Grand Morocco tour · From Casablanca
A two-week circuit of the whole country, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Sahara.
About this tour
Two weeks lets you add what shorter tours must leave out. This route includes Tangier and the Mediterranean north, an extra night on the kasbah road at Ouarzazate, and Essaouira on the Atlantic, while keeping two nights each in Chefchaouen, Fes, Merzouga and Marrakech.
From Casablanca you travel north through Rabat to Tangier, east to Tetouan and Chefchaouen, and south to Fes. The desert comes in the middle of the trip: a camel trek into Erg Chebbi, a night in camp and a day among the nomads and musicians of the Merzouga region.
The journey west is taken in three easy stages, through the Dades Valley, Ouarzazate and the High Atlas to Marrakech. It ends with a night by the sea and a drive up the coast to Casablanca.
Best for: Travellers with two weeks who want the north coast and the Atlantic as well as the classic cities and the desert.
Casablanca airport · Hassan II Mosque · city centre · About 1 hour of driving
Welcome to Morocco. Your driver-guide takes you from the airport to your hotel, with a stop at the Hassan II Mosque if you arrive in time. Even from outside, its scale is remarkable: the esplanade alone holds eighty thousand people.
In the centre, the streets around the Central Market and Boulevard Mohammed V are lined with white Art Deco buildings from the 1930s, some beautifully restored. Dinner is at your leisure.
Casablanca · Rabat · Asilah · Tangier · About 4 hours of driving
Drive to Rabat for the morning: the Hassan Tower, the royal mausoleum and the Kasbah of the Udayas, where the main street ends at a terrace above the ocean.
Follow the coast north, with a stop to stretch your legs on the ramparts of Asilah, and arrive in Tangier in the late afternoon. From your hotel it is a short walk to the Grand Socco and the gates of the medina.
Tangier · Cap Spartel · Caves of Hercules · Tetouan · Chefchaouen · About 3.5 hours of driving
Before leaving Tangier, drive out to Cap Spartel and the Caves of Hercules, and walk through the kasbah to the viewpoint over the port. Then take the road east to Tetouan.
Tetouan's medina is compact and almost untouched by tourism. See the royal square and the lanes behind it, then climb into the Rif to Chefchaouen, where you settle in for two nights.
Chefchaouen · No driving
A day without a timetable. Walk the medina in the early morning, when the light is clear and the streets are empty. Visit the small ethnographic museum in the kasbah and climb its tower.
Shop for the things the Rif is known for: striped cotton cloth, wool jellabas, goat's cheese and honey. Towards sunset, follow the path beyond the spring to the old mosque on the hill.
Chefchaouen · Ouezzane · Volubilis · Meknes · Fes · About 4.5 hours of driving
Drive out of the mountains and across the hills of the pre-Rif to Volubilis. Walk along its main avenue to the triumphal arch and look into the houses, each named after the mosaic found there.
A stop in Meknes shows you the grand designs of Moulay Ismail, a sultan who ruled for fifty-five years. Fes, the city he abandoned in favour of Meknes, is reached by evening.
Fes el-Bali · Fes el-Jdid · Borj Sud · Walking tour
Your guide meets you after breakfast. Begin above the city at Borj Sud, visit the palace gates and the Mellah, then enter the medina. The day's highlights are the Bou Inania and Attarine madrasas, the tanneries and the craftsmen's squares.
There is no fixed route in Fes: your guide follows your interests, whether that is architecture, food, photography or shopping for ceramics and leather.
Fes · Ifrane · Azrou · Midelt · Ziz Valley · Erfoud · Merzouga · Erg Chebbi · About 7 hours of driving
Leave the city for the mountains. Ifrane and the cedar forest come first, then the plateau, then Midelt for lunch. South of the Tizi n'Talghemt, the 'pass of the she-camel', the country turns to desert.
Follow the palms of the Ziz to Erfoud and the dunes to Merzouga. A camel ride of about an hour and a half brings you to camp in time to watch the sun set over the sand.
