10-Day Morocco Tour from Marrakech: Sahara and Imperial Cities

Pickup location:

Day 1: Arrival in Marrakech

Day 2: Marrakech with an official guide

Sightseeing

The loop's one guided day in Marrakech. After breakfast your official guide begins at Jemaa el-Fna, where storytellers and musicians perform nonstop, then covers the Koutoubia from outside, the Bahia Palace's mosaic courtyards and the Menara gardens facing snow-capped peaks, before the souks with their spices, carpets, leather, lanterns and metalwork. The route follows your interests. Back at the hotel late in the afternoon for dinner and a second Marrakech night.

Day 3: High Atlas, Ait Ben Haddou and Ouarzazate

Stop

The loop leaves Marrakech and climbs the High Atlas to the Tizi n'Tichka pass, with several photo stops over valleys, Berber villages and viewpoints. On the far side a guide leads you through the lanes and fortified houses of Ait Ben Haddou, a World Heritage-listed ksar and a backdrop for many films. Ouarzazate, a town of film studios, ends the day; its cinema museum is optional. Dinner and the night there, before tomorrow's desert run.

Day 4: Skoura, Tinghir and the Merzouga desert

Stop

From Ouarzazate the loop heads deeper into the south, and the land dries out around you. Skoura comes first, a palm-grove oasis with the Amridil kasbah; then the Valley of Roses and its distilleries; then Tinghir, where you walk into the Todra gorges between towering rock walls. You reach Merzouga in the late afternoon, and from there camels, not the car, take you through the Erg Chebbi dunes to camp: sunset, mint tea, dinner beneath the stars and Berber music by the fire, then a night in your own private tent.

Day 5: Merzouga to Fes through the Ziz valley

Stop

The alarm goes before dawn for sunrise over the dunes, one of the best moments of the ten days. After breakfast you return to the village by camel or 4x4, and the loop turns north for the long run to Fes, broken up by stops: the palm-lined Ziz valley, Midelt for lunch, the Middle Atlas with its cedar forests and mountain lakes, and Ifrane, known as Morocco's little Switzerland. You pull into Fes late in the afternoon for dinner and the first of two nights.

Day 6: Fes, a full day with a licensed guide

Sightseeing

Day 6 belongs to Fes, a city founded in the 9th century. A licensed guide leads you through Fes el-Bali, a UNESCO-listed medina, to the al-Qarawiyyin mosque-university; the Marinid-era Bou Inania madrasa; the tanneries of Chouara, watched from the terraces above them; and the artisan quarters working metal, wood, pottery and textiles. You return to the hotel during the afternoon, then dinner and a second night in Fes before the loop heads for the Rif.

Day 7: Fes, Meknes, Volubilis and Chefchaouen

Stop

Day 7 runs from Fes into the Rif, with two stops. In the imperial city of Meknes you follow the ramparts past the Bab el-Mansour gate; at Volubilis you pause at the Roman ruins, on the World Heritage list. Then come the mountains and Chefchaouen, the blue pearl: Andalusian architecture and painted lanes to explore, with dinner and the night in town.

Day 8: Chefchaouen to Casablanca

Stop

The road leaves the Rif through its mountain landscapes and villages, with panoramic stops over rural Morocco. Coastal plains and beaches announce the Atlantic. On arrival in Casablanca, a panoramic drive along the Ain Diab corniche, facing the ocean. Dinner by the sea and overnight in Casablanca.

Day 9: Casablanca to Marrakech

Stop

Before leaving Casablanca you can visit the Hassan II Mosque, which stands partly over the ocean; this visit is optional. About three hours on the road south then bring you back to Marrakech and close the loop. Once you arrive, your time is your own: stroll through Gueliz, the modern district, or look over the medina from a rooftop with a tea. Dinner and your last night in Marrakech.

Arrive back at:

Day 10: Marrakech, departure