I don’t remember when Morocco jumped to the top of my bucket list. I guess I knew some people who went there and loved it. In any case, I made it happen in February and March 2025.
I did this as part of a three-month journey mostly in the Iberian peninsula. And this was my seventh tour with Overseas Adventure Travel. We started in Casablanca for the pre-trip, but that was merely our arrival airport. There were just five of us on the pre-trip. The first morning we started the drive north to Chefchaouen, and we had a few nights there and in Tangier. Then we took the train to Rabat, where we met the rest of the folks on the tour. From Rabat we went to Fez, then to a camp in the Sahara, then to Ouarzazate, Marrakesh, and finally back to Casablanca.
This was one of the best itineraries I’ve had with OAT. Sometimes they seem to shortchange us on time in some locations and skip over some important sights. But this tour was really well-paced.
It also paired well with my time in Spain and Portugal, since Muslims from North Africa occupied parts of the Iberian peninsula for 600 years. Most of the medieval architecture in Spain is based on Moorish design. And the use of brightly colored tile, so popular in both Spain and Portugal, comes right out of Moorish culture.
Photos and Video
Each post I did from Morocco includes a link to the relevant photo album(s). Here are all the photo albums, in case you prefer to skip the narrative and just look at pictures.
Best of Morocco (75 items)
Northern Morocco (237 items)
Rabat (76 items)
Volubilis and Meknes (52 items)
Fez (121 items)
Road to the Sahara (49 items)
Sahara Desert (116 items)
Ouarzazate (48 items)
Marrakesh (178 items)
Casablanca (29 items)
Blog Posts
Coming soon: Morocco and Iberia (1/23/2025) - I’m always happiest when I’m either traveling or planning for my next trip. So even though I just got back from my last adventure, not to mention the one before that, I’m getting ready for another one, which starts in… more…
Northern Morocco: Casablanca to Chefchaouen (2/19/2025) - Okay, look at the picture above, and tell me: is that what you imagined Morocco looks like? As we drove from Casablanca to Chefchaouen to start the OAT tour called “Morocco Sahara Odyssey,” I was astonished by and enamored of… more…
Northern Morocco: Chefchaouen and Vicinity (2/22/2025) - After three nights in Chefchaouen, today we’ve moved on to Tangier, where we are staying for just one night before heading to Rabat tomorrow. I’ll write separately about Tangier and the trip here. So far I can only describe the… more…
Northern Morocco: Tangier (2/23/2025) - I’ve already written about how surprising Morocco has been so far. Well Tangier was far and away the most surprising place we visited in northern Morocco. Here’s my story. If you just want photos, my Northern Morocco album is now… more…
Rabat: Seems like a nice place to live (2/24/2025) - I don’t have a lot to say about Rabat. We arrived yesterday afternoon, and we are leaving early tomorrow morning. Today we had a bit of a walking tour of the Kasbah, and we visited a monument and two museums.… more…
Fez: A feast for all five senses (2/27/2025) - In Fez there was so much vibrant color and interesting sights around every corner. But it was a joy to experience in every way: the sounds, the smells, and some great food. And until you have touched leather goods made… more…
Volubilis and Meknes (2/28/2025) - Yesterday we took a field trip that was an optional add-on to the tour (at an additional cost). We visited the Roman ruins of Volubilis, and then we went to the former imperial capital of Meknes, of which we saw… more…
The Moroccan Sahara: where a little is enough (3/4/2025) - If I have one takeaway from my visit to the Sahara desert, it’s that I have so much, and there are people with so little. They seem to require so little to enjoy life, so why do I require so… more…
Ouarzazate to Marrakesh to Casablanca (3/8/2025) - I’m now back in Casablanca, in the same hotel where I started my Morocco Sahara Odyssey just under three weeks ago. Since I last posted I’ve been to Ouarzazate, where I got sick, Marrakesh, where I saw a doctor and… more…
Morocco follow-up: Ramadan, plus OMG, it’s Las Fallas! (3/10/2025) - I realized I gave short shrift to my final days in Morocco, and there are a few things I want to write about before I move on to more posts from Spain. In particular, I didn’t say anything about Ramadan,… more…
The Three-Month Journey: A Retrospective (5/19/2025) - I’m recently back from a three-month journey. (Actually 89 days.) This was by far the longest trip I’ve ever taken. Friends and family have asked me how it was to be gone for so long. Was I tired of being… more…