Things worth stopping for
Add any of these to a journey, or book one on its own. We handle the arrangements and the driving; the operators are people we have worked with for years.
Hot-air balloon at sunrise
A 4:30am pickup, a burner lighting the dark, and an hour drifting over the palm groves north of Marrakech with the Atlas turning pink. Breakfast in a Berber tent afterwards.
A day in Marrakech
The Koutoubia, the Saadian tombs and the Bahia palace in the morning, then the souks with a local guide who knows which alley leads where. Lunch on a terrace above Jemaa el-Fna. The car waits at the edge of the medina, because no car gets further than that.
Majorelle, and the Jardin Secret by calèche
The blue villa and Yves Saint Laurent's cactus garden first thing, before the queue builds, with the Berber museum inside. Then across to the Jardin Secret in the medina by calèche — horse-drawn and unhurried, which is the right speed for a morning like this.
Marrakech by night in a calèche
Ninety minutes along the ramparts and out through the Menara gardens once the heat has gone, lamps lit, at the pace of one horse. Unfashionably romantic and none the worse for it. We can set you down at Jemaa el-Fna afterwards if you want the noise.
Fantasia — horsemen and dinner
Dinner under a caidal tent — harira, tagine, pastilla, mint tea — while the show runs. Then the fantasia itself: a line of riders in white crosses the arena at a flat gallop and fires as one, a great deal louder than you are ready for. Part spectacle, part genuinely stirring.
Cooking class in a riad
Start at the souk choosing the vegetables, then four hours in a courtyard kitchen learning tagine, salads and bread from a dada who has been doing it for thirty years. You eat what you make.
Hammam and argan massage
The proper version: black soap, a kessa glove, a great deal of steam, then argan oil and mint tea. Booked into a hammam we send our own guests to, not a hotel spa.
The Plateau du Kik by Land Cruiser
Up through Asni and Moulay Brahim on the switchbacks, then out onto the plateau with the Toubkal massif standing across the valley the whole way. Tea in a village, an hour walking the ridge, and a piste back down that the Land Cruiser is there for.
Quad biking in the Agafay
Two hours across the stone desert on the tracks between the ridges, with a stop for tea at a nomad tent. Briefing, helmets and a lead rider included.
Camel trek into the dunes
The classic hour and a half out to a high dune for sunset, or a longer trek with a picnic in the shade. Included already in every desert journey — this is for adding a second one.
A night in a desert camp
An en-suite tent with a real bed, dinner around a fire, drums if the crew are in the mood, and a sky with no light within two hundred kilometres. Bookable as a single night.