About This Experience

At the Heart of
the Imperial Cities

The four imperial cities of Morocco, Marrakech, Fes, Meknes and Rabat, carry a thousand years of history in every lane, every courtyard and every carved cedar ceiling. Each one is a UNESCO World Heritage medina. Each one has its own character, its own architecture and its own way of life that has continued largely unchanged for centuries. Seeing them with a licensed local guide who was born in the medina and knows where the hidden doors lead is a completely different experience from following a map.

In Marrakech we take you to the Bahia Palace at opening time before any other group arrives, through the Saadian Tombs at the moment the light falls through the carved marble, and into the Djemaa el Fna at dusk when the square transforms. In Fes we walk through the oldest continuously inhabited medina in the world with a guide whose family has lived there for ten generations. We show you the tanneries from the rooftop terrace at dawn, before the smell intensifies and before any tour group has found its way there.

In Meknes we visit the extraordinary Bab Mansour gate, the vast underground granaries of Heri es Souani and the mausoleum of Moulay Ismail. In Rabat we walk the Oudaias Kasbah above the ocean, visit the Hassan Tower and the Mausoleum of Mohammed V. We also arrange an interior visit of the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, one of only three mosques in Morocco open to non-Muslim visitors and one of the largest religious buildings in the world, built partly over the Atlantic Ocean.