8-Day Casablanca Loop Tour via Marrakech, the Sahara and Chefchaouen

Casablanca to Marrakech

We collect you from Mohammed V Airport or your Casablanca hotel and drive south across the plains to Marrakech, the Red City, named for the rose-pink rammed-earth walls that glow at sunset. After checking in to your riad you walk to Jemaa el-Fna, a UNESCO-listed gathering of storytellers, Gnaoua musicians, acrobats and food stalls that has met every evening for centuries, then explore the lantern-lit lanes of the medina.

About 3 hours on the road, roughly 250 km

Riad Aslal or similar, Marrakech medina

Marrakech to the Dades Valley via Ait Benhaddou

We climb the Tizi n'Tichka pass, 2,260 metres at the summit and the highest paved mountain road in Morocco. On the far side we visit Ait Benhaddou with a local guide, a UNESCO ksar of mud-brick kasbahs on the old caravan route and a set for Gladiator and Game of Thrones. We continue through Ouarzazate, home of the Atlas Film Studios, and the Skoura oasis to the Dades Valley, arriving as the canyon walls turn ochre in the evening light.

About 6.5 hours on the road, roughly 320 km, plus stops

Dades Paradise or similar, Dades Valley

Dades and Todra Gorges to Merzouga

The morning is spent among the Monkey Fingers rock formations and old earthen kasbahs of the Dades Gorge. We then drive east to Todra Gorge, where 300-metre limestone walls close to about 10 metres apart, and walk the canyon floor. After the fossil workshops of Erfoud and the souk at Rissani, birthplace of Morocco's ruling Alaouite dynasty, we arrive in Merzouga and ride camels at sunset into the Erg Chebbi dunes to a Berber camp, with a feast and live drumming.

About 4.5 hours on the road, roughly 260 km, plus stops

Tiziri Desert Camp or similar, Erg Chebbi

A Full Day in Merzouga

We climb a dune before dawn to watch the sky move from indigo to gold, then return for a nomad-style breakfast of Berber omelette, fresh bread, amlou and mint tea. A morning 4x4 trip takes you to Khamlia, a village of Gnaoua musicians whose guembri and krakeb music is UNESCO-listed intangible heritage, and to a nomadic family's tent for tea and stories of seasonal migration. The afternoon is open for sandboarding, quad biking or resting at camp before a second night under the stars.

Short 4x4 excursion only

Tiziri Desert Camp or similar, Erg Chebbi

Merzouga to Fez

We leave Merzouga by way of Rissani and follow the Ziz Valley, a 70-kilometre palm oasis between ochre canyon walls that is watered by khettara tunnels dug over a thousand years ago. The road climbs through Midelt, known for its apples, to the cedar forest at Azrou, where wild Barbary macaques come to the roadside, and passes through Ifrane, a mountain town of alpine-style chalets. We reach Fez in the evening for a first walk through the medina.

About 7.5 hours on the road, roughly 460 km, plus stops

Riad Fez Mahal or similar, Fez medina

Full Day in Fez

A licensed guide leads you through Fez el-Bali, the world's largest car-free medina. We visit Al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri and widely regarded as the world's oldest continuously operating university, and the carved cedar and zellige of the Bou Inania Madrasa. We look down on the Chouara Tanneries from a rooftop, pass the brass gates of the Royal Palace, walk the Mellah and see the Nejjarine woodworking museum, then visit artisan cooperatives.

No driving today

Riad Fez Mahal or similar, Fez medina

Fez to Chefchaouen

We drive northwest into the Rif Mountains, through cedar and oak forest and deep valleys, to Chefchaouen, the Blue Pearl. The tradition of painting the medina blue is often credited to Jewish refugees from Andalusia in the 15th century. You can explore the Kasbah and its small museum, Uta el-Hammam square and the workshops weaving woollen djellabas, then climb to the Spanish Mosque at sunset for a view over the blue rooftops.

About 3.5 hours on the road, roughly 200 km

Dar Echchaouen or similar, Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen to Casablanca

We leave Chefchaouen in the morning and drive south through the Rif foothills and the farmland of the Gharb. Time permitting, we stop at the Roman ruins of Volubilis or at the Bab Mansour gate in Meknes for a last look at the country's Roman and imperial past. We then continue along the Atlantic plains to Casablanca and drop you at Mohammed V Airport or your city hotel.

About 5 hours on the road, roughly 340 km, plus stops