Morocco: Fes and Chefchaouen 2027
Majestic Morocco. Colorful spice markets, ancient earthen kasbahs and medinas, and a city painted blue are just a few of the mesmerizing locations we’ll explore. From the hustle and bustle of the markets to the starry skies of the Sahara and on to the Strait of Gibraltar, our trip will leave you with incredible memories (and photographs) of the people, places and food that have made Morocco such an exotic destination for so many years.
Tour Details
November 13-21, 2027
This is a 8-night, 9-day workshop. Your adventure begins with an overnight flight to arrive in Casablanca on November 13 and ends at the airport in Casablanca on the morning of November 21.
$8,995 (single) or $16,295 (couples) + applicable taxes. Register below.
Skill level
All Levels. Open to all who have an understanding of the basic principles of photography and of their cameras.
Group size
12, with 2 instructors — 6:1 ratio
Tour Leaders
Registration
| • Deposit of $4,995 (single) or $7,995 (couple) is required to reserve your spot at the tour. |
| • Balance of $7,000 (single) or $15,000 (couple) is due on July 14, 2025. → Pay balance here. |
| • Last day for a cancellation request is July 13, 2025. (see cancellation and refund policy) |
| • The tour fee does not include airfare, lunches, drinks, or tips to our local guides and drivers. |
| • The tour fee does include 14 nights' lodging at several 4-star hotels, breakfasts and dinners, the services of a local guide, entrance fee and all transportation in Morocco, including airport pickup and dropoff. |
The Morocco Experience
For our fourth Morocco adventure, we’ll slow down the pace a bit and spend more time in fewer places, with less time on the road. Most of our visit will be spent in Fes and Chefchaouen, where we’ll endeavor to dig below the surface for an even richer experience. Fes native and all-around wonderful human Ali will be our guide, as he has for all of our Morocco trips, and he is excited to share his home town with us.
This tour will feature long days and nights with intense periods of photography. It’s not a workshop—there will be no formal classroom instruction or lectures. Our main focus will be to photograph. We will have a local guide and driver throughout the entire trip. This will not only grant us exclusive access to locations but also a deeper understanding of the people and culture of this hospitable country.
Our tour will be a learning experience on multiple levels, but the foremost goal is to provide you with a safe, comfortable and organized opportunity to create images of this exotic country. You’ll be working closely with people of varying levels of photography experience, and we’ll all learn from one another while making friends along the way.
The trip is suited for people of all photography levels. The leaders will provide instruction on night and low-light photography techniques in the field. We will be available to work with you one-on-one in the field, offering as much or as little creative and technical advice as you want. Night photography will be a big part of this trip, but portrait photography will also be embraced. Our guide will have artisans, chefs and locals available for us to photograph under the various tapestries of Moroccan life.
OUR DESTINATIONS INCLUDE:
Fes, Morocco’s cultural and spiritual center. While no cars are allowed inside the medina (walled city), our local guide will lead us through the maze of massive conical piles of vibrant spices, and storehouses heaped high with hand-woven carpets in every color and design possible. The famous tanneries of Fes will mesmerize us with their round stone vessels filled with colorful dyes. (Ali is from Fes, so we’ll get a true insider tour of the real city.)
The ancient Roman city of Volubilis. We’ll have plenty of time to explore the mosaics and archaeological sites from the 3rd century B.C. and photograph them at sunset.
Chefchaouen, a photographer’s dream. Why are the buildings, streets and stairs all painted various shades of blue? The most common theory is that blue represents the color of the sky and connects the city to heaven. We’ll leave no powder-blue, cyan, robins-egg, indigo, cobalt, azure or periwinkle color unturned as we connect the colors to the day and night skies.
Casablanca, where one of the grandest buildings in the world, the Hassan II mosque, rests along the crashing waters of the Atlantic.
This is just a sample of our scheduled destinations. Our days and nights will also be filled with unscheduled photographic opportunities as they arise.
