How do I know how long to spend in each place?

After years of building these itineraries, I work from a set of rough defaults and then adjust for the traveller. The two great medinas — Marrakech and Fes — each genuinely want two nights, sometimes three, because a medina only reveals itself once you've been lost in it more than once; a single night leaves you scratching the surface. Smaller, more contained places like Chefchaouen, Meknes or a kasbah-valley stop work well as a single night, enough to see the heart of them without running out of things to do.

The principle underneath those numbers is to favour two-night stays wherever you can. A one-night stop means you arrive in the late afternoon, eat, sleep, and leave after breakfast — you've essentially used the place as a hotel, not visited it, and you've spent the day either side packing and unpacking. Two nights gives you a full, luggage-free day in between to explore on foot, find your favourite café, and let the place breathe. So when I'm deciding how long to spend somewhere, I'm really deciding whether it earns a proper day, and most major stops do.

Some places have a natural minimum that the sights dictate. The desert is one night in a camp by definition — that's the experience — but reaching it eats the days either side, so block out three days total for a deep-desert leg. Essaouira and the coast reward two nights because their whole point is to slow down, and a single night there fights the relaxed mood you went for. Conversely, transit towns like Ouarzazate are usually a stop rather than a stay, worth a few hours rather than a night unless logistics force it.

Finally, read your own travel style honestly, because the defaults bend to it. Fast-paced travellers who thrive on variety can trim a night here and there and cover more ground; people who travel to relax should add nights and cut destinations, building in deliberate rest days especially after the desert or a trek. When in doubt, I tell clients to stay longer in fewer places — almost nobody finishes a Morocco trip wishing they'd spent less time somewhere they loved, but plenty wish they'd skipped the place they only saw for one rushed night.