The 8 Days Tour from Casablanca takes the standard imperial-and-desert loop and pushes it north into the Rif, so Chefchaouen is part of the trip rather than something you promise yourself for next time.
The first two days run up the Atlantic coast to Rabat and then into the mountains for a night in Chefchaouen, where the medina is painted every shade of blue. From there the route drops back through Volubilis and Meknes to Fes for a full day on foot.
The second half is the south: the cedar forests, the Ziz Valley, a night in a camp among the Erg Chebbi dunes, then Todra, the Dades, Ait Ben Haddou and Marrakech before the drive back to Casablanca.
Pickup at Casablanca airport, port or hotel. If your arrival allows, you start with the Hassan II Mosque, one of the few in Morocco open to non-Muslim visitors, built out over the Atlantic.
North along the coast to Rabat for the Kasbah of the Udayas and its Andalusian garden, the Hassan Tower and the mausoleum of Mohammed V.
The afternoon road climbs into the Rif mountains to Chefchaouen. Arrive in time to walk up to the Spanish mosque above the town and watch the light fall on the blue rooftops.
Accommodation: Riad or hotel in Chefchaouen
Morning free in the medina. Chefchaouen is small enough to explore without a map: stepped lanes, lime-blue walls, a small kasbah with a garden, and the Ras el Maa spring at the top of the town.
After lunch you descend from the Rif to Volubilis, the Roman provincial capital, where mosaic floors, the basilica and the triumphal arch stand in open farmland below the hill town of Moulay Idriss.
A stop in Meknes for the Bab Mansour gate and the royal granaries, then the short drive to Fes.
Accommodation: Riad or hotel in Fes
A full day in Fes el Bali, founded in the ninth century, without cars and with around nine thousand lanes.
The circuit covers the Bou Inania and Attarine madrasas, the Nejjarine fountain and woodwork museum, the Al Quaraouiyine mosque and library, and the Chouara tanneries with their stone dye vats.
A licensed guide is recommended and can be arranged. The afternoon is free for the souks or the Merenid tombs above the city at sunset.
Accommodation: Riad or hotel in Fes
South across the Middle Atlas through Ifrane and the cedar forest near Azrou, where Barbary macaques come to the roadside.
Lunch at Midelt on the plateau, then down the Tizi n Talghomt into the Ziz Valley, a long green corridor of date palms below bare red cliffs, with a viewpoint over the gorge.
Arrival at Merzouga in the late afternoon. Leave the heavy bags, ride into Erg Chebbi by camel, and reach camp at sunset for dinner under the tent and drums by the fire.
Accommodation: Berber desert camp, Erg Chebbi
Sunrise on the dunes, camel ride back, breakfast and a shower in Merzouga.
West through Rissani and its covered souk, then Erfoud, where fossils are cut and polished from ancient seabed.
In the afternoon, Todra Gorge, where the canyon narrows to a few paces between walls some 300 metres high. A walk on the valley floor, then a short drive to the Dades Valley for the night.
Accommodation: Hotel or guesthouse in the Dades Valley
The kasbah road west through El Kelaa des Mgouna, the rose town, and the Skoura palm oasis with Kasbah Amerhidil.
Ouarzazate for lunch and the Taourirt Kasbah, then Ait Ben Haddou, where you cross the riverbed and climb through the ksar to the granary at the top.
Over the High Atlas by the Tizi n Tichka pass, with stops at the viewpoints, and down into Marrakech in the evening.
Accommodation: Riad or hotel in Marrakech
A full day in Marrakech. The morning covers the Koutoubia minaret, the Saadian tombs, the Bahia Palace and the Ben Youssef Madrasa, with a local guide if you want one.
The afternoon is free for the souks, the Majorelle garden, or a hammam.
After dark, Jemaa el Fna fills with food stalls and musicians and is worth an hour on foot.
Accommodation: Riad or hotel in Marrakech
The motorway north takes around three hours. Depending on your flight, there is time in Casablanca for the Hassan II Mosque, the Corniche or the Habous quarter and its bookshops.
Drop-off at Casablanca airport, at the port or at your hotel.
If you are flying out of Marrakech instead, we end the tour there and drop the final transfer.
It is a three-hour drive off the direct line, and most travellers say yes. The medina is unlike anywhere else in the country and the mountain setting is a change from the coast and the desert.
An afternoon and evening on arrival plus the following morning. Enough to walk the medina properly. If you want a full free day there, take the ten or eleven day version.
Yes. A free day at Merzouga for nomad camps, the black desert and Khamlia can be inserted, which makes the tour nine days.
The two long ones are day four to Merzouga, about eight hours, and day six to Marrakech, about seven, both broken by sightseeing stops. Days three and seven have no transfer at all.
Breakfast every day, plus dinner at the desert camp and in the Dades Valley. City dinners are left open.
Yes. If you land at night we can add an arrival night in Casablanca so the tour starts fresh the next morning.
Eight days is the shortest loop that fits Chefchaouen alongside Fes, the Sahara and Marrakech without any day becoming a pure transfer. Every overnight stop is somewhere worth stopping.
It is also a genuine loop from Casablanca, so a single return flight covers the whole trip.
