10-Day Group Tour of Morocco from Casablanca

Today marks the start of your ten-day shared-group adventure across Morocco, the most complete small-group itinerary we offer from Casablanca. On arrival at Mohammed V International Airport, a Marokko Travel representative transfers you to your centrally located hotel, with arrivals staggered throughout the day according to flight times. Casablanca, Morocco's largest city and commercial capital, offers a relaxed, modern first impression before the imperial cities, mountains, desert, and coast that follow over the next week and a half. Time permitting, your driver may suggest a brief stop at the Hassan II Mosque, one of the largest mosques in the world and one of the very few in Morocco that non-Muslim visitors may enter, dramatically positioned over the Atlantic with a 210-metre minaret, the tallest in the world. This evening, your group gathers for a welcome briefing with your tour leader — a great chance to meet your fellow travellers, typically a genuine mix of nationalities in groups of six to sixteen — review the days ahead, and enjoy a welcome dinner together before the shared minibus departs tomorrow morning on what is genuinely one of the most comprehensive small-group routes through Morocco available. This evening's welcome dinner is a good first chance for the group to get acquainted before the shared journey begins in earnest tomorrow.

This morning the group departs Casablanca and drives north along the Atlantic coast to Rabat, Morocco's political capital and one of its four Imperial Cities, a journey of about an hour. With your tour leader, we explore the Kasbah des Oudayas, a 12th-century fortified citadel of blue-and-white lanes and Andalusian Gardens overlooking the Bou Regreg River, and the Hassan Tower alongside the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, guarded by the Royal Guard in ceremonial dress. After a group lunch stop, we continue north into the Rif Mountains, where pine forest and terraced Berber villages replace the coastal plains, arriving in Chefchaouen — the famous 'Blue City' — in the late afternoon, in time for the celebrated golden-hour light on its blue-washed walls. Founded in 1471 as a small defensive fortress, Chefchaouen later became a refuge for Muslim and Jewish families fleeing the Spanish Reconquista, explaining its distinctly Andalusian character. After checking in, the evening is free for the group to wander the photogenic blue alleyways independently or gather for a shared dinner on a rooftop terrace overlooking the Rif Mountains. Lunch is usually a shared group stop near the Rabat medina, giving everyone a first taste of Moroccan cuisine together.

This morning is dedicated to Chefchaouen, with no early departure — this remarkable town rewards unhurried time. Your guide leads the group through the upper medina, past Plaza Uta el-Hammam and the 15th-century Kasbah fortress with its small museum and garden, before free time to wander the labyrinth of blue stairways and doorways independently, an excellent opportunity to pick up handwoven wool garments or the region's distinctive goat's cheese. Around midday, the group begins the journey south toward Fes, Morocco's spiritual and cultural capital, the route descending out of the Rif Mountains through cork oak forests and olive groves. We arrive in Fes in the late afternoon. Founded in the 9th century, Fes el-Bali is the largest car-free urban area in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981, containing over 9,000 narrow alleyways. Rather than diving into the medina today, we recommend checking in, resting, and taking an easy group orientation walk before tomorrow's full exploration. Dinner tonight is a good chance to try a refined Fassi tagine — Fes is widely regarded as Morocco's culinary capital. Lunch en route to Fes is typically a group stop in a small town along the way, breaking up the day's driving.

Today the group explores Fes together, with an early start around 9am before the midday heat and crowds build. A licensed local guide (compulsory in Fes) leads the group through Fes el-Bali. We begin at Bab Boujloud, the ornate blue-and-green tiled 'Blue Gate', winding through souks organised by traditional guild — metalworkers, weavers, leatherworkers, and spice merchants with pyramids of saffron and cumin. A highlight is the Chouara Tannery, one of the oldest in the world, where hides are still dyed by hand in stone vats using methods essentially unchanged since the 11th century. The group also views the exterior of the Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque and University, founded in 859 AD and recognised as the oldest continuously operating educational institution in the world, and visits the Bou Inania Madrasa, celebrated for its intricate cedar carving. A group lunch is taken at a traditional Fassi restaurant. The afternoon continues gently with time to browse the souks before returning to the hotel, with the evening free ahead of tomorrow's long drive toward the Sahara. Lunch during the guided group tour is usually at a traditional Fassi restaurant near the souks, a shared midday pause.

Early departure this morning, ideally by 8am, for one of the longest and most scenic driving days of the trip. The road climbs into the Middle Atlas, and within an hour the plains around Fes give way to pine and cedar forest. Our first stop is Ifrane, an alpine-style town built by the French in the 1930s, before continuing to the Azrou Cedar Forest, home to some of the largest Atlas cedars in the world and a resident troop of wild Barbary macaques — the group spends twenty to thirty minutes walking among the ancient trees. Continuing south, we descend toward Midelt, a former mining town and gateway to the High Atlas, for a group lunch stop. From Midelt, the road follows the Ziz Gorges and then the Ziz Valley, a ribbon of palm groves and mudbrick ksour villages. As the afternoon light softens, the group arrives in Merzouga on the edge of the Erg Chebbi dune sea, where camel handlers meet everyone for a 45-60 minute sunset trek across the dunes to the shared desert camp. After a group dinner cooked over an open fire, everyone gathers around the campfire as Berber musicians play traditional drums under one of the most spectacular starscapes anywhere on Earth.

