Arrive in luminous Tangier, legendary sentinel of the Strait of Gibraltar. Founded by Carthaginians in the 5th century BC, the city has watched Romans, Vandals, Arabs, and Europeans carve their signatures into its stone. Begin atop Colline de Bella‑Vista, gazing across the mere 14 km band of water Hercules is said to have parted. Then slip into the intricate medina: barter in the lively Grand Socco, climb to the Sultan's palace in the Kasbah, and meander through the Petit Socco, once the clandestine playground of wartime spies and Beat writers. After a seafood feast at the venerable Le Saveur de Poisson, descend to the wave‑hewn Caves of Hercules, their Africa‑shaped aperture framing the Atlantic. Mint tea at 1921's Café Hafa crowns the evening, its terrace still echoing with tales from Bowles to the Rolling Stones. Sleep in a boutique riad, wrapped in carved cedar and mosaic serenity.

Trace the shore south to Larache, gateway to the ruins of Lixus, among Morocco's eldest urban footprints. Wander mosaicked Roman baths, the Melqart‑turned‑Hercules temple, and an amphitheatre once roaring with 15 000 voices—mythic Gardens of the Hesperides, some said. Continue to Asilah, a Phoenician outpost later ringed by Portuguese ramparts. Since 1978, its International Cultural Moussem has transformed white‑washed lanes into open‑air galleries; every fresco you pass is a brush‑stroke connecting Iberian, Andalusian, and Moroccan souls. Return to Tangier and savour cosmopolitan Rue Mexique, where past and present mingle over tapas, tajines, and slow jazz.

North‑east lies Tetouan, its chalk façades gleaming beneath the Rif Mountains. Reborn in the 15th century by Andalusian exiles after Granada's fall, the town became Morocco's bridge to Al‑Andalus. Begin at Place Hassan II before slipping into the UNESCO‑listed medina: admire Art Deco balconies in the Spanish Ensanche, browse the Ethnographic Museum for Amazigh, Jewish, and Moorish narratives, and stroll the 1807 mellah. At the School of Traditional Arts, apprentices still chisel cedar and mosaic zellij as their forebears once did. Conclude beneath the 1808 Grand Mosque's minaret, sentinel over centuries of ebbing cultures. Return to Tangier at dusk.

Day 4: Wind into the mountains toward sky‑tinted Chefchaouen. After settling in your riad, explore Plaza Uta el‑Hammam, the 15th‑century kasbah museum, and the orchard‑like lanes once shared by Muslim, Jewish, and Andalusian families. Sample mountain dishes—goat's‑milk cheese, herb‑laced tajines—in a candlelit courtyard.

Day 5: Climb at dawn to the hilltop Spanish Mosque for an indigo panorama, then choose: trek to Akchour Waterfalls and the natural arch dubbed "God's Bridge," or linger in town, haggling for hand‑loomed wool, luxuriating in a steamy hammam, or watching sunset from a tiled rooftop café.

Day 6: Traverse rolling Rif foothills to storied Fes. An evening orientation walk threads the labyrinth of Fes el Bali before dinner in a Fassi family home.

Day 7: A full‑day tour unfurls: the hammered‑bronze Royal Palace gates, the Jewish Quarter and 14th‑century Ibn Danan Synagogue, souks redolent of cedar and spice, the magnificent Bou Inania madrasa, and Al‑Qarawiyyin, oldest university on earth. Close with a golden‑hour view from the Merenid Tombs.

Day 8: Select your path:

Gardens & Palaces | Stroll the Andalusian calm of Jnane Sbil, admire Dar Batha's ceramics, and wander frescoed Palais Mokri.

Day Excursion | Pay homage at holy Moulay Idriss, roam Roman Volubilis mosaics, then roam imperial Meknes, once the "Moroccan Versailles."

Day 9: Curve back through cedar forests and Rif hamlets, reaching Tangier for a final dinner overlooking the silver strait—a seam between continents you have now intimately explored.

Day 10: Steal a last promenade along the corniche or through the medina's twisting veins before your transfer to port or airport. Depart with pockets of rose‑scented memories, indigo dreams, and the polyphonic stories that define Northern Morocco.