Every private tour is different, so the price of a week in Morocco depends on a few simple choices. Knowing them helps you plan your budget and compare offers fairly.

1. Group size

The car and driver cost the same for one traveller or for four, so the price per person goes down when more people share the trip. Families and groups of friends get the best value.

2. Accommodation level

You can choose charming guesthouses and family riads, comfortable mid-range hotels, or luxury riads and desert camps with private bathrooms. This is the biggest difference between quotes.

3. The desert camp

A standard Berber camp, a comfort camp with en-suite tents, or a luxury camp: all have their charm, but the price and the experience are different.

4. Season

Spring, autumn and holidays like Christmas and Easter are high season. In quieter months, hotels can offer better rates.

5. Extras

Local guides in Fes and Marrakech, entrance fees, quad bikes, sandboarding or a hot-air balloon flight over Marrakech can be included or left optional.

What is always included in our tours

• Airport pick-up on day 1 and drop-off on day 7
• Private air-conditioned vehicle with an English-speaking local driver
• 6 nights with breakfast and dinner
• Camel trek and night in a desert camp on desert routes

How to get your price

Send us your arrival and departure airports, your dates, the number of travellers and your preferred hotel level. We reply with a clear, all-inclusive quote, usually within a few hours. Ask for your free price.

All our tours start with a pick-up at the airport and end with a drop-off at the airport. The airport you choose shapes the whole week, so here is a quick guide to Morocco’s main international airports.

Marrakech (RAK)

The most popular arrival point, with many direct flights from Europe. Perfect for routes over the High Atlas to the Sahara, or a slower week with Essaouira on the coast. See Marrakech and the Sahara.

Fes (FEZ)

A smaller airport close to the medina. Ideal for northern Morocco: Chefchaouen, Volubilis, Meknes and the shortest drive to the Merzouga dunes. See Fes, Chefchaouen and the Sahara.

Casablanca (CMN)

Morocco’s main international hub, with long-haul flights from America, the Middle East and Africa. Start with the Hassan II Mosque and Rabat, then head to Fes, the desert and Marrakech. See Casablanca, Sahara and Marrakech.

Rabat (RBA)

A calm capital city and a quiet airport, well placed for Chefchaouen and Fes. See Rabat, Chefchaouen, Fes and the Sahara.

Tangier (TNG)

The gateway from Spain, by air or by ferry. Start in the north with Chefchaouen and finish in Marrakech, or loop back to Tangier. See Tangier to Marrakech.

Agadir (AGA)

Many travellers come for the beaches. Add a week of discovery: the Anti-Atlas, Taroudant, the Sahara or Essaouira. See Agadir, Sahara and Marrakech.

Our tip: fly in and out of different airports

Arriving in one city and leaving from another saves a full day on the road. Tell us your flights and we will build the week around them.

The direct drive from Marrakech to Fes takes most of a day. The route through the Sahara takes a week, and it is one of the great road trips in the world.

Over the High Atlas

Leaving Marrakech, the road climbs through Berber villages to the Tizi n’Tichka pass. On the other side the landscape changes completely: red earth, palm oases and kasbahs. Ait Benhaddou, a fortified village of earth and straw, is the first great stop.

Valleys and gorges

From Ouarzazate the road follows the Dades valley, the “Road of a Thousand Kasbahs”. The Dades Gorges have a famous winding road, and the Todra Gorges a canyon so narrow that the cliffs almost touch above you.

The Sahara

After Tinghir and Erfoud, the dunes of Erg Chebbi appear on the horizon. This is where you leave the car, ride a camel at sunset and sleep in the desert.

North through the Ziz Valley and the Middle Atlas

The road north follows the long palm valley of the Ziz, crosses the plateaus around Midelt and enters the cedar forests of the Middle Atlas, home to Barbary macaques. Ifrane, with its sloping roofs, is often called the “Switzerland of Morocco”.

Fes

The journey ends in Fes, Morocco’s spiritual and cultural capital, with a day to explore the medina with a local guide.

How long are the drives?

