14 Day Morocco Tour from Casablanca

We meet you at Mohammed V Airport on arrival. If you land in the morning or early afternoon and have the energy for it, a visit to the Hassan II Mosque is possible before transfer to your hotel. The guided interior tour takes about one hour. Whether this stop is included depends on your arrival time and condition after the flight. We always leave it as an option rather than a commitment. If you prefer to save the mosque for Day 13, when Casablanca is on the itinerary again, that is equally the right choice. Overnight in Casablanca.

After breakfast we drive southwest from Casablanca along the Atlantic coast road through Safi and the argan forest. We arrive in Essaouira in the early afternoon. A licensed local guide meets you at the riad after check-in. The guided tour covers the ocean-facing ramparts and the Skala de la Ville, where Portuguese-era bronze cannons still point seaward. The tour continues through the woodworking cooperatives where thuya root is turned on hand lathes, the spice market, the main square Place Moulay Hassan, and the harbour entrance. The guide takes around two hours. The evening in Essaouira is yours.

The morning in Essaouira is yours. The beach south of the medina stretches for kilometres and the harbour fish market is most active before 9 AM. If you want to walk the ramparts from the ocean side, the early morning before the day visitors arrive from Marrakech is the right time. We depart for Marrakech in the early to mid afternoon. The drive follows the road inland through the argan plain and the foothills of the western High Atlas, arriving in Marrakech in the late afternoon. Tomorrow is the full guided day. The evening is yours. The Djemaa el-Fna square is most alive after dark.

A full day in Marrakech medina with a licensed local guide. Your guide meets you at the riad after breakfast. The morning covers Djemaa el-Fna and the Koutoubia Mosque, the Saadian Tombs, and the Bahia Palace. The afternoon moves through the copper and spice souks, and the Mellah, Marrakech’s old Jewish quarter. The guided tour ends around 4:00 PM.

The Majorelle Garden and the YSL Museum are a short taxi ride from the medina. Both require advance online booking and sell out regularly during spring and autumn. Book before you travel. They fit naturally into the afternoon after the guide ends, or into the evening. Your riad staff can advise on timing for the current season.

After breakfast we leave Marrakech and climb into the High Atlas via the Tizi n’Tichka Pass at 2,260 metres. The road switchbacks up through the northern face of the range with the city below and the pre-Saharan landscapes appearing on the southern descent. We arrive at Ait Ben Haddou in late morning. The UNESCO-listed ksar whose earthen towers rise above the Ounila River has appeared in Gladiator, Game of Thrones, and Babel. We allow 90 minutes to walk from the river crossing at the base to the granary at the summit.

We continue to Ouarzazate and stop at Kasbah Taourirt, the former administrative centre of the Glaoui clan. The Atlas Studios are nearby. An optional 30-minute visit at 8 euros per person covers the outdoor sets used in Gladiator, Game of Thrones, and other productions. Worth doing if film production and location history interest you. We overnight in Ouarzazate.

After breakfast we head east from Ouarzazate. Our first stop is the Skoura palm grove and the Amridil Kasbah, a 17th-century earthen fortress that stands in the palm oasis east of the village. Amridil is one of the best-preserved kasbahs in the pre-Saharan south and is still partially inhabited. The surrounding palm grove frames the approach on all sides. We allow about 45 minutes here.

We continue east through the M’goun Valley, where Damascus roses are cultivated for the cosmetics and rose water industry. If you want to stop at one of the roadside cooperatives, a 20-minute visit gives a direct look at how the roses are processed on-site. In April and May the valley is in bloom and the distilleries are running at full capacity.

From the valley we turn north into the upper Dades toward Boutaghrar. This small settlement above the gorge is where a number of nomad families maintain traditional cave dwellings cut into the rock face. These are genuinely inhabited homes. We spend about 45 minutes with one or two families: mint tea, a conversation through our driver-guide, and an understanding of a way of life that has almost no equivalent anywhere else on this circuit. No photography inside the dwellings without asking first. We descend into the Dades Valley and check in to the hotel. The monkey finger formations are visible above the hotel cluster on the approach. The zigzag road viewpoint above the gorge is a 15-minute walk from the hotel cluster for the valley panorama before dinner. Dinner and overnight.

After breakfast we head east. Our first stop is Todra Gorge, about one hour from the Dades Valley hotels. The canyon at its tightest section is 10 metres wide and the walls rise 300 metres on either side with the river running along the floor year-round. We walk the tightest section before continuing east through Tinghir and the pre-Saharan corridor toward Merzouga. We arrive at the desert camp in the late afternoon in time for the sunset camel trek. The ride into the Erg Chebbi dunes takes about an hour each way at the unhurried pace of the camels. Dinner at the camp under open sky, Gnawa music by firelight, overnight in a private tent with en-suite bathroom.

