7-Day Trip to the Imperial Cities of Morocco via the Sahara Desert

Experience Itinerary

1. 1

   Day 1 — Casablanca to Rabat

   • ›Your driver/guide meets you at Casablanca Mohammed V Airport.
   • ›If time allows, we visit the impressive Hassan II Mosque, the largest in Morocco with room for 25,000 worshippers and one of the largest in the world.
   • ›Then we drive about one hour along the Atlantic coast to Rabat, Morocco's coastal capital.
   • ›You stay in a boutique riad in the Kasbah of the Oudayas, with views over the ocean, the Bouregreg river and the city of Salé on the other bank.
2. 2

   Day 2 — Rabat to Chefchaouen

   • ›After breakfast we visit the pretty Kasbah of the Oudayas from the Almohad period, the Hispano-Moorish Andalusian Gardens and the Chellah necropolis (a Roman garden and olive grove later used as a royal cemetery).
   • ›We also see the Royal Palace, the half-built Hassan Tower (started in the late 12th century by Sultan Yacoub el-Mansour as the tallest minaret in the world) and the Mausoleum of Mohammed V.
   • ›We then drive north through the green Rif Mountains to the picturesque blue medina of Chefchaouen.
   • ›Free evening to walk the small old town and try Rif specialities, like the local goat cheese, in a small restaurant.
3. 3

   Day 3 — Chefchaouen to Fes

   • ›Free morning to explore the blue and white medina of Chefchaouen, set on two hills in the Rif (the name means 'look at the horns').
   • ›You can see the 18th-century kasbah and small museum, the 15th-century Grand Mosque and the lively Plaza Uta el-Hammam.
   • ›A local guide can be added on request.
   • ›In the afternoon we drive south through the Ketama region in the heart of the Rif Mountains, with lovely views and forest stops, until we reach Fes, the spiritual capital of Morocco, in the evening.
4. 4

   Day 4 — Full day in Fes

   • ›Full day private guided walking tour of the old medina, Fes el Bali, with an English-speaking city guide.
   • ›You walk through more than 9,000 cobbled lanes with mosques, Koranic schools, riads and hidden fountains.
   • ›You will see the pottery souk, the makers of musical instruments, the metal workers, the carpet souk and the colourful Chouwara tanneries.
   • ›The route also includes the shrine of Moulay Idriss, the ornamental Bab Bou Jeloud gate, the Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque and University (the oldest in the world), the Al-Attarine Madrasa, the Nejjarine fountain, the outside of the Royal Palace, the Dar Batha and Nejjarine museums of arts and crafts, and the Jewish mellah.
   • ›Lunch and dinner are not included today.
5. 5

   Day 5 — Fes to Merzouga via the Middle Atlas

   • ›We leave Fes after breakfast and drive south through the Middle Atlas Mountains.
   • ›First stop is Ifrane, a tidy mountain town that looks a bit like Switzerland, then the cedar forests of Azrou where the endangered Barbary apes live.
   • ›We pass Tizi n'Talghamt, drive through the rocky Ziz Gorge into the Tafilalt oases, and stop in Errachidia for lunch with a Berber family.
   • ›After Erfoud and Rissani we make panoramic stops over the Ziz Valley.
   • ›On arrival in Merzouga, a nomad welcome with mint tea, then a camel trek into the high orange dunes of Erg Chebbi.
   • ›We watch the sunset over the dunes and have dinner under the stars in a desert camp (proper Western bathrooms, hot showers and tents).
   • ›On request, Berber nomad musicians play drums around the fire.
6. 6

   Day 6 — Sunrise in the Sahara, Todra Gorge and Dades Valley

   • ›Very early wake-up to see the sunrise rise over the Erg Chebbi dunes — one of the best sunrises in Morocco.
   • ›We then ride the camels back to Merzouga village and have breakfast at the riad.
   • ›After this we drive west through Rissani and Erfoud (a region full of fossils) toward the Dades Valley along the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs.
   • ›Stop in Tinghir, the largest oasis here, and walk inside the Todra Gorge, the highest and narrowest in Morocco, with walls up to 300 m on each side of the road.
   • ›We end the day in the Dades Valley, with its strange rock shapes (the 'monkey toes'), red kasbahs and small Berber villages.
   • ›Dinner and overnight in a hotel.
7. 7

   Day 7 — Dades Valley to Marrakech via Ait Ben Haddou

   • ›After breakfast we drive on along the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs.
   • ›We stop in Kalaat M'Gouna, the 'rose city', famous for its annual rose festival, where you can buy rosewater and other natural cosmetics.
   • ›We continue to Skoura and the Valley of the Birds with its mud-brick kasbahs, including the well-preserved Kasbah Ameridil.
   • ›Short walk in the oasis and lunch in a restaurant overlooking the valley.
   • ›We then drive to Ouarzazate, often called the Hollywood of Africa, and to the UNESCO kasbah of Ait Ben Haddou with its great view over the palm groves.
   • ›The road north climbs over the High Atlas via the Tizi n'Tichka pass, with a possible stop at the old kasbah of Telouet from the 17th century.
   • ›Arrival in Marrakech in the afternoon, with time to walk on the Jemaa el-Fnaa square and have a drink on a rooftop.
   • ›Overnight in a riad.

Know Before You Go