Morocco in Depth: Blue Town, Sahara, Atlas and Coast

1. Day 1: Arrive in Tangier, on to Chefchaouen

   Tangier airport to Chefchaouen, about 2 hours (125 km)

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Chefchaouen
   Day 1 details

   We meet you at Tangier Ibn Battouta Airport (TNG) and drive south into the green Rif Mountains, about 2 hours and 125 km, to Chefchaouen, the town known around the world for its blue-washed lanes. It was founded in 1471 as a small mountain fortress, and for centuries few outsiders came here. Your guide settles you into your riad inside the medina, a traditional house built around a courtyard. If your flight lands in time, walk up with your guide to the Spanish Mosque, about 30 minutes uphill on a dirt path, and watch the sun set over the whole town and valley. Tonight the group meets over a welcome dinner. With two nights here, there is no early start tomorrow.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Tangier Ibn Battouta Airport (TNG)
   • Sunset walk to the Spanish Mosque
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Evening free after dinner

   Activity: Uphill walk of about 30 minutes each way to the Spanish Mosque

   

2. Day 2: Chefchaouen at first light

   A slow day in the blue medina

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Chefchaouen
   Day 2 details

   If you like taking photographs, set an alarm: the outer lanes of the medina are almost empty at first light, before shopkeepers hang out their rugs and the day visitors arrive from Fes and Tangier. Your guide leads an early walk through the bluest alleys, then it is back for breakfast. Mid-morning you visit Plaza Uta el-Hammam, the main square, the red-walled kasbah with its garden and small museum, and the octagonal minaret of the Grand Mosque, then walk down to the Ras el-Maa spring, where some families still wash clothes in the stream. The afternoon is free, with nothing on the schedule and nowhere you have to be. Walkers can instead take an optional half-day trip to the Akchour waterfalls, about 45 minutes away by road.

   Included

   • Early guided walk in the medina at first light
   • Kasbah of Chefchaouen
   • Plaza Uta el-Hammam and the Ras el-Maa spring

   Optional experiences

   • Half-day trip to the Akchour waterfalls

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: Lanes are steep and stepped throughout the medina

   

3. Day 3: Chefchaouen to Fes, by way of Volubilis

   About 4.5 hours of driving (260 km), split at Volubilis

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Fes
   Day 3 details

   Today's drive is split in two. About 3 hours south through the olive and wheat country around Ouezzane brings you to Volubilis, the best-preserved Roman city in Morocco and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. A local guide walks you past the basilica, the capitol and the Arch of Caracalla, put up in 217, and into houses whose floor mosaics, such as the Labours of Hercules, still lie where they were laid. Across the valley you can see Moulay Idriss Zerhoun, the white hilltop town that is one of the holiest places in Morocco. Then about 1 hour and 15 minutes brings you on to Fes, where you check in to a riad in the old city for two nights. The evening is yours.

   Included

   • Guided visit to Volubilis with a local guide
   • Transfer to your riad in Fes

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot at Volubilis, on uneven stone and with little shade

   

4. Day 4: Fes el-Bali, the old medina

   A guided morning, free time, then a cooking class

   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Fes
   Day 4 details

   Fes el-Bali, the old medina, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the largest car-free urban areas in the world, a maze of thousands of lanes where donkeys still carry the goods. A licensed local guide takes you in through Bab Bou Jeloud, the blue-tiled gate, to the Bou Inania and Al-Attarine madrasas, with their carved cedar and zellige tilework from the 1300s, and past the University of al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859. Mid-morning, when sun reaches the dye pits, you look down on the Chouara tannery from the terraces above it. Those terraces sit inside leather shops; you look, and nobody has to buy. After lunch you have at least 2 free hours in the medina. Before dinner the van takes anyone who wants it up to the Merenid Tombs for sunset over the old city, then you cook and eat a Moroccan dinner at a cooking class.

   Included

   • Guided walk of Fes el-Bali with a licensed local guide
   • Bou Inania and Al-Attarine madrasas
   • Chouara tannery viewing terraces
   • Sunset at the Merenid Tombs
   • Moroccan cooking class with dinner

   Free time: At least 2 free hours in the medina after lunch

   Activity: About 4 hours on foot in the morning, on slopes and steps

   

5. Day 5: Fes to Midelt over the Middle Atlas

   About 4 hours (230 km), by Ifrane and the cedar forest

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Midelt
   Day 5 details

   Most Morocco trips drive from Fes to the Sahara in one go, and travellers report 7 to 10 hours on the road. We split that drive in two. This morning you climb into the Middle Atlas to Ifrane, a town the French laid out in the late 1920s, with steep roofs and parks that look more Alpine than Moroccan. Next comes the cedar forest near Azrou, home to Barbary macaques, an endangered monkey found in the wild only in Morocco and Algeria; please do not feed them. The road then crosses high, open plateaus to Midelt, about 1,500 m up between the Middle and High Atlas and known for its apple orchards. You arrive by mid-afternoon with the rest of the day free, and in spring the peak of Jbel Ayachi often still has snow.

