Morocco Sahara Odyssey (2012)

Rabat • Fez • Sahara Tented Camps • High Atlas • Marrakesh • Casablanca
  • 15 days
  • from only:
  • $2495
  • $167 per day
    Land Tour Only
  • 16 days
  • from only:
  • $3495
  • $219 per dayIncludes international airfare and government taxes
IN THIS SECTION:
Detailed Itinerary
Video: Travelers' experiences of Morocco Sahara Odyssey
NEW-Private Departures
Is this Adventure Right for You?
It's Included
Unique Accommodations
Extend Your Adventure
Tangier, Chefchaouen & the Berbers of the Rif
Essaouira & Casablanca
Optional Tours
Trip Leaders
Grand Circle Foundation
Your Travel Handbook
Air Information
LearnMore
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Customize your trip

Learn how to customize your adventure, or view standard air routing and travel times. The choice is yours with our True Choice program.

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Customize your trip

With our True Choice Program, you can choose to stay longer before or after your trip on your own, or combine two adventures to maximize your value. Here are more ways to create the OAT adventure that’s right for you:

  • Choose our standard air routing, or work with us to select the airline and routing you prefer
  • Make your own international flight arrangements, applying frequent flyer miles if available
  • Stay overnight in a connecting city before or after your trip
  • Request to arrive a few days early to get a fresh start on your adventure
  • Choose to “break away” before or after your trip, spending additional days or weeks on your own
  • Extend your adventure with our optional pre- and post-trip extensions
  • Combine your choice of OAT adventures to maximize your value
  • Upgrade to business or premium economy class

These options will involve an additional fee of $100 per person for confirmed requests (as well as incremental airfare costs based on your specific choice). This service fee will be waived for Sir Edmund Hillary Club members.

Or, when you make your reservation, you can choose our standard air routing, for which approximate travel times are shown below.

GATEWAY

TRAVEL TIME*

Atlanta, Orlando

14hrs

Boston

12hrs

Baltimore, Houston

17hrs

Dallas, Minneapolis

19hrs

Detroit, New York (JFK), Washington, DC (Dulles)

13hrs

* Estimated total time, including connection and layover. Actual travel time may vary.

The information above reflects approximate flight times from the gateway cities listed to Casablanca, Morocco. Routing is based on availability and subject to change. You will receive your final air itinerary approximately 14 days prior to departure.

REFER and EARN

Earn increasing rewards as a Vacation Ambassador

REFER and EARN as a Vacation Ambassador with
the BEST referral program in the industry

Inspiring new travelers to join the OAT family is a rewarding experience—both for you and your new travelers.

Share your love of travel with others and, for each referral who embarks on an OAT trip, you will earn $100 in CASH or credit. With your 4th referral departing on a 2012 departure, your reward increases to $200 in CASH or credit per person. And once you refer 8 travelers departing in either 2012 or 2013, you'll earn a FREE trip valued up to $4,500 per household—which will bring the total value of your earned rewards up to $5,600.

And you are also passing along savings to your new traveler: We'll instantly deduct $100 off the cost of their reservation when they mention your name and Customer Number while reserving.

To learn more about the benefits of our Vacation Ambassador Referral Program, please call us toll-free at 1-800-955-1925 or click here.

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Post-Trip: Essaouira & Casablanca

4 nights from only $795

 

Essaouira, known as “the pearl of the kingdom,” boasts an exceptionally temperate climate, beautiful white-washed neighborhoods, ornate architecture, a splendid medina, and a host of artisans’ workshops and colorful markets. We’ll spend three nights here (and one night in the city of Casablanca), and you’ll see that much of Essaouira’s magic comes from its artistic influence—inspired by the city’s tranquility, beauty, and splendid light.

Single Supplement: FREE.

Please note: This extension only available on select departures. Ask your Adventure Specialist for details.

It's Included

  • Accommodations for 3 nights in Essaouira and 1 night in Casablanca
  • 8 meals—4 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 2 dinners
  • 2 small group activities
  • Services of our own resident OAT Trip Leader, who speaks English and the native language
  • All transfers

Optional Tour

Argan oil ($60 per person)

Day 1
Overland to Essaouira

Today, we take a scenic drive south from Casablanca, pausing for lunch en route. In the late afternoon, we arrive in Essaouira, which extends from the massive historic fortifications of the old city to a long, magnificent beach on the shoreline. Offshore in the distance lies Mogador, also known as the Îles Purpuraires (Purple Islands). The ancient Romans who occupied this area used the island’s resources for creating a dye that colored their togas purple, thus giving the islands their name.

We dine with our fellow travelers at our hotel in Essaouira this evening.
Day 2
Essaouira city tour/Time at leisure

Enjoy a guided tour of Essaouira this morning, discovering its narrow lanes, artisans' workshops, and bustling fishing harbor. We'll enter the city's medina—a UNESCO World Heritage Site full of white-washed houses with cheerily painted blue doors—perhaps catching the pungent scent of freshly caught sardines grilling in the open air and glimpsing dormant cannons standing guard over the fishing fleets on the wharf.

We’ll stroll through winding, narrow alleyways that make up the city’s square and watch as craftsmen carve ornate trinkets and boxes of lemonwood, briarwood, and mother of pearl inlay. Here you may notice the Star of David on some of the town’s walls. We’ll also visit a series of commanding forts built along the seafront that are a mixture of Portuguese, French, and Berber military architecture.

This afternoon, you may continue exploring Essaouira at your own pace, and enjoy dinner on your own.
Day 3
Essaouira/Optional Argan oil tour

You have today at leisure to make your own discoveries in Essaouira. Some travelers find the city to be like a more relaxed version of Marrakesh. Another more formal title is “Windy City, Africa,” given to Essaouira because of the profusion of windsurfers who flock to its shores to take advantage of the powerful gusts off the Atlantic—you might see some if you choose to stroll the beach today. Elsewhere on the coastal side of town, you can take in impressive views from the seaside bastion of Skala de Ville, a favorite place for watching the sunset.

You might visit the city’s small museum, which displays historic jewelry, costumes, weapons, and tapestries, or go shopping in the medina. For lunch and dinner on your own, choose among many fine restaurants—seafood, in particular, is a local specialty.

Or join us on an optional tour to learn about the making of Argan oil—a process that begins with tree-climbing goats! The Argan tree, which is native to Morocco and Algeria, produces a plum-like fruit with a pit or nut in the center. The goats have adapted to climb the thorny, gnarled branches of the tree to eat the fruit, but cannot digest the center, and it is from this "nut" that Argan oil is made. We'll walk through countryside groves of Argan trees with cameras poised, ready for a photo of these unusual animals before stopping at a nearby village for a colorful Berber market. Then we'll visit a local womens' cooperative that specializes in Argan production to learn how this useful oil is made. We'll even sample some ourselves when we sit down with a local family to a lunch cooked in—what else?—Argan oil.
Day 4
Overland to Casablanca

After breakfast today, we ride back to Casablanca by a different route through the Moroccan countryside than the one we took on our way to Essaouira. We pause en route for lunch in the village of Sidi Bouzid and arrive at our hotel in the late afternoon. We dine at our hotel this evening and have free time to explore Casablanca tonight.
Day 5
Return to U.S.

We enjoy breakfast at our hotel this morning before transferring to the airport for our flight to the U.S.