12 Days Grand Morocco Tour from Casablanca

This 12-day private tour is for travellers who want to see Morocco properly in one trip: the blue town of Chefchaouen, the imperial cities, the Sahara at Merzouga, the kasbah valleys of the south and the Atlantic coast at Essaouira. It starts and ends in Casablanca, which makes flights simple.

A full circle of Morocco

After visiting the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, we head north through Rabat to Chefchaouen in the Rif Mountains, about four hours from the capital. You wake up in the blue-washed medina, walk up to the Spanish Mosque viewpoint, then drive south to the Roman ruins of Volubilis and the imperial city of Meknes before reaching Fes. A whole day with a licensed guide in Fes el-Bali follows.

Into the Sahara

From Fes, the road climbs through Ifrane and the cedar forest to Midelt, then descends along the Ziz Valley to Merzouga, our home. You spend two nights here: the first at a guesthouse at the foot of Erg Chebbi, and the second at our desert camp after a camel trek at sunset. In between we show you Khamlia and its Gnawa musicians, the Rissani market and the wider dunes by 4x4.

Gorges, kasbahs, Marrakech and the coast

Heading west, you walk through the Todra Gorge, sleep in the Dades Valley and follow the road of a thousand kasbahs through Skoura to Ait Benhaddou, where you stay the night. After crossing the Tizi n'Tichka pass, you have two nights in Marrakech with a guided tour of the medina and palaces. The trip finishes with a night in Essaouira, a breezy fishing port with ramparts and argan cooperatives on the way, before the drive back to Casablanca.

How the pace feels

Driving days vary from under two hours to about eight, with the longest being Fes to Merzouga and Essaouira to Casablanca. We break every long day with coffee, lunch and photo stops, and because the tour is private, you can add a night anywhere, choose riads or hotels at different comfort levels, or end in Marrakech instead. If you only have nine days, our 9-day imperial cities and Sahara tour keeps the highlights without the north and the coast.