The light outside the tent changes before sunrise. Step outside and find a spot near the camp to watch the sky above the Erg Chebbi dunes turn from dark to gold. The sand is still cold at this hour. Breakfast at the camp, then a transfer to the Merzouga hotel to drop bags and collect the 4×4.

The exploration starts mid-morning. Our first stop is Khamlia, a village founded by communities who arrived here from West Africa along the pre-colonial trans-Saharan trade routes. The community plays Gnawa music as a living tradition and we arrange a private session in a family compound. The guembri bass and the metallic krakebs are played here as daily practice rather than a visitor performance. From Khamlia we visit a nomad family encampment beyond the paved roads east of Merzouga. Mint tea, a conversation about the seasonal migration, and the silence of the flat desert beyond the dunes. The M’ifis salt flats are our next stop, crystalline pans that catch the light in unexpected ways. Behind the flats, when the season and rainfall allow, a shallow lake draws flamingos down from the Atlas wetlands. We check conditions before departure and adjust the circuit if needed. We return to the hotel by mid-afternoon.

After breakfast we drive north from Merzouga. The route builds the landscape upward in sequence: open hammada gives way to the Ziz Valley date palm oasis, then the Middle Atlas mountains rise ahead. We stop at the Ziz Valley viewpoint where the road rises above the valley floor, then continue through Erfoud and Midelt for lunch. After Midelt we climb into the cedar forest above Azrou, where Barbary macaques move freely through the trees and around stopped vehicles. We continue through Ifrane before the final stretch to Fes. We arrive in the late afternoon and check in to the riad. The evening is yours. Tomorrow is the full guided day in the medina.

A full day in Fes el-Bali with a licensed local guide. The medina is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most intact medieval cities in the world. Your guide meets you at the riad after breakfast. The tour covers the Bou Inania Madrasa and its carved cedarwood and zellige tilework, the Chouara tanneries from the correct viewing terrace where leather has been processed using the same methods for over 1,000 years, the spice and copper souks, Nejjarine square, and the Andalusian quarter across the river. The guided tour ends around 4:00 PM.

Two nights in Fes means the evening after the guide has no departure pressure. The medina restaurants around Bab Bou Jeloud have the most choice and your guide will have pointed you toward the best options during the tour. The evening is entirely yours.

After breakfast we leave Fes and drive northwest toward the Rif Mountains. The route passes through the Saiss plateau before the road begins climbing into the mountain range. We arrive in Chefchaouen around midday, giving you a full afternoon and evening in the blue medina.

The blue medina sits in a valley against the mountain face. The colour runs everywhere: tiled steps, painted walls, doorways, and the narrow streets between them. The afternoon is yours to explore at your own pace. Most day-trip visitors from Fes leave in the late afternoon, and the medina after that is considerably quieter and more personal. The Spanish Mosque hike above the town, 30 to 40 minutes each way on a rocky path, gives the best elevated view of the city against the Rif backdrop. The late afternoon is the right time for it when the light falls from the west onto the medina below.

After breakfast we have time in Chefchaouen before departing. The medina in the morning before the day-trip visitors arrive is worth one last hour of walking. We then drive southwest from Chefchaouen, descending through the Rif Mountains toward the Atlantic plain. We arrive in Rabat in the early to mid afternoon. The afternoon covers three sites. The Hassan Tower and the columns of the unfinished mosque below it. The Mausoleum of Mohammed V directly opposite, with its contemporary Moroccan craftwork in carved plaster and zellige. The Kasbah des Oudayas at the headland, its Andalusian garden inside the ramparts open to the sea. Overnight in Rabat.

After breakfast we drive south from Rabat to Casablanca, about 90 minutes. If you visited the Hassan II Mosque on Day 1, the morning is free in Rabat before departure. If you did not visit it on Day 1, Day 13 is the day for it. The mosque interior guided tour takes about one hour. Dress modestly: no sleeveless tops, no shorts. We arrive in Casablanca in the afternoon and transfer to your final hotel. Overnight in Casablanca.

Day 14 is organised around your departure flight from Mohammed V Airport. The drive from central Casablanca takes about 40 minutes without traffic. We time the transfer to give you enough buffer for check-in and security. If your flight is late in the afternoon or evening, the morning of Day 14 is yours in Casablanca. We confirm the exact pick-up time the evening before based on your flight details.