   Included

   • Ifrane
   • Cedar forest near Azrou

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: Short walks only

6. Day 6: Midelt to the Erg Chebbi dunes

   About 4.5 hours (275 km), down the Ziz valley

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Merzouga
   Day 6 details

   South of Midelt the road crosses the eastern High Atlas and drops into the Ziz Gorges, passing through the Legionnaire's Tunnel, cut by French Foreign Legion soldiers in the late 1920s. Below, the Ziz valley is a long ribbon of date palms and earth-walled villages, and the road follows it past Errachidia and Erfoud with a stop at a viewpoint over the palms. You reach Merzouga in time for a late lunch and check in to a desert hotel on the edge of Erg Chebbi, a sea of dunes that rise to about 150 m. Rest through the heat of the afternoon, or swim if the hotel has a pool. Before sunset your guide walks you up the dune behind the hotel to watch the sand turn a deep orange. Dinner is at the hotel tonight.

   Included

   • Ziz Gorges and the Legionnaire's Tunnel
   • Ziz valley palm groves
   • Sunset walk on the dunes of Erg Chebbi

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: A 20 to 30 minute climb in soft sand for sunset

7. Day 7: Erg Chebbi: music, camels and a night in the dunes

   A slow desert day, then a camel ride to camp

   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Merzouga
   Day 7 details

   First sunrise: climb the dune before breakfast while the hotel is still asleep and the sand carries only your own tracks; the light at this hour is soft and pastel. The morning is slow on purpose, with time to rest or read in the shade. Late morning your guide takes you to Khamlia, a village whose Gnawa families trace their roots across the Sahara to West Africa, to hear their music played on drums and the iron castanets called qraqeb. After lunch and a rest through the heat, a camel ride of about 1 to 1.5 hours takes you deeper into the dunes to the desert camp, timed so you watch the sun go down from the top of a dune. Dinner is in the camp, then the stars, which are bright out here, far from any town.

   Included

   • Sunrise on the dunes
   • Gnawa music in Khamlia
   • Camel ride into Erg Chebbi
   • Night in a desert camp

   Free time: Free morning

   Activity: About 1 to 1.5 hours on a camel; walking in soft sand

   

8. Day 8: A second sunrise, then the Todra and Dades gorges

   About 5 hours (300 km), with a long stop at Todra

   • Drive about 5 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Dades Gorge
   Day 8 details

   Your second desert sunrise comes straight from the tent: walk a few minutes up the nearest dune and watch the light spill across the sand. The camels bring you back to the hotel for a shower and breakfast, then the van heads west by Erfoud and Tinejdad, past lines of khettara, old hand-dug channels that carry water underground to the palm groves. You reach the Todra Gorge near midday, when the sun reaches the floor between its sheer walls, and walk the narrowest stretch, where the road squeezes in beside the river. After lunch it is just over an hour, by Tinghir and Boumalne, to the Dades Gorge, where you sleep in a hotel above the river among red rock formations known locally as the Monkey Fingers.

   Included

   • Sunrise in the dunes
   • Camel ride back from camp
   • Walk in the Todra Gorge

   Free time: Late afternoon free

   Activity: About an hour of easy walking in the Todra Gorge

9. Day 9: Dades to Ait Benhaddou, sunset at the ksar

   About 3 hours (170 km), by Skoura and Ouarzazate

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Ait Benhaddou
   Day 9 details

   A short drive today. Early risers can walk up the road to the famous hairpin bends above the gorge, best before 9 am. Then the van heads west along the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs, through Kelaat M'Gouna, the valley of roses, to the Skoura oasis, where you visit Kasbah Amridil, a 17th-century family fortress of earth and palm wood. After lunch in Ouarzazate it is about 30 minutes to Ait Benhaddou, a fortified village on the old caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987 and a set for films such as Lawrence of Arabia and Gladiator. You sleep in the village beside it, so in the late afternoon, once the day coaches leave, you cross the footbridge and climb to the granary at the top for sunset.

   Included

   • Kasbah Amridil in Skoura
   • Ait Benhaddou with your guide at sunset

   Free time: Free time after lunch in Ouarzazate

   Activity: A steep 20 minute climb to the top of Ait Benhaddou

   

10. Day 10: Over the Tizi n'Tichka to Imlil

    About 5.5 hours (245 km), over the High Atlas

    • Drive about 5.5 h
    • Breakfast and dinner
    • Stay in Imlil
    Day 10 details

    If you missed it last night, catch the morning light on the ksar from across the river before breakfast. The road then climbs through Amazigh (Berber) villages and switchbacks to the Tizi n'Tichka pass at 2,260 m, one of the highest road passes in Morocco, with stops for the views rather than for shops. On the far side you drop toward the Marrakech plain and turn south, up the Rheraya valley through Asni, to Imlil. The village sits at about 1,740 m, at the foot of Jbel Toubkal, which at 4,167 m is the highest peak in North Africa, inside Toubkal National Park. After lunch at your mountain guesthouse, a licensed mountain guide leads an easy 2 to 3 hour walk through walnut groves and terraced fields to the village of Aroumd. Dinner is at the guesthouse.

