Morocco for seniors: how to plan a private tour

Morocco suits older travellers well when the trip is planned around them. The country is full of things to see at a seated pace: gardens, courtyards, long lunches and drives through changing scenery. The difficulty is not the age of the traveller but the default itinerary, which tends to pack in too much.

Start with the pace. Choose fewer hotels with more nights in each, so you unpack once and rest properly. On our routes, a night longer in Fez or Marrakech, or a free day on the coast in Essaouira, makes the difference between a tiring trip and an enjoyable one.

Driving days are the next thing to check. Some desert routes involve four to six hours on winding roads, and the Atlas passes can be tiring. A private vehicle helps, because you can stop whenever you like, and we can shorten the days by adding a night along the way.

Accommodation is where details matter. Many riads in the medinas have narrow steps and no lift, and some have steep roof terraces. Tell us if stairs are a problem, and we will choose hotels with ground-floor rooms or lifts and keep walking in the old cities to short, flat sections with time to sit.

The medinas are uneven underfoot and cannot take a vehicle, so a guide who knows where a taxi can wait and where the quiet cafés are makes a real difference. In the Sahara, the camel trek is optional, and a 4x4 can take you to the camp if you prefer.

Think about the season. Spring and autumn are comfortable, summer is very hot inland, and winter nights in the desert are cold. Travel insurance that covers medical care is worth having, and it is sensible to talk to your doctor and bring your prescriptions in their original packaging.

Tell us your pace, your mobility and what you most want to see, and we will draft a route to match. Nothing on our sample itineraries is fixed, so a longer, slower version of any of them is a normal request.

Want to see how this works on a real route? Our 10-Day Morocco Tour from Tangier via the Imperial Cities, Sahara and Essaouira and 12-Day Grand Morocco Tour from Casablanca via Tangier, the Sahara and Essaouira are private itineraries we can adjust to fit.