8 days tour from casablanca to marrakech via FES, chefchaouen, AND merzouga
8 days tour from Casablanca to Merzouga ends in Marrakech. Join us on an unforgettable excursion with Berber natives and experience the desert in a way you’ve never seen before.
TOUR DETAILS
| Period | Departure | Return | Tour Type |
|---|---|---|---|
8 Days/7 Nights | Casablanca | Marrakech | Private |
Overview
An amazing 8 days tour from Casablanca to Marrakech via Chefchaouen and the Sahara Desert allows you to discover Morocco. This 8 days tour from Casablanca to Marrakesh through the Merzouga desert will take you to visit and discover Morocco’s historical and imperial cities and provide you with wonderful memories.
Additionally, you will pass the Atlas Mountains (Middle and High), see Merzouga’s stunning Sahara desert on a memorable camel journey through sand dunes, and stay in a desert tent. Visit a variety of fascinating natural and historic features, including valleys, gorges, and Kasbahs, as well as a number of Berber settlements.
Highlights
- View Casablanca and Rabat (Moroccan capital).
- Chefchaouen sightseeing.
- Visit Meknes and Volubilis.
- Fes sightseeing (“Fes El Bali-Old Fes”, Al Qaraouine University, the Tanneries, and the Attarine museum).
- Crossing from Ifrane, the Switzerland of Morocco.
- Visit Azrou cedar forest and view the local apes.
- Traversing the Ziz Valley.
- Taking a camel ride across the dunes.
- Enjoy the sights of Erg Chebbi and its magnificent sunset from the back of your camel.
- Spend the night in the Merzouga desert camp after enjoying a Berber meal under the stars.
- Promenade along the Todra oasis’s stream to the beautiful gorges.
- Spend time in Ait Ben Haddou’s Casbah and discover the Berber village.
- Crossing through the High Atlas Mountains and the Tizi N’Tichka pass.
- Visit Marrakech.
Includes
- Pick up and drop off at your accommodation
- AC private fuelled transportation: 4WD vehicle, van, and minibus for the groups.
- A driver guide or a driver accompanied by the guide.
- Overnight in the riad/hotel.
- Overnight in a desert camp (private tents)
- Merzouga camel trekking
- Dinners and breakfasts
Excludes
- Lunches
- Drinks
- Monument fees
- Tips and gratuities
Itinerary
On the first day of our eight-day Casablanca to Marrakech through Merzouga desert tour, we will meet you at your Casablanca accommodation or airport and travel to the lovely blue city of Chefchaoune, passing through Rabat, Morocco’s capital and one of the country’s four imperial cities. We will tour the city’s most popular sights, including the Hassan Tower, Chellah, and Oudaya Kasbah.
We will enjoy lunch on our own. In the afternoon, we will continue to Chefchaoune via Ouazzan. We will stop along the journey to take in the scenery of the Rif Mountains. We may arrive in the blue city (Chefchaouen) in the evening. Dinner and overnight in a traditional riad or hotel in the Medina’s blue alleyways.
Following breakfast, you’ll explore Chefchaouen, or Chaouen, affectionately known as “the Blue Pearl.” It is a very unique and traditional Moroccan town located in the northwest of Morocco, surrounded by the Rif Mountains. It is famed for its ancient town’s outstanding buildings in various shades of fading blue, which give the impression of a clean and lovely world.
It earned its name due to the distinctive blue color that all residents use to paint their homes. According to these traditions and beliefs, the color blue symbolizes the sky, which reminds people of heaven and God. This color scheme imparts an incredible charm to the city, as well as a mood and atmosphere of relaxation, warmth, and tranquility.
You’ll begin your Chefchaouen sightseeing tour by strolling through the blue streets, taking in the beautiful blue walls, doors, windows, and amazing side shops of the old Medina, which boasts an abundance of incredible photo opportunities around every corner. You will have a break to sample the north’s delectable Moroccan cuisine. Visit the ancient Kasbah Ali Ben Rachid and the Plaza Uta El-Hammam in the evening. Our lovely day concludes in the same riad, or hotel, located in the blue alleys of Chefchaouen.
After breakfast, we’ll begin our journey to Volubilis, passing through numerous Rif villages, including Ouazzan and several more breathtaking Rif villages. The first stop is in Volubilis, one of Morocco’s best-preserved Roman monuments. We’ll tour and learn about this Moroccan history archeological site, which features an astonishing display of columns, abandoned houses, and stunning mosaics going all the way back to the third century BC.
Following our visit to the ruins, we will continue our journey to Meknes, the Ismaili capital and one of Morocco’s four imperial cities, where we will stop for lunch and then begin exploring the city’s interesting sites, including the fascinating Bab Mansour Gate, built by Sultan Moulay Ismail; the tranquil courtyards of the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail; and Sahrij Swani, a water reservoir used for irrigation and plantation. Stroll through the old medina of Meknes and take in the bustle of El Hedim Square. In the afternoon, we travel to Fes to unwind, eat, and stay in a traditional riad or hotel in the medina’s core.
On the fourth day of a eight-day journey departing from Casablanca, following breakfast in your riad, you will be able to visit the country’s spiritual capital and oldest city. Walking through its bustling souks, epic alleyways, and historical structures, the magnificent Royal Palace gate that connects the modern and old Fes.
Following that, we’ll begin touring all of the cultural and historical landmarks, including Al Qaraouine University (one of the oldest universities in the world), the Tanneries, and the Attarine Museum.
