Morocco Itinerary: 11 Days from Marrakech

Arrive in the Red City, founded by the Almoravids around 1070, and settle into a riad within the medina walls. With no rush on the first day, you take a gentle orientation walk to find your bearings among the souks and the Koutoubia Mosque, whose 77-metre minaret has guided travellers since the 12th century. As evening falls, the UNESCO-listed Jemaa el-Fnaa square fills with grills, musicians and crowds for your first taste of Moroccan street life.

Travel note · Keep your first day light if you have arrived on a long-haul flight; the trip's pace allows for it.

A full day across the Red City's monuments. The Bahia Palace, built in the late 19th century, dazzles with painted ceilings and zellige courtyards, while the El Badi Palace stands as a stripped ruin where storks now nest. The Saadian Tombs, walled up for centuries and rediscovered in 1917, hold the dynasty's finest carved stucco. In the afternoon the cobalt Majorelle Garden and Berber Museum offer cool respite before you tackle the colour and chaos of the souks.

Travel note · Tomorrow is an easy coastal drive, so there is no need for an early start.

A relaxed 190-kilometre drive of about two and a half hours brings you to the Atlantic at Essaouira, stopping at an argan-oil cooperative and the famous tree-climbing goats along the way. Essaouira's walled medina and its Skala sea bastions were designed in the 18th century by a French engineer for Sultan Mohammed III and are now UNESCO-listed. The fortified ramparts, busy fishing port and Gnawa music heritage give the town an easy, salt-air rhythm quite unlike the interior cities.

Travel note · Essaouira is famously windy, which is great for kitesurfers but means you will want a light windbreaker even in summer.

A deliberately slow day with no long drive, designed to recharge before the desert leg. Sleep in, linger over breakfast, and spend the morning on the wide beach where Atlantic trade winds draw windsurfers and kitesurfers. You might take a horse or camel ride along the sand, browse the art galleries the town is known for, or simply sit with a coffee on the ramparts. In the late afternoon you transfer back toward Marrakech, ready for the mountains tomorrow.

Travel note · Repack a compact overnight bag tonight for the Sahara camp and leave your main luggage with the Marrakech riad if convenient.

The desert circuit opens with the climb over the Tizi n'Tichka Pass at 2,260 metres, the highest sealed road in Morocco. On the far side you reach Ait Benhaddou, the UNESCO-listed earthen ksar that has stood in for ancient Jerusalem, Thebes and Yunkai on screen. After exploring its kasbahs you pass Ouarzazate, the Skoura palm grove and the Rose Valley of Kalaat M'Gouna before reaching the dramatic red cliffs of the Dades Valley for the night.

Travel note · The pass is chilly even in summer; keep a layer accessible rather than packed away.

A short morning drive reaches Todra Gorge, where sheer 300-metre cliffs squeeze the canyon to barely 10 metres wide. From here the road runs east through Tinghir, Erfoud and the caravan town of Rissani to the edge of the Erg Chebbi sand sea. In the late afternoon you mount a camel and ride over the dunes to your desert camp, timed for sunset. Dinner is a tagine by firelight, followed by Berber drumming and a sky thick with stars.

Travel note · Closed shoes are best for the camel ride, and a scarf helps against wind-blown sand.

Wake before dawn for sunrise over the dunes, then begin the long drive north to Fes. The route climbs through Midelt and the palm-lined Ziz Valley, crosses the Middle Atlas cedar forests around Azrou where Barbary macaques live, and passes Ifrane, a town of pitched roofs nicknamed the Switzerland of Morocco. You reach Fes, founded in the 8th century and the country's spiritual capital, by early evening, settling into a riad in the historic medina.

Travel note · The longest drive of the trip, but the rest day on the coast means you start it well rested.

A full guided day in Fes el-Bali, a medieval medina of roughly 9,000 lanes and the largest car-free urban zone on earth. You visit the Bou Inania and Al-Attarine madrasas, both masterpieces of Marinid craftsmanship, and the gates of Al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859 and considered the oldest continuously operating university in the world. From a leather-shop terrace you overlook the Chouara tanneries, still dyeing hides in stone vats much as they have for nine centuries.

Travel note · Wear your most comfortable shoes; you will cover several kilometres on uneven stone underfoot.

A day excursion to imperial Meknes and the Roman city of Volubilis. Volubilis, around 33 kilometres from Meknes, flourished as a provincial capital and is Morocco's best-preserved Roman site, famous for its triumphal arch and vivid in-situ mosaics; it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. Meknes, the 17th-century seat of Sultan Moulay Ismail, is entered through the towering Bab Mansour gate and known for the vast Heri es-Souani granaries that once stored grain for the royal cavalry.

Travel note · Volubilis offers little shade; visit earlier and bring sun protection and water.

Drive about 200 kilometres north into the Rif Mountains to Chefchaouen, founded in 1471 by Moulay Ali ben Rashid as a fortress and later settled by Andalusian Muslims and Jews fleeing Spain. The medina is famously painted in countless shades of blue, and the four-hour drive through olive groves and green hills feels worlds away from the desert. You arrive with time to wander the photogenic lanes and climb to the Spanish Mosque for the classic sunset panorama.

Travel note · The Spanish Mosque climb takes about 30-40 minutes; start an hour before sunset for the best light.

Spend a final blue-city morning catching the soft early light in the empty lanes and shopping for the Rif region's woollen blankets and goat-cheese specialities. After a relaxed terrace breakfast you transfer to your departure point: Tangier's Ibn Battouta Airport is roughly two hours north, while Fes-Saiss lies about four hours south. Your eleven-day loop closes having taken in the Atlantic coast, the High Atlas, the Sahara and three of Morocco's great historic cities.

Travel note · Allow at least three hours before an international flight and add the Chefchaouen transfer time on top.