What you see and do
- Stay two nights in Essaouira, with a full free day for the medina, the port and the beach. This is the day the 14-day route does not have.
- Split the desert in two: a first night in a hotel by the dunes after the long drive, then the camel ride and camp night the next evening when you are rested.
- Have a free day in Chefchaouen, with time for the Ras El Maa spring or a half day at the Akchour waterfalls.
- Walk the Roman streets of Volubilis and see Bab Mansour in Meknes on the way to Fes.
- See the Fes medina and then Marrakech with a local city guide on each guided day.
- Cross the south by Todra Gorges, the Dades Valley, Ouarzazate and Ait Ben Haddou.
- Take a day out of Marrakech in the Ourika Valley, in the foothills of the High Atlas.
Day-by-day itinerary
15 days, about 2,377 km by road. Tap a day to open it.
Day 1Arrival in Casablanca
You are met at Mohammed V Airport and driven to your hotel. What happens next depends on when you land.
If your flight arrives early enough, you visit the Hassan II Mosque, built on a rocky point above the Atlantic and one of the largest mosques in the world, then take a walk on the Corniche. If you land late, the mosque can be seen from outside tomorrow morning before the drive north.
Day 2Casablanca to Chefchaouen by Rabat345 km
The first road day goes north. Rabat, the capital, is about an hour up the coast. You stop at the Hassan Tower and the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, which face each other across an esplanade of stone columns, and walk the lanes of the Kasbah of the Udayas above the river mouth.
After Rabat the motorway gives way to smaller roads and the land begins to fold into the Rif. You reach Chefchaouen towards the end of the afternoon. Tonight is for dinner and a first look at the blue lanes. Tomorrow you have the whole day.
Day 3Free day in Chefchaouen
No programme today. The medina is small enough to walk end to end in a morning, and it is quietest early, before day visitors arrive.
Two easy additions: the short walk to Ras El Maa, the spring at the edge of the old town where the river comes out of the hillside, or a drive of about 45 minutes to the Akchour waterfalls for a half day on foot in the Rif. Akchour is an optional extra, so mention it when you enquire if you want it.
Day 4Chefchaouen to Fes by Volubilis and Meknes260 km
You come down from the Rif to Volubilis, the best-preserved Roman site in Morocco and a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1997. The floor mosaics are still where they were laid, open to the sky. The site is exposed, so carry water and a hat.
Meknes follows. Sultan Moulay Ismail made it his capital in the 17th century and built on a huge scale. You see the Bab Mansour gate, Lahdim Square in front of it, and the Royal Stables. Some monuments in Meknes have been closed for restoration in recent years, so what you enter depends on what is open.
Fes is under an hour further. Cars cannot enter the old city, so you walk the last few minutes to your riad.
Day 5Guided day in Fes
A local city guide walks with you all day, which matters here: Fes el Bali has thousands of lanes and very few signs. You go in by Bab Boujloud, the Blue Gate, and follow the covered streets past spice sellers, coppersmiths and bakeries.
The main stops are the Attarine Madrasa, known for its zellige tilework, the outside of Al Quaraouiyine, founded in the 9th century, and the Chouara Tannery, which you look down on from a terrace. The smell at the tannery is strong. Entrance fees are paid as you go.
Day 6Fes to Merzouga over the Middle Atlas463 km
This is the big drive of the trip, and it is a full day in the car. The morning crosses the Middle Atlas by Ifrane, a mountain town with pitched roofs and clipped lawns, and the cedar forest near Azrou, where Barbary macaques often sit by the roadside.
Lunch is in Midelt. In the afternoon you stop at a viewpoint over the Ziz Valley, a long ribbon of palms in a dry canyon, and reach Merzouga late in the day.
On this route you do not ride into the dunes tonight. You check into a hotel at the edge of the sand, eat and sleep. The camel ride is kept for tomorrow, when you have not just spent eight hours on the road.
Day 7Merzouga: nomads, Khamlia and the camel ride to camp
The morning is a short circuit by car around the dunes. You take tea with a nomad family at their tent and stop in the village of Khamlia, where Gnawa musicians play for visitors.
In the afternoon you leave your main bags with the driver and ride camels into Erg Chebbi, aiming to be high on the sand for sunset. The night is spent in a desert camp, with dinner and drumming by the fire. Camp level, standard or luxury, is your choice at booking.
Day 8Merzouga to the Dades Valley by Todra Gorges265 km
After sunrise and breakfast in the dunes you turn west. The road passes the market town of Rissani and the palm groves of Tinghir before the Todra Gorges, where rock walls about 300 m high close in over a shallow river. You walk the narrow section on foot.
The afternoon follows a road lined with old earth kasbahs into the Dades Valley. You sleep in the valley, among red cliffs and small farming villages.
Day 9Dades Valley to Marrakech by Ouarzazate and Ait Ben Haddou325 km
A long day with good stops. Ouarzazate comes first, a garrison town that became the base for film crews working in the south. Then Ait Ben Haddou, the fortified village of earth towers on a hillside that has been a UNESCO site since 1987. You cross the river bed and climb through it.
After lunch the road goes over the High Atlas by the Tizi n'Tichka pass, at about 2,260 m. The bends are slow, and the views are wide. You arrive in Marrakech in the evening, where you stay for three nights.
Day 10Guided day in Marrakech
Your local city guide starts with the monuments: the Koutoubia minaret, seen from its gardens, the courtyards and cedar ceilings of the Bahia Palace, and the Saadian Tombs.
The afternoon is the souks and Jemaa el-Fna. The guide helps with direction and with the pace, since the lanes around the square are crowded and sellers are persistent. Tickets to monuments are not included.
