Arrival in Marrakech → Medina → Jemaa el-Fna
Welcome to Morocco. Your driver meets you at Marrakech airport with a sign and a smile, helps with your bags and takes you to your riad in the old city. A riad is a traditional house built around a quiet courtyard, often with orange trees and a fountain. Outside, the streets are loud and busy, but inside the walls everything is calm. Rest a little, drink a mint tea on the roof terrace and listen to the call to prayer from the mosques around you.
In the late afternoon, walk to Jemaa el-Fna, the most famous square in Africa. During the day it is quiet, but at sunset it comes alive: orange juice stands, snake charmers, Gnawa musicians, storytellers and dozens of smoky food stalls. Find a seat on a café terrace above the square and watch the lights come on, with the tall Koutoubia minaret glowing behind it all. It is the perfect first evening in Morocco.
Key stops
Airport pickup · Riad check-in · Jemaa el-Fna · Koutoubia
Marrakech Guided Tour → Bahia Palace → Majorelle Garden
Today a licensed local guide shows you the secrets of the Red City. You start at the Koutoubia Mosque, whose 12th-century minaret was the model for the Giralda in Seville. Then you walk into the medina to the Bahia Palace, built in the 19th century for a powerful vizier, with painted cedar ceilings, colourful tiles and quiet gardens. Close by are the Saadian Tombs, hidden for centuries and found again only in 1917.
In the afternoon, step out of the old city to the Majorelle Garden, the bright blue garden made famous by Yves Saint Laurent, full of cactus, palms and bamboo. Back in the medina, your guide leads you through the souks: leather workers, metal lanterns, spices, carpets and wooden boxes. It is easy to get lost here, so it is good to have someone who knows the way. The evening is free to enjoy your riad or dinner in the old town.
Key stops
Koutoubia · Bahia Palace · Saadian Tombs · Majorelle Garden · souks
Marrakech → High Atlas → Aït Ben Haddou → Ouarzazate → Dades Valley
Your driver picks you up in Marrakech in the morning, and soon the city is behind you. The road climbs into the High Atlas through walnut trees, red earth villages and long mountain bends. At the Tizi n'Tichka pass you are 2,260 metres high, and the view goes far across the mountains. On the other side, the land becomes dry and wide, and you reach Aït Ben Haddou, the clay ksar listed by UNESCO. Walk across the river and climb up to the old granary at the top.
After lunch, you pass Ouarzazate, the door to the desert and the home of big film studios. Then the road follows the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs through the palm grove of Skoura and the Valley of Roses at Kelaat M'Gouna, where the small pink Damask roses are turned into rose water. In the late afternoon you arrive in the Dades Valley, with its red cliffs and green fields. Dinner is a warm tagine at your hotel.
Key stops
Tizi n'Tichka · Aït Ben Haddou · Ouarzazate · Skoura · Valley of Roses · Dades
Stay
Hotel or riad in the Dades Valley
Dades Valley → Tinghir → Todra Gorge → Erfoud → Merzouga
After breakfast you drive to Tinghir, a long green oasis full of date palms and old mud villages. A few minutes later the valley closes and you walk into Todra Gorge. The rock walls rise about 300 metres on both sides, and a clear stream runs over the stones at your feet. Climbers hang on the cliffs, and local women wash wool in the water. It is a cool, quiet place before the heat of the desert.
In the afternoon the land opens into the black stony hamada. You pass Erfoud, the town of dates and fossils, and then you see them on the horizon: the orange dunes of Erg Chebbi. In Merzouga your camels are waiting. You ride for about an hour and a half into the sand, while the dunes change from gold to orange to pink. At the camp, the team welcomes you with mint tea, a big dinner and Berber drums under the stars.
Key stops
Tinghir · Todra Gorge · Erfoud · camel trek · Erg Chebbi
Stay
Desert camp in Merzouga
Merzouga → Khamlia → Nomad families → Erg Chebbi
Today there is no long drive. After breakfast, your driver takes you around the dunes by 4x4. First you visit a nomad family in their tent of dark goat hair. They move with their goats and camels to find water and grass, and they will offer you tea and bread baked in the sand. Then you drive to Khamlia, a small village whose people came across the Sahara from West Africa long ago. The Gnawa musicians welcome you with deep drums, iron castanets and old songs.
In the afternoon you see the other faces of the desert: the black volcanic stones of the hamada, the old mining area of Mifis and, after a rainy winter, the lake of Dayet Srji, where flamingos sometimes stop. Before sunset, climb a big dune and watch the sand turn red. You sleep near the dunes again tonight, in a camp or a comfortable hotel with a pool.
Key stops
Nomad family · Khamlia Gnawa music · Mifis · Dayet Srji · sunset dune
Stay
Hotel or riad in Merzouga
Merzouga → Rissani → N'Kob → Draa Valley → Ouarzazate
Watch the sunrise from the top of a dune, then ride back to Merzouga for breakfast. Today you take the quiet southern road. You pass Rissani with its busy market, then Alnif, a village famous for trilobite fossils, and N'Kob, a village of more than forty kasbahs on the edge of the Saghro mountains. The road is calm and wide, with black mountains on one side and sand on the other.
In the afternoon you reach the Draa Valley near Agdz, a long green river of date palms, and then climb the Tizi n'Tinififft pass to Ouarzazate. If there is time, visit Kasbah Taourirt, the old house of the Glaoui family, with painted ceilings and small windows over the town. You sleep in Ouarzazate tonight, with a slower and easier day before Marrakech.
Key stops
Rissani · Alnif · N'Kob kasbahs · Draa Valley · Kasbah Taourirt
Stay
Hotel or riad in Ouarzazate
Ouarzazate → Aït Ben Haddou → Tizi n'Tichka → Marrakech
After breakfast you drive about thirty kilometres to Aït Ben Haddou. Walk across the Ounila river and climb through the old ksar, a village of earth, straw and wood that once stood on the caravan road between the Sahara and Marrakech. It has appeared in many films, from Lawrence of Arabia to Gladiator, and from the top the view goes far across the valley.
Then the road climbs into the High Atlas over the Tizi n'Tichka pass, 2,260 metres high, with long bends and wide views. You stop for lunch on the way and arrive in Marrakech in the afternoon. Your driver takes you to your riad, and the evening is free for Jemaa el-Fna.
Key stops
Aït Ben Haddou · Ounila Valley · Tizi n'Tichka · Marrakech
Stay
Tour ends in Marrakech
