8 Day Tour from Marrakech to Casablanca

Your 8 day tour from Marrakech to Casablanca starts with the southward crossing of the High Atlas. We leave in the morning and the road begins its climb into the mountains almost immediately. The Tizi n’Tichka Pass at 2,260 metres is the highest paved road in Morocco and marks the boundary between the Atlantic watershed and the pre-Saharan south. On the other side, the land turns red-brown and the kasbahs begin appearing on the hillsides.

We arrive at Ait Ben Haddou before the afternoon. The UNESCO-listed ksar is the most complete example of collective earthen architecture in southern Morocco. We walk it properly, from the river at the base to the granary at the top, 90 minutes covering every level of the settlement. The view from the summit across the Ounila River valley is worth the climb.

We continue through Ouarzazate, with an optional stop at the Atlas Film Studios, then push east along the Route of a Thousand Kasbahs to the Dades Valley. We arrive by early evening and walk up into the gorge before dinner while the light holds. Overnight in the canyon.

Before breakfast we walk the upper section of the Dades Gorge, where the canyon narrows and the rock formations catch the early light at angles that disappear by 9:00 AM. We return for breakfast and continue east through Tinghir to the Todra Gorge.

The Todra is the narrowest and most vertical canyon on this route, the walls pressing to within 10 metres of each other at the tightest point while rising 300 metres above. We walk the floor of the canyon before the organised tours arrive. From Tinghir the road opens onto flat desert terrain and continues southeast past Rissani to Erg Chebbi.

We reach the camp in the afternoon and mount the camels at sunset. An hour into the dunes with the sky turning orange and the sand registering the last heat of the day beneath the animals’ feet. Dinner at the camp, Gnawa music around the fire, then a private tent with en-suite bathroom under the darkest sky in Morocco.

Up before dawn to climb the dune above the camp and watch the Sahara sky change colour. Breakfast at the camp, early departure. The drive from Erg Chebbi to Fes is the longest day on the entire tour. We do not waste the morning.

The Ziz Valley viewpoint is the first break, the road rising above a date palm oasis corridor that stretches south as far as you can see. Midelt is lunch, a no-nonsense mountain town with honest food and no tourist pricing. After Midelt the road enters the cedar forest above Azrou where Barbary macaques move freely. Then Ifrane with its surprising Alpine architecture, then the descent into the Fes plain.

We arrive in Fes in the late afternoon and drop you at your riad. Write the address in Arabic before you arrive. The medina streets do not respond reliably to GPS and the entrance gates look similar from the outside.

A full day in Fes el-Bali with a licensed local guide. The medina is UNESCO-listed and one of the world’s most intact medieval urban environments. A local guide is not optional. The streets are genuinely navigable only with someone who knows them, and the most significant sites are easy to walk past without knowing they are there.

Your guide meets you at the riad after breakfast. Morning covers the Bou Inania Madrasa and its carved cedarwood, the tanner’s quarter, and the Chouara tanneries. The view from the surrounding terraces, looking down at the open stone vats where leather has been processed for 1,000 years, is one of the most consistently striking sights in Morocco. The afternoon covers the Nejjarine square, the copper and spice souks, and the Andalusian quarter across the river. The tour ends around 4:00 PM.

After breakfast we leave Fes and drive west into the Rif Mountains. The road climbs out of the flat Saiss plateau through cedar and pine forest before descending into the valley where Chefchaouen sits against the mountain face. The drive takes around three and a half hours.

We arrive in the early afternoon. The blue medina streets are quieter after the day-trip groups leave in the late afternoon. The main square has a restored kasbah and a row of cafe terraces. The Spanish Mosque hike above the town, 40 minutes each way on a rocky path, gives the best elevated view of the city against the Rif backdrop. Overnight in Chefchaouen.

After breakfast we descend from Chefchaouen through the Rif Mountains toward the Atlantic coast. The drive to Rabat takes around three hours. We arrive in Morocco’s capital in the early afternoon and cover the main sites before checking in.

The Hassan Tower stands in an open plaza beside the unfinished columns of what would have been the largest mosque of the medieval world. The project was abandoned when the sultan who commissioned it died and left exactly as it was. The Mausoleum of Mohammed V directly opposite is decorated with some of the finest contemporary Moroccan craftsmanship in the country. The Kasbah des Oudayas sits at the Atlantic headland where the Bou Regreg river meets the sea, its whitewashed walls and blue doors facing out toward the water.

Dinner and overnight in Rabat. The city in the evening, when the medina is lit and the oceanfront restaurants are open, is one of the better surprises this tour delivers to people who have heard Rabat dismissed as a transit city.

After breakfast in Rabat we take the coastal road south. The drive to Casablanca takes about one hour. We arrive mid-morning with time for the Hassan II Mosque and the Corniche before checking in to the hotel.

The Hassan II Mosque sits on a promontory over the Atlantic and is the largest functioning mosque in Africa. The minaret at 210 metres is the tallest religious structure in the world. The guided tour of the interior, including the main prayer hall with its retractable roof, takes about one hour and gives the building the context it needs. The construction employed 35,000 Moroccan craftsmen working for six years, and the detail in the tilework, carved plaster, and cedarwood is visible throughout.

After the mosque we drive to the Corniche, the seafront promenade in Ain Diab where Casablanca residents walk, eat seafood, and watch the Atlantic. It is a completely different face of the city from the medina and the business district. Two hours here at your own pace before checking into your hotel. Dinner in the city. Seven days of Morocco behind you. This is the right way to end it.

Breakfast at your Casablanca hotel. Day 8 is organised around your flight. Mohammed V Airport is around 40 minutes from the city centre by road. If your flight is in the afternoon you have a free morning. The old medina of Casablanca is a 10-minute walk from most central hotels and is smaller and far less pressured than either Marrakech or Fes. The Art Deco architecture of the Maarif district and the Notre-Dame de Lourdes church are both worth an hour if you have time.

Your driver transfers you to the airport at the time that works for your departure. Your 8 day Marrakech to Casablanca desert tour ends here, eight days after leaving the same country from the south.