Day 11Day trip to the Ourika Valley120 km
A short drive south takes you out of the city and into the first folds of the High Atlas. The Ourika Valley is green along the river, with villages built up the slopes above it.
At Setti Fatma, where the road stops, there is an optional walk up to a chain of waterfalls. The path is steep and rocky in places. You can also stop for tea at a family home in the valley. You are back in Marrakech for the evening.
Day 12Marrakech to Essaouira178 km
The road west runs through argan country. You stop at a women's cooperative to watch the nuts being cracked and the oil pressed by hand.
You reach Essaouira with the afternoon ahead of you. The walled medina, a World Heritage site since 2001, is laid out on a grid and easy to find your way around. Walk the Skala de la Ville, the sea bastion with its row of cannon, and the fishing port. There is no need to fit it all in, because you are not leaving in the morning.
Day 13Free day in Essaouira
This is the day that makes the tour fifteen days and not fourteen. On the shorter route you would be on the road to Casablanca this morning. Here you wake up by the sea with nothing booked.
Most people split the day between the medina, where woodworkers carve thuya and galleries line the main streets, a fish lunch near the port, and the long beach. Essaouira is windy for much of the year. That makes it a centre for windsurfing and kitesurfing, which can be arranged as extras along with horse riding on the sand, and it also means the beach is better for a walk than for lying still.
Day 14Essaouira to Casablanca376 km
The final road day heads north up the Atlantic side of the country. It is the second-longest drive of the tour, and after a free day you should be ready for it.
You are in Casablanca with part of the afternoon or the evening left: time for the Corniche, or to see the Hassan II Mosque in evening light if you missed it on day one.
Day 15Departure from Casablanca45 km
Your driver takes you to Mohammed V Airport for your flight. If you would prefer to fly out of Marrakech, say so when you enquire and the order of the last days can be changed.
Price and what changes it
This 15-day private tour costs €3,900 to €7,100 per person. Every trip is tailored, so the final price depends on your group size, hotel and camp level, and what you add.
- Group size. One vehicle and one driver for fifteen days are split between everyone travelling, so the cost per person falls as the group grows. A solo traveller pays the most.
- Accommodation level. Fourteen nights at standard, comfort or luxury level. With this many nights, the hotel choice moves the price more than anything else.
- The two desert nights. One is in a hotel by the dunes and one in a camp, and each can be standard or luxury. See desert camps in Merzouga compared.
- Extras. Kitesurfing or riding in Essaouira, Akchour from Chefchaouen and quad bikes at Merzouga are paid on top. Our guide to what a Morocco tour costs shows how the ranges work.
Other lengths are priced on the Morocco tour cost page.
Included and not included
Included
- Private air-conditioned vehicle for the fifteen days
- English- or Spanish-speaking driver
- Airport pickup and departure transfer
- Fourteen nights of accommodation at the level you choose
- Local city guides for the guided days in Fes and Marrakech
- Camel ride in the Erg Chebbi dunes
- Breakfast every day, and some dinners, listed in your quote
Not included
- Lunches and drinks
- Entrance fees to monuments
- Optional activities such as kitesurfing, horse riding or the Akchour excursion
- Tips
- Flights
Is this the right tour for you?
It suits you if
- You liked the look of the two-week loop and your one hesitation was a single night in Essaouira.
- You want the trip to wind down. The last free day falls on day thirteen, by the sea, before the drive back and the flight home.
- You would sooner do the camel ride fresh. The desert hotel night on day six means the ride comes after a slow morning, not straight after 463 km.
- You have fifteen days door to door and a return ticket to Casablanca.
Think twice if
- The coast does not interest you much. The extra day is spent entirely in Essaouira, so the 14-day Morocco tour from Casablanca gives you the same route with one night there.
- You wanted to see Tangier and the Strait of Gibraltar. This route goes straight from Rabat to Chefchaouen. The 16-day tour adds a night in Tangier.
- You dislike long days in a car. Fes to Merzouga is still about 463 km in one go. Only the 17-day tour breaks it with a night in Midelt.
- You are short of leave or easily bored by free days. Three of the fifteen days have no plan at all. The 10-day tour keeps the cities and the desert without them.
Places on the route
What travellers say
★★★★★
“Within a few days he put a curated program of two weeks in place.”
Questions about the 15-day Morocco tour from Casablanca
What is the difference between the 14 day and 15 day tours from Casablanca?
One day, in Essaouira. The 15 day tour stays two nights on the coast with a full free day, where the 14 day tour stays one night and leaves the next morning. The rest of the route is the same.
Is a second day in Essaouira worth it?
It is if you want a rest before flying home or enjoy small walled towns and the sea. Essaouira has few major monuments, so travellers who mostly want sights may find one night enough.
How many nights are spent in the Sahara on the 15 day tour?
Two nights at Merzouga. The first is in a hotel at the edge of the Erg Chebbi dunes after the drive from Fes, and the second is in a desert camp reached by camel at sunset.
How much driving is there on a 15 day Morocco tour?
About 2,380 km over eight road days, plus the airport transfer. The longest days are Fes to Merzouga at about 463 km and Essaouira to Casablanca at about 376 km. Seven days involve no long drive.
Can I swim in Essaouira?
You can, but the Atlantic here is cool and the wind is strong for much of the year. The beach suits walking, riding and wind sports more than swimming and sunbathing.
Can the free days be used for something else?
Yes. The tour is private, so a free day can be moved to another town or swapped for an activity. Tell us what you would like when you contact us and the route is quoted that way.
