Grand Morocco tour · From Casablanca
Nineteen days, two deserts, three mountain ranges and every imperial city.
About this tour
This is the most complete tour we offer. In nineteen days it visits every region of Morocco on the usual routes and several that most visitors never reach: the Drâa Valley and the desert town of Zagora, the saffron country of the Anti-Atlas and the walled city of Taroudant.
The first week takes you through the north, from Casablanca and Rabat to Tangier, Chefchaouen and Fes. The second is given to the south: Merzouga and Erg Chebbi, the gorges, Ouarzazate and the long palm grove of the Drâa.
The final days swing west to the Atlantic at Essaouira and finish with three nights in Marrakech, including a day in the High Atlas. Two-night stays are spread through the trip so that travel days and rest days alternate.
Best for: Travellers on a long holiday or sabbatical who want to see all of Morocco in one unhurried journey.
Casablanca airport · city · About 1 hour of driving
We welcome you at Mohammed V airport and take you to your hotel. Casablanca is a working city rather than a museum, and a short drive shows you its two faces: the white 1930s centre and the modern seafront.
If you land in the morning, visit the Hassan II Mosque this afternoon and free up time tomorrow. Dinner is at your leisure.
Casablanca · Hassan II Mosque · Rabat · About 1.5 hours of driving
Tour the Hassan II Mosque with one of its official guides, then leave for Rabat. The capital has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2012 for the way its medieval monuments and 20th-century avenues fit together.
Visit the Hassan Tower and the mausoleum, the Chellah and the Kasbah of the Udayas. If you have energy left, the Mohammed VI Museum shows a century of Moroccan painting.
Rabat · Asilah · Cap Spartel · Tangier · About 3.5 hours of driving
Drive north past the lagoon of Moulay Bousselham to Asilah. Its ramparts were built by the Portuguese, and its lanes are an open-air gallery.
At Cap Spartel, stand where the ocean and the sea meet, then enter Tangier. The city has drawn painters and writers for two centuries, from Delacroix and Matisse to Paul Bowles, and the light that attracted them is unchanged.
Tangier · Kasbah · Tetouan · Chefchaouen · About 3 hours of driving
Take the morning to see Tangier properly: the kasbah, the Grand Socco and the view of the Strait from the Phoenician tombs cut into the cliff. Then drive to Tetouan and walk through its medina to the palace square.
The mountain road reaches Chefchaouen in the late afternoon. Unpack for two nights.
Chefchaouen · No driving
The blue town rewards those who stay. Explore the Andalusian quarter and the kasbah, drink fresh orange juice at the waterfall, and browse the weavers' shops, where blankets are still made on hand looms.
There is no driving today unless you choose a walk in the hills. In the evening, the terrace restaurants above the square serve goat tagine and mountain honey.
Chefchaouen · Volubilis · Meknes · Fes · About 4.5 hours of driving
Travel south to the Roman site of Volubilis and spend an hour or more among its temples, arches and mosaics. Meknes follows, with its triple walls and its gate of green and white tile.
By evening you are in Fes. Tomorrow you will explore it on foot; tonight, the view from your riad's terrace is introduction enough.
Fes el-Bali · Fes el-Jdid · Borj Nord · Walking tour
Spend the day in the medina with a guide. See the Blue Gate, the madrasas, the shrine of Moulay Idriss II, the Al Quaraouiyine and the tanneries, and walk the Talaa Seghira back uphill past shops selling musical instruments, slippers and spices.
In the afternoon, visit the Batha quarter or the arms museum in Borj Nord, and watch the sunset from the Marinid Tombs.
Fes · Ifrane · Azrou · Midelt · Ziz Valley · Erfoud · Merzouga · Erg Chebbi · About 7 hours of driving
The longest drive of the tour takes you from the green north to the edge of the Sahara. Break it in Ifrane, in the cedar forest and in Midelt, and stop at the viewpoints over the Ziz Valley.
Arrive in Merzouga in time for the camel trek. The ride to camp takes about an hour and a half, and the last light on the dunes is worth every kilometre of the journey.
Erg Chebbi · Khamlia · nomad camps · Rissani · Merzouga · About 2.5 hours of driving, partly off-road
See the sunrise, have breakfast and spend the day discovering the desert by 4x4: the nomads, the musicians of Khamlia and the market of Rissani, once the last stop of the caravans from the south.
