5 Days
From Marrakech
5-Day Marrakech Tour: Fez & the Merzouga Desert
Imperial cities and the Sahara, out and back from Marrakech.
from€459 /person
View tour
Chefchaouen and the imperial cities on a northern culture route.
Chefchaouen and the imperial cities on a northern culture route. This 5-day private journey begins in Tangier and is designed to give you the best of the route without the rush — with hand-picked accommodation, an English-speaking driver-guide and plenty of freedom to stop wherever catches your eye.
Highlights include blue city of chefchaouen, volubilis & meknes, fez to marrakech. Like every Edita itinerary it is fully flexible: we can lengthen or shorten it, upgrade your riads and desert camp, or change the start and finish cities to fit your flights.
Keep exploring: Morocco Tours from Tangier · all 39 Morocco tours · How Many Days Do You Need in Morocco?
We collect you in Tangier — from the airport, the port or the Tarifa ferry — and set off south into the green folds of the Rif Mountains. Our destination is Chefchaouen, the famous 'blue pearl' whose entire medina is washed in every conceivable shade of blue, from powder and sky to deep indigo. The drive itself is beautiful, climbing through cork-oak forests and hillside villages. On arrival you have the afternoon free to lose yourself in the tangle of blue lanes, where cats doze on doorsteps, artisans sell woven blankets and hand-thrown pottery, and every corner is a photograph waiting to happen. Climb to the Spanish Mosque viewpoint for sunset over the whole blue town, then enjoy dinner in a small square before your first mountain night in Morocco.
Leaving the blue mountains behind, we drive south across rolling farmland toward the imperial heartland of Morocco, breaking the journey with two of the country's great historic sites. First we stop at Volubilis, the best-preserved Roman ruins in Morocco, where standing arches, columns and remarkably intact floor mosaics of Bacchus, Orpheus and the seasons spread across a hillside of olive groves. Nearby lies Moulay Idriss, the whitewashed holy town cascading over two hills. We continue to Meknes, the 17th-century capital of Sultan Moulay Ismail, to admire the monumental Bab Mansour gate, the vast granaries and royal stables. By late afternoon we reach Fez and check in to a riad within the old medina, leaving the evening free to rest before tomorrow's full day exploring the labyrinthine heart of the city.
Today we dive into Fez el-Bali, the largest living medieval medina in the world and a UNESCO treasure of some 9,000 lanes where donkeys and handcarts still do the work of trucks. With a licensed local guide we thread through the maze to its landmarks: the Chouara tanneries, where leather is still soaked and dyed by hand in honeycombs of stone vats exactly as it was a thousand years ago; the Al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859 and recognised as the oldest continually operating university on earth; and the exquisitely tiled Bou Inania and Al-Attarine madrasas. We visit the coppersmiths hammering in their square, weavers at their looms and the fragrant spice souks. It is an intense, unforgettable immersion, and your guide makes sense of the beautiful chaos at every turn.
A grand finale of a driving day, linking the desert to Marrakech across some of Morocco's most cinematic scenery. We follow the valley through the Skoura palm oasis, with its old mud-brick kasbahs, to Ouarzazate, the 'door of the desert' and the country's film capital, where epics from Lawrence of Arabia to Gladiator were shot. Nearby stands the jewel of the route: Ait Ben Haddou, a UNESCO World Heritage ksar of fortified earthen towers rising above the river, its lanes and rooftops instantly familiar from countless films. We take time to climb through the old village to the granary at the top for sweeping views. Then we cross the High Atlas by the spectacular Tizi n'Tichka pass, winding past Berber villages, and descend to Marrakech by evening.
A full day exploring the Red City with your guide, uncovering the monuments and hidden corners behind the bustle. We visit the iconic Koutoubia minaret, the 12th-century tower that is Marrakech's symbol, then the sumptuous Bahia Palace with its painted ceilings and tranquil courtyards, and the Saadian Tombs, a royal necropolis of exquisite tilework rediscovered only a century ago. We step into the Ben Youssef Madrasa, once North Africa's largest Quranic school and a masterpiece of carved cedar and zellige, and wander the souks quarter by quarter — dyers, metalworkers, leather and spices. As evening falls we arrive at Jemaa el-Fnaa, the great square that transforms into open-air theatre: storytellers, snake charmers, musicians, henna artists and a hundred smoking food stalls. Few places on earth feel so vividly alive after dark.
“The best trip we have ever taken. Our guide felt like a friend by the end, the desert camp was magical and everything ran perfectly.”
“Impeccably organised and completely private. We changed the plan twice and Edita made it effortless. The Sahara sunrise was unforgettable.”
5 Days
Imperial cities and the Sahara, out and back from Marrakech.
5 Days
From the Atlantic gateway to the imperial cities and the dunes.
5 Days
A one-way journey from the desert airport across the south to Marrakech.