Marrakech to Merzouga is roughly 550 kilometres and Merzouga to Fes around 470, which is why the route is split over several days with stops every hour or two. With a private driver you never drive more than you want, and every stop is a viewpoint, a kasbah or a café.

See the full day-by-day plan: 7 Days from Marrakech to Fes via the Sahara, or the reverse route from Fes to Marrakech.

It is the question we hear most often. Morocco is a big country, about the size of California, and the best-known places are far from each other. So is one week really enough?

Yes, if you choose a direction

Seven days works very well when your trip goes in one direction: arrive in Marrakech and fly home from Fes, or land in Tangier and leave from Marrakech. Open-jaw flights usually cost about the same as a return ticket and save you a full day of driving.

What fits into one week

• Two or three cities – for example Marrakech, Fes and Chefchaouen.
• The Atlas Mountains – you cross them on almost every route.
• One or two nights in the Sahara – in the Erg Chebbi dunes of Merzouga.
• Gorges and kasbahs – Dades, Todra and Ait Benhaddou lie on the way to the desert.

What does not fit

In one week you cannot see the whole country well. If you add the Atlantic coast, the south (Agadir, Tafraoute) and the north (Tangier, Chefchaouen) to the Sahara, you will spend your holiday in a car. Choose one theme instead: imperial cities, desert, or mountains and coast.

Why a private driver changes everything

Public transport between Morocco’s cities is good, but there is no train to the Sahara and buses to the desert are long. With your own driver you stop where you want, take photos at the viewpoints and arrive at your riad before dark. It is the main reason a week feels relaxed instead of rushed.

Our verdict

Seven days is the perfect first trip to Morocco. You will leave with the feeling that you saw the real country, and probably with a list of places for next time. Have a look at our 12 seven-day tours from six different airports.

One week in Morocco sounds short, but with a private driver and a well-designed route it is enough to see the country’s three great faces: the imperial cities, the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara desert. The secret is simple: arrive in one city and leave from another, so you never waste a day driving back.

The classic route: Marrakech to Fes via the Sahara

Our most popular week starts at Marrakech airport and ends at Fes airport (or the other way round). It crosses Morocco from south-west to north-east and passes through almost every landscape the country has.

Day 1 – Marrakech to Ait Benhaddou

Your driver meets you at the airport and you cross the High Atlas by the Tizi n’Tichka pass, more than 2,200 metres high. In the afternoon you walk through Ait Benhaddou, the earthen ksar listed by UNESCO and seen in many films.

Day 2 – The Road of a Thousand Kasbahs

Through Skoura’s palm groves and the Valley of Roses to the red cliffs of the Dades Gorges, with stops at old kasbahs along the way.

Day 3 – Todra Gorges and the dunes of Merzouga

A short walk inside the narrow Todra canyon, then the drive to Merzouga, where camels wait to take you into the golden dunes of Erg Chebbi at sunset. Dinner, drums and a night in a desert camp.

Day 4 – A full day in the desert

Sunrise on the dunes, the Gnawa village of Khamlia, nomad families and the seasonal lake. Many travellers choose a second night in the desert: it is the highlight of the week.

Day 5 – Ziz Valley, Middle Atlas and Fes

North through the Ziz palm valley and the cedar forests near Azrou, where Barbary macaques live, to Fes.

Day 6 – Fes with a local guide

Fes el Bali is the largest car-free medina in the world. With a licensed guide you see the Chouara tanneries, the Bou Inania madrasa and the old craft quarters.

Day 7 – Departure

A free morning, then your driver takes you to Fes airport.

Other ways to spend your week

• Coming from the north? Try Tangier to Marrakech, with Chefchaouen, Fes and the Sahara.
• Arriving in Casablanca? Casablanca, Sahara and Marrakech adds Rabat and the Hassan II Mosque.
• Prefer the sea to the desert? Marrakech, Atlas and Essaouira is a slower week with mountain walks and the Atlantic coast.

Our advice

Do not try to see everything. A good week in Morocco combines three to six places and leaves time to sit in a riad courtyard with a mint tea. Tell us your arrival and departure airports and we will design the seven days around your flights.