synagogue, which, if open, you can wander round. As more houses are converted to boutique hotels, so shops are opening up and you can see the quarter coming back to life.

Hidden Marrakesh

North of the Jemaa el-Fna and on the fringe of the souqs are a series of lesser-known sites well worth a visit. Wandering through the narrow streets leading inwards from the historic Bab Doukkala, you’ll learn about the social structure of the medina and how so many people rub along so well in such a confined space. After a while you’ll reach the Ben Youssef Medersa, a former Koranic school; it’s incredibly peaceful and the level of skill in the tile work and plaster carvings is remarkable. Next door is the Dar Mnebbi, the superbly restored 19th Century palace of a government minister, now converted to The Marrakesh Museum, home to a collection of antiques, jewellery, pottery and art. In the same section of the medina is the Almoravid Koubba (shrine), the only remaining building (in the whole country) from the 12th Century Almoravid dynasty. It’s quite a peaceful spot: the medina is less busy round here and the Koubba is set back slightly; it also tells a tale of the roots of Moroccan architecture, with the keyhole arches and vaulted ceilings which became a staple of all subsequent Moroccan (and Moorish) architecture. A short walk further on you come to the Fondouks of the medina; these, also known as caravanserais, were the hotels used by merchants and traders and followed a classic design of storerooms and stables on the ground floor with accommodation above; today some of them have been restored for artisans to set up shop in, for an authentic, medieval shopping experience – where you can see the goods being made whilst you browse.

Moroccan Cooking Class

There are cooking classes aplenty available in Marrakesh, but the course at La Maison Arabe, one of the city's most beautiful and luxurious hotels, has to be up there among the very best. The class is started with a trip to the community bakery around the corner, Moroccan tea ceremony and thorough explanation of all the integral ingredients that make up this country's world-famous cuisine. Then it's over to the guests to try their hand at making some authentic dishes themselves, with the extremely fun and welcoming chefs in the hotel's very impressive kitchen. No rusty saucepans here - think more along the lines of gleaming surfaces and state-of-the-art facilities. Whether you're a novice cook or think yourself a dab-hand in the kitchen, there's fun for everyone at this cooking class in Marrakesh and you're sure to remember this as one of the most enjoyable parts of your trip.