What You Should Know
Night photography experience is helpful, but not necessary. Participants must have at least basic photo skills, know their cameras well, and be comfortable shooting raw in manual mode with a DSLR or high-end mirrorless camera.
If you would like to attend this tour but are unsure whether you have adequate night photography skills, we can offer pre-tour tutoring to get you ready for your adventure with us. Alternatively or additionally, a few of us have written books that may be productive pre-tour reads.
What You Will Learn
As this is a photo tour rather than a workshop, the emphasis will be on getting participants to great locations with great light, and making sure that everyone has the trip of a lifetime. We figure that you don’t travel to Morocco very often, and you wouldn’t want to spend your time in a classroom!
That said, we do encourage you to think about and set goals for the trip.
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO GAIN FROM THIS EXPERIENCE?
great images?
lasting memories?
learn about the history and culture of Morocco?
learn some new photography skills?
all of the above?
The instructors will be available for one-on-one guidance in the field. We’ll be glad to review your images with you during quieter moments, but there won’t be formal group image-review sessions.
Night Conditions
Logistics & General Info
Travel
You are responsible for your airfare to and from Casablanca (CMN). All transportation in-country is included in a roomy tour bus.
Lodging & Food
The tour will be based in three 4-star hotels or riads, and lodging is included in the trip fee. Also included are breakfasts and dinners, beginning with dinner on the first day and ending with breakfast on the last. We will eat lots of tagines! Breakfast will be at our hotel each morning, we will stop for lunch if needed on the road, and dinners will be in the hotels or at fine dining restaurants each night.
Weather
Expect daytime highs in the 60s F, lows around 50.
Recommended Attire
Bring layers, including waterproof and windproof outerwear, and a lightweight and medium-weight jacket.
Good, comfortable walking or trail shoes are a must.
A pair of lightweight gloves and a cap might come in handy.
Exertion Level
The exertion level of this tour is Easy. (See more about our classifications.)
No vigorous activity will be required during the workshop, but please consider your physical abilities prior to registering. There won’t be any long hikes, but there will be sand dune climbs and higher elevation involved. You should be comfortable carrying your own equipment over uneven ground in the dark.
Considerations
IMPORTANT: We encourage reading our FAQs section for more information about skill and gear requirements, and other information that pertains to all our workshops.
If you have questions, please contact us—we're happy to talk it over with you.
A Serendipitous Diversion …
“I’ve changed in the intervening 40 years, and so has Morocco.”
Morocco derailed my naively planned tour of all of Europe.
To my mother’s disbelief, in March 1986 I left home on my first international trip alone, with a backpack and a copy of Europe on $10 a Day. I had planned to spend a day or two in pretty much every country in Europe, believing that such a thing was not only possible, but a good way to see the world. Needless to say, things didn’t quite go as planned—though I did manage to squeak by for a few days on $10 or $15.
After about two weeks in Belgium, England and Spain, I found myself on the ferry to Tangier. Rick Steves had warned me about the hustlers who would do their best to find a way to separate me from my small wad of cash, and also try to keep me in Tangier. He was right, and I quickly teamed with Andy and Roland, two fellow young travelers from England and Germany who were on a similar quest.
The three of us hopped on board a train headed for Rabat, and then on to Casablanca and Marrakech, and eventually down the Atlantic coast to Agadir. It was a new world for each of us, and we traveled together in Morocco for about three weeks, sharing accommodations, meals and memories in the making. So much for seeing all of Europe!
Memories from that trip linger to this day––a shared $3 hotel room painted lemon yellow with a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling, a monkey on my back, and Roland teaching me to ride a motorcycle on the beach in Agadir.
I’ve changed in the intervening 40 years, and so has Morocco. The younger generation speaks more English than French, and perhaps experience and wisdom has made the things we have in common, rather than the differences, make Morocco seem just a little bit less exotic. Still, every visit there awakens my senses and reminds me why I keep returning.
