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Riad or hotel: where should you stay in Morocco?
Different experiences more than a simple upgrade or downgrade from each other.
Written by Morocco Tailored Tours.
A riad is a traditional Moroccan house built around an interior courtyard, usually with a small pool or fountain, converted into a guesthouse: typically found inside a medina, with a handful of individually decorated rooms rather than dozens of identical ones.
Staying in a riad means being inside the medina itself, often reachable only on foot from where a car can park, with rooftop terraces, home-cooked breakfasts, and a level of individual character that larger hotels don't usually offer. It also means narrower, sometimes noisier surroundings, and fewer amenities like gyms or full room service.
Modern hotels, more common outside medina walls or in newer parts of cities like Casablanca and Agadir, offer more consistency: larger rooms, pools, easier vehicle access, at the cost of some of the atmosphere a riad provides.
Most of our itineraries default to riads in Marrakech, Fez, and Essaouira, where the medina experience is a real part of the trip, and hotels or kasbah-style properties in places like the Atlas foothills or Ouarzazate, where a riad-style stay isn't the natural fit: though we're happy to build a trip around either preference.
Want to see how this works on a real route? Our 15-Day Morocco Tour from Casablanca via Rabat, Asilah and Ait Benhaddou and 15-Day Morocco Circuit from Casablanca with Akchour Hike and Essaouira are private itineraries we can adjust to fit.
Our partner brand runs the luxury tours on the Tailored Luxury Tours collection: four ready-drafted luxury routes, one per departure city.
Planning around Marrakech? Read the Marrakech destination guide, browse all tours from Marrakech, or see 15-Day Morocco Tour from Casablanca via Rabat, Asilah and Ait Benhaddou, a sample itinerary that includes it.
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15-Day Morocco Tour from Casablanca via Rabat, Asilah and Ait Benhaddou
A private 15-day Morocco tour from Casablanca that gives each region its own night: Rabat, Chefchaouen with an Akchour hike, Fez, two nights in the Sahara, a night in Ouarzazate, Marrakech and Essaouira. The coast road through Asilah and El Jadida bookends the trip, so you finish in Casablanca where you began.
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Read articleTours for this trip
15-Day Morocco Tour from Casablanca via Rabat, Asilah and Ait Benhaddou
A private 15-day Morocco tour from Casablanca that gives each region its own night: Rabat, Chefchaouen with an Akchour hike, Fez, two nights in the Sahara, a night in Ouarzazate, Marrakech and Essaouira. The coast road through Asilah and El Jadida bookends the trip, so you finish in Casablanca where you began.
Visits Chefchaouen · Fez · Sahara Desert · Ait Benhaddou · Marrakech · Essaouira · +8 more
From€7,625(≈ $8,520 USD)€8,970 (≈ $10,020 USD)15% off, reserve by 17 Feb 2027per person, double or twin room
15-Day Morocco Circuit from Casablanca with Akchour Hike and Essaouira
A private 15-day circuit that leaves from and returns to Casablanca, built for travellers who want time as well as sights. It includes a guided hike to the Akchour waterfalls, two nights in the Sahara, a full guided day in both Fez and Marrakech, and a free day in Essaouira before the Atlantic coast road back to Casablanca.
Visits Chefchaouen · Fez · Sahara Desert · Ait Benhaddou · Marrakech · Essaouira · +7 more
From€7,459(≈ $8,335 USD)€8,775 (≈ $9,805 USD)15% off, reserve by 17 Feb 2027per person, double or twin room
10-Day Morocco Tour from Tangier via the Imperial Cities, Sahara and Essaouira
A private 10-day Morocco tour that runs south from Tangier through Tetouan and Chefchaouen to Fez, the Sahara, the Atlas kasbahs and Marrakech, finishing on the Atlantic coast at Essaouira. The route has a full guided day in each of Fez and Marrakech and a night in the Sahara, without doubling back.
Visits Chefchaouen · Fez · Sahara Desert · Ait Benhaddou · Marrakech · Essaouira · +5 more
From€2,625(≈ $2,935 USD)€3,088 (≈ $3,450 USD)15% off, reserve by 17 Feb 2027per person, double or twin room