Imperial Cities — 9 Days

Your private driver meets you at Mohammed V International Airport with a name sign and whisks you to your hotel in Casablanca. After a long flight, the afternoon is yours to rest, explore the chic Maarif neighbourhood, or take a gentle walk along the Ain Diab corniche with the Atlantic at your side. Tonight, you're in Morocco.

Begin with an awe-inspiring guided tour inside Hassan II Mosque — one of the few mosques in Morocco open to non-Muslims. Your guide explains the extraordinary craftsmanship: 30,000 artisans spent six years creating the hand-carved cedar ceilings, zellige tile floors and intricate stucco walls. Stroll through Place Mohammed V and visit Beth-El Synagogue, a reminder of Morocco's layered religious heritage. In the afternoon, drive north to Rabat — Morocco's elegant tree-lined capital. Visit the Mohammed V Mausoleum (white Carrara marble and hand-painted cedar), the unfinished Hassan Tower, and the blue-and-white Udayas Kasbah overlooking the Bou Regreg river.

Drive to Meknes — the imperial city built by Sultan Moulay Ismail in the 17th century to rival Versailles. Stand before the colossal Bab el-Mansour gate, widely considered the most beautiful gateway in Morocco, and explore the sprawling royal grounds. Continue to Moulay Idriss, the hillside holy town where Morocco's founder is buried beneath a gleaming green-tiled shrine. Then comes the day's centrepiece: Volubilis, a UNESCO Roman city dating from the 3rd century BC. Walk wide stone-paved streets past triumphal arches and remarkably preserved mosaic floors still vivid in blues and ochres. Arrive in Fes — Morocco's spiritual and cultural capital — by evening.

Fes el-Bali was founded in 789 AD and has barely changed since. Today your licensed local guide — born in the medina — takes you deep into its 9,000-alley labyrinth. Visit the Attarine Medersa, a 14th-century theological college whose courtyard is among the most beautiful enclosed spaces in the Islamic world. See the Nejjarine Fountain and its ornate cedar-wood museum. Peer down from a leather merchant's terrace onto the Chouara Tanneries, a rainbow of dye vats unchanged since the 11th century. Walk through the Mellah, admire the gates of the Royal Palace, and finish at the Moulay Idriss II mausoleum. As evening approaches, find a rooftop café in the medina, order mint tea, and watch the ancient city glow gold in the setting sun.

Leave Fes behind and climb into the Middle Atlas, Morocco's cool, forested highland. Near the alpine town of Azrou, stop in a cedar forest to meet the Barbary macaques — the only wild monkeys in Africa north of the Sahara — who move freely through the ancient trees. Continue through Khenifra to the sapphire-blue Ben El Ouidane Lake, a stunning reservoir cradled by mountains where you'll spend the night in a lakeside hotel with spa facilities. Sunset over the lake is one of the quiet pleasures of this tour.

A short morning drive brings you to Ouzoud, where three separate cataracts plunge 110 metres into a natural gorge lush with olive trees, fig palms and the constant mist of falling water. Hike the well-maintained trail to the base of the falls — a favourite picnic spot for local Berber families — and keep an eye out for Barbary macaques swinging through the trees overhead. A permanent rainbow hangs in the spray. After this refreshing morning, continue south to Marrakech, the Red City, arriving in the late afternoon to settle into your riad.

Your licensed Marrakech guide takes you through a city that defies easy description. Begin at the Saadian Tombs — rediscovered in 1917 after centuries of deliberate concealment — where intricately carved marble chambers hold the remains of 16th-century sultans. Continue to the ruins of El Badi Palace, once so opulent it was stripped of its gold and marble by a later sultan. Visit the Bahia Palace, with its 8 hectares of sculpted gardens and tiled halls, and wander the colour-coded souks of the medina. As evening falls, head to Djemaa el-Fna — UNESCO's first Intangible Cultural Heritage site — where the square erupts into a festival of storytellers, musicians, acrobats and sizzling food stalls.

Today is entirely yours. Sleep in at your riad, sip coffee on a rooftop terrace with views of the Koutoubia minaret, or dive into one of the optional experiences below — a sunrise hot-air balloon flight over the palm groves, a hands-on cooking class with a local chef, a restorative hammam at a historic bathhouse, or a quiet morning at the cobalt-blue Majorelle Gardens. Your guide and driver remain on call for anything you need.

Enjoy a final Moroccan breakfast — fresh msemen flatbread, argan oil, honey and strong coffee — before your private driver takes you to Marrakech Menara Airport for your flight home. You leave having experienced four imperial cities, ancient Roman ruins, the cedar highlands, the tallest waterfalls in North Africa, and the most magical square in the Islamic world.