Just one hour from Marrakech, pay a visit to Sir Richard Branson’s stunning retreat Kasbah Tamadot in the Atlas Mountains. Enjoy dinner under the stars in their restaurant, Kanoun, or make an appointment at the Asounfou Spa. You can also arrange hiking tours, horse riding or a 4X4 jeep excursion. Indagare members can contact our bookings team to arrange.

Bab Bou Jeloud, also known as “The Blue Gate,” welcomes visitors to the city of Fez. With ornate blue detailing and a powerful stone façade, the Moroccan-Andalusian-style city gate is both inviting and memorable; the landmark makes a good rendezvous point when exploring the medina.

Learn about Moroccan culture and history through an exploration of its rich culinary traditions. You will begin with a shopping circuit in the medina, picking up ingredients from local vendors with a guide who knows the city and its inhabitants well. Retreat to a modern kitchen, where you will discover how spices and ancient techniques play a role in everyday cooking in Morocco. After preparing a traditional meal, you will sit down to enjoy your meal.

The serenity of the Moroccan desert is a marvelous counterpoint to the delirious energy of the medina. For a change of scenery after several days in Marrakech, escape to an oasis only forty-five minutes outside of the city, where you can spend the afternoon lounging among the olive groves or take a camel ride to explore the lunar landscape. For an unforgettable adventure, thrill-seekers may prefer a helicopter ride over the Atlas Mountains to a private desert encampment, set amid palm plantations and faded kasbahs. A traditional Berber lunch awaits on the other side of snowcapped peaks. Contact Indagare's bookings team for details.

There are few markets in the world more vibrant and aromatic than the souks of Marrakech. With exquisite pyramids of cinnamon and ginger, innumerable forks in the road and invitations to mint tea in back rooms filled with surplus inventory, the medina is exhilarating – and overwhelming – even for seasoned hagglers. Whether you're looking for latticed lanterns, a Berber kilim rug or the purest quality argan oil, Indagare's expert local shopping guide will help you navigate the souk's narrow arteries to the best stalls and shops, making sure you return home with finds that highlight the craftsmanship of the city's most skilled artisans.

After only a few hours in the medina, it is easy to understand why Marrakech's most distinguished residents, from the sultans and their viziers to Yves Saint Laurent, have invested fortunes in elaborate private sanctuaries from the noise and the heat. During your exploration of the city with our expert guide, you will have a chance to linger in the intimate courtyards of the Bahia Palace and the Majorelle Gardens, two of its loveliest and most iconic retreats, and wander the ancient dormitories of the Medersa Ben Youssef, where you can marvel at the stunning tile work of its interiors. Your outing concludes with a twilight visit to the Djemaa el Fnaa, which is magical by lantern light, thronged with snake charmers, healers and vendors hawking all manor of exotic delicacies, from boiled sheep's brain to heaping plates of tiny snails.

Explore the largest medina in north Africa with its thousands of medieval alleyways with a local guide who can lead you to the most important sights, hidden museums and charming squares, all the while explaining the city’s history and culture. Depending on your interests, he can take you to the various artisans where you will watch silk weavers, dyers and metal workers ply their crafts. A stop at the tanneries or the herboriste (to learn about traditional beauty and medicinal cures) can be included as well. Members can contact our Bookings Team for help organizing custom touring.

Learn how to prepare a festive Moroccan meal alongside a veteran dada (traditional Moroccan female home cook). Your hands-on private cooking class may entail a visit to the neighborhood's communal brick oven, where locals drop off rounds of flatbread dough to be baked en masse for a few dirhams, or a tutorial on regional spice blends like ras el hanout, which famously contains up to 35 ingredients. After preparing your own Moroccan pastilla or tajine, you will sit down to enjoy the fruits of your labor – a cumin, coriander and saffron-scented feast with optional wine pairings. Contact Indagare to reserve.

Visit the famous Roman ruins at Voulibis, an hour’s drive from Fes, as well as Moulay Idriss, the hilltop town founded by a descendant of Mohammed and an important religious center famous for its mosque. Continue on to Meknès, with its own charming medina and 17^th century ramparts. Among the highlights are visiting the stables, the mausoleum of Moulay Ismail and the museum of Moroccan Art. Members can contact our Bookings Team for help organizing custom touring.

In one of the most photogenic cities in North Africa, it helps to work and learn with an expert. Spend a morning or afternoon with a professional local photographer who can explain shooting techniques as well as local customs. Whether you want to focus on documentary, portrait, landscape or decorative photography, he will help you capture the city and improve your camera skills.

