10 days · 9 nightsMarrakech → Fez → Merzouga → MarrakechEasyPrivate
Ten days for the whole of Morocco: Marrakech, the Atlantic coast, the imperial cities, Chefchaouen, the Sahara, the gorges and the High Atlas, all private.
This is our most complete tour starting in Marrakech. You arrive, rest in a riad and discover the red city with a guide, then travel north to Casablanca, Rabat and the blue town of Chefchaouen, visit Volubilis, Meknes and Fez, and cross the Middle Atlas to the Sahara.
After the camel ride and the night in our camp in Erg Chebbi, the return follows the gorges of Todra and Dades, the road of the kasbahs and Ait Ben Haddou. Ten days with the same driver, who becomes your friend and guide across the whole country.
Highlights
Airport pick-up and riad in Marrakech
All four imperial cities
Chefchaouen and Volubilis
Night in our camp in Erg Chebbi
Todra, Dades and Ait Ben Haddou
Day by day
Day 1
Arrival in Marrakech, riad and evening on Jemaa el Fna
Welcome to Morocco. Your driver meets you at Marrakech Menara airport, or at the train station, and takes you to your riad in the medina, a traditional house built around a patio with orange trees and a fountain, where you are welcomed with mint tea and pastries. After resting, you can go out for a first walk: the Koutoubia mosque and its gardens, a few steps away, and then the Jemaa el Fna square, which changes every hour of the day. In the evening it fills with Gnawa musicians, storytellers, acrobats and dozens of food stalls, where you can taste harira soup, grilled meat and snail broth. Your driver explains the plan of the trip and the times for the next morning. Night in your riad.
Day 2
Marrakech: guided visit of the red city
A day to discover Marrakech with a licensed local guide. We start at the Koutoubia mosque, whose 77-metre minaret has been the symbol of the city since the 12th century, and walk to the Saadian tombs, hidden for centuries behind a wall, and the Bahia palace, with its gardens, painted ceilings and courtyards decorated with zellige. Then we go through the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter with its spice market, and into the souks, where each alley has its craftsmen: dyers, blacksmiths, leather workers and carpet sellers. In the afternoon, your driver takes you to the Majorelle garden, the blue garden of Yves Saint Laurent, full of cactus and bamboo, and to the palm grove. Evening free to enjoy a dinner on a terrace facing Jemaa el Fna. Night in your riad.
Day 3
Marrakech – Casablanca, Hassan II mosque – Rabat
We leave Marrakech in the morning and drive north across the plains of the Haouz and the Chaouia, with their fields of wheat and their small farming villages, to Casablanca, the economic capital of Morocco. There we visit the Hassan II mosque, one of the largest in the world, built on a rock over the Atlantic Ocean; its minaret rises 210 metres and its prayer hall, decorated by thousands of craftsmen with carved cedar, marble and zellige, can be visited inside. After lunch by the sea on the Corniche of Ain Diab, we continue along the coast to Rabat, the capital of the kingdom. In the late afternoon you walk in the kasbah of the Oudayas, with its white and blue alleys and its Andalusian garden, and watch the sun set over the ocean from its terrace. Dinner and night in a riad in Rabat.
Day 4
Rabat – Chefchaouen, the blue town
We leave Rabat in the morning and drive north through the farmland of the Gharb plain, with its orange groves and fields of sunflowers, towards the Rif mountains. The road becomes greener and more winding as we approach Chefchaouen, a town founded in 1471 by Andalusian refugees and famous for its streets painted in every shade of blue. We arrive in time for lunch and spend the afternoon exploring at your own pace: the square of Outa el Hammam with the red kasbah and the great mosque, the Ras el Ma spring where women still wash clothes, the small shops of wool blankets and goat cheese. At the end of the day we walk up to the Spanish mosque on the hill to watch the sun set over the blue town. Dinner and night in a riad in the medina.
Day 5
Chefchaouen – Volubilis – Meknes – Fez
After a last morning walk in Chefchaouen, when the streets are quiet and the light is soft, we leave the Rif and drive south through fertile valleys of cereals and olive trees. We stop at Volubilis, the best-preserved Roman city in Morocco, where you can walk among the columns of the basilica, the triumphal arch and the houses with their beautiful mosaics of Hercules, Bacchus and Orpheus. Nearby is Moulay Idriss, the holy town where the founder of the first Moroccan dynasty is buried. We continue to Meknes, the imperial city of Sultan Moulay Ismail, with its monumental gate of Bab Mansour, the royal granaries and stables where 12,000 horses once lived, and the lively square of El Hedim. We arrive in Fez in the late afternoon. Dinner and night in a riad in the medina.
