Grand Morocco tour · From Tangier
The north, the Sahara and the south at a comfortable pace, ending in Marrakech.
About this tour
This ten-day journey runs the length of Morocco from the Mediterranean to the foot of the High Atlas. It keeps driving days moderate and gives the desert the time it deserves: two nights at Merzouga, one in a camp among the dunes and one in a hotel beside them.
You begin in Tangier, spend a night in blue Chefchaouen and reach Fes by way of the Roman city of Volubilis. After a guided day in the medina, cross the Middle Atlas to Erg Chebbi for a camel trek, a night under the stars and a day meeting the people who live around the dunes.
The second half of the trip follows the Todra Gorge, the Dades Valley and Aït Benhaddou to Marrakech, where two nights and a guided visit bring the tour to a close.
Best for: First-time visitors arriving in the north who want the desert without rushing, and a flight home from Marrakech.
Tangier · Grand Socco · Kasbah · Cap Spartel · About 1 hour of driving
Welcome to Morocco. From the ferry or the airport we take you to your hotel, then out to see the city. The Grand Socco, a busy square beneath the minaret of Sidi Bou Abib, is the hinge between the new town and the medina; from there, lanes climb to the kasbah and its wide view of the Strait.
If time allows, drive to Cap Spartel for the sunset. On a clear evening the coast of Spain, only 14 kilometres away at the narrowest point, is easy to see.
Tangier · Tetouan · Chefchaouen · About 2.5 hours of driving
Drive along the edge of the Rif to Tetouan, pausing for a walk through its white Andalusian medina, then on through hills of olive and pine to Chefchaouen. The town was closed to foreigners for centuries, and its old quarter has kept a village calm.
The afternoon is free to lose yourself in the lanes. Every corner is painted a different blue, from pale sky to deep indigo, and cats sleep on every step. Have dinner on the main square beneath the walls of the kasbah.
Chefchaouen · Volubilis · Meknes · Fes · About 4.5 hours of driving
Take an early walk while the shopkeepers are still sweeping their doorsteps, then head south. By midday you are among the columns of Volubilis, the furthest city of the Roman Empire in Africa, set in a plain of wheat and olives below the holy town of Moulay Idriss.
In Meknes, see the gate of Bab Mansour, faced with green tiles and marble columns taken from Volubilis itself, and the reservoir and granaries of the royal city. Fes is an hour further on.
Fes el-Bali · Royal Palace · Mellah · Borj Sud · Walking tour
Your guide for the day was born in these lanes. Follow him from the palace gates and the Jewish quarter into the old city, where donkeys are still the delivery vans. You will visit a madrasa of carved plaster and cedar, pass the doors of the world's oldest university and look down on the tanners at Chouara.
Along the way there are bakers, dyers, brass workers and a fondouk where merchants once lodged with their animals. The evening is free: ask your riad to prepare a Fassi dinner, or try pastilla in a restaurant in the medina.
Fes · Ifrane · Azrou · Midelt · Errachidia · Erfoud · Merzouga · Erg Chebbi · About 7 hours of driving
The road south is a lesson in geography. Oak and cedar forest gives way to volcanic plateau, then to the bare ridges around Midelt, and finally to the Ziz Gorges and a hundred kilometres of date palms. Stops along the way include Ifrane, the macaques of Azrou and the viewpoint over the oasis at Aoufous.
At Merzouga the tarmac ends. Camels carry you into the dunes as the shadows lengthen, and you spend the night in a camp of furnished tents with dinner, a campfire and a sky thick with stars.
Erg Chebbi · Hassi Labied · Khamlia · M'ifis · nomad camps · Merzouga · About 2 hours of off-road driving
See the sun rise from the dunes, have breakfast and ride back to the village. Today you circle Erg Chebbi by 4x4. Stop in the palm gardens of Hassi Labied, in Khamlia for the Gnawa musicians and at the old lead mines of M'ifis, from where the dunes stretch along the horizon.
Drink tea with a nomad family who still move with their herds, and try medfouna, the stuffed bread of the desert, for lunch. Tonight you sleep in a hotel at the edge of the sand, with time for a swim or a last climb to watch the sunset.