Following lunch, you will visit the greatest place to stay in Fes (Fes El Bali), a UNESCO World Heritage site. With its lanes and legendary Moroccan monuments like Babb Boujloud (the medina’s main entrance), this is the city’s most exotic and historic region. Fes el Bali is a fantastic souk for local hand-made items in vibrant Moroccan styles such as leatherwork, metalwork, etc. We’ll go out for a drink in the afternoon in the new city, Spend the night in a hotel or riad.
Afterb breakfast, we’ll continue our journey over the Middle Atlas Mountains. We’ll make a pit stop at Ifrane, Morocco’s “Switzerland.” Then we continue our journey to Morocco’s largest cedar forest, near Azrou, where we will observe barbarian monkeys. Following that, we will head to Midelt for lunch. Later in the afternoon, we’ll drive to the Sahara desert, over the Tizi N’talghoumte pass (1907m), passing through wonderful Berber settlements and taking in the panoramic view of the Ziz Valley, which is densely forested with thousands of palm trees.
Following that, we will arrive at Merzouga’s wonderful land of sand dunes (Erg-Chebbi), where you will begin your Camel Trekking Adventure to desert camp, crossing the stunning, unique orange-colored sand dunes. This is a magnificent experience where you may feed your spirit while watching the sunset from the middle of the dunes. Dinner and nights will be in camp, with local music playing by drumps, under zillions of stars.
After breakfast, we will begin our excursion around the Erg-Chebbi dunes. We will visit several interesting places in Merzouga. We’ll stop in Khamliya village to listen to African music (Gnawa) performed by people who are originally from the south of Africa. Then we’ll continue our desert road trip to the desert behind the Erg-Chebbi dunes. We’ll visit an abandoned village to witness the functioning fossil minerals, then drive to a nomadic Berber family to learn about their lifestyle.
We’ll return to Khamliya for a delicious lunch at a nearby restaurant. We’ll take a ride to Merzouga Lake in the afternoon. If we’re lucky, we’ll find it full of water and see some birds, such as ducks and flamingos. If not, we’ll have to find it even if it’s dry because we can see camel pasture. While we’re there, we can observe and learn about local palm farms, then we will drive back ahead riad.
We have to get up very early in the morning to see the sunrise. If you want to see the best sunrise you’ve ever seen from the top of a nearby dune in the middle of the desert, you have to get up early. After breakfast, we rode back to Merzouga on camels or in a vehicle to go back through Marrakech. Leaving towards the town of Rissani. We’ll walk around the area’s most famous traditional and largest market, looking for locally manufactured goods and arts and crafts. Later, we proceed to Tinghir via the Tafilalt Oasis, where we can stop to observe the ancient irrigation system discovered there.
After arriving in Tinjdad town for lunch, we will go to Tinghir to experience the breathtaking views of the Todra valley and walk through the Todra Gorge with its orange towering cliffs. Todra Gorge’s canyons are about 1,000 feet deep, making it a popular climbing destination. We’ll finish the day in the verdant valley of Boumalne Dades. Consider staying in a hotel or riad.Dinner and an overnight.
After breakfast, we can enjoy one of the best views of the Dades valley from one of the strategically located viewing points in the mountains. From there, we can enjoy a large number of kasbahs as well as the aesthetic features of each one. Then we travel along a road lined with tourist-friendly kasbahs. After enjoying the “One Thousand Kasbahs Road,” the Rose Valley, and the large Skoura palm forest, we’ll go to Ouarzazate to see the Kasbah of Taourirt, the historic house of the Glaoui or Marrakech pasha. We can also go to the cinema studios and the TUE cinema museum if you’re interested.
We will halt half an hour from Ouarzazate at the ksar (fortified village) of Ait Ben Haddou, where we will explore the iconic Kasbah (declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986). Gladiator, Obelix, The Mummy, The Jewel of the Nile, Sahara with Penélope Cruz, and other famous films have been shot on this outstanding stage.
Lunch break in town, then w e continue our journey to Marrakech, passing through the mountain port of Tizi Ntichka and making a few photo stops along the way. We leave the scenery behind to reach another colorful view. We’ll arrive in Marrakech at 6 p.m., transfer to the hotel, and conclude our services.
Tour Map
Tour Gallery
- The cost of the tour is based on the number of people in your group and the kind of accommodation you stay in during the trip.
- The drive back from Erg Chebbi to Marrakech on the last day is somewhat lengthy. Please prepare yourselves for it.
- A 4×4 vehicle can easily seat up to four adult guests. However, if your tour has more than five individuals, a van will be used.
- Local guides and (if applicable) entrance fees are not included. You make direct payments to suppliers for those.
- The pick-up time for your desert tour is negotiable. Between 07:30 and 08:00 AM is the best time.
- The 3-day itinerary can be customized to be a 4-day Marrakech to Merzouga excursion with an additional night at Erg Chebbi, or halfway between Merzouga and Marrakech.
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Asked frequently questions (AFQ)
Even though I love Casablanca, I wouldn’t recommend the casual visitor to spend more than 2 nights there. Even just for the sights and as a gentle introduction to Morocco, it is worthwhile because it is essentially hassle-free. There are also some excellent restaurants.
When it comes to the perfect amount of time to spend in Morocco, ten days may just be the sweet spot, and it’s enough time that you won’t feel rushed. It’s simple to modify one of these weeklong itineraries to include a few extra days in a location you love—and want to linger in—along the way,
Compact There is a lot to see and do in Morocco. There is enough time in seven days to thoroughly explore imperial cities as well as add an extra day for exploring the desert or visiting an additional city, such as the frequently-overlooked Asilah or Zagora.
Casablanca is a city located on the coast of Morocco. A day trip to Casablanca from Marrakech is easily possible, and we provide this service at the most affordable price.