5-Day Imperial Cities Tour — Casablanca, Rabat, Fes and Marrakech

Your Imperial Cities adventure begins in Casablanca — Morocco's largest, most cosmopolitan and most modern city. Your dedicated local driver and tour companion will meet you at your hotel or at the airport and take you on an introduction to this extraordinary city.

The undisputed highlight of Casablanca is the Hassan II Mosque — one of the largest and most beautiful mosques in the world, built on a promontory over the Atlantic Ocean with its 210-meter minaret visible from miles away. Your companion will share the history and architectural story of this breathtaking building as you explore the grounds and take in one of the most dramatic religious structures on earth.

The evening is yours to explore the Art Deco architecture of the city centre, stroll the Corniche along the Atlantic and dine at one of Casablanca's wonderful restaurants. Dinner is included this evening.

After breakfast your companion drives you north approximately 1.5 hours to Rabat — Morocco's capital city and one of its four imperial cities, a place of elegant boulevards, ancient ramparts and royal grandeur that most visitors to Morocco never see.

Your companion will guide you through the highlights of this remarkable city — the Hassan Tower and the unfinished 12th-century mosque that was to be the largest in the world, the magnificent Mausoleum of Mohammed V with its intricate Moroccan craftsmanship, the ancient Kasbah of the Udayas perched above the Atlantic where the Bou Regreg river meets the sea, and the medieval medina with its relaxed, unhurried atmosphere so different from Fes or Marrakech.

From Rabat your companion continues north to the ancient Roman ruins of Volubilis — the best-preserved Roman site in Morocco and a UNESCO World Heritage site, where extraordinary mosaics still lie in situ among the ruins of a city that flourished two thousand years ago. Your certified local guide will bring the history of Volubilis to life in extraordinary detail.

You arrive in the early evening in Meknes — another of Morocco's imperial cities, often overlooked but magnificent in its own right — for an overnight stay. Dinner is included this eveni

After breakfast your companion gives you a morning introduction to Meknes — the imperial city built by Sultan Moulay Ismail in the 17th century as his answer to Versailles. You will visit the monumental Bab Mansour gate, one of the finest examples of Moroccan imperial architecture in existence, explore the historic medina and see the granaries and stables that once housed twelve thousand horses.

From Meknes it is a short drive to Fes — the oldest of Morocco's imperial cities and arguably its greatest. You arrive in the early afternoon with time to settle in, explore the edges of the medina and prepare for a full day in the city tomorrow. Dinner is included this evening in

Today is dedicated entirely to Fes el-Bali — the oldest and largest living medieval medina in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage site that has barely changed in a thousand years. Founded in the 9th century, Fes is the intellectual and spiritual heart of Morocco — a city of scholars, craftsmen and merchants whose traditions stretch back over twelve centuries.

Your certified local guide will take you deep into the medina — to the famous Chouara Tannery, where leather has been dyed in natural vats using methods unchanged since the Middle Ages, through the covered souks of the coppersmiths, woodcarvers, spice merchants and weavers, to the Al-Qarawiyyin University founded in 859 AD and recognised as the oldest continuously operating university in the world, and through the stunning Bou Inania Madrasa with its breathtaking Islamic architecture.

Your companion will share the stories, history and hidden details that bring this extraordinary city to life in a way that no guidebook ever could. Dinner is included this evening in F

After breakfast your companion drives you south from Fes to Marrakech — a spectacular journey of approximately 6 hours through the cedar forests and mountain meadows of the Middle Atlas, past the beautiful lake town of Ifrane known as the Switzerland of Morocco, through Beni Mellal and across the Haouz Plain toward the rose-red walls of Marrakech.

Your companion will make regular comfort stops along the way and point out the highlights of this beautiful and often overlooked part of Morocco. You may spot Barbary macaques in the cedar forests of Azrou — one of the great wildlife encounters Morocco has to offer.

You arrive in Marrakech in the early evening — the final imperial city and one of the most famous destinations in the world. Your companion drops you off directly at your hotel or riad, bringing five extraordinary days through the heart of Morocco to a close.