Chefchaouen & the North: The Blue City, Fes & Volubilis

Today you explore the spellbinding medina of Fes with your local guide. Fes el-Bali is the world's largest car-free urban area, a breathtaking maze of some nine thousand lanes that has scarcely changed in a thousand years. You plunge into hidden squares, bustling souks and medieval workshops, following the cries of muleteers and the tap of coppersmiths. You gaze from a terrace over the famous Chouara tanneries, where hides are cured in honeycombs of coloured dye pits, and see the Al Quaraouiyine, founded in 859 and often called the oldest continually operating university in the world. You visit the beautiful Bou Inania and Al Attarine madrasas, dazzling with carved plaster, cedar and zellige, and watch potters and weavers at work in the artisan quarters. As the day ends, you return to your riad, spellbound. This evening, savour a Fassi dinner. Rest well in the ancient soul of Morocco.

Today you journey north to the Blue City, taking in imperial and Roman treasures on the way. You visit the remarkable Roman ruins near Volubilis, the best-preserved Roman site in Morocco, wandering among triumphal arches, columns and astonishing mosaic floors on a hillside of olive groves, with storks nesting on the ancient stones, and pause to see the sacred whitewashed hill town of Moulay Idriss nearby. You may also glimpse monumental Meknes with its great Bab Mansour gateway. You then wind up into the green Rif Mountains, through forested slopes and whitewashed villages, to Chefchaouen, the famous Blue City, arriving in the afternoon. As the day ends, you settle into your guesthouse amid the blue lanes and take a first enchanted wander at golden hour. This evening, savour a mountain dinner in the blue town. Rest well in dreamlike Chefchaouen.

Today you explore the enchanting Blue City of Chefchaouen at a relaxed pace with your guide. You wander its dreamlike lanes, where an entire hillside of houses, steps, doorways and walls is washed in a hundred shades of blue, from powder to deep indigo, and cats doze on blue steps while flowers spill from blue walls. You visit the pretty Plaza Uta el-Hammam, the town's leafy heart, beside the red-walled kasbah and the ochre mosque, and explore the kasbah's little museum and gardens. You browse craft shops for woollen blankets, woven goods and painted crafts in colours to match the town. In the late afternoon you climb to the Spanish Mosque viewpoint on the hill above for a glorious panorama and sunset over the blue town cradled by green mountains. As the day ends, you return to your guesthouse, enchanted. This evening, savour the mellow mountain calm. Rest well in Chefchaouen.

This morning you enjoy a final, relaxed wander through the blue lanes of Chefchaouen, perhaps for last photographs in the soft morning light, a coffee in the square or some final craft shopping, before setting off back down through the green Rif Mountains towards Fes. The scenic drive returns you through forested slopes, olive groves and whitewashed villages. You arrive back in Fes in the afternoon, with time to revisit a favourite corner of the medina, shop for last treasures, or relax on a rooftop terrace with mint tea, reflecting on the enchanting north you have explored. As the day ends, you settle into your riad for a final night. This evening, enjoy a final Moroccan feast in the ancient city. Rest well ahead of your departure tomorrow, carrying warm memories of Fes and the Blue City.

After a final morning in ancient Fes, perhaps a last stroll in the medina or a final glass of mint tea on your riad terrace, you are transferred to Fes-Saiss Airport for your onward international departure. You leave having explored the most enchanting corners of northern Morocco, the spellbinding medieval medina of Fes with its tanneries, madrasas and ancient university, the Roman ruins near Volubilis with their columns and mosaics, and above all the dreamlike blue-washed town of Chefchaouen tucked in the green Rif Mountains. The images stay vivid long after you land, the honeycomb dye pits of the tanneries, the mosaics of Volubilis, and the hundred shades of blue cascading down the hillside of Chefchaouen. Northern Morocco offers beauty, history, culture and warmth in abundance, and you depart already dreaming of a return to this enchanting land, perhaps next time to discover Marrakech, the mountains and the desert.