8 Days
From Casablanca
8-Day Casablanca Grand Loop: Imperial Cities & the Sahara
A full circuit from Casablanca through Fez, the desert and Marrakech.
from€699 /person
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A north-to-south journey through the blue city, Fez and the dunes.
A north-to-south journey through the blue city, Fez and the dunes. This 8-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 chefchaouen & volubilis, guided fez medina, erg chebbi 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.
One of the great road days in Morocco, carrying us from the medieval north to the edge of the Sahara across ever-changing landscapes. We climb into the Middle Atlas to Ifrane, a curiously alpine town of pitched roofs and gardens nicknamed 'little Switzerland', then into the cedar forests around Azrou where troops of wild Barbary macaques gather at the roadside. Beyond Midelt the mountains give way to the dramatic gorges and endless palm groves of the Ziz Valley, a ribbon of green threading through bare desert rock. By late afternoon the first dunes of Erg Chebbi appear on the horizon. We swap the vehicle for camels and ride out over the sand as the light turns molten, reaching a Berber camp for tea, dinner and drumming beneath a blaze of stars.
A full, unhurried day in the heart of the Sahara at Erg Chebbi, Morocco's most spectacular sea of dunes, some rising 150 metres from the plain. You can begin by climbing a high ridge for sunrise, when the sand shifts through pink, gold and deep orange. Later we explore deeper by 4x4: a visit to the village of Khamlia to hear the hypnotic Gnawa music of its Saharan community, calls on nomad families who still live by their herds, stops at desert wells and fossil-strewn flats, and a look at the old routes once walked by camel caravans. There is time to rest in the shade, try sandboarding, or simply sit with the immense silence. As evening returns you ride out once more to camp for a second magical night under the stars.
Leaving the great dunes behind, we set off west along the fabled Road of a Thousand Kasbahs. First we pause in Rissani, the market town built on the ruins of Sijilmassa, once a wealthy caravan capital at the gateway to the Sahara, and pass through Erfoud, centre of the date and fossil trade. The route then climbs into the Atlas foothills to the magnificent Todra Gorge, where sheer rose-coloured limestone walls soar 300 metres and close to just a few metres apart above a clear river — we walk a stretch on foot, dwarfed by the cliffs. Continuing through Tinghir's palm oasis and a string of earthen ksour, we reach the Dades Valley in the late afternoon, checking in near the dramatic gorge with its famous switchback road for the night.
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.
Your Moroccan journey comes to an end today. After a relaxed breakfast and, if time allows, a final wander through the souks for any last souvenirs — a lantern, a rug, a bag of spices — your driver-guide collects you from your riad and transfers you to Marrakech Menara airport in good time for your flight. If your departure is later in the day, we are happy to suggest how to spend the remaining hours, whether that is a last mint tea on a rooftop overlooking the medina, a visit to a garden or museum, or simply resting before you travel. We say goodbye with a warm farewell — b'slama — and our hope that the dunes, mountains and medinas of the past days have given you memories and friendships to carry home.
“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.”
8 Days
A full circuit from Casablanca through Fez, the desert and Marrakech.
8 Days
The blue city, the imperial medina and the Sahara to Marrakech.
8 Days
Both great ergs — Zagora and Erg Chebbi — on a round trip from Marrakech.