The Complete Morocco Experience

Most people visit Morocco and see one city. This tour shows you the whole country. Ten days built around a simple idea: that Morocco’s real character only reveals itself when you move through it — from the Atlantic coast to the Saharan dunes, from ancient Roman ruins to a medieval medina unchanged for a thousand years. This 10-day Morocco tour from Casablanca is the definitive way to experience it all.

You begin in Casablanca at the Hassan II Mosque — one of the largest on earth, built directly over the Atlantic Ocean — before heading north to Rabat and then up into the Rif Mountains to Chefchaouen, the blue city that exists like a painting come to life. Then Fes — the world’s largest car-free medieval city, with 9,000 lanes, a tannery unchanged for a thousand years, and a university founded in the year 859.

From Fes you head south through the Middle Atlas to the Sahara. At Erg Chebbi, the dunes rise 150 metres from the desert floor. You ride camels at sunset into the silence, sleep in a luxury camp under more stars than you have ever seen, and wake before dawn to watch the dunes change colour in the first light.

The return to Marrakech takes you through Todra Gorge, along the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs, past UNESCO-listed Ait Benhaddou — where Gladiator and Game of Thrones were filmed — and over the High Atlas via a mountain pass at 2,260 metres. Two final days in Marrakech close the journey properly: the palaces, the souks, the square that comes alive at dusk.

private Morocco tour imperial cities Sahara MarrakechBy the time you leave, you will have seen more of Morocco than most people see in three separate trips.

Days 1 & 2

Casablanca, Rabat & Chefchaouen

You land in Casablanca and within hours you are standing before the Hassan II Mosque — its minaret rising 210 metres above the Atlantic Ocean, one of the few mosques in Morocco open to non-Muslims. Its scale stops you completely. This is how Morocco begins. A short drive south brings you to Rabat, Morocco’s quiet, elegant capital: the Hassan Tower, the Mohammed V Mausoleum, the blue-and-white Kasbah of the Oudayas overlooking the river. Then north into the Rif Mountains to Chefchaouen — a city painted entirely in every shade of blue, sitting at 600 metres in the mountains, unlike anywhere else on earth.

Days 3 & 4

Volubilis, Meknes & Fes

The drive south from Chefchaouen takes you through the Rif Mountains to Volubilis — Morocco’s finest Roman ruins, where triumphal arches and intricate floor mosaics have survived 2,000 years with remarkable grace. Then Meknes, an imperial city of monumental gates and royal stables built to house 12,000 horses. Then Fes — a full day inside the world’s largest car-free medieval city. The Blue Gate. The Attarine Madrasa. Al-Qarawiyyin University, founded in 859 CE. The Chouara Tannery, where leather is dyed using techniques unchanged for a thousand years. Fes is the kind of place that takes days to understand and a lifetime to forget.

Days 5 & 6

The Sahara Desert

The drive south from Fes is one of Morocco’s great journeys — through the Middle Atlas, past Ifrane (Morocco’s Switzerland), through cedar forests where Barbary macaques live in the trees, down the Ziz Valley with its vast palm oases, until the Erg Chebbi dunes appear on the horizon: 150 metres of orange sand rising from the flat desert floor. At sunset you mount camels and ride into the Sahara. Your luxury desert camp has private tents with en-suite bathrooms, a long table set under the open sky, Berber music around the fire, and above you — more stars than you have ever seen. The next morning brings an optional ATV ride across the dunes and a visit to a nomadic Berber family in their tent.

Days 7 & 8

Todra Gorge, Kasbahs & Ait Benhaddou

The route west from the Sahara is arguably the most cinematic drive in Morocco. Todra Gorge, where 300-metre limestone walls close around a narrow river path. The Dades Valley and the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs — fortified mud-brick towers rising from palm oases, many still inhabited. Then Ait Benhaddou — the UNESCO-listed ksar that appeared in Gladiator, Game of Thrones, Lawrence of Arabia, and 20 other films. Its ochre towers glow at golden hour and the views from the summit explain everything about why this place has been filmed continuously for 50 years. The day ends with the dramatic High Atlas crossing via the Tizi n’Tichka Pass at 2,260 metres into Marrakech.

Days 9 & 10

Marrakech, The Red City

You arrive in Marrakech having already seen five faces of Morocco — which means you arrive knowing how extraordinary what comes next is. Two full days with an expert local guide cover the Bahia Palace (a 19th-century masterpiece of carved cedar and tiled courtyards), the Saadian Tombs (hidden for three centuries, rediscovered in 1917), Ben Youssef Madrassa, the legendary souks district by district, and finally Jemaa el-Fnaa as it erupts at dusk — acrobats, musicians, food stalls, storytellers, and thousands of people converging on one of the most extraordinary public spaces on earth. A farewell dinner somewhere with a rooftop view closes the journey as it deserves.