Morocco

Day 1: Mosques, medinas, and a thousand photos

We’re so happy to be in Morocco!

We arrived in Casablanca this morning and were picked up by our driver Karim, who will be driving us around the country for the next two weeks — an arrangement that seemed slightly ambitious when we booked it but now feels like the best decision we’ve made. We connected with him immediately. Karim is friendly, attentive, effortlessly charming, and makes us laugh constantly. He’s of Berber origin (the indigenous people of North Africa), fluent in five languages (which he switches between mid-sentence to impressive effect), and seems to know everyone in Morocco. We’re pretty sure he could run for office and win.

Driving around Casablanca, we could see it’s a genuinely cosmopolitan city with a vibrant mix of cultures layered on top of each other. Some aspects reminded us of other Muslim countries we’ve visited — the call to prayer echoing through the streets, the blend of traditional and modern dress. Others evoked southern Portugal and Spain — the architecture, the plazas, the general Mediterranean energy. But for the most part, it felt culturally distinct with a personality entirely its own. It’s not trying to be anywhere else, which we appreciated.

Our first stop was the Hassan II Mosque, a very large structure — and “very large” is doing considerable work in that sentence, as it’s actually one of the largest mosques in the world. The building is adorned with intricate tile work and beautiful arches, surrounded by a massive plaza paved in geometric patterns that probably look incredible from space. The weather was pleasant, and we took our time walking around, craning our necks at the architectural details and trying not to look like the obvious tourists we absolutely were.

Our next stop was Rabat, Morocco’s capital city, which is noticeably calmer than Casablanca and feels more like a city that knows it’s important but doesn’t need to constantly prove it. We visited several historical attractions that our guidebook had marked as essential, then checked into our Airbnb: a traditional riad (courtyard house) tucked into the middle of the medina (the old walled city). As our host showed us around the house, we could barely contain our excitement — possibly embarrassing ourselves with the amount of enthusiastic pointing and exclaiming. The layout and decor are absolutely spot-on, with distinctively Moroccan flair in every room: beautiful tilework, carved cedar wood, traditional lanterns casting geometric shadows. We immediately started taking approximately one thousand photos and questioning whether we could somehow transport this entire house back to Seattle.

• Driver: Karim from Morroco Hire Car
• Casablanca sights:
  • Hassan II Mosque
• Rabat sights:
  • Kasbah of the Udayas
  • Chellah
  • Hassan Tower
  • Mausoleum of Mohammed V
• Airbnb: Riad Dar Celine

Days 2 and 3: Blue everything (and bread)

Breakfast in Rabat was noteworthy enough to merit its own paragraph. We were wandering through the medina when we walked past a wholesale bakery just as they were loading up warm khobz (traditional Moroccan bread) into a wooden cart for distribution to local shops. The smell was intoxicating — fresh yeast, warmth, the promise of carbs — and we made an impulsive decision to buy some right there, still radiating heat. We then ducked into a nearby store and got some amlou (a spread made from almonds, honey, and argan oil that should probably be illegal for how good it is) and ate the combination while walking through the medina like we’d unlocked some secret level of breakfast. Heavenly doesn’t quite cover it.

After reluctantly finishing breakfast and reminding ourselves we had places to be, we departed for Chefchaouen, a small village nestled in the Rif mountains where almost every single house, wall, and staircase is painted in some shade of blue. Why blue? Excellent question. We got a different answer each time we asked locals: keeps mosquitoes away, represents the sky and heaven, symbolizes the sea, was started by Jewish refugees in the 1930s, looks nice with the surrounding mountains. The inconsistency of the explanations doesn’t diminish the aesthetic impact — regardless of the original reason, it was an excellent decision. The entire town looks like it wandered out of a dream or an Instagram influencer’s carefully curated feed.

We spent the following two days meandering through the narrow lanes with no particular destination in mind, getting thoroughly lost and then found again, soaking up every bit of the atmosphere. Kids played energetic soccer matches in tiny plazas barely bigger than a living room, old women carefully watered the approximately one million potted plants hanging on their walls, and young people approached us to practice their English, which inevitably turned into longer conversations about everything from Moroccan football to American movies to the best local restaurants.

