10-Day Morocco Tour from Casablanca

Pickup location:

Day 1: Arrival in Casablanca

Day 2: Casablanca to Marrakech

Stop

Day 2 points the trip south. After breakfast you can, if you wish, visit the Hassan II Mosque, built out over the ocean. The motorway to Marrakech then takes roughly three hours in the private air-conditioned vehicle. After check-in, your remaining hours in the red city are unscheduled: explore at your own pace, or take tea on a rooftop terrace looking over the medina. Dinner and your first night in Marrakech.

Day 3: Marrakech, a half-day guided tour

Sightseeing

Day 3 brings the first guided day. After breakfast a licensed local guide leads you through Marrakech's main sights: UNESCO-listed Jemaa el-Fna square, the Koutoubia from outside, the royal architecture of the Bahia Palace, the Menara gardens looking out to the Atlas peaks, and finally the souks for spices, carpets, leather, lanterns and crafts. The guide follows whichever interests you most: history, architecture or craftsmanship. Back at the hotel by late afternoon; dinner and a second night in Marrakech before the Atlas crossing.

Day 4: Marrakech, High Atlas, Ait Ben Haddou and Ouarzazate

Stop

Day 4 takes you out of Marrakech and up into the High Atlas. The climb tops out at the Tizi n'Tichka pass, on a spectacular mountain road, with photo stops above Berber villages and valleys. Past the pass you visit Ait Ben Haddou, a World Heritage ksar used as a set for many films. Ouarzazate, a town of film studios, ends the day; its cinema museum is optional. Dinner and night there, ready for day 5.

Day 5: Ouarzazate, Skoura, Tinghir and Merzouga

Stop

Day 5, the first of two long driving days, runs east through changing scenery. It opens with the Skoura oasis and the Amridil kasbah, continues through the Valley of Roses, known for its rose products, and reaches Tinghir for the Todra gorges and their towering limestone walls. You get to Merzouga in the late afternoon and swap the vehicle for camels to cross the Erg Chebbi dunes to camp at sunset. Mint tea, a Berber dinner and music by the fire follow; the night is spent in a private tent.

Day 6: Merzouga to Fes through the Ziz valley

Stop

Day 6 turns the loop north. Up before dawn for sunrise over Erg Chebbi, breakfast at camp, then the camels carry you back to the village. The long drive to Fes is broken by several stops: the vast palm grove of the Ziz valley, Midelt, where lunch is an option, the Middle Atlas cedar forests, and Ifrane, whose architecture and mountain air earned it the name of Morocco's little Switzerland. Fes comes into view as the afternoon ends, in time for dinner and the night.

Day 7: Fes, a full guided day

Sightseeing

Day 7, the second guided day, lasts the full day. With a licensed guide you enter Fes el-Bali, the World Heritage medina of Morocco's spiritual capital, see the al-Qarawiyyin mosque-university, stop at the Bou Inania madrasa (entry not included) and cross the artisan quarters where leather, copper and zellige are worked. The hotel is reached in the afternoon, then dinner and a second night in Fes.

Day 8: Fes to Chefchaouen through the Rif

Stop

Day 8 heads north from Fes into the Rif mountains, past countryside and villages, to Chefchaouen, the blue city, known for its calm and for lanes that photograph well. No visits are scheduled for the afternoon: walk the painted alleys, see the Kasbah museum, climb to the Spanish Mosque at sunset, or look round the craft workshops. Dinner and a night in Chefchaouen.

Day 9: Chefchaouen to Casablanca

Stop

Day 9 closes the loop, from Chefchaouen back to Casablanca on the Atlantic coast. There you can visit the Hassan II Mosque, a centrepiece of contemporary Islamic architecture, or return if you saw it on day 2. Your last Moroccan evening is on the Ain Diab corniche, among ocean-facing restaurants and souvenir shops. Dinner and final night in Casablanca.

Arrive back at:

Day 10: Departure from Casablanca