Booked: Morocco & Portugal 2025

Portugal had been on my travel list for a while, as I’ve heard great things about the cuisine, the culture, great weather and beautiful beaches, as well as rich historical sites. With such great proximity to other travel destinations, it made sense to bundle it with another destination. We were initially thinking about going to Spain as well, but instead decided on Morocco.

Trip Overview

We were able to construct a balanced itinerary incorporating both Morocco and Portugal, consisting of:

3 nights in Casablanca, Morocco
4 nights in Tamuda Bay, Morocco
3 nights in Lisbon, Portugal
4 nights in Madeira, Portugal
4 nights in Algarve, Portugal

As with our Southeast Asia trip in 2024, this one would offer a nice mixture of city exploration in Casablanca and Lisbon, and more relaxing beach and island destinations in Tamuda Bay, Madeira, and the Algarve.

Read on to see the flights and hotels we booked to make this trip happen.

Flights

I booked the two main legs of the trip using British Airways Avios and Air Canada Aeroplan, respectively. We would fly from Montreal to Morocco on Royal Air Maroc booked using Avios, and from Lisbon to San Francisco on TAP Air Portugal using Aeroplan. I booked our connecting flight YEG-YUL in economy using VIPorter points from the BMO VIPorter World Elite Mastercard, and SFO-YEG on Air Canada using cash (I did apply some Air Canada eUpgrades in the hopes of a business class upgrade on the latter).

**Red:** YUL-CMN on Royal Air Maroc J class via British Airways Avios; **Green:** LIS-SFO on TAP Air Portugal J class via Air Canada Aeroplan.

We were happy with the itinerary. Royal Air Maroc was rather easy to find availability, but TAP Air Portugal required searching a full year in advance. I even narrowed down the exact time of day when Aeroplan would release seats to make sure we were first to lock them down.

Unfortunately, we have to fly through San Francisco on the way back from Lisbon, which isn’t the most efficient path. Award seats into major Canadian east coast hubs didn’t seem to be as reliably released. But the silver lining is that we will use that US transit for my partner’s Nexus interview (and potentially my renewal interview as well), so it works out nicely.

We also have some short haul economy flights from Tangier to Lisbon on Ryanair and from Lisbon to Madeira and back on TAP, but I will spare you the relatively boring details of those.

YUL-CMN on Royal Air Maroc Business Class

Royal Air Maroc’s newer 1-2-1 seats on the Boeing 787-9.

I actually booked the flights out of North America last, after securing a seat on TAP Air Portugal. This was due to the fact that availability on Royal Air Maroc with Avios was plentiful, whereas TAP was much harder to find on Aeroplan. Once I found the TAP availability for LIS-SFO and booked it, I immediately booked the RAM flights on a date that allocated the right amount of time we needed for our roughed out itinerary of around 2.5-3 weeks. The total cost was 124,000 Avios + $819.04 in taxes and fees, for two people.

Royal Air Maroc has two flights per day with two different planes with different seats that fly this route. One flight leaves around noon and arrives closer to midnight, while the other leaves at 9:50 PM and arrives at 9:30 AM. Neither of these is particularly wonderful, but we decided to go with the red eye flight.

One of the flights typically flies a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (B789) while the other flies a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (B788). The 788 has RAM’s older seat with 2-2-2 configuration, while the 789 has a modern seat with 1-2-1 reverse herringbone configuration.

Royal Air Maroc’s older 2-2-2 seat on the Boeing 787-8. Rather bizarre… Image credit: Live and Let’s Fly

At the time of booking we were on this older configuration, unfortunately. However at the time of writing, we have been switched onto the newer plane and already selected our middle ‘honeymoon’ seats. So fingers crossed that nothing changes as we’d love to experience the newer product.

Hard product aside, I am cautiously optimistic to experience Royal Air Maroc as I’ve heard it has highly regarded service and food. More to come!

LIS-SFO on TAP Air Portugal Business Class

For our main segment back to North America, I was very happy to secure TAP Air Portugal Business Class from LIS to SFO for 140,000 Aeroplan points + $304.40 CAD in taxes and fees for two people. At over 12 and a half hours, this will be one of the longer flights I’ve flown, so having a modern business class seat is always a treat.

This flight would be on TAP Air Portugal’s newer widebody aircraft, the A330-900neo. It features 34 business class seats, in a 1-2-1 configuration, with direct aisle access. The seat is a Recaro CL6710, which is also found on EL AL Boeing 787s.

As I mentioned before, TAP Air Portugal isn’t the easiest product to find award availability for anymore, at least with Aeroplan, so I was excited to experience another new product to cross the Atlantic in. And of course add another amenity kit to my collection.

Total Cost & Value

For bigger itineraries like this, I always like to think about the total costs saved through miles and points, especially when compared with the face value of these expensive flights. I tallied up the retail value in the table below using prices from Google Flights. All values are in Canadian dollars.

Flight	Route	Class	Points Cost	Cash Cost (inc. taxes/fees)	Retail Value
PD 378	YEG-YUL	Y	66,000 VIPorter points	$166	$740
AT 0209	YUL-CMN	J	124,000 Avios	$820	$4,128
FR 8619	TNG-LIS	Y	–	$240	$240
TP 1689 / TP 1686	LIS-FNC-LIS	Y	–	$935	$935
TP 237	LIS-SFO	J	140,000 Aeroplan	$305	$7.832
AC 8558	SFO-YEG	Y (Flex)	–	$730	$730
			Total:	$3,196	$14,605

While $14,000 from full-priced business class is outside of what I would personally pay for flights on a trip like this, this exercise still goes a long way in showing the extreme cost savings and experiences that can be derived from playing the miles and points game.

Hotels

Morocco and Portugal are a tale of two vastly different countries, from a cost standpoint especially. While Morocco was relatively inexpensive and available, Portugal was tough to lock down and extremely expensive for cash rates. Thus my approach was to try to use points or certificates to cover as much of the Portugal stays as possible.

Consequently I made my most substantial Hyatt all-inclusive redemption ever on this trip, as well as an exciting booking at a luxurious Conrad property in the Algarve. Read on for the booking details.

Casablanca – Casablanca Marriott Hotel

As we were only in Casablanca for 2 nights and 3 days, location was the most important thing for us when it came to accommodation. Having a luxury stay or large number of amenities was significantly less important for what would be a busy few days spent doing activities and not being at the hotel.

With that in mind, the Casablanca Marriott Hotel was an obvious choice in the heart of the city center with close proximity to a lot of the things we wanted to do. This was a very new hotel only opening in 2022, which was a nice plus.

For this stay, I booked a Deluxe King Guest room using an industry rate. However, the standard nightly rates for this property are fairly reasonable, around $200 per night.

The Casablanca Marriott Hotel is highly reviewed, and apparently has a very nice M Club Lounge, which we are looking forward to trying out for breakfast and more.

Tamuda Bay – The St. Regis La Bahia Blanca Resort

Along with the Dreams Madeira, the St. Regis La Bahia Blanca Resort in Tamuda Bay was a property I somewhat scheduled the trip around, with a four night stay here booked entirely on an industry rate.

This is a luxurious beachfront retreat that opened in November 2023, and so will have only been open for about two years when we arrive. The highly rated resort boasts Moroccan and Andalusian heritage through its architecture and decor, with 83 guestrooms and 17 suites, each with a private balcony overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

St. Regis La Bahia Blanca Resort in Tamuda Bay, Morocco

While I am far from being a St. Regis loyalist, as this will only be my second St. Regis stay, the breakfast we had at the St. Regis Bangkok was second to none. While the butler service and saboring rituals are a bit lost on me, the location of this property is remarkable.

The Tamuda Bay area is just starting to see a luxury Marriott presence, with a Ritz-Carlton set to open in the near future. Of course, I would prefer the St. Regis anyway as there will be better recognition of my Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite status, including the aforementioned complimentary breakfast.

In conclusion, I expect this to be one of the main highlights of the trip, from a hotel standpoint at least.

Portugal

Lisbon – Lisbon Marriott Hotel

Another hotel we selected mostly for convenience and familiarity: the Lisbon Marriott Hotel. We only have 2.5 days in Lisbon, so we will be quite busy during our stay. This four star property is located in the financial district, only 10 minutes from the airport and about 15 minutes from downtown Lisbon.

On top of that, it’s got an outdoor pool surrounded by palm trees, and an always appreciated Executive Lounge for Marriott Bonvoy elites to enjoy.

I booked a Comfort King guest room with a balcony using an industry rate. Regular rates here in September are around $300-$400. This is pretty standard pricing for Portugal, which has gotten more expensive in recent years as I understand it.

Madeira – Dreams Madeira Resort Spa & Marina

Another major luxury stay that we looked forward to on this trip is the Dreams Madeira Resort, Spa & Marina, part of Hyatt’s all-inclusive collection. I stumbled upon a press release mentioning this brand new property sometime in 2024, with the property only eventually opening in October 2024.

I was eager to put my hard earned Chase Ultimate Rewards points to use in making this booking. It took quite some time for the property to show up as bookable with points, but as soon as it did in early 2025 I booked a four night stay, for 168,000 World of Hyatt points.

The Dreams Madeira is a premium all-inclusive resort located in the scenic coastal village of Caniçal on Madeira Island, on the easternmost tip of the island. The resort features 366 stylish rooms and suites, many with private balconies offering sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean.

The property has “unlimited-luxury” inclusions such as gourmet dining across seven restaurants, premium drinks, 24-hour room service, and daily refreshed mini-bars. The resort boasts multiple pools—including a tiered infinity pool, a splash park for kids, and an adults-only option—a full-service spa, and a private marina for water-based excursions.

We are looking forward to enjoying the resort, and also using it as a base for some awesome activities available on the island like hiking, whale watching, wine tasting, and some water sports!

Algarve – Conrad Algarve

I had a bit more difficulty finding hotels in the Algarve region, especially for prices that weren’t astronomical. There were a few SLH properties available as well as Mr & Mrs Smith via the Hyatt program. However, I eventually settled on redeeming 200,000 Hilton Honors points and two Free Night Awards for a four night stay at the Conrad Algarve.

The Conrad Algarve is a five-star luxury resort located in the prestigious Quinta do Lago region of southern Portugal, close to the town of Faro. The hotel features 154 spacious rooms and suites, each with private balconies and marble bathrooms, including the opulent Roof Garden Suite with its own infinity pool.

Importantly, valet parking was complimentary at the hotel. This would be one of the only instances where we’d have a rental car on the trip, so it was nice to save that cost. As well as of course, the complimentary breakfast courtesy of Hilton Honors Diamond status, which I’m sure would be fantastic.

Having stayed at a few Conrads before, I knew what to expect from this brand. It would be a great final stay to end off the trip before heading home on TAP Air Portugal from Lisbon.