Day 6
Fez: a full day in the medina with a local guide
Fez el Bali is the largest medieval medina in the world still alive, a maze of more than 9,000 alleys where cars cannot enter and donkeys still carry the goods. With a licensed local guide you discover its treasures: the Bou Inania and Al Attarine medersas, decorated with zellige tiles, carved cedar and stucco as fine as lace; the Qarawiyyin, founded in the year 859 and considered the oldest university in the world; the fountain of Nejjarine; and the souks of the coppersmiths, weavers and spice sellers. From a terrace you watch the famous Chouara tannery, where leather is still dyed in stone vats as it was centuries ago. In the afternoon your driver takes you to the Royal Palace with its golden doors, the Jewish quarter of the Mellah and the panorama from the Merinid tombs at sunset. Dinner and night in your riad.
Day 7
Fez – Ifrane – Azrou – Midelt – Ziz valley – Merzouga
Today we leave the cities behind and travel towards the Sahara. The road climbs into the Middle Atlas to Ifrane, a mountain town of red roofs and gardens, and crosses the cedar forest of Azrou, where you can stop to see the Barbary macaques. We continue across the high plateaus, grazed by flocks of sheep, to Midelt for lunch, with the snowy peaks of the Jebel Ayachi in the background. In the afternoon the landscape becomes desert: we descend the Ziz gorges, a narrow canyon carved by the river, and follow the palm valley of the Ziz, with its old ksour of earth, through Errachidia and Erfoud. At sunset the dunes of Erg Chebbi appear on the horizon, glowing orange and pink. Dinner and night in a hotel at the foot of the dunes in Merzouga.
Day 8
Merzouga: Rissani, nomads and Gnawa music, camel ride and night in our camp
A day dedicated to the desert. In the morning your driver takes you around Erg Chebbi by 4x4: the market town of Rissani, heir of the medieval caravan city of Sijilmassa, the tent of a nomad family in the black hamada, where you share tea and bread baked in the sand, and the village of Khamlia, where the Gnawa musicians welcome you with their drums and songs. After lunch you can rest at the hotel pool or add a quad, buggy or sandboard session in the dunes. In the late afternoon you meet your cameleer and ride into the dunes with the caravan, climbing a high crest on foot for the sunset. At nightfall you reach our camp, where you sleep in a private tent with bed and bathroom, after a dinner of tajine and an evening of music around the fire.
Day 9
Sunrise – Todra gorge – Tinghir – Dades valley
Wake up before dawn and climb the dune behind the camp to watch the sun rise over the Sahara, the most silent and magical moment of the journey. After breakfast you ride back to Merzouga by camel and we drive west across the desert plateaus, passing small oases and the fossil village of Alnif or the road of Tinejdad, with its old ksour. In Tinghir we walk into the Todra gorge, where the cliffs rise 300 metres on both sides of a clear river and climbers hang from the walls. In the afternoon we continue to the Dades valley and drive up the gorge to see the famous zigzag road and the eroded rocks known as the 'monkey fingers'. Dinner and night in a guesthouse in the gorge.
Day 10
Dades – Valley of Roses – Skoura – Ouarzazate – Ait Ben Haddou – Marrakech
The last day follows the 'road of the thousand kasbahs'. We drive through the Valley of Roses and Kalaat M'Gouna, where you can buy rose water and creams made by local cooperatives, and the palm grove of Skoura with its earth castles. After Ouarzazate we visit Ait Ben Haddou, the ksar classified by UNESCO, and climb to its top for the view over the valley and the old caravan route. After lunch we cross the High Atlas by the Tizi n'Tichka pass, with its viewpoints over the mountains and the Berber villages below, and descend to the plain of Marrakech. Arrival in the evening and drop-off at your riad or hotel.
Included
Private air-conditioned vehicle
Local driver-guide
Pick-up and drop-off at your riad, hotel or airport
Nights in riads, kasbahs and guesthouses
Dinners and breakfasts
Camel ride with cameleer
Night in our desert camp in Erg Chebbi
Not included
Lunches
Local guides in the cities (on request)
Entrance fees to monuments
Tips
Good to know
Pick-up between 7:00 and 8:00 at your riad, hotel, airport or port. Bring a small bag for the desert night: big luggage stays in the vehicle. Hotels can be upgraded on request.
No payment is needed to book: you pay on arrival in cash (dirhams or euros). Free changes if the weather is not good.
Questions
Are the tours private?
Yes. Only your group travels in the vehicle, with your own driver, and the program can be adapted.
Where do the tours start?
Wherever you are: your riad or hotel in Marrakech, Fez, Tangier, Casablanca, Agadir, Ouarzazate, Errachidia or Essaouira, or the airport or port when you land.
Which camp do we sleep in?
In our own camp in Erg Chebbi, with private tents, bathrooms with hot shower, dinner and breakfast, and Berber music by the fire.
Can I change the itinerary?
Yes, every tour is private and flexible: add nights in the desert, a quad or buggy ride, a different finishing city or better hotels. Just tell us when you write.
