Morocco in 10 days: from the imperial cities to the Sahara and Marrakech
Two 10-day routes through Morocco, day by day: one with Chefchaouen, one slower in the south, with where you sleep each night, the driving times and the best airports.
By Ismail9 min read
Ten days is enough for the classic route through Morocco: the imperial cities, a night in the Sahara, the gorges and kasbahs of the south, and Marrakech, without rushing any of them. What it can't hold is everything at once: add Chefchaouen in the north, or more time in the desert and on the coast, but not both. Here are our two 10-day itineraries, day by day, with where you sleep, the driving times and the airports that make them work.
What 10 days in Morocco can cover
Fes, the dunes of Erg Chebbi, the kasbah road and Marrakech fit comfortably, as long as you travel one way: fly into Casablanca, Tangier or Fes, and home from Marrakech. After that, you choose:
- Version 1, with Chefchaouen: Casablanca, Rabat, the blue city, the Roman ruins of Volubilis and Fes, then the Sahara and Marrakech. More places, more packing.
- Version 2, without Chefchaouen: our 9-day tour from Casablanca plus one day. Fewer cities, but Berber villages, a night among the kasbahs and either a second night in the desert or a day in Essaouira.
Chefchaouen and the coast together need two weeks. Our guide to how many days you need in Morocco explains why the distances decide.
Version 1: with Chefchaouen (Casablanca to Marrakech)
The route climbs north to the Rif, then turns south across the Middle Atlas to the Sahara. No day's drive is longer than the one from Fes to the dunes, and that one is broken up with stops.
- Day 1: Casablanca → Rabat (about 100 km). Land in Casablanca and visit the Hassan II Mosque, which non-Muslims see on guided tours only. Tours run several times a day, the last at 14:00 (15:00 from mid-March to mid-September), and cost 140 MAD (about €13) for foreign adults: check the times on the mosque's website. Then up the coast to Rabat for the night.
- Day 2: Rabat → Chefchaouen (about 245 km). A morning in the capital: the Kasbah of the Udayas above the river mouth, the Hassan Tower and the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, all part of Rabat's UNESCO listing. Then about four hours inland to the Rif mountains.
- Day 3: Chefchaouen. The blue lanes of the medina, the old kasbah (now a museum) on Outa el Hammam square, and the walk up to the Spanish Mosque for the sunset. With energy to spare, the Akchour waterfalls are about 30 km away, in Talassemtane National Park. Our guide to whether Chefchaouen is worth visiting helps you plan the day.
- Day 4: Chefchaouen → Volubilis → Fes (about 235 km). South through the Rif foothills to Volubilis, a UNESCO-listed Roman town with mosaic floors still in place, then about an hour and a half on to Fes. Meknes, the third imperial city of the route, is about 30 km from Volubilis if you start early.
- Day 5: Fes. A full day in Fes el-Bali with a guide: the medersas, the doors of the Karaouine, the Chouara tannery. Our list of things to do in Fes helps you choose.
- Day 6: Fes → Merzouga (about 470 km), the long day. Ifrane and the cedar forest near Azrou, home to Barbary macaques, then the palm groves of the Ziz Valley. You reach Merzouga in the late afternoon, ride a camel into the dunes of Erg Chebbi at sunset and sleep in a Berber camp.
- Day 7: Merzouga → Todra Gorges → Dades Valley. Sunrise over the dunes, then west to the rock walls of the Todra Gorges, up to 300 metres high, and a night in the Dades Valley.
- Day 8: Dades → Marrakech. The Valley of Roses, the Skoura oasis and the ksar of Ait Ben Haddou, then over the High Atlas by the Tizi n'Tichka pass (2,260 m). You arrive in the late afternoon or early evening.
- Day 9: Marrakech. Palaces and souks, and Jemaa el-Fna at dusk.
- Day 10: departure from Marrakech, after a last morning in the medina if your flight allows.
Days 6 to 8 are our 3-day desert tour from Fes to Marrakech, with a driver-guide, a night in a desert camp and a night in the Dades Valley. The price of this version: six different beds in nine nights, and only one full day in Marrakech.
If you land in Tangier, skip Casablanca and Rabat. Chefchaouen is about 110 km away (about 2 hours), and the day you save gives Marrakech a second full day.
Version 2: without Chefchaouen, more time in the south
This version is our 9-day tour from Casablanca with one day added. It trades the north for the villages and kasbahs between the dunes and the Atlas, at a gentler pace.
- Day 1: Casablanca. The Hassan II Mosque, on the ocean front. With a morning landing, you can drive on to Fes (about 3.5 hours) the same evening.
- Day 2: Fes. A guided visit: the Merinid Tombs above the city, the Al-Karaouine university and the medina of Fes el-Bali.
- Day 3: Fes → Merzouga. Through Ifrane and Erfoud to Merzouga, a camel ride into the dunes and a night in a desert camp.
- Day 4: a full day in Erg Chebbi (the added day). The dunes by 4x4, a visit to nomad families and Gnawa musicians in the village of Khamlia, sunset from the sand and a second night in the desert: the same day as on our 5-day tour from Marrakech.
- Day 5: Rissani, Ait Ouzzine, N'Kob. The historic town of Rissani and its souk, then the Berber village of Ait Ouzzine and its traditions. Night in N'Kob.
- Day 6: a day with the Berbers, then Ouarzazate. Learn to bake bourafin, the traditional Berber bread, with local families, then drive on to Ouarzazate.
- Day 7: Ait Ben Haddou → Telouet → Marrakech. The ksar of Ait Ben Haddou and the Kasbah of Telouet, then across the Atlas to Marrakech, with a stop at an argan cooperative.