This type of aimless exploration — wandering with curiosity as our only guide, no rigid schedule, no must-see list demanding our attention — is exactly how we prefer to travel. It’s the difference between visiting a place and actually experiencing it. So we were particularly happy here in Chefchaouen, where getting lost is half the point and every turn reveals another impossibly photogenic blue doorway or hidden courtyard.

Our Airbnb in Chefchaouen was just as inspiring as the previous one, continuing Morocco’s apparent mission to make us reconsider all our home decor choices. It’s an old but beautifully remodeled small stucco house with exposed beams, lots of thoughtful touches, and Moroccan patterns everywhere you look — on the tiles, in the textiles, carved into the woodwork. We’re consistently impressed with the level of care and attention Airbnb hosts put into their properties here. It’s clear these aren’t just rental investments; they’re labors of love.

• Airbnb: Awesome Traditional House Renovated

Days 4 and 5: Couscous streets and a palace

We had a fantastic time in Fez over the last couple of days. We decided to hire a guide for our first day, figuring we needed professional help navigating what looked like an impossibly complex maze on the map. We were lucky enough to get Marjane, who turned out to be knowledgeable, engaging, genuinely funny, and added immeasurably to the experience. Without him, we probably would have gotten lost approximately 47 times and missed all the historical context that makes Fez fascinating rather than just confusing.

Fez is a religious center packed with mosques and Islamic schools, and it’s a pilgrimage destination for Tijani Sufi muslims (practiced mostly in western Africa, a connection we hadn’t known about before). It’s also a major cultural center, home to the oldest continuously operating university in the world — founded in 857 CE by a woman named Fatima al-Fihri, which Marjane made sure to emphasize, clearly proud of this historical detail. The city also houses one of the oldest tanneries in the world, where they still use traditional methods that would be completely at home in a medieval manuscript.

The medina of Fez is a UNESCO World Heritage site and an absolute labyrinth of narrow alleys — some of them so narrow that we could barely fit through facing forward, and had to turn sideways while wondering how people transport furniture through here. Marjane had a perfect name for the narrowest passages: “couscous streets.” His explanation? “If you eat too much couscous, you won’t fit through.” We laughed every time we had to squeeze through one, which was often, and may have been slightly more conscious of our couscous consumption after that.

We were absolutely blown away by our Airbnb. In fact, it ranks among the most beautiful Airbnbs we’ve ever stayed in anywhere in the world, and we’ve stayed in quite a few. It’s a large traditional riad dating from the 17th century that was painstakingly restored over several years by its French owner, and then tastefully decorated with traditional Moroccan furniture and art. The place is a museum-quality showcase of Moroccan craftsmanship: intricate wall mosaics in geometric patterns that probably took months to complete, massive carved wooden doors that belong in a palace, hand-woven rugs in rich colors, and handmade copper and brass lamps that cast mesmerizing shadows. We spent an almost unreasonable amount of time photographing every detail, adjusting angles to get the light just right, noticing new elements each time we walked through a room.

And to top off the already exceptional accommodation, we had amazing meals prepared by our incredibly friendly local host, Hayat. She cooked traditional Moroccan dishes — tagines, couscous (despite the street warnings), fresh salads — with the kind of skill and love that made every meal memorable. Between the stunning riad and Hayat’s hospitality and cooking, we felt less like travelers passing through and more like privileged guests in someone’s historic family home. We genuinely couldn’t have asked for a better stay in Fez.

• Sights:
  • Royal Palace
  • Mellah (Jewish quarter)
  • Borj Sud
  • Art d’Argile ceramic studio
  • Chouara Tannery
  • Bou Inania Madrasa
  • Mosque and University of al-Qarawiyyin
  • Mausoleum of Sidi Ahmed al-Tijani
  • Funduq al-Najjarin
• Guide: Marjane from Morroco Hire Car
• Airbnb: Palace of the 1001 Nights

Day 6: Dunes, drums, and a legendary driver

We had high expectations for our time in the Sahara desert — possibly unrealistically high, given how much we’d been looking forward to this part of the trip — but our Airbnb host Omar made absolutely sure those expectations were not just met but exceeded. We stayed in one of his safari-style tents at the very edge of the desert, where the sand meets civilization and you can watch the dunes extend to the horizon. There, we enjoyed the warm hospitality and delicious food characteristic of the local Berber people: tagines slow-cooked over open fires, fresh bread baked in traditional earth ovens, endless cups of sweet mint tea served with genuine enthusiasm.

There’s no shortage of activities in the desert — camel treks at sunset, sandboarding down dunes, star-gazing in some of the darkest skies on Earth — but having experienced desert environments several times in our travels, we knew exactly what we wanted most: 4x4 dune driving. And Omar’s reputation as a dune driver is genuinely legendary. He’s helped Porsche and Mercedes test new vehicle models in these exact dunes, which is the kind of credential that makes you simultaneously very excited and slightly nervous. We couldn’t wait to experience his driving firsthand, though we also made sure our seatbelts were properly fastened.

Riding with Omar was everything we’d hoped for and then some. We went up and down dunes so impossibly steep that we often felt the car might slide sideways or roll completely over, our stomachs dropping with every crest. But we trusted Omar’s skills implicitly — watching him read the sand, adjust his approach, and handle the vehicle with absolute confidence was like watching a master craftsman at work. His big personality was wonderfully contagious: with traditional Berber music blasting from the car stereo at volumes that probably violated several noise ordinances, and Omar singing along and drumming enthusiastically on the steering wheel to every single song, we couldn’t help but grin like idiots the entire way. Pure joy is apparently universal and extremely loud.

We got stuck in the soft sand several times during our adventure — it’s not a proper desert drive if you don’t get stuck, apparently — but Omar handled every challenge with a combination of expert technique and what can only be described as genuine glee. He seemed to actually enjoy the problem-solving, treating each stuck moment as an exciting puzzle rather than an inconvenience. At one particularly memorable point, we made it all the way up the tallest dune in the area, a climb that felt nearly vertical, and the car got stuck right at the very peak. Right at the top. The view was spectacular, but the stuck-ness was real. It took considerable digging, some creative maneuvering, and Omar’s expert driving to finally get the car unstuck, but he didn’t seem worried about it for even one moment. Meanwhile, we oscillated between “this is amazing” and “are we going to be stuck on this dune forever?”

As a reward for our patience (or perhaps Omar’s skill), we got to experience one of the most breathtaking sunsets of our entire lives, watching the sky turn impossible shades of orange and pink while perched on a massive dune, the desert stretching endlessly in all directions. Sometimes the best moments come from when things don’t go exactly as planned.

• Airbnb: Unforgettable night in Merzouga desert

Days 7 and 8: Hammams, kasbahs, and every friend Karim has ever made

We spent the last couple of days driving through the Atlas Mountains, which proved to be just as spectacular as advertised — dramatic peaks, winding roads with views that made us grateful we weren’t the ones driving, and landscapes that shifted from green valleys to red rock formations to snow-dusted summits. We explored small villages that time seems to have mostly forgotten, visited ancient kasbahs (fortified houses that look like sand castles built by ambitious architects), and met many interesting people along the way.

Our driver Karim grew up in this region, and apparently knows literally everybody. We’re not exaggerating — every village we stopped in, every roadside café, every viewpoint, Karim would spot someone he knew and launch into enthusiastic greetings in a mixture of Arabic, Berber, and French. We witnessed many reunion moments, complete with handshakes, backslapping, and catching up on family news. It was charming and also slightly surreal, like traveling with a celebrity who happens to be extremely friendly with everyone he’s ever met.

We also got to hike along a scenic canyon and experience a bit of the natural landscape away from the road. The geological formations in this part of the country are genuinely stunning — layered red and orange rock that tells millions of years of geological history, shaped by wind and water into dramatic cliffs and valleys. The red soil and rock formations reminded us strongly of Utah, except with a distinctly North African vibe and considerably more goats navigating impossible cliff faces.

We stayed at two excellent accommodations in this area: a hotel in Dades Gorge and an Airbnb in Tasselmante. Both look like traditional Berber rammed-earth houses from the outside — thick walls, small windows, blending seamlessly into the landscape — and have been thoughtfully decorated with local crafts and textiles on the inside. It’s the perfect combination of authentic architecture and modern comfort.

The Airbnb in Tasselmante in particular was a major highlight for us, and not just because of the beautiful rooms. It has its own private hammam (traditional Moroccan steam bath) heated in the traditional way by a wood fire, which creates an authentically hot and steamy environment that modern heating simply can’t replicate. Aisha, the hammam assistant, guided us patiently through the entire experience — the proper temperature, the scrubbing technique (more vigorous than we expected), the relaxation periods between rounds. We emerged feeling like we’d shed approximately three layers of skin and all our accumulated stress.