Erg Chebbi · Rissani · Khamlia · nomad camps · Merzouga · About 2.5 hours of driving, partly off-road
Climb a dune for the sunrise, then head out by 4x4. In Rissani, see the covered market and the animal souk; in Khamlia, hear the drums and castanets of the Gnawa; on the plain, meet a family whose tent of woven goat hair is their home all year.
The afternoon is free. Your hotel has a terrace facing the dunes, and it is a short walk to the first crest if you want the sunset to yourself.
Merzouga · Erfoud · Tinghir · Todra Gorge · Dades Gorge · About 5 hours of driving
Drive west beneath the southern wall of the High Atlas. Stop in Erfoud to see fossils being cut from the stone, and in Tinghir to walk through the gardens under the palms with a local guide.
The Todra Gorge follows, and then the Dades Valley. Drive up through the gorge as far as the hairpin bends and stay in a hotel overlooking the river.
Dades Valley · Kalaat M'Gouna · Skoura · Ouarzazate · About 2.5 hours of driving
A gentle day along the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs. Visit a rosewater distillery in Kalaat M'Gouna and Kasbah Amridil in the palm grove of Skoura, pictured on the old fifty-dirham note.
Arrive in Ouarzazate in time to tour a film studio or the Taourirt Kasbah, or to rest by the hotel pool with the Atlas on the horizon.
Ouarzazate · Aït Benhaddou · Ounila Valley · Telouet · Tizi n'Tichka · Marrakech · About 5 hours of driving
Start with Aït Benhaddou in the calm of the morning, then follow the Ounila river upstream through villages rarely seen from the main road. At Telouet, a caretaker opens the reception rooms of the Glaoui kasbah, lined with cedar, stucco and tile.
Cross the Tizi n'Tichka and descend to Marrakech for two nights.
Marrakech medina · gardens · Walking tour
Spend the morning with a guide in the medina: the Koutoubia, the Bahia Palace, the Saadian Tombs and the souks. Marrakech is a city of gardens too, and the afternoon is a good time for the Majorelle or the Jardin Secret.
As the sun goes down, the square of Jemaa el-Fna becomes a fairground. Wander among the musicians and the food stalls, or watch from above with a glass of tea.
Marrakech · argan forest · Essaouira · About 3 hours of driving
Cross the plain to the coast. The argan trees begin about an hour before Essaouira, and a cooperative on the road explains how the oil is made.
Essaouira was laid out in the 18th century as a trading port, and its grid of streets makes it the easiest medina in Morocco to explore. See the ramparts, the harbour and the woodworkers' shops, and watch the sun set into the sea from the Skala.
Essaouira · Safi · Oualidia · El Jadida · Casablanca · About 6 hours of driving
The last day follows the ocean north. Pass the pottery town of Safi and stop at the lagoon of Oualidia, where oyster beds lie in sheltered water behind a line of surf.
El Jadida, once the Portuguese fortress of Mazagan, is worth a walk around its sea walls and a visit to the vaulted cistern. Continue to Casablanca, where the tour ends at your hotel or the airport.
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
What makes each of the four royal capitals different, and how to link them in one journey.
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
Morocco's essentials in under a week: Roman Volubilis and Meknes, a guided day in the Fes medina, two nights in the Sahara, then the gorges and kasbahs on the road to Marrakech.
An imperial-cities journey with no long desert drives: Rabat, Meknes and Volubilis, guided days in Fes and Marrakech, and the cedar forests of the Middle Atlas in between.
Imperial cities and two nights at the dunes in eight days: Casablanca, Rabat and Meknes, a guided day in Fes, Merzouga with a camel trek and a 4x4 day, the Dades Valley and guided Marrakech.
The classic first trip in nine days, with pick-up at Casablanca airport or your accommodation: Rabat, blue Chefchaouen, Volubilis and guided Fes, a night in the Merzouga dunes, the Dades Valley and two nights in Marrakech.