For early risers, this morning offers one of the most memorable group experiences of the trip: climbing a nearby dune together in the dark to watch the sunrise transform the desert from soft pink to deep gold. Afterwards, the group enjoys a simple Berber breakfast at camp before returning by 4x4 to Merzouga village, where the minibus awaits. We drive west toward Todra Gorge, stopping for an hour so the group can walk along the canyon floor beneath sheer pink and orange limestone cliffs rising up to 300 metres. A group lunch is typically taken nearby, often overlooking the palm oasis. In the afternoon, we continue along the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs toward the Dades Valley, also known as the Valley of Roses, where dramatic folded rock formations rise above a green ribbon of almond and fig orchards dotted with earthen kasbahs. We check in to a kasbah-style hotel, many offering wonderful terrace views over the valley, for a group dinner as the sun sets behind the rock formations. Lunch back at camp today is a shared group affair, a good chance to swap stories from the morning's sunrise hike.

After breakfast overlooking the Dades Valley, the group heads to Ouarzazate, nicknamed the 'Hollywood of Africa' thanks to the Atlas Film Studios, where productions including Gladiator and Game of Thrones have been filmed. Time permitting, we visit the Taourirt Kasbah, a former residence of the powerful Glaoui family. A short drive brings the group to Ait Ben Haddou, a fortified ksar above the Ounila River and UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987, one of the best-preserved examples of pre-Saharan earthen architecture in the world. We walk through the ksar's narrow lanes to the old communal granary at the top for panoramic views. After a group lunch, the minibus begins the spectacular ascent of the Tizi n'Tichka Pass, the highest major mountain pass in North Africa at 2,260 metres, winding through the High Atlas with sweeping views over terraced Berber villages. As the road descends, the palm groves surrounding Marrakech come into view, and the group arrives in the late afternoon to check in, with the evening free. Lunch is usually a shared group stop in Ouarzazate before the final push over the Tizi n'Tichka Pass.

This morning a local guide leads the group through the 'Red City', beginning at the Bahia Palace, a 19th-century masterpiece with elaborately carved cedar ceilings, followed by the Saadian Tombs, a royal necropolis rediscovered in 1917 after lying sealed for nearly 300 years. We view the Koutoubia Mosque, Marrakech's largest landmark, from its surrounding gardens. Around midday, the group visits the Jardin Majorelle, a botanical garden created by French painter Jacques Majorelle in the 1920s and later restored by Yves Saint Laurent, celebrated for its cobalt-blue buildings and exotic plants. In the afternoon, we head into the souks, Marrakech's sprawling market network organised by trade, where your guide helps the group with the art of bargaining. As afternoon draws to a close, we make our way to Jemaa el-Fna, a UNESCO-recognised 'Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity', which transforms after sunset with food stalls, storytellers, and musicians — a lively spot for a shared group dinner. Lunch during the guided group tour is typically at a restaurant near the souks, a shared pause before the afternoon continues.

Today the group swaps the intensity of Marrakech for the Atlantic coast, driving roughly two and a half hours west to Essaouira, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed fortified port town built in its current form in the 18th century. We walk along the Skala de la Ville, the historic sea-facing ramparts lined with bronze cannons, offering sweeping Atlantic views (parts of Game of Thrones were filmed here as the city of Astapor). The group wanders through the medina's relaxed, art-filled streets, considerably calmer than Marrakech's souks, exploring thuya-wood workshops and the bustling fishing port, where blue wooden boats unload the day's catch beside grilled-fish stalls — a popular, informal group lunch option. Essaouira has long been known as 'Wind City' for the reliable Atlantic breeze that has made it a major windsurfing destination since the 1980s. In the late afternoon, the group drives back to Marrakech, arriving in the early evening for a final free evening together. Fresh grilled fish right on Essaouira's quayside makes for an excellent, informal group lunch, watching the day's catch being unloaded just metres away.

Your shared-group journey comes to an end this morning. Depending on flight times, the group has time for a final breakfast together and, schedule permitting, some last-minute souvenir shopping in the souks — argan oil, saffron, ras el hanout spice blends, or handmade leather goods make excellent, easily packable gifts. After ten days together, this is often a lively last morning of swapping photos and contact details with fellow travellers before airport transfers are organised individually or in small groups according to each traveller's flight time. Over these ten days, your group will have travelled from the Atlantic coast at Casablanca through Rabat and the Blue City of Chefchaouen, into the spiritual heart of the country at Fes, across the Middle Atlas and into the golden dunes of the Sahara, through dramatic gorges and valleys, over the High Atlas via the Tizi n'Tichka Pass, into the vibrant beauty of Marrakech, and out to the Atlantic once more at Essaouira — genuinely one of the most complete small-group routes through Morocco, shared with fellow travellers from around the world. On behalf of your tour leader, drivers, and the entire Marokko Travel team, thank you for travelling with us. On behalf of your tour leader, drivers, and the entire Marokko Travel team, thank you for travelling with us on this complete shared-group Morocco experience.