10 Days Tour from Marrakech: Morocco Desert & Imperial Cities

Day 1: Arrival in Marrakech

Mustapha meets you at Marrakech Menara Airport (RAK) or your hotel. He drives you to your riad, a traditional house built around a garden courtyard. Most riads sit inside the medina, the old walled city. If you land early, walk to Jemaa el Fna in the evening. Order mint tea on a rooftop café and watch the square change from snake charmers to smoking food stalls. Rest well tonight, because tomorrow is a full day on foot.

Day 2: Marrakech Sightseeing Tour

Start early at the Koutoubia Mosque, whose 12th century minaret still shapes the city skyline. Next, visit Bahia Palace for its painted cedar ceilings and tiled courtyards. Ben Youssef Madrasa, an old Quran school, holds some of the finest wood and plaster carving in Morocco. After lunch, walk the souks, the covered markets where each lane sells one craft: spices, leather, lamps or rugs. End the day at Jardin Majorelle, the blue garden once owned by Yves Saint Laurent. Book its tickets online before you go.

A licensed local guide is optional and paid locally. Shopping is always your choice, never part of the plan.

In the souks, some men offer to show you the way for a tip. A polite “la, shukran”, which means no, thank you, is enough.

Day 3: Marrakech to Essaouira

The drive west takes about 3 hours through flat argan country. Argan trees grow almost nowhere else on earth. You stop at a women’s cooperative to see argan oil pressed by hand. You can also taste amlou, a spread of argan oil, almonds and honey. Along the road you may see goats standing in the trees. Some herders keep them there for photos and ask for a small tip.

Essaouira feels calm after Marrakech. Its walled medina is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Spend the afternoon on the Skala, the old sea ramparts lined with bronze cannons, and watch the sun set over the Atlantic.

Day 4: Explore Essaouira

Today is yours. Start at the fishing port around 8 am, when the blue boats unload sardines and sea bream. Pick your fish at the port grills and eat it fresh for lunch. In the medina, look for thuya wood boxes, carved from a fragrant local tree. The wide beach is good for a long walk. The steady wind makes Essaouira a kitesurfing town, and horse rides run along the sand. These activities are optional and paid locally.

Day 5: Essaouira to the High Atlas Mountains and Ouarzazate

This is a long day, about 6.5 to 7 hours of driving, so we leave early and stop often. You pass Marrakech, then climb the High Atlas over the Tizi n’Tichka pass. The road winds through Amazigh villages. The Amazigh, also called Berbers, are the first people of North Africa.

In the late afternoon you reach Aït Benhaddou. It is a fortified village of mud brick and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Scenes from Gladiator and Game of Thrones were filmed here. By then the tour buses have left, so you can climb to the old granary with few people around. Ouarzazate is 30 minutes further on. The town is home to Atlas Studios, a working film studio. You can tour its sets the next morning for a small fee.

Day 6: Ouarzazate to Dades Valley, Todra Gorges and the Merzouga Desert

Today brings about 6 hours of driving on the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs. You pass the palm grove of Skoura and the Valley of Roses near Kelaat M’Gouna, where rose water is made. Each May a rose festival fills the town. In the Dades Valley, the road climbs past red rock and old earth villages. Near Tinghir you walk into Todra Gorge, where the walls rise about 300 m (980 ft) and stand only meters apart. Near Tinjdad, rows of round mounds in the fields mark khettara. These old underground channels still carry water to the palms.

In the late afternoon you reach Merzouga and the Erg Chebbi dunes. Each guest gets a camel for the sunset ride to camp. After dinner, there are drums and songs by the fire, and more stars than most guests have ever seen.

Day 7: Explore Merzouga Desert Region

Wake before dawn to watch the sunrise from the top of a dune. Then ride your camel back to the village for breakfast. The rest of the day explores the desert by car with Mustapha. Visit a nomad family in their tent for mint tea and hear how they move with their herds. In Khamlia, families with roots south of the Sahara play Gnawa music for visitors. See the old Mifis mines, then drive to Rissani, once a caravan town on the salt and gold road. Its market is busiest on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

In the afternoon, rest by the pool or book a quad bike or sandboarding session. These are optional and paid locally.

Day 8: Merzouga to Erfoud, Midelt, Ifrane and Fes

This is the longest drive of the tour, about 7 to 8 hours. In Erfoud you see how fossil stone is cut and polished. The road follows the Ziz Valley, a ribbon of date palms in a dry canyon. Lunch is in Midelt, a mountain town known for its apples. In the cedar forest near Azrou, wild Barbary macaques live among very old cedar trees. Watch them, but please do not feed them. Ifrane comes next, a tidy town of stone chalets often called the Switzerland of Morocco. You reach Fes in the evening.

Day 9: Fes to Meknes, Volubilis and Chefchaouen

The Medina of Fez is a UNESCO site and one of the largest car free old towns in the world. If time allows, take a short morning walk to Bab Boujloud, the Blue Gate, and a terrace above the Chouara Tannery. Then drive about one hour to Meknes, the imperial city of Sultan Moulay Ismail. See Bab Mansour, its great gate, and the open square in front of it.

Thirty minutes away, the Roman city of Volubilis still shows its floor mosaics in the open air. A local guide, paid locally, makes the ruins come alive. The road then climbs into the Rif Mountains to Chefchaouen. Walk up to the Spanish Mosque at sunset and watch the blue town glow below.