6-Day Morocco Desert Tour from Casablanca to Marrakech via Merzouga Sahara

Day 1: Casablanca – Rabat – Chefchaouen

We collect you from your hotel or the airport in Casablanca. If you're arriving on an early flight, we can start straight away; if you need a couple of hours to freshen up, that's fine too.

First stop is Rabat, Morocco's capital and probably its most underrated imperial city. We visit the Hassan Tower – the 12th-century minaret that was never finished, so now it stands like a stone rocket ship surrounded by pillars. Next door is the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, built in white marble with a green tiled roof you can spot from miles away. We also walk through the Kasbah of the Udayas, the old fortress that juts out over the Atlantic. It's quiet here compared to Marrakech or Fes, and the ocean views are a gentle way to start the trip.

Lunch is in Rabat, usually grilled fish by the marina or a lamb tagine if you prefer something heavier.

After lunch we head north, climbing gradually into the Rif Mountains. The road winds through Ouazzane, a town known for its olive oil and Sufi pilgrimage sites, before we reach Chefchaouen in the late afternoon. The light hits the blue walls differently depending on the time of day – late afternoon is usually when they glow.

You have the evening free to wander the medina. It's small and safe to get lost in; every alleyway seems to lead back to the main square eventually. Dinner is at your riad.

Overnight: Riad in Chefchaouen

Day 2: Chefchaouen – Volubilis – Meknes – Fes

Have breakfast on the riad roof if the weather's good. The morning is yours to explore Chefchaouen at your own pace. Most people head to the Spanish Mosque viewpoint for the classic panoramic shot of the blue city against the green mountains, or simply wander the lower medina where the washing lines and potted plants make the best photos.

We leave around midday and drive south toward Volubilis. This is the best-preserved Roman site in Morocco and, in my opinion, one of the most underrated archaeological parks in North Africa. You can walk right up to the mosaics – they're just lying there on the ground, 2,000 years old, depicting gods and animals in tiny colored stones. The House of Dionysus and the House of the Acrobat are the highlights. We usually spend about an hour and a half here.

From Volubilis it's half an hour to Meknes, the imperial city of Sultan Moulay Ismail. He was a man of extraordinary ambition and slightly terrifying methods, and he built walls, granaries, and stables on a scale that still impresses. We visit Bab Mansour, the gate that many people photograph without realizing it's one of the most beautiful in the country, and the Sahrij Swani, an enormous basin that once supplied water to the royal gardens.

We reach Fes in the early evening. Your riad is in the medina, so we park nearby and walk the last few minutes through streets that haven't changed in centuries.

Overnight: Riad in Fes

Day 3: Fes Guided Tour – Imperial City & Oldest University

Fes el-Bali is the largest car-free urban area in the world, and it feels like it. The medina is a labyrinth of 9,000 alleyways, and without a local guide you'd miss half of what you're looking at.

Your guide meets you after breakfast. The route changes slightly depending on what's open and how busy it is, but typically we start at the Royal Palace gate. You can't go inside, but the brass doors and zellige tilework are worth the stop. Then we enter the medina proper through Bab Bou Jeloud, the Blue Gate.

The Al Quaraouiyine Mosque and University was founded in 859 AD. UNESCO recognizes it as the oldest existing educational institution in the world. Non-Muslims can't enter the prayer hall, but you can see the library and the courtyard, and the sense of age is palpable.

We walk through the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter, where the architecture is subtly different – balconies on the houses, for instance, which you don't see in the Muslim parts of the old city. Then the tanneries. Chouara is the largest and most photographed. Yes, it smells – that's the pigeon guano and natural dyes – but the view from the leather shops overlooking the stone vessels is extraordinary. If you want to buy leather, this is the place; if you don't, nobody will pressure you.

Lunch is in the medina. We know a few good courtyard restaurants that tourists rarely find on their own.

The afternoon covers the Bou Inania Madrasa (the carved cedar and stucco here is the finest in Morocco), the Nejjarine Museum of Wooden Arts & Crafts, and a walk through the souks. The spice market, the copper beaters, and the carpet sellers all occupy different streets, and the noise and color are overwhelming in the best possible way.

By late afternoon your feet will be tired. We return to the riad for a rest before dinner.

Overnight: Riad in Fes

Day 4: Fes – Middle Atlas – Ziz Valley – Merzouga Sahara

This is the longest driving day, but we break it up so it doesn't feel like a slog.

We leave Fes after breakfast and head south through the Middle Atlas. First stop is Ifrane, built by the French in the 1930s to look like an Alpine ski resort. It still feels slightly surreal – chalet-style houses, clean streets, and a statue of a lion carved from stone in the town center.