- Day 8: Marrakech. The Jardin Majorelle, the Bahia Palace, the Koutoubia and Jemaa el-Fna. Majorelle sells tickets online only, in timed slots that can sell out: book before you leave home.
- Day 9: the High Atlas, the Ourika Valley or a free day.
- Day 10: departure, from Marrakech airport or after a transfer to Casablanca.
The coast instead of the second desert night: skip the extra day in Erg Chebbi and add a day in Essaouira at the end, about three hours from Marrakech by road: the medina, the fishing port and the Skala sea walls, with grilled fish for lunch. Our day trip to Essaouira can also become a night by the ocean.
Spanish passport holders: since the 2023 earthquake, Spain has advised against travel to Al Haouz province, which includes the Ourika Valley and Imlil, so check that advice and your insurance before you choose day 9.
Where you sleep each night
| Night | Version 1 (with Chefchaouen) | Version 2 (second desert night) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rabat | Casablanca, or Fes |
| 2 | Chefchaouen | Fes |
| 3 | Chefchaouen | Desert camp, Merzouga |
| 4 | Fes | Desert camp, Merzouga |
| 5 | Fes | N'Kob |
| 6 | Desert camp, Merzouga | Ouarzazate |
| 7 | Dades Valley | Marrakech |
| 8 | Marrakech | Marrakech |
| 9 | Marrakech | Marrakech |
With Essaouira instead of the second desert night, Version 2 has one camp night and four nights in Marrakech, or three in Marrakech and one in Essaouira.
Driving times on the classic route
| Leg | Distance | Driving time without stops | Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Casablanca → Rabat | about 100 km | about 1 h 15 | 1 |
| Rabat → Chefchaouen | about 245 km | about 4–4.5 h | 1 |
| Chefchaouen → Volubilis → Fes | about 235 km | about 4.5–5 h | 1 |
| Casablanca → Fes | about 305 km | about 3.5 h | 2 |
| Fes → Merzouga, via Ifrane | about 470 km | 7–8 h | 1, 2 |
| Merzouga → Todra Gorges → Dades Valley | about 275 km | about 5 h | 1 |
| Dades Valley → Ait Ben Haddou → Marrakech | about 315 km | about 6 h | 1 |
| Merzouga → Rissani → N'Kob | about 230 km | about 4.5 h | 2 |
| N'Kob → Ouarzazate | about 135 km | about 2.5 h | 2 |
| Ouarzazate → Ait Ben Haddou → Telouet → Marrakech | about 210 km | about 4.5 h | 2 |
| Marrakech → Essaouira | about 180 km | 2.5–3 h | 2 |
| Marrakech → Casablanca airport | about 225 km | 2.5–3 h | 2 |
These are times from routing services, rounded, for the car alone. Real days, with photo stops, lunch and fuel, run 20 to 40 % longer, so the drive from Fes to Merzouga fills the day from breakfast to sunset. In winter, snow sometimes closes the Tizi n'Tichka and the Middle Atlas roads around Ifrane, as it did in January 2026, until the ploughs have cleared them.
Which airports to use
Fly in at one end and out at the other, and you never drive the same road twice. Casablanca is Royal Air Maroc's hub and the airport where most long-haul flights land; Tangier and Fes have direct flights from many European cities; Marrakech has the widest choice of flights home. Version 1 starts best in Casablanca or Tangier. Version 2 starts in Casablanca or, from Europe, in Fes, which frees a day for Marrakech or Essaouira at the end.
If your ticket is a return to Casablanca, Version 2 can end at Casablanca airport, as our 9-day tour does. By train, Marrakech to Casablanca usually takes about 2 h 40 to 3 h 20, but works on the high-speed line to Marrakech have changed timetables since September 2026: check the ONCF timetable a few days before, and allow for the airport, about 30 km south of the city.
If your ticket is a return to Marrakech, turn the route into a loop: go north first by train (about 7 h to Fes; Marrakech to Fes compares the other ways), then come back through the desert.
Train, self-drive or driver?
Trains link Casablanca, Rabat, Meknes, Fes, Tangier and Marrakech, so the cities of the north are easy by rail. There is no railway to Chefchaouen or Volubilis, nor anywhere south of Marrakech: from Fes to the dunes and back over the Atlas, you need a car, a driver or a tour. Coaches do reach Merzouga, but they are few and slow, and they skip the stops that make the road worth driving.
Many travellers mix the two: the train between Casablanca, Rabat and Fes, then a driver or a tour from Fes to Marrakech through the desert. Our guide to getting around Morocco compares trains, coaches and taxis, and driving in Morocco weighs a hire car against a driver.
Adapting the route
- Culture first: swap Chefchaouen for Meknes and a longer stay in Rabat; our guide to Morocco's imperial cities builds the trip around them.
- With children: Version 2 suits families better, with fewer hotel changes and a whole day for the camels and the dunes. Our family tours set the pace and the drives around their ages.
- Winter (December to March): Fes gets about 60 mm of rain a month, with January afternoons around 16 °C, and Chefchaouen, in the Rif mountains, is wetter still. Desert nights drop close to freezing, so pack a warm layer. Ramadan, expected from about 8 February to 9 March 2027, also slows the pace.
- Summer: Ouarzazate and Errachidia average about 39 °C (102 °F) on July afternoons. Drive early, rest at midday, and see the dunes at sunrise and sunset. Our when to go guides cover each season.
- Only a week: drop Rabat and Chefchaouen and keep Fes, the desert and Marrakech, as in Morocco in 7 days.
- Two weeks: start in Tangier, add a night in the Atlas and the coast, as in Morocco in 2 weeks.
Our 9-day tour is a starting point: we can add a night in Chefchaouen, the second desert night or Essaouira, and finish in Marrakech. Send us your flight times on WhatsApp, and we will fit the ten days around them.