Merzouga · Rissani · Tinejdad · Tinghir · Todra Gorge · Dades Valley · About 5 hours of driving
Leave the dunes and stop in Rissani, where a monumental gate leads to the market and the ruins of ancient Sijilmassa lie just outside town. The road west crosses a wide gravel plain dotted with acacia to the oasis towns of Tinejdad and Tinghir.
At the Todra Gorge, walk beside the river beneath cliffs 300 metres high. The day ends in the Dades Valley, where you drive up past villages of red earth to the gorge and its coil of hairpin bends.
Dades Valley · Kalaat M'Gouna · Skoura · Ouarzazate · Aït Benhaddou · Tizi n'Tichka · Marrakech · About 6.5 hours of driving
Drive west beside the Dades and M'Goun rivers, through the rose town of Kalaat M'Gouna and the palm grove of Skoura, to Ouarzazate. At Aït Benhaddou, cross the stepping stones and climb between the earthen towers to the top of the hill for a view of the valley.
The road over the High Atlas takes the rest of the afternoon, with tea at the summit of the Tizi n'Tichka. You reach Marrakech as the lights come on in the medina.
Marrakech medina · gardens · Walking tour
A relaxed day in the city. In the morning your guide shows you the Bahia Palace, the Saadian Tombs and the Ben Youssef Madrasa, and leads you through the souks of the dyers, the lantern makers and the leather workers.
After lunch, choose between the Majorelle Garden, the quieter Jardin Secret inside the medina, or an hour in a hammam. At sunset, find a terrace above Jemaa el-Fna and watch the square come to life below.
Marrakech · Menara airport · About 15 minutes of driving
Enjoy a last breakfast on the terrace of your riad. Depending on your flight, there may be time for a final walk in the souks or a visit to the Menara Gardens, where a pavilion is reflected in a pool against the backdrop of the Atlas.
Your driver takes you to Menara airport, fifteen minutes from the medina. If you would like to continue to Essaouira or stay longer in Marrakech, we are happy to arrange it.
Every tent is private. Pick the comfort level that suits you; tell us your choice when you book.
Private tents with their own en-suite bathroom, offering a good balance between comfort and the authentic feel of a Berber camp.
Spacious, elegantly furnished tents equipped with air conditioning and heating, so you stay cool on summer nights and warm in winter. Ideal for couples and families.
Absolutely. Every tour is private, so you can add or remove nights, change the camp style, combine routes or start on a different date. Tell us what you have in mind and we will adapt the plan and price.
A private, air-conditioned minivan or 4x4, depending on group size. Our vehicles are under five years old, regularly inspected and insured for tourist transport.
Yes, families travel with us often. Children love the camel ride and the camp. For young children we usually recommend a longer version of the route, with shorter driving days.
Comfortable clothes, a warm layer for the evenings, a hat or scarf, sunglasses, sun cream and closed shoes. For the desert night, a small backpack is enough; your main luggage stays safely in the vehicle.
Both camps have private tents with en-suite bathrooms, hot showers and comfortable bedding. The mid-range luxury camp offers a good balance between comfort and authenticity. The luxury camp adds air conditioning and heating in every tent, plus more spacious, elegantly furnished tents, so you stay comfortable on hot summer nights and cold winter ones.
Before you go
The cities, valleys and landscapes we recommend for a first trip to Morocco.
Where the dunes are, the best season to visit and what a night in Erg Chebbi is really like.
When to go, how long to stay, how to get around and how to build a route that fits your time.
Related tours
The fastest way from the Strait of Gibraltar to Marrakech by way of the Sahara: Chefchaouen, a night in Fes, a camel ride and camp in Erg Chebbi, the gorges and Aït Benhaddou.
North to south in nine days: Tangier, Tetouan and Chefchaouen, Volubilis and a guided day in Fes, a night in the Merzouga dunes, the kasbah road to Marrakech and a finish in Casablanca.
Sixteen days from the Strait of Gibraltar to Marrakech and the Atlantic: Tangier and Asilah, two nights in Chefchaouen, Rabat and Casablanca, Fes, two nights at the Merzouga dunes, Ouarzazate, Marrakech and Essaouira.
A one-way crossing that turns a long transfer into an adventure: kasbahs, the Dades and Todra gorges, a camel ride into Erg Chebbi, then cedar forests on the road to Fes.
