Casablanca to Marrakech in 10 Days with a Small Group

Trip overview

You land in Casablanca, see it with a guide and head north via Rabat, Chefchaouen and Volubilis. Then Fez, the Sahara, the kasbah valleys and, to finish, Marrakech from morning to night.

• Duration10 days / 9 nights
• Starts inCasablanca
• GroupSmall group · 1–17 people
• DifficultyEasy
• LanguageEspañol
• DeparturesDepartures every Tuesday and Saturday from Casablanca

Highlights

• Departures on Tuesdays and Saturdays from Casablanca
• A whole day in Casablanca with a guide: Hassan II, the Habous and the art deco centre
• Stop in Rabat on the way to the Rif
• Roman ruins of Volubilis and the Bab Mansour gate in Meknes
• A full morning in the Fez medina with a licensed guide
• Azrou cedars, the Middle Atlas and the Ziz Valley
• Into the Erg Chebbi by camel at sunset, with the night at a desert camp
• Todra, Dades and Aït Ben Haddou on the last leg south of the Atlas
• A last full day in Marrakech, with a guided morning and a free afternoon

Day-by-day itinerary

1. 1

   Day 1: Mohammed V airport and a first night in Casablanca

   Our driver meets you at Mohammed V, which is about 35 kilometres from the centre, and in around 45 minutes you're at the hotel. If you land in the morning, the afternoon is yours: the Aïn Diab seafront is a short taxi ride away and the tram crosses the centre. Dinner is included, and at the hotel we leave you the departure time for the next day's visit.

   Hotel in CasablancaDinner

2. 2

   Day 2: Casablanca in a day with a local guide

   With a local guide you explore the city that many travellers only pass through to catch a plane. You start at the Hassan II Mosque, completed in 1993, with a minaret of about 210 metres and a prayer hall that looks out over the Atlantic. Visits for non-Muslims run at set times and the ticket is paid separately.

   Then you pass through the residential district of Anfa and Mohammed V square, surrounded by neo-Moorish government buildings from the French protectorate. The centre keeps many art deco facades from the 1920s and 1930s, and the guide points out the most striking ones. Mid-morning you go into the Habous quarter, with its olive market, its shops selling religious books and its almond-pastry bakeries. The afternoon is free for the corniche or to recover from the flight.

   Hotel in CasablancaBreakfast and dinner

3. 3

   Day 3: Casablanca – Chefchaouen with a stop in Rabat

   We load the bags after breakfast. Rabat is only 90 kilometres away, and we stop there for about an hour and a half to see the unfinished Hassan minaret, the white marble royal tomb and, if the traffic allows, a walk through the Kasbah of the Oudayas to the viewpoint over the river and the sea.

   From Rabat we carry on north via Kenitra. Lunch is on the way and at your own expense. In the afternoon the Gharb plain, all farmland, gives way to the first hills of the Rif beyond Ouezzane. You reach Chefchaouen at the end of the afternoon, after about 340 kilometres. From the car park to the riad you sometimes have to walk a few minutes uphill, so a wheeled suitcase that can cope with cobbles helps. Dinner and overnight in the blue town.

   Hotel or riad in ChefchaouenBreakfast and dinner

4. 4

   Day 4: Chefchaouen – Fez via the Roman ruins of Volubilis

   In the morning you have a couple of hours to walk around Chefchaouen. The streets around Outa el Hammam square and the kasbah are the busiest; if you climb towards the upper quarter and the Ras el Ma wash house, you see fewer shops and more locals going about their day.

   At around 11:00 we head south. Three hours later the columns of Volubilis appear on a ridge, the city Rome held in Mauretania Tingitana, where the Arch of Caracalla, the basilica and several mosaic floors with mythological scenes still stand. The visit takes a good hour and the ticket is extra; there's little shade. We pass Moulay Idriss, perched on its hill, make a short stop in Meknes in front of the Bab Mansour gate and reach Fez at nightfall.

   Hotel or riad in FezBreakfast and dinner

5. 5

   Day 5: Fez, from the craft quarters to the Royal Palace

   Fez is seen on foot and with a guide, because the Fez el Bali medina has thousands of alleys and the signs don't help much. Before going in, the minibus takes you to see the golden doors of the Royal Palace in Fez el Jdid and the old Jewish quarter, then climbs the Merenid hill, from where you see the whole medina at the bottom of the valley.

