The 6 Days Desert Tour from Casablanca is the shortest itinerary that connects an Atlantic arrival with the big dunes at Erg Chebbi and still leaves a full day for the Fes medina. It is built for travellers landing at Mohammed V airport who want the Sahara without a separate internal flight.
The route runs north to south: Rabat and Volubilis on day one, Fes on foot on day two, then the long descent through the cedar forests and the Ziz Valley to Merzouga, where camels take you into the erg for a night under canvas.
The way back west follows the gorges and kasbah valleys through Todra, the Dades and Ait Ben Haddou, finishing in Marrakech. Private vehicle and driver throughout.
Pickup at Casablanca airport, at the port or at your hotel. If time allows you begin with the Hassan II Mosque, built out over the Atlantic with a minaret of 210 metres.
The coast road runs north to Rabat, the capital, for the Kasbah of the Udayas above the mouth of the Bou Regreg and the unfinished Hassan Tower facing the mausoleum of Mohammed V.
Inland to Meknes, the imperial city of Moulay Ismail with its Bab Mansour gate and long walls, then a stop at Volubilis, where mosaic floors and a triumphal arch stand in open farmland. Arrival in Fes in the evening.
Accommodation: Riad or hotel in Fes
A full day inside Fes el Bali, founded in the ninth century and closed to cars. It is a working city, not a preserved one, and the noise of the workshops is part of it.
The usual circuit covers the Bou Inania and Attarine madrasas with their carved cedar and zellij, the Nejjarine fountain and woodwork museum, the Al Quaraouiyine mosque and library, and the Chouara tanneries where hides are still dyed in stone vats.
A local guide is recommended and can be booked for you. The afternoon is free for the souks or the Merenid tombs above the city at sunset.
Accommodation: Riad or hotel in Fes
The longest driving day, and the most varied. You climb into the Middle Atlas through Ifrane, a town of steep roofs and clipped lawns that looks nothing like the rest of Morocco, then into the cedar forest near Azrou where Barbary macaques come down to the roadside.
Lunch at Midelt on the high plateau, then the road drops through the Tizi n Talghomt pass into the Ziz Valley, a long band of date palms squeezed between bare red cliffs. There is a viewpoint above the gorge worth the stop.
You reach Merzouga in the late afternoon, leave your main luggage, and ride into Erg Chebbi by camel to reach camp at sunset. Dinner under the tent and drums around the fire.
Accommodation: Berber desert camp, Erg Chebbi
Wake before dawn for sunrise on the dunes, then ride back to Merzouga for breakfast and a shower.
Heading west you stop at Rissani, the old caravan town of the Tafilalet with one of the busiest covered markets in the south, then continue through Erfoud, where marine fossils are cut and polished from the surrounding rock.
In the afternoon you reach Todra Gorge, where limestone walls rise around 300 metres and the canyon narrows to a few paces. A walk on the valley floor is the best way to feel it. Short drive on to the Dades Valley for the night.
Accommodation: Hotel or guesthouse in the Dades Valley
The kasbah road west, through El Kelaa des Mgouna where most of Morocco rose water is distilled, and the Skoura palm oasis with its scattered kasbahs including Amerhidil.
Ouarzazate for lunch, with the Taourirt Kasbah and the film studios on the edge of town, then the short drive to Ait Ben Haddou, where you cross the riverbed and climb through the earthen ksar to the granary at the top.
The last stage crosses the High Atlas by the Tizi n Tichka pass at over 2260 metres, with viewpoints on the descent into Marrakech. Arrival in the evening.
Accommodation: Riad or hotel in Marrakech
The final day is spent in Marrakech. The standard circuit takes in the Koutoubia minaret, the Saadian tombs, the Bahia Palace, the Ben Youssef Madrasa and the Majorelle garden, with the souks and Jemaa el Fna between them.
A local guide can be arranged for the morning.
Transfer to Marrakech airport at the end of the day, or back to Casablanca if you are flying from there. The return transfer to Casablanca can be added on request.
Yes. Add a transfer from Marrakech to Casablanca airport on the last day, or extend by one night so the final morning is not rushed. Tell us your flight time and we will arrange it.
Yes, but the third day is long, around eight hours of driving. If you want that broken up, the seven and eight day versions add a night on the way or a full day in the desert.
In a camp on the sand at Erg Chebbi, reached by camel from Merzouga. Tents are private with real beds. Luxury camps with private bathrooms are available for a supplement.
Not required, but recommended. The medina has thousands of lanes and no vehicle access, and a licensed guide costs little for a half or full day.
Breakfast every day, plus dinner at the desert camp and in the Dades Valley. Lunches are taken at stops along the road so you can choose freely.
Yes. Your own vehicle and driver for the whole route, and the itinerary can be adjusted before departure or along the way.
Arriving in Casablanca usually means either a long transfer to Marrakech or a domestic flight before the real trip starts. This route treats the Atlantic coast as the beginning instead, so the first day is already sightseeing rather than positioning.
It also covers the two things most first-time visitors want, the Fes medina and the Erg Chebbi dunes, and links them by the most scenic road in the country rather than the motorway.
