We spent 10 days in Morocco over New Years and what a way it was to ring in 2019. On this trip, we visited Marrakech, the Sahara, Fes, Chefchaouen, and Rabat. It was a jam-packed vacation that allowed us to see a sampling of what Morocco has to offer, from cities to mountains to the desert. Here’s a breakdown of our itinerary and highlights from each stop. 

2 nights: Marrakech

We flew directly from Washington DC to Casablanca and, upon arriving, immediately hopped on a 4-hour train to Marrakech. We arrived late in the afternoon, grabbed a cab at the train station, and checked into our riad. We learned when preparing for this trip that a riad is a traditional guest house, usually with a handful of rooms and a center courtyard. It’s generally similar to a bed and breakfast. We stayed at a series of riads throughout our time in the country, which was a highlight of our travels in Morocco. Each was uniquely and beautifully decorated, served excellent food, and had some of the most wonderful hospitality we’ve encountered on our travels. 

We spent our first night in Marrakech relaxing at our riad after a long travel day. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset from the rooftop terrace and a tasty poolside dinner in the main courtyard before hitting the sack early. 

Refreshed and rejuvenated after our night in, we spent the next day exploring Marrakech and taking in the city. Our first stop was the Jardin Majorelle, an incredible botanical garden previously owned by fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent. The gardens were so beautiful and featured amazing plans including succulents and cacti which I especially loved. The whole place was colorful and peaceful. 

From there, we stopped for lunch in the “new” part of town – a neighborhood called Gueliz, which is a bit reminiscent of European cities. However, the real draw of Marrakech is visiting the old town (the medina) and wandering the markets (the souks), so we prioritized this in the afternoon. We loved wandering, poking into shops, getting a bit lost, and then finding our way out again. There is so much to see in the medina; locals selling traditional foods, people biking and motorbiking through tiny alleys, souvenirs galore. 

After a few hours of this, we were ready for a break and got ourselves a table at a cafe overlooking the bustling Jemaa el-Fnaa square for a sunset mint tea. The square is filled with food, souvenirs, and all sorts of other stalls and punctuated by performers doing crazy things like coaxing dancing snakes or offering pictures with beautiful tropical birds. Our perch was a great place to get a birds eye view of the action. 

Our time in Marrakech was unfortunately quite short, but we kept a fast pace on this trip so we could explore more of the country. Ultimately, Marrakech exceeded our expectations and I would have liked more time here. Before we left, I heard time and again that the city was chaotic and to expect harassment and scams around every corner. This had me a bit on edge. However, we only had positive experiences and found ourselves wishing for more time to wander this part of Morocco. With a degree of caution and a mind open to a bit of chaos, this city will not disappoint. 

2 nights: Desert Tour

We left Marrakech early on our 3rd morning to head into the desert, as sleeping in the Sahara was one of our top Morocco bucket list items. We spent two days en route from Marrakech to Fes, stopping at various points in the Atlas Mountains on the first day and riding camels to our desert camp to sleep under the stars in the Sahara on our second. This trip was fabulous and worthy of it’s own post, so I’ll leave you with a few photos to pique your interest and you can read more about our desert adventures here. 

2 nights: Fes

Our desert tour ended with a long but scenic drive to Fes on New Years Eve. As Morocco is a Muslim country, there is not a lot of drinking and partying for the New Years holiday so we enjoyed a very laid-back evening. When we arrived at our riad, we found they were hosting a New Years dinner for guests. The riad staff were able to include us at the last minute, and for $25 USD each we had the most delicious meal of the entire trip. We were seated in a beautiful, private room off the main courtyard and were served over a dozen dishes of traditional meats, vegetables, and desserts. In an effort to unplug we left our phones behind in our room during dinner, which is usually smart but in this case meant we failed to take pictures of this epic feast. Oops! You’ll just have to take my word for it that this was an amazing experience. I’ll instead share this picture of the riad, which at least gives a sense of this magical setup: 

We went to sleep full and happy and woke up ready to begin 2019 with a jam-packed day of activities in Fes. In the morning, we took a cooking class through Airbnb Experiences organized by Yassine, a lovely Moroccan student, who hosts guests and translates for the teacher – his mom! We oped to learn how to make Moroccan salad and traditional chicken tagine. The food was great and the hospitality was excellent; Yassine was a lot of fun and kept us busy playing board games and chatting about life in Fes whenever there was some down time in the cooking process. 

In the afternoon, we met up with Abdul, a guide who the riad staff booked to take us on a private tour of the medina. Abdul was so kind and helpful and gave us great history and context about the city as we wandered the maze-like streets. He also took us to a handful of shops, including a carpet store, a leather goods store, and a pharmacy-type shop that were quite interesting and/or had amazing views. It was an added bonus that Abdul was a solid photographer and knew some great scenic spots around the city where he kindly took some of our favorite pictures from the trip. Thanks, Abdul! 

Fes ended up being one of my favorite stops in Morocco. I found the city to be beautiful and the medina to be particularly interesting. This riad was also one of my favorite places we’ve ever stayed – the staff was so great and the place was beautiful and comfortable.  If you’re planning a trip to Morocco, don’t skimp on time here (and stay at Riad Mazar Fes)! 

2 nights: Chefchaouen

From Fes, we traveled on to Chefchaouen. We chose to add this stop on our itinerary because we were absolutely blown away by pictures we had seen and we wanted to get a glimpse of The Blue City for ourselves. 

The bus from Fes to Chefchaouen was an easy and comfortable 2ish hour ride. We settled into our riad and spent the next two days wandering the town on a self-guided photo safari. We didn’t plan a specific itinerary, but rather opted to explore the small city on foot. Highlights included hiking up to the Spanish Mosque for sweeping views of the city and wandering the narrow streets and alleys, all painted a striking blue. Check out how amazing this place is: 

2 nights: Rabat

Our last stop on our tour of Morocco was Rabat, the capital city. As we traveled around Morocco, we heard mixed reviews about Rabat. Some travelers said it wasn’t worth a visit, others raved about it. We briefly toyed with the idea of changing our itinerary to cut it out, but in the end we decided to give it a go and we are incredibly thankful we did. 

Again, we traveled to Rabat by bus. We checked into our hotel and set off to explore the old medina. Rabat’s medina and markets are much more local-feeling and laid back than other markets we’d visited in the country. For the first time, vendors just kind of left us alone as we strolled instead of asking us to come take a closer look at whatever they were selling.

We also spent time exploring Kasbah des Oudaias, an ancient walled part of town overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. We ended up down on the beach, dipped a toe in the water, and then went for a sunset drink at Le Dhow, a fun bar/restaurant on a boat! 

On our second day in Rabat (and final day in Morocco) we walked all over the city to see the main sites. We started at the Hassan Tower and the Mausoleum of Mohammed V. I’m embarrassed to report we didn’t learn a ton about the history of this place, but we did love taking in the unique and beautiful architecture! 

We also loved visiting Chellah, a park with ancient roman ruins that is now inhabited by a large stork population! 

We ended the day with another stroll along the water, some last minute shopping in the markets, and a final dinner in the bustling medina. 

This trip was incredible. Each stop was spectacular in it’s own way and we loved how different each of the cities felt. Staying in riads throughout the country was particularly delightful and made our travels that much more special. I also had a lot of fun flexing my mediocre French language skills. Fun fact: French is the 2nd most common language in Morocco (after Arabic), so there was lots of opportunity to use it! 

We always feel like this, but we left Morocco with an even longer list of places we’d like to see so hopefully we’ll find ourselves back here sooner than later.