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

Overview

Highlights

• Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, one of the few mosques in Morocco open to non-Muslims on guided tours
• Kasbah of the Udayas and Hassan Tower in Rabat
• Two nights in the blue town of Chefchaouen
• Volubilis Roman ruins and Meknes
• Full-day guided visit of the Fes medina
• Night in a Sahara camp and a 4x4 day in Merzouga
• Todra and Dades gorges, Aït Benhaddou and the Tizi n'Tichka

Itinerary

1. 1

   Day 1 Marrakech – Casablanca – Rabat

   Leave Marrakech in the morning on the highway to Casablanca, about three hours away. Visit the Hassan II Mosque, built partly over the ocean, with a minaret over 200 meters tall. Guided tours inside run at set times for non-Muslim visitors; tickets are paid on site.

   After lunch near the corniche, continue one hour north to Rabat, Morocco's calm and green capital. Check into your riad or hotel and take an evening stroll along the Bouregreg river or through the modern center, lined with Art Deco buildings from the French protectorate era. Dinner tonight is at your accommodation or a recommended spot nearby.

   Overnight: Riad or hotel in Rabat Meals: Dinner

2. 2

   Day 2 Rabat – Chefchaouen

   Start the morning at the Kasbah of the Udayas, a white and blue fortress above the river mouth, with its Andalusian gardens. Then see the Hassan Tower, the unfinished 12th-century minaret, and the Mausoleum of Mohammed V with its royal guards.

   Drive northeast toward the Rif mountains, about four hours, through farmland and green hills. Reach Chefchaouen in the late afternoon, when the blue walls of the medina glow softly. Check in, drop your bags and enjoy dinner in town, where goat cheese, local olive oil and slow-cooked tagines are on most menus.

   Overnight: Riad or hotel in Chefchaouen Meals: Breakfast, dinner

3. 3

   Day 3 Chefchaouen: The Blue Medina

   A day to wander. Get lost on purpose in the blue alleys, step into the Kasbah and its garden, and watch life on Outa el Hammam square. Walk down to Ras El Ma, the spring where locals still wash clothes and fill bottles.

   In the afternoon, rest on a café terrace or shop for woven blankets and goat cheese, a local specialty. Before sunset, take the 30-minute path to the Spanish Mosque viewpoint, where the whole town turns blue and gold at your feet. It is one of the best sunsets in northern Morocco.

   Overnight: Riad or hotel in Chefchaouen Meals: Breakfast, dinner

4. 4

   Day 4 Chefchaouen – Volubilis – Meknes – Fes

   After breakfast, drive south to Volubilis, the best-preserved Roman city in Morocco and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Walk among triumphal arches, columns and floor mosaics that still show their colors after nearly 2,000 years.

   Continue to Meknes, the imperial city of Sultan Moulay Ismail. Admire the monumental Bab Mansour gate and the El Hedim square. In the late afternoon, reach Fes and check into your riad in or near the old medina. Tonight, enjoy a first taste of Fes cuisine, famous across Morocco for its pastilla.

   Overnight: Riad in Fes Meals: Breakfast, dinner

5. 5

   Day 5 Fes: Guided Visit of Fes el-Bali

   Today a licensed local guide leads you through Fes el-Bali, one of the largest car-free urban areas in the world and a UNESCO site. Enter by the Bab Bou Jeloud blue gate, visit the Bou Inania madrasa and the carved Al-Attarine madrasa, and see Al Quaraouiyine, often called the world's oldest university, from its doorways.

   Watch dyers at work from a terrace above the Chouara tannery, then explore the Nejjarine square and the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter. End at the Merinid Tombs viewpoint as the call to prayer echoes over the city.

   Overnight: Riad in Fes Meals: Breakfast, dinner

6. 6

   Day 6 Fes – Ifrane – Azrou – Midelt – Merzouga

   A long but beautiful day. Leave early for Ifrane, a tidy mountain town with Alpine-style roofs. Continue to the cedar forest near Azrou, where Barbary macaques roam among trees up to centuries old.

   Cross the Middle Atlas to Midelt for lunch, then follow the Ziz Valley, a ribbon of palm groves in a rocky canyon. In the late afternoon, reach Merzouga, where camels wait to carry you into the Erg Chebbi dunes at sunset. Dinner and drums at the desert camp.

   Overnight: Desert camp at Erg Chebbi, Merzouga Meals: Breakfast, dinner

7. 7

   Day 7 Merzouga: Khamlia, Rissani and the Dunes by 4x4

   Climb a dune for sunrise and enjoy breakfast in camp. Then explore the area by 4x4: Khamlia, home of Gnawa musicians whose rhythms trace back to sub-Saharan Africa, a nomad family for tea, and the dune edges of Erg Chebbi.

   Visit Rissani, the old caravan town, with its ksar and souk; it is liveliest on market days. In the afternoon relax in the shade, try sandboarding or climb a dune for a second sunset. Tonight you stay in Merzouga at a hotel at the foot of the dunes or a second camp night if you prefer.

   Overnight: Hotel or camp in Merzouga Meals: Breakfast, dinner

8. 8

   Day 8 Merzouga – Todra Gorge – Dades Valley

   Drive west via Erfoud, famous for fossils, and Tinghir, with its huge palm grove. Stop at a viewpoint over the oasis, then walk into the Todra Gorge, where limestone walls rise about 300 meters above a clear stream.

   Continue to the Dades Valley and its twisting road between rock formations nicknamed the "monkey fingers." Check into a hotel with views of the gorge. With a shorter driving day, there is time for a walk through the gardens and a village nearby before dinner.

   Overnight: Hotel in the Dades Valley Meals: Breakfast, dinner

9. 9

   Day 9 Dades – Rose Valley – Ouarzazate – Aït Benhaddou

   Follow the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs through the Rose Valley around Kelaat M'Gouna, where rosewater and creams are made from Damask roses. Stop in Skoura's palm grove, then visit Ouarzazate, home of the Taourirt kasbah and Morocco's film studios.

   Spend the night in Aït Benhaddou itself. In the late afternoon, cross the riverbed and climb the UNESCO-listed ksar when the day-trip crowds have gone. Watch the mud walls turn orange at sunset, then enjoy dinner at your guesthouse, often with views of the ksar lit up at night.

   Overnight: Guesthouse or hotel in Aït Benhaddou Meals: Breakfast, dinner

10. 10

    Day 10 Aït Benhaddou – Tizi n'Tichka – Marrakech

    After breakfast, drive back over the High Atlas via the Tizi n'Tichka pass (2,260 m), with stops at viewpoints and Berber villages. The road descends through walnut groves into the Haouz plain.

    Arrive in Marrakech early in the afternoon, with time for a last walk in the souks or a sunset drink above Jemaa el-Fna. Your driver drops you at your riad, hotel or the airport. End of tour, and of a loop that took you from the Atlantic to the Sahara and back.

    Overnight: — (end of tour) Meals: Breakfast

Prices

Prices in euros per person. The amount in your currency is an estimate; payment is processed in USD. Some peak-season dates carry a supplement; you will see it when you pick a date.

Included

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