Ten minutes past Ifrane is the Azrou Cedar Forest. Barbary macaques live here wild – not in a zoo, not fed by the park service, just monkeys in the trees. They'll come down if you offer peanuts or bread, and they're generally gentle, though they'll steal from your hand if you're too slow. It's a good place to stretch your legs.

We stop for lunch in Midelt, a town that sits between the Middle and High Atlas ranges. It's known for apples and fossils, and the restaurant we use does a good trout tagine.

After Midelt the landscape changes. The mountains drop away and you enter the pre-desert. The Ziz Valley is the first hint of what's coming – a sudden ribbon of green date palms cutting through the dry hills, stretching for over a hundred kilometers. We stop at a viewpoint for photos and mint tea.

You reach Merzouga in the late afternoon. Leave your main luggage in the vehicle – you'll only need an overnight bag for the camp. Meet your camel guide, climb on (it's easier than it looks, though the first minute is always awkward), and set off into the dunes.

The trek takes about an hour and a half. We stop on a high dune to watch the sunset. The sand turns from yellow to gold to deep orange, and the silence is total.

The luxury camp is on the far side of the dunes. Your tent has proper beds, en-suite bathroom, and hot shower. Dinner is served in the main tent – usually harira soup, followed by tagine or grilled meat, then fruit. After dinner the camp staff bring out drums and sing Berber songs around the fire. If the sky is clear, walk away from the fire for five minutes and look up. The Milky Way is visible with the naked eye.

"The starry sky above the dunes was absolutely breathtaking. I've never seen so many stars in my life!" – Sarah J., TripAdvisor reviewer

Overnight: Luxury desert camp, Merzouga

Day 5: Merzouga – Rissani – Todra Gorge – Dades Valley

We wake you before dawn. The sunrise over Erg Chebbi is worth the early start – the dunes cast long shadows and the colors shift from violet to pink to gold in about twenty minutes.

After breakfast at the camp (fresh bread, olive oil, honey, and omelets), you can shower and pack. We drive back to the auberge to collect your main luggage, then head toward Rissani.

Rissani was the ancient capital of Tafilalet and the birthplace of the Alaouite dynasty that still rules Morocco. The souk operates three days a week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday), and if your timing aligns, it's a raw, authentic market where farmers sell live chickens, dates, and spices in enormous quantities. Even on quiet days, the Mausoleum of Moulay Ali Cherif is worth a stop.

We continue to Erfoud, the gateway to the desert and the center of Morocco's fossil trade. There are workshops where you can see marble tables with 400-million-year-old ammonites embedded in them. It's touristy but genuinely interesting.

Lunch is in Tinghir, a palm oasis town. Then we drive into the Todra Gorges. The canyon walls here are 300 meters high in places, and the river that carved them still runs through the bottom. In spring it's a torrent; in autumn it's a trickle you can hop across. Rock climbers come from all over the world to scale the pink limestone cliffs. We spend an hour walking through the narrowest section of the gorge.

The Dades Valley is our final stop of the day. We check into a hotel with a terrace overlooking the valley, then drive a few minutes to see the Monkey Fingers rock formations – bizarre hoodoos that look like petrified hands reaching out of the hillside.

Overnight: Hotel in Dades Valley

Day 6: Dades Valley – Ouarzazate – Ait Ben Haddou – Marrakech

The last day covers some of the most photographed road in Morocco.

We leave after breakfast and drive through Kalaat M'Gouna, the Rose Valley. In May the whole valley smells of damask roses, and the cooperative shops sell rose water, perfumes, and soaps made from the harvest. Even outside rose season, the drive is beautiful – mud-brick kasbahs and small Berber villages clinging to the hillsides.

Next is Ouarzazate, Morocco's Hollywood. The Atlas Studios have hosted productions from Lawrence of Arabia to Game of Thrones. If you're interested in film history we can stop; if not, we push on to the main event.

Ait Ben Haddou is a fortified village built from mud and straw, and it's been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. It looks like a sandcastle. You cross a dry riverbed and climb to the granary at the top for views over the valley. The kasbah has appeared in Gladiator, The Mummy, and dozens of other films, but the real reason to visit is the architecture – these buildings have stood for centuries because the Berbers understood how to build for the desert climate.

Lunch is just outside Ait Ben Haddou. Then we start the climb over the Tizi n'Tichka pass. This is the highest mountain pass in Morocco (2,260 meters), and the road is spectacular – switchbacks carved into the red rock, with valleys dropping away on one side. We stop at the top for photos, and again at an argan oil cooperative where you can see how the nuts are pressed and taste the oil on bread.

You arrive in Marrakech in the late afternoon or early evening, depending on how many stops we make. We drop you at your riad or the airport.