Explore the varied Moroccan countryside on a half-day or full-day trip. You can choose to visit a Berber village, famous caves in the Middle Atlas mountains, lakes, waterfalls and hot springs and a cedar forest where you may spot Barbary apes. Excursions can be tailored to various degrees of adventure and interests from intense hikes and skiing in winter to a relaxed picnic in a pretty country setting. Members can contact our Bookings Team for help organizing custom touring.

This gorgeous botanic garden was designed by French expat artist Jacques Majorelle in the 1920s. The estate was bought in the 1980s by Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé, and today is open to the public. A museum exhibits the private art collection of the late French fashion designer. Thomas Hays, the owner of newcomer Riad Meriem, counts the Jardin among the must-sees of Marrakech: “The building is painted in a stunning Yves Klein blue; it’s a beautiful place to visit.” There is a lovely small Berber museum on the grounds, which is worth a visit. Don’t miss the well-edited Jardin Majorelle Boutique at the beautiful botanic garden, which features mostly creations by former Yves Saint Laurent designer Bernard Sanz.” Open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Indagare Tip: Aficionados say that the ideal time for a visit is in the mid to late afternoon for the best light.

For those who don’t have a long time to spend in Morocco but want to get a sense of the country’s varied and dramatic landscapes, there is a fantastic encampment only a forty-five minute drive from the city called La Pause. The owner, a French expat, discovered the magical, mini oasis in the desert ten years ago when he was horseback riding in the area. Over time he has nurtured the 45-acre garden and its dozens of olive trees, all of which are fed by a natural spring, and added a kitchen and thirteen guest rooms.

Tents strewn with red Moroccan carpets and cushions are artfully arranged around the property so guests can dine in the desert in style. Each of the adobe houses that feature guest rooms are set off on their own for private views. They feature Berber or straw carpets, Moroccan tin tables and stylish touches like a vintage steamer trunk turned into a bookcase as well as tons of lanterns and candelabras as there is no electricity in the camp. Gas supplies the heated water in the bathrooms, which have showers and flush toilets.

Those who appreciate quiet and camping out (for even with linens on the beds, this is a camp) may spend the night but for others this is a great spot to come to for lunch or dinner. During the day it is possible to ride camels or horses or play the owner’s nine-hole golf course, which follows the canyons and where donkeys are used as caddies. Because of its memorable location and the owner’s knack for set design, this is a wildly popular location for parties and weddings.

Indagare Tip:  Some rooms are self-contained; others under the same roof. If privacy is important, be sure to request a house to yourself. Please note it is best to book this experience through Indagare for special attention. Service levels vary, and our members are given VIP treatment. Guests who have booked independently have experienced service issues.

In order to get a sense of young life in the city, visit Fez’s madrasas, or Islamic religious schools. Bou Inania Madrasa and Madrasa Al-Attaringe are some of the oldest and most-respected institutions.

Medersa Ben Youssef is temporarily closed for renovations.

The defining landmark of Marrakech is the 12th-century tiled minaret of the Koutoubia mosque, and there is no better place to begin your journey into this entrancing city. Visit the medieval Medersa ben Youssef (Koranic university) – one of the finest Islamic monuments in North Africa. Architecture aficionados will enjoy the delicate dome of the 12th-century Koubba.

The setting of these 14th-century hilltop tombs offers spectacular views of the city and the medina, especially at sunset. The now ruinous tombs are said to have been the resting place for society’s elite during the Merenid Dynasty.

Built as a government seat, the Moulay Abdellah Quarter was later overrun by brothels, and has since been reinstated to its former glory as the home of the city’s infamous tanneries. You can watch the artisans at work while sipping mint tea.

Moulay Idriss el Akhbar, a descendant of the prophet Muhammad, founded this hilltop town that remains significant for Muslims today. The city’s main site is the tomb of Moulay Idriss, and while only Muslims are allowed in, others can peak in from the entrance. An hour away from Fez, Moulay makes for a good day trip, especially when combined with Voulibis and Meknes. Members can contact our Bookings Team for help organizing custom touring.

The Musée de Marrakech is housed in the sumptuous, 19th-century Mnebhi Palace.  The Dar Bellarj cultural foundation, established to showcase Moroccan culture, is housed nearby in a former hospital for storks. Stop for tea or orange juice at the beautifully restored Dar Cherifa, which houses a cultural foundation, bookstore, and art gallery (with rotating exhibitions). It is a wonderful example of the many riads being restored in the medina.