8-Day Imperial Cities & Sahara Tour from Marrakech
8 days · 7 nightsMarrakech → Fez → Merzouga → MarrakechEasyPrivate
The four imperial cities in one loop: Marrakech, Rabat, Meknes and Fez, with Casablanca, Chefchaouen, Volubilis and a night in the dunes of Merzouga.
The imperial cities are the four capitals that the sultans of Morocco built over the centuries, each with its palaces, mosques and medinas. This tour visits all of them, starting and ending in Marrakech, so it is easy to combine with your flights.
After a guided day in Marrakech, you go north along the Atlantic to Casablanca and Rabat, cross to Chefchaouen and Fez, and then descend to the Sahara for a night in our camp before returning to Marrakech across the Atlas.
Highlights
Guided visits of Marrakech and Fez
Hassan II mosque in Casablanca
Rabat, Meknes and Volubilis
Chefchaouen, the blue town
A night in our camp in Erg Chebbi
Day by day
Day 1
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 2
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 3
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 4
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 5
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 6
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 7
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 8
Sunrise in the dunes – Draa valley – Ouarzazate – Marrakech
Wake up early and climb the dune behind the camp to watch the sunrise: the sky turns pink, then gold, and the shadows of the dunes slowly shorten. After breakfast at the camp you ride back to Merzouga by camel, take a shower if you wish and start the journey back to Marrakech. It is the longest day of the tour, so we take it easy, with stops whenever you need them. The road crosses the oasis of Alnif and the Saghro mountains towards the Draa valley, where an endless line of palm trees follows the river, and continues to Ouarzazate for lunch. In the afternoon we cross the High Atlas again by the Tichka pass, enjoying the views we missed on the first day, and arrive in Marrakech in the evening, where your driver leaves you 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.
