9 Days of Jewish Heritage in Morocco: Casablanca, Fes, the Sahara and Essaouira

Your driver-guide meets you at Casablanca airport and drives you into the city. If your flight lands early, the afternoon can begin the story this journey follows: the Museum of Moroccan Judaism in the Oasis quarter, and Temple Beth-El, the city's best-known synagogue. Opening days vary, so we check them against your dates when you book; otherwise both visits move to the morning of day 2.

The road runs up the Atlantic past Rabat, then turns inland through Ouezzane, near the tomb of Rabbi Amram Ben Diwan, a place of pilgrimage for Moroccan Jews, and climbs into the Rif. Chefchaouen was founded in 1471, and after 1492 it took in Muslims and Jews expelled from Andalusia. The evening is yours in the blue lanes of the old town.

Three hours south through the Rif foothills brings you to Fes by early afternoon. Your driver-guide takes you to the Mellah, the Jewish quarter that grew up in the 15th century beside the royal palace, the first in Morocco. You can visit the 17th-century Ibn Danan synagogue and the Jewish cemetery, where rows of white tombs climb the slope. The rest of the day is for the old medina of Fes el-Bali.

This is the long day of the journey, and we will not pretend otherwise: about nine hours on the road with stops. It passes Ifrane, the cedar forests around Azrou, Midelt and the palms of the Ziz valley, then Erfoud, before the dunes of Erg Chebbi rise at Merzouga. Tonight is in a desert camp, with dinner included.

West from the dunes along the oases to Tinghir. Its old mellah and the ksour around it recall the Jewish families who lived in the valleys of the south for centuries, and your driver-guide can show you the quarter before the short run up to the Todgha Gorge, where the canyon walls close in above the river. The night is in Boumalne Dades, at the mouth of the Dades Gorge.

Through Kelaa M'Gouna and the Skoura palm grove to Ouarzazate, then past Ait Ben Haddou, the earthen ksar on the old caravan road, and over the Tizi n'Tichka pass of the High Atlas. You reach Marrakech in the late afternoon and settle in for three nights.

A full day in Marrakech with a guide. The morning is for the Mellah, the Jewish quarter founded in the 16th century beside the royal kasbah. You can visit the Lazama synagogue, whose plaque dates it to 1492, and the Miu00e2ara cemetery, the largest Jewish cemetery in Morocco. The afternoon carries on through the medina at your pace.

West to the Atlantic, about two and three-quarter hours each way. In the 19th century Essaouira had one of the largest Jewish communities in Morocco, and the town remembers it: you can visit Bayt Dakira, the House of Memory, the Slat Lkahal synagogue and the lanes of the Mellah, then walk the ramparts above the harbour. You are back in Marrakech in the evening.

A day to slow down. The traditional hammam and massage are included; the rest of the time is yours for a last walk, some shopping or simply rest, before your driver-guide takes you to the airport for your flight.