Morocco Itinerary: 16 Days from Casablanca

Begin your grand tour in Morocco's largest city and economic capital, a port metropolis of Art Deco facades and Atlantic energy. After meeting your driver-guide, you settle in before visiting the colossal Hassan II Mosque, completed in 1993 and rising directly over the ocean. The rest of the day is gentle, helping you adjust to the time difference and the rhythm of Morocco before the journey north and south begins.

Travel note · Casablanca is a working city, not a tourist showpiece, but the mosque is unmissable. An early night sets you up for the road north.

A short hop up the Atlantic motorway brings you to Rabat, Morocco's elegant, low-key capital and a UNESCO World Heritage city. You explore the blue-and-white Kasbah of the Udayas above the Bou Regreg estuary, the unfinished 12th-century Hassan Tower, and the marble Mausoleum of Mohammed V. The afternoon is relaxed, with the leafy boulevards and walled medina offering a gentle, uncrowded introduction to Moroccan city life.

Travel note · Rabat is calm and walkable. The Chellah is especially atmospheric in late afternoon light.

Today you head inland and up into the Rif Mountains to Chefchaouen, the famous blue pearl founded in 1471 as a fortress against Portuguese incursions. The drive winds through farmland and olive groves before the town's indigo-washed medina appears against the green peaks of Jebel el-Kelaa. You arrive with time to lose yourself in the photogenic blue alleys as the light softens and the day-trippers leave.

Travel note · The blue lanes are quietest and most photogenic just after sunrise and just before sunset, when the tour groups have gone.

A rewarding day links the Rif to the heart of imperial Morocco. You descend south to Volubilis, the country's finest Roman ruins and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where mosaics of Bacchus and Orpheus survive in situ. A stop in Meknes takes in the monumental Bab Mansour gate before you continue to Fes, arriving in the late afternoon at your riad inside the labyrinthine medina of Fes el-Bali.

Travel note · Volubilis is hot and shadeless at midday; a hat and water are essential. Meknes is an easy, uncrowded imperial city.

A full day inside Fes el-Bali, the world's largest car-free urban area and the spiritual capital of Morocco. With a local guide you navigate a maze of some 9,000 lanes, visiting the 14th-century Bou Inania and Al-Attarine madrasas, the Nejjarine fountain, and the Al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859 and often cited as the oldest existing degree-granting university. The famous Chouara tanneries, unchanged for centuries, are the day's pungent highlight.

Travel note · Stay close to your guide - Fes el-Bali genuinely confounds first-timers. Carry small cash for the cooperatives and the tannery terrace.

Leaving the imperial cities behind, you climb into the Middle Atlas. Ifrane, built by the French in the 1930s, surprises with its alpine chalets and is nicknamed the "Switzerland of Morocco." Nearby Azrou's cedar forest is home to troops of Barbary macaques. Crossing the high plateau, you reach Midelt, an apple-growing market town between the Middle and High Atlas, where you overnight before the descent to the desert.

Travel note · The Middle Atlas can be cold and even snowy in winter and early spring - keep a warm layer accessible.

One of the great scenic drives in Morocco follows the Ziz Valley, where a ribbon of date palms threads a red-rock gorge toward the desert. Past Erfoud and Rissani, the tarmac runs out at Merzouga and the towering dunes of Erg Chebbi appear, some rising over 150m. In the late afternoon you trade the vehicle for a camel caravan and ride into the sand to your luxury camp for the first of two desert nights.

Travel note · Bring only an overnight bag onto the camel; leave main luggage with the driver. Wear closed shoes and long trousers for the trek.

A full day to slow down and experience the desert beyond the photo-stop. After a dune sunrise you have time to rest, then a 4x4 excursion explores the wider Erg Chebbi region: the Gnaoua musicians of Khamlia, descended from sub-Saharan caravans, the seasonal flamingo lake of Dayet Srji, abandoned kohl mines and nomad families. You return to camp for a second night under one of the clearest skies on Earth.

Travel note · The two-night desert stay is what separates a grand tour from a rushed loop - use today to do nothing in particular.

Today you trace the old caravan routes west along the Saharan frontier, often called the "Road of a Thousand Kasbahs." After leaving the dunes you reach the Todra Gorge near Tinghir, where a clear river cuts a slot between limestone walls rising 300m and narrowing to barely ten metres. Continuing on, you reach the Dades Valley, whose serpentine road and eroded "monkey-finger" rock formations make a spectacular finale to the day.

Travel note · The famous Dades hairpin switchbacks are just above most hotels - worth a short walk up for the classic photograph.

A relaxed, scenic day along the kasbah road. You pass through the Skoura palmeraie, an oasis dense with date palms and earthen kasbahs, including the photogenic Kasbah Amridil. After Ouarzazate, the "door of the desert" and home to Atlas Film Studios, you reach Aït Benhaddou, the UNESCO-listed ksar of pisé towers that has starred in Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator and Game of Thrones. You overnight opposite the floodlit fortress.

Travel note · A short driving day by design - savour Skoura and the kasbah light rather than racing to Marrakech.

You cross the High Atlas via the Tizi n'Tichka, at 2,260m the highest major road pass in Morocco, recently re-engineered with sweeping new viaducts. Berber villages cling to terraced slopes and walnut groves before the green Haouz plain opens toward Marrakech. Arriving mid-afternoon, you settle into a medina riