Casablanca to Marrakech: 8-Day Desert & Imperial Cities Tour

★★★★★★★★★★ 5.00 (14 reviews)

Free cancellation

1/18

Duration8d

GroupPrivate

LanguagesEN · AR +4

PickupAt your hotel

Eight Days Across Morocco: From Coastal Casablanca to the Sahara and Back

You travel by private car from Casablanca through five imperial cities and the Merzouga Desert over eight days, with daily breakfast, local guides in Fes and Marrakech, and entry to major sites including Hassan II Mosque, Volubilis, Todra and Dades Gorges, Ait Ben Haddou, and Marrakech's palaces and souks. The fixed itinerary and included transport remove the logistics of moving between regions, leaving you to focus on walking, looking, and absorbing each place before moving to the next.

Step-by-step itinerary

Day 1 — Casablanca, Rabat, and Meknes visit

Arrive in Casablanca
Visit Hassan II Mosque
Travel to Rabat
Visit Chellah archaeological site
See Hassan Tower and Mohamed 5th mausoleum
Travel to Meknes
Overnight in Meknes

Day 2 — Meknes and Volubilis exploration

Breakfast in Meknes
Visit Sahrij Swani granary
Visit Sultan's mausoleum
See Bab Mansour gate
Travel to Volubilis
Explore Volubilis Roman site
Travel to Fes

Day 3 — Fes old medina sightseeing

Breakfast in Fes
Meet local guide
Explore Fes medieval medina
Visit tanneries
Enjoy Fes cuisine
Panoramic view from southern tower
Visit pottery cooperative
Optional dinner show with belly dancers

Day 4 — Fes to Merzouga Desert journey

Leave Fes
Stop in Ifrane
See monkeys in Azrou cedar woods
Lunch in Midelt
Drive through Ziz valley
Arrive in Merzouga Desert

Day 5 — Merzouga to Ouarzazate via gorges

Breakfast in Merzouga
Leave Sahara
Break in Tinjidad
Lunch in Todra valley
Visit Todra Gorges
Explore Dades valley and rock formations
Cross Rose Valley
Overnight in Ouarzazate

Day 6 — Ouarzazate to Marrakech via kasbahs

Visit Taourirte Kasbah
Visit cinema studio
Walk in Ait Ben Haddou village
Visit Telouet Kasbah
Drive over Tizi-n-Tichka pass
Arrive in Marrakech

Day 7 — Marrakech city tour

Meet local guide
Visit Bahia Palace
Visit Saadian Tombs
Explore Marrakech souks
Visit Majorelle Garden
Finish at Jamaa Elfana square

Day 8 — Departure from Marrakech or Casablanca

Transfer to Marrakech or Casablanca airport
End of tour

The Experience

What happens when you have a week and want to see the whole arc of Morocco—the coast, the mountains, the desert, the ancient cities—without piecing it together yourself? This 8-day tour from Casablanca moves you through it all in sequence, starting with the Hassan II Mosque (built between 1987 and 1993, it holds 25,000 worshipers inside and another 80,000 in the courtyard), then pushing inland through Rabat's UNESCO-listed Chellah ruins and into Meknes before you ever reach the medina. The rhythm is steady: you're picked up from your hotel in Casablanca, driven to each place, given time to walk and look, and moved on. No arranging taxis between cities, no guessing which gate to enter.

Days 3 and 4 are where the tour shifts. In Fes, a local guide takes you into the old medina—9,000 alleyways, the itinerary says, and it feels like it—past the tanneries where you watch workers in the leather pits, through the pottery cooperative, into the noise and color of a city that hasn't fundamentally changed in centuries. Then you leave that behind and cross the Middle Atlas Mountains toward the Sahara. You stop in Ifrane (sometimes called the small Switzerland, with Morocco's first ski resort), pass through cedar woods where Barbary macaque families live, and by evening you're in Merzouga, at the edge of the desert. The landscape shift is real and sudden.

Days 5 and 6 take you through the gorges and valleys on the way back west. Todra Gorge is 15 kilometers of date palms ending in a rock wall; Dades Valley has formations carved by millions of years of erosion. You cross the Rose Valley (the only place in Morocco where Damascus roses are harvested for rose water and oil), and then arrive at Ait Ben Haddou—the ancient clay village where Lawrence of Arabia and Gladiator were filmed, also UNESCO-listed since 1987. From there, the Telouet Kasbah, built by a 19th-century lord of the Atlas, and then the drive north over the Tizi-n-Tichka pass (2,260 meters) into Marrakech.

Your final two days are in Marrakech itself. Day 7 includes the Bahia Palace with its mosaics and stucco work, the Saadian Tombs from the 17th century, the sprawling souks, and the Majorelle Garden (the one with the famous indigo-blue walls and plants from around the world). Jemaa el-Fnaa square—the main plaza where snake charmers, musicians, and food vendors work—is where the city tour ends. Day 8 is a transfer to either Marrakech or Casablanca airport, depending on where you need to be. Breakfast is included every morning; some dinners are included as well. Private transportation means you're not on a bus with thirty other people, and the local guides in Fes and Marrakech know the medinas well enough to move you past the obvious stops.

What’s included

Your eight days include private transportation from Casablanca through Rabat, Meknes, Fes, the Merzouga Desert, Ouarzazate, and Marrakech.
daily breakfast at each location.
dinner at select stops.
entry to Hassan II Mosque, Chellah archaeological site, Volubilis Roman ruins, Fes medina and tanneries, Todra and Dades Gorges, Ait Ben Haddou village, Telouet Kasbah, Bahia Palace, Saadian Tombs, Majorelle Garden, and Marrakech souks.
local guides in Fes and Marrakech.
and a final transfer to your departure airport.

Good to know

Easy physical levelStroller friendlyInfant seats availablePets welcomePublic transport nearbyNot for heart conditions

Operated by love Morocco Desert

Is this one for you?Book this tour if you want to see Morocco's main regions—coast, mountains, desert, and imperial cities—in one eight-day loop without arranging transport between them or deciding which sites to enter; the fixed itinerary and private car handle the logistics so you can focus on each place.