The idea
Marrakech, Fes, the Middle Atlas and the dunes at Erg Chebbi
Nine days is enough to cross Morocco properly – not to tick off its cities, but to feel the country change underneath you. You begin in Marrakech, where the Atlas sits on the horizon like a rumour. You end on a dune field the size of a small country, where the nearest paved road is forty minutes behind you.
Journey highlights
Two nights in a Medina riad with a courtyard you will not want to leave
The tanneries and mosaic workshops of Fes, with a guide whose family has worked them for four generations
A night in the cedar forest above Ifrane, where Barbary macaques still outnumber people
Three nights at Erg Chebbi – two in a private camp, one under nothing at all
Day by day
The route
Scroll the days and the route draws itself. Every element here is movable – this is how the journey runs if you change nothing.
Route
Day 01
Arrival in Marrakech
Met at Menara and driven the short distance into the Medina, where the car stops and the last few hundred metres are walked. The rest of the day is deliberately empty: tea on the roof, a slow wander, an early dinner at a table we keep for first nights.
Night 1: Riad in the Dar el Bacha quarter
Day 02
Marrakech, from the inside
A morning in the souks with Hicham, who grew up three streets away and will take you through the dyers lane before the tour groups reach it. Afternoon free. At dusk, the Jemaa el-Fnaa from a rooftop rather than the middle of it.
Night 2: Riad in the Dar el Bacha quarter
Day 03
Over the Middle Atlas
North through olive country to Beni Mellal, then up into a landscape that looks more like the Pyrenees than anything you expected. Lunch in a village where the bread arrives before you order it.
Night 3: Cedar forest lodge above Azrou
Day 04
Cedar forest and the road to Fes
An early walk among thousand-year-old cedars, then on to Fes in time to enter the Medina while the light is still long. Fes is the oldest living Medina in the world and it does not care whether you are ready.
Night 4: Dar in Fes el-Bali
Day 05
Fes el-Bali
A full day inside the walls with Khalid: the Chouara tanneries from a terrace above, the brass workers of Seffarine, a mosaic atelier where you will be handed a chisel whether or not you asked. Evening free.
Night 5: Dar in Fes el-Bali
Day 06
South through the Ziz
The long day, and worth every hour of it. Through Midelt, over the Tizi n Talrhemt, and down the Ziz valley where a hundred thousand palms grow in a crack in the rock. The desert announces itself slowly, then all at once.
Night 6: Kasbah near Erfoud
Day 07
Erg Chebbi
Into the dunes by 4×4 in the late afternoon, arriving at camp as the light turns. Dinner outside. Later, someone will bring a drum out, and you can join in or lie back and watch the sky do what it does out here.
Night 7: Private desert camp, Erg Chebbi
Day 08
The dune line
Sunrise from the high ridge behind camp, then a day paced entirely by you – camels if you want them, a nomad family tea if the timing works, or a book and a shaded majlis if it does not. The final night is spent on a bed carried out onto the sand.
Night 8: Private desert camp, Erg Chebbi
Day 09
Departure
Back across the dunes at first light and on to Errachidia or Ouarzazate for your flight, or onward to Marrakech by road with a stop at Ait Benhaddou if the schedule allows it.
Where you stay
Rooms we have slept in ourselves
We inspect every property we book and re-inspect it each year. When a place slips, we stop using it – which is why this list is shorter than our competitors.
The detail
What is included, and what is not
We would rather be clear about this up front than surprise you later. If something here does not suit, say so – nearly all of it can be changed.
What is included
All accommodation, as listed, in rooms we have personally inspected
Private vehicle and driver for the full nine days
Licensed private guides in Marrakech and Fes
All breakfasts, four lunches and six dinners
Desert camp on a private-use basis, including transfers by 4×4
A local contact reachable at any hour of your journey
What is not included
International flights and visa costs where applicable
Travel insurance, which we ask every traveller to hold
Meals not listed above, and anything from the bar
Gratuities, which are never expected and always welcome
Pace and fitness
Two long driving days, broken up with stops; the rest are short
Walking in Fes and Marrakech is on uneven ground, two to three hours at a time
The dune ridge walk is optional and takes about forty minutes uphill in sand
Every element can be softened – tell us and we will rebuild the days around it
Also consider
Other journeys
Berber villages
High Atlas & Desert Edge
For travellers who would rather walk than shop. Three days in the High Atlas staying with families in the Ait Bouguemez, then down the southern slope to a stretch of desert almost nobody visits.
7 days / 6 nights · 2-6 travellers · From 3,650 EUR per person
Essaouira
Coast & Medina
Morocco at sea level. Three nights in Essaouira where the wind never stops and nothing is in a hurry, two in Marrakech, and an argan cooperative in between. The journey we send people on when they want to come back rested.
6 days / 5 nights · 2-8 travellers · From 2,980 EUR per person
Start a conversation
Tell us what you want from Morocco
Every journey we arrange begins with a conversation rather than a brochure. Tell us when you can travel, how you like to move, and what you would rather avoid – we will come back with a route, not a quote.