   Once inside, the guide leads you through the craft quarters: the coppersmiths of Seffarine square hammering away, the dyers and the Chouara tanners with their dye pits. You go into the 14th-century Attarine madrasa and look through the door of Al Qarawiyyin, where only Muslims may enter. At midday you can try bissara, a broad bean soup sold at stalls for a few dirhams. The afternoon is free.

   Hotel or riad in FezBreakfast and dinner

6. 6

   Day 6: Fez – Merzouga via Ifrane, Midelt and the Ziz

   The day starts early because you're crossing half the country. We climb into the Middle Atlas and stop for coffee in Ifrane, the university town of pitched-roof houses that many Moroccans call little Switzerland. A little further on, in the Azrou cedar forest, there are macaques by the tarmac; the driver will ask you not to feed them.

   Midelt marks the halfway point and lunch is there, at your own expense. Then we cross the Tizi n'Talghemt pass and the scenery turns to rock and palm trees following the Ziz river, through Errachidia and Erfoud. Between 8 and 9 hours after leaving Fez, stops included, the orange line of Erg Chebbi appears. There you swap the minibus for a camel that takes you to the tents; that night there's a hot dinner and a proper bed under canvas.

   Camp in the Erg Chebbi dunesBreakfast and dinner

7. 7

   Day 7: Merzouga – Ouarzazate, through gorges and palm groves

   If the sky is clear, climb the nearest dune to watch the sunrise; it's the quietest hour in the desert. Then you ride back by camel, shower, have breakfast in Merzouga and the minibus sets off west. Rissani, where the family that reigns in Morocco today comes from, and the fossil workshops of Alnif mark the way to Tinghir and its large palm grove. In the Todra Gorge you walk for about 20 minutes between sheer walls with a stream at your feet.

   In the afternoon the route continues along the Dades Valley, through Kelaa M'Gouna, capital of the Damask rose, and the Skoura oasis before Ouarzazate. Expect around 370 kilometres and between 7 and 8 hours. Dinner and the night are in Ouarzazate.

   Hotel in OuarzazateBreakfast and dinner

8. 8

   Day 8: Ouarzazate – Marrakech with a stop at Aït Ben Haddou

   Leaving Ouarzazate we pass Taourirt, the kasbah of the Glaoui, lords of the south, and the film studios that made the town famous. Half an hour away is Aït Ben Haddou. You explore it on foot, alone or with a guide from the village who charges separately: you cross the river on the stepping stones, climb between rammed-earth houses and reach the top, where the remains of the agadir, the village's communal granary, still stand.

   For lunch we stop on the climb to the pass or in Taddert, on the northern side, known for its grill houses. The Tizi n'Tichka means about two hours of curves; if winding roads upset your stomach, tell the driver and he'll seat you near the front. We reach Marrakech in mid-afternoon and drop you at the hotel where you'll spend the last two nights.

   Hotel or riad in MarrakechBreakfast and dinner

9. 9

   Day 9: Full day in Marrakech

   The morning is a guided walk through the medina, led by an official guide. Since you arrive at the end of the trip, your eye is already trained by the souks of Fez and Marrakech is easier to read. You start in the Koutoubia gardens, carry on to the Ben Youssef madrasa, the largest in the country, and go into the maze of souks as far as the spice square, Rahba Kedima.

   After lunch the afternoon is free. Some people go back to the souks to buy what they saw in the morning, some go to a hammam to scrub off the desert dust and some book the Jardin Majorelle. When it gets dark, the snail and harira stalls set up in Jemaa el Fna and the gnawa musicians appear. Dinner at the hotel is included, though some travellers prefer to swap it for a stall on the square on the group's last night.

   Hotel or riad in MarrakechBreakfast and dinner

10. 10

    Day 10: Departure from Marrakech or transfer to Casablanca

    Breakfast and end of services. The driver comes by your hotel in good time for your flight from Menara. If your return flight leaves from Casablanca, which is common with flights to the Americas, the transfer is about 240 kilometres of motorway to Mohammed V airport. Allow around three hours on the road and leave the hotel with time to spare.

    Breakfast

What's included

Prices per person

Fixed price per person, whatever the size of your group.

Payment and cancellation

You pay a 15% deposit when you book. The rest is paid on the first day of the trip, in cash or by bank transfer. You can also pay it by PayPal or card, with a 5% surcharge.

Group: free up to 10 days before departure. If you cancel in time, we refund the full deposit.

Extras you can add

Chosen when you book and added to the total. You can also ask for them later, subject to availability.

Frequently asked questions

Destinations on this trip