Return to a hotel at the dunes for the afternoon. Many guests climb the great dune behind Merzouga at sunset; it takes about forty-five minutes and the view reaches into Algeria.
Merzouga · Erfoud · Tinghir · Todra Gorge · Dades Valley · About 5 hours of driving
Leave the dunes for the mountains. Cross the plain to Tinghir, walk in the Todra Gorge and continue to the Dades.
The valley is at its most beautiful in the last hour of daylight, when the kasbahs and the cliffs turn the same deep red. Dinner and the night are at a hotel in the gorge.
Dades Valley · Kalaat M'Gouna · Skoura · Ouarzazate · Aït Benhaddou · Ouarzazate · About 3.5 hours of driving
Drive through the Valley of Roses and stop in Skoura to visit a kasbah. After lunch in Ouarzazate, go on to Aït Benhaddou and explore the ksar in the late afternoon, when the day visitors from Marrakech have left.
Return to Ouarzazate for the night. The town is quiet, the air is dry and clear, and the Atlas rises to the north like a wall.
Ouarzazate · Tizi n'Tinififft · Agdz · Tamnougalt · Drâa Valley · Zagora · Tamegroute · About 3.5 hours of driving
South of Ouarzazate the road climbs over the Tizi n'Tinififft, a pass through bare black rock, and drops to Agdz. From here the Drâa Valley runs for a hundred kilometres: a ribbon of date palms lined with earthen villages. Stop at the old kasbah of Tamnougalt.
In Zagora, see the famous sign reading 'Timbuktu, 52 days' by camel. Just beyond, Tamegroute has a library of ancient manuscripts and potters who make a distinctive green glaze.
Zagora · Agdz · Tazenakht · Taliouine · Taroudant · About 6.5 hours of driving
A long but rewarding day on quiet roads. Return up the Drâa to Agdz and turn west across the Anti-Atlas, a range of ancient, weathered mountains. Tazenakht is a centre of carpet weaving; Taliouine grows most of Morocco's saffron.
Descend into the Souss Valley, among argan trees and orange groves, and reach Taroudant before sunset, when its ramparts are at their most golden.
Taroudant · Agadir · Taghazout · Essaouira · About 4.5 hours of driving
Walk through Taroudant's souks in the morning; they are known for silver jewellery and for objects carved from soft local stone. Then drive to Agadir and look over its wide bay from the hilltop kasbah.
The coast road north passes surf beaches and argan forest. Essaouira is reached in the late afternoon, in time for the sunset from the ramparts.
Essaouira · No driving
After two weeks on the move, enjoy a day in one place. See the Skala and the harbour, visit the galleries of local painters and listen for Gnawa music in the lanes.
The beach stretches for kilometres to the south. Lunch at the fish grills by the port is a ritual, and the afternoon wind brings out the kites and sails.
Essaouira · argan forest · Marrakech · About 3 hours of driving
Leave the coast after breakfast. A stop at an argan cooperative breaks the drive, and you are in Marrakech by early afternoon.
Check in for three nights and take a first walk to Jemaa el-Fna. The contrast with Essaouira could not be greater: Marrakech is all colour, noise and movement.
Marrakech medina · palaces · gardens · Walking tour
Explore the city with a local guide: the Bahia Palace, the Saadian Tombs, the Koutoubia and the Ben Youssef Madrasa, with the souks in between.
The Majorelle Garden and the Yves Saint Laurent Museum are a short taxi ride away and make a calm end to the afternoon. Tickets must be booked online.
Marrakech · Ourika Valley · Setti Fatma · Marrakech · About 2.5 hours of driving
An easy day in the foothills of the Atlas. The Ourika Valley begins forty minutes from Marrakech and follows a river lined with gardens, potteries and cafés whose tables stand in the water in summer.
At Setti Fatma, a local guide leads the short climb to the first waterfall. Have lunch by the river and return to the city in the afternoon, with time for last purchases in the souks.
Marrakech · Casablanca airport · About 3 hours of driving
The circle closes. Drive north to Casablanca by motorway and arrive at Mohammed V airport in good time for your flight.
If you prefer, the tour can end in Marrakech with a transfer to Menara airport. Either way, your driver-guide will be sorry to see you go.
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.