    Included

    • Tizi n'Tichka pass
    • Guided walk to Aroumd with a licensed mountain guide

    Free time: Evening free

    Activity: A 2 to 3 hour walk on mountain paths, with about 200 m of climbing

    

11. Day 11: A mountain morning, then the Atlantic

    About 4.5 to 5 hours (255 km) to Essaouira after a morning walk

    • Drive about 5 h
    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Essaouira
    Day 11 details

    Mornings in the High Atlas are cool and clear. After breakfast your mountain guide takes you on a second walk of about 2 hours, along the other side of the valley, with views back to the Toubkal massif and mules carrying loads up the paths beside you. Late morning you drive down the valley and across the plain, skirting Marrakech, then west through argan country, where the trees grow wild almost nowhere but this corner of Morocco. You reach Essaouira by mid-afternoon. It is a walled port town laid out in the 1760s for Sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah by the French engineer Théodore Cornut, and its medina is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Check in to your riad for two nights, then watch the sun set over the Atlantic from the Skala de la Ville ramparts, along the row of old bronze cannons.

    Included

    • Morning walk in the Imlil valley with a licensed mountain guide
    • Sunset on the Skala de la Ville ramparts

    Free time: Evening free

    Activity: A 2 hour walk on mountain paths

12. Day 12: Essaouira at your own pace

    Harbour, medina and a free afternoon by the sea

    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Essaouira
    Day 12 details

    Get up early for the fishing harbour: the blue wooden boats come in around breakfast time and the catch is sold right on the quay, with gulls everywhere. A licensed local guide then walks you through the medina and the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter, and along the arcades under the ramparts where woodworkers inlay thuya, a fragrant local wood. The rest of the day is yours. Essaouira is windy for much of the year, which makes the long beach south of town popular with kitesurfers; walk it, take an optional lesson, or sit in a cafe on Place Moulay Hassan and watch the town go by. Fresh fish grilled at the stalls by the harbour makes an easy lunch. For sunset, the Skala du Port looks across the boats to the island of Mogador offshore.

    Included

    • Early visit to the fishing harbour
    • Guided walk of the medina and the Mellah

    Optional experiences

    • Kitesurfing or surf lesson

    Free time: Afternoon free

    Activity: Easy walking on the flat

    

13. Day 13: Essaouira to Marrakech, hammam and Jemaa el-Fna

    About 3 hours (190 km), then the medina

    • Drive about 3 h
    • Breakfast and dinner
    • Stay in Marrakech
    Day 13 details

    An early start gets you to Marrakech by late morning. After lunch, a licensed local guide walks you through the medina, founded by the Almoravids around 1070: the Koutoubia mosque, whose 12th-century minaret is the landmark of the city, the carved and painted rooms of the 19th-century Bahia Palace, and the souks, with no shop stops on the way. Then you have 2 free hours in the medina to wander back to anything that caught your eye. Late afternoon brings a traditional hammam, with black soap and a full scrub, to end the trip feeling new. At golden hour, a cafe terrace above Jemaa el-Fna, the main square, shows the food stalls setting up and the storytellers and musicians gathering below, a scene UNESCO lists as intangible heritage. The farewell dinner is tonight.

    Included

    • Guided walk of the Marrakech medina: Koutoubia, Bahia Palace and the souks
    • Traditional hammam with scrub
    • Golden hour on a terrace above Jemaa el-Fna
    • Farewell dinner

    Free time: 2 free hours in the medina in the afternoon

    Activity: About 3 hours on foot, flat but busy

    

14. Day 14: Departure from Marrakech

    Medina to Marrakech Menara Airport (RAK), about 20 minutes

    • Breakfast
    Day 14 details

    Your last morning is free, and breakfast is included at the riad. If your flight leaves in the afternoon, there is time for one more walk. Jardin Majorelle, the cobalt-blue garden of cactus and bamboo later owned by Yves Saint Laurent, is calmest right at opening, and tickets are sold for timed slots, so book a few days ahead. Or go back into the souks for the lamp or rug you were still thinking about yesterday, or sit with a mint tea on a rooftop and write the postcards you meant to send from the desert. When it is time, we drive you to Marrakech Menara Airport (RAK), about 20 minutes from the medina, in good time for your flight. If you are flying home through Casablanca, leave room for the connection.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Marrakech Menara Airport (RAK)

    Optional experiences

    • Jardin Majorelle

    Free time: Morning free

Wildlife and weather: Inland, June to August is very hot, often above 38 °C (100 °F) in the Sahara. Desert nights are cold from November to February, and the High Atlas can have snow from December to March. We cannot promise clear sunrises: a sandstorm or cloud can hide one, which is why there are two.

• Chefchaouen2 nights
• Fes2 nights
• Midelt1 night
• Merzouga2 nights
• Dades Gorge1 night
• Ait Benhaddou1 night
• Imlil1 night
• Essaouira2 nights
• Marrakech1 night