Our French host Johanna was also an absolute delight to chat with, sharing stories about moving to Morocco, restoring the property, and building relationships with the local community. With more time — and we genuinely wish we had it — we would love to come back for a few weeks to truly settle into the Airbnb’s peaceful rhythm and explore the surrounding villages at a slower pace. But we have one more stop on our itinerary: Marrakesh.

• Sights:
  • Oasis Museum at Ksar El Khorbat
  • Todgha Gorge
  • Dadès Gorge
  • Monkey Fingers Canyon
  • Kasbah Amridil
  • Atlas Studios
  • Aït Benhaddou
• Hotel: Chez Pierre
• Airbnb: Tigminou Guest House

Days 9 through 11: A city of contradictions (and we loved it)

We planned three full days for Marrakesh because we had a strong feeling we would love it, and fortunately our intuition was correct. This city absolutely delivered. We spent our first day with Mohamed as our guide — he turned out to be a natural storyteller with an impressive knowledge of local history, helping us understand not just what we were seeing but why it matters and how it all connects. The remaining two days, we wandered through the labyrinthine medina on our own, talking to shopkeepers and artisans, trying new foods at every opportunity, and getting pleasantly lost in the endless maze of souks (traditional markets where you can find literally anything if you’re patient enough).

Marrakesh is a fascinating city of contrasts, and those contradictions are part of what makes it compelling. On one hand, it holds firmly to its traditions with an almost defiant pride. We encountered so many highly specialized artisans in the souks, each devoted to a craft that’s been passed down through generations: knife sharpeners who can give you an edge sharp enough to split hairs, book binders still using techniques from centuries ago, leather workers hand-tooling intricate patterns, plaster carvers creating impossibly delicate geometric designs. Watching them work felt like witnessing living history, except you could actually buy what they made.

On the other hand, Marrakesh is undeniably glitzy, glamorous, and a magnet for creative people from around the world. Yves Saint Laurent famously found fashion inspiration while living in his Marrakesh villa, which has now been turned into a museum surrounded by stunning gardens. Contemporary shops offer funky modern takes on traditional Moroccan decor — bright colors, bold patterns, old meets new in ways that somehow work. Art galleries display creative photography and contemporary art that wouldn’t feel out of place in Paris or New York, yet somehow feels distinctly Moroccan in its perspective.

We loved exploring this duality, watching the old and new exist side by side, sometimes in harmony and sometimes in tension, but always interesting. One moment you’re watching a knife sharpener use tools and techniques unchanged for hundreds of years, the next you’re in a gallery looking at avant-garde photography of the same souks. It’s a city that refuses to choose between honoring its past and embracing its future, and we found that approach genuinely refreshing.

We stayed in yet another beautiful and inspiring riad tucked into the medina, this one with decor that skillfully blends traditional Moroccan elements with contemporary design sensibilities. Clean lines meet ornate tilework, modern furniture sits comfortably next to antique pieces, and somehow it all works together. Thankfully, our Airbnb showed no signs of damage from the earthquake that struck Morocco just a few months before our visit. The September 2023 earthquake caused significant damage to older buildings throughout Marrakesh, and we saw many structures still undergoing repairs, their facades covered in scaffolding and construction netting. It was a sobering reminder of how recently the city had experienced real tragedy, and how resilient the people have been in recovering and rebuilding.

This marks the end of our Moroccan adventure. We’re leaving with countless memories of incredible experiences, warm hospitality that exceeded all expectations, and a deep appreciation for Moroccan culture in all its beautiful complexity. From the blue streets of Chefchaouen to the couscous alleys of Fez, from Omar’s wild dune driving to Hayat’s home cooking, from Karim’s endless stream of friends to the medinas that swallowed us whole — every moment added up to something special.

Thank you, Morocco, for being exactly what we needed and quite a bit more than we expected.

• Sights:
  • Kutubiyya Mosque
  • Saadian Tombs
  • Majorelle gardens
  • Bahia Palace
  • Ben Youssef Madrasa
• Airbnb: Dar Doum