10-Day Morocco Tour from Fes — Imperial Cities & Sahara

Arrival in Fes

At your arrival time your driver meets you at the airport and transfers you to your accommodation in Fes. Dinner and an overnight in a hotel or traditional riad, ready for the journey ahead.

Accommodation: Riad Fes Salam or similar

Guided day in Fes

After breakfast you explore Fes with a local guide, starting near the Royal Palace and the historic Mellah, then a viewpoint over the whole medina. On foot you'll wander the UNESCO-listed medina — the world's largest car-free urban area — where guilds of potters, dyers and tanners still work as they have for centuries. Dinner and overnight in your riad.

Accommodation: Riad Fes Salam or similar

Fes → Volubilis → Moulay Idriss → Meknes → Rabat

Today you visit Volubilis, the best-preserved Roman ruins in North Africa, then the sacred hilltop town of Moulay Idriss. Next is Meknes, the imperial city of Moulay Ismail, with its monumental Bab Mansour gate. In the afternoon you continue to Rabat, the capital, to see the Hassan Tower, the Mausoleum of Mohammed V and the Kasbah of the Oudayas. Overnight in Rabat.

Accommodation: Riad El Bahi or similar

Rabat → Casablanca → Marrakech

This morning you visit the magnificent Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca — the largest in Morocco and among the largest in the world. In the early afternoon you continue to Marrakech and head straight into the energy of Jemaa el-Fna, the famous square alive with storytellers, musicians and food stalls. Overnight in Marrakech.

Accommodation: Riad Aslal or similar

Guided day in Marrakech

A licensed local guide leads a tailored tour of Marrakech's highlights: the landmark Koutoubia Mosque, the medieval medina and its souks, the Saadian Tombs, the Bahia Palace, the Majorelle Garden and the Ben Youssef Madrasa. In the evening you return to your riad in the medina to dine and rest.

Accommodation: Riad Aslal or similar

Marrakech → Ait Ben Haddou → Ouarzazate → Dades

Leaving Marrakech, you cross the High Atlas via the Tizi n'Tichka pass, with an optional detour to the hidden Kasbah of Telouet. You'll then reach the fortified ksar of Ait Ben Haddou, a UNESCO site and famous filming location. After lunch you continue past Ouarzazate to the Skoura palm grove and the Valley of Roses, ending the day in the Dades Valley for dinner and the night.

Accommodation: Riad Paradise Dades or similar

Dades → Todra Gorge → Rissani → Merzouga

You drive through the Dades Valley to admire its rock formations, then follow mud-brick Berber villages and palm groves to Tinghir and the Todra Gorge, where red cliffs rise 300 metres above a cool river. Continuing via Erfoud and Rissani, you reach Merzouga, welcomed with a cup of tea before an overnight in a hotel or riad at the foot of the dunes.

Accommodation: Tawada Desert Camp or similar

Merzouga — nomad families & the black desert

Today you explore the Merzouga region: the seasonal Lake Sirji, the village of Khamlia with its Gnawa music, and the Meffis mines, before crossing behind the dunes to share tea with Berber Bedouins. Your guides teach you to ride and saddle a camel, then you set out to explore the Erg Chebbi sand sea. Tonight you sleep like a Berber, in a tent in the heart of the Sahara.

Accommodation: Riad Chebbi or similar

Merzouga → Erfoud → Ziz Valley → Azrou → Ifrane → Fes

After a camel ride back from the dunes, you travel to Rissani, then through the fossil town of Erfoud and the sweeping Ziz Valley over the Tizi n'Talghemt pass to Midelt for lunch. You'll stop at the Azrou cedar forest to see wild monkeys, then pass through Ifrane before reaching Fes. Overnight in a traditional riad.

Fes → airport transfer

Depending on your flight time, we transfer you to the airport — the end of your ten-day Morocco tour from Fes through the imperial cities and the Merzouga Sahara.