Morocco sits high on a lot of bucket lists, and just as high on the list of places people hesitate to tackle alone. Fair enough. The Marrakesh medina is a maze by design, and the Sahara doesn't have street signs. So we’ve built a trip that makes this mysterious and exotic land easy, centered around what most visitors never get: real time with Moroccan women, in their workshops, their kitchens, and their homes.

The route covers a lot of ground. We start in Marrakesh, with its riads and rooftop terraces, then head into the High Atlas to the Aït Bouguemez, the “Happy Valley,” where we get to experience an authentic Berber village, visiting in homes and learning the daily rhythms of a traditional life. 

Next, it's the palm groves and mud-brick kasbahs of the Skoura oasis, and then the Sahara, where we’ve added an extra night because travelers love the experience so much. It’s a total of 3 nights in a luxury camp among the dunes. Yes, there's some serious road time. But our past travelers are emphatic: the Sahara is worth the drive.

Along the way, we'll bake bread, weave carpets, make tagine and pastries alongside village women, share Saharan tea with a nomadic family, and dance (or at least clap enthusiastically) to Amazigh and Gnawa music. A NextTribe host travels with us the whole way, making sure everyone feels at home in the group. Our Moroccan guide handles the directions, the introductions, and the tricky job of getting a group of women through the souks without losing anyone to the lantern stalls.

Small groups-Women 45+ ~ Solo travelers welcome ~ Easy, interest-free payment plans ~ NextTribe members get $100 off this (and every) trip

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Photo left: Alicia Post

Solo Traveler? You're In The Right Place.

Morocco is one of those places where having the right company makes everything easier, and a lot more fun.

• You won't be the odd one out. Many of the women on our trips come on their own. You'll be in good company from the airport pickup on.

• Someone's always looking out for you. Our host's job is to know your name before you land, make the introductions, and make sure you always feel welcome and seen. Our wonderful Moroccan guide takes care of everything else: the haggling, the history, and the doors that only open for a local.

• Together when it counts, on your own when you need it. Terrace dinners, cooking classes, and campfire nights bring a group together fast. But there's breathing room too: a free afternoon in the desert, a slow last day in Marrakesh, and a hammam where no one expects you to talk. Want to skip an activity and read on the terrace? Go ahead. No one's taking attendance.

• Rooming your way. Book your own room with a single supplement, or ask us to match you with a roommate from the group.

Arrive and settle into our riad, a traditional house that turns its back on the street noise and opens onto a quiet inner courtyard. Tonight, a welcome dinner and our first round of introductions (and our first of many tagines).

Included Meals: Dinner

With our guide leading the way through the medina's maze, we'll wander the souks (spices, textiles, lanterns, leather) and step into artisans' workshops to watch them at work. Then local women artisans teach us to shape and decorate our own pottery. Expect about one to two miles of easy walking. We end the day with dinner on a terrace as the sun goes down over the rooftops.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

A 45-minute drive to the Atlas foothills brings us to the Ourika aromatic garden, where we'll learn how argan oil is pressed and why saffron is called red gold. Next is Anima, the garden created by Austrian artist André Heller, where sculptures pop up among the palms and mountain views. Back in Marrakesh by late afternoon.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

A full travel day takes you far from any other visitors, with good reasons to stop along the way. First, Ouzoud Falls, tumbling roughly 110 meters, with resident Barbary macaques who will absolutely eye your snacks. Then the M'goun Geopark Museum in Azilal for a quick lesson in the region's very old rocks, a picnic lunch, and on to R'bat village in the Aït Bouguemez, known across Morocco as the Happy Valley. Our ecolodge is home for three nights.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Drive time (without stops): 4 hours

A gentle morning hike takes us to the seasonal home of a shepherd's family, where his wife shows us how she makes the family bread. We'll eat it warm with mint tea. On the way back, we visit Tawaya, a sacred spring said to bring fertility to women who drink from it. We'll admire it respectfully and keep moving. In the afternoon, the women of Association Tifawine (the name means “the light of the women”) teach us carpet weaving and Moroccan pastry-making, followed by tea and real conversation about their lives and plans.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

We walk through the fields to see dinosaur footprints pressed into the rock at Ibaqliwn, then climb to Sidi Moussa, a fortified granary and shrine with views across the whole valley. Lunch is at L'École Vivante, a community school teaching valley kids through creativity and permaculture. Back at the lodge, village women teach us to make a proper tagine. That evening, an Ahidous troupe brings Amazigh music and dance to the terrace. You will be invited to join in, and yes, you should.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

A spectacular drive through the Tassaout Valley, climbing to about 2,200 meters, with lunch at a Berber family's home in the village of Ait Alla. Then down to Skoura, an oasis of palm groves and mud-brick kasbahs, which feels like a small miracle after all that rock. About five and a half hours on the road, and the views earn every minute.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Drive time (without stops): 5.5 hours

Around five hours of driving takes us from the palm groves to the dunes of Merzouga. We'll ride camels to our luxury camp, watch the sand change color at sunset, and spend the evening around a campfire with local musicians.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Drive time (without stops): 5 hours

By 4x4, we'll cross dunes, dry riverbeds, and black volcanic plains, then stop in Khamlia, a village whose residents trace their roots to sub-Saharan Africa. There, the women show us how to make medfouna, a stuffed bread nicknamed Berber pizza, and we'll eat what we made. As the afternoon cools, try sandboarding (or cheer from the bottom). Then sunset, dinner, and more stars than seems reasonable.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

We'll put on desert robes and set off by camel caravan to visit a nomadic family living among the dunes, who welcome us with a Saharan tea ceremony: strong, sweet, poured from a height, and crowned with foam. The afternoon is free to read, nap, or wander. Tonight, it's dinner and drinks by the campfire with a live Gnawa performance, the hypnotic trance music of Morocco's sub-Saharan heritage. Clapping along is required. Dancing is strongly encouraged.

It's a long drive (five to six hours) from the golden dunes to Ouarzazate's rocky country. It's worth it for our afternoon visit to a women's spice cooperative, where we'll learn how the spices are grown and prepared and how they're used in both cooking and traditional remedies. 

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Drive time (without stops): 6 hours

We’ll visit a shop known for its rugs and vintage desert treasures. If you’re going to buy a carpet, this is the place. 

A four-hour drive back over the mountains to Marrakesh, followed by the reward: a traditional hammam. We'll steam, get scrubbed, and finish with a ghassoul wrap, a mineral clay from the Atlas Mountains that Moroccan women have used for centuries. You'll leave softer than you've been in years.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Drive time (without stops): 4 hours

A slow morning. Then take the afternoon for the medina on your own terms, whether that means one more lap of the souks for the leather purse you keep thinking about or a mint tea and some people-watching. Tonight, a farewell dinner to toast everything we've seen, learned, and eaten.

Included Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Transfer to the airport for flights home, with sand still in your shoes.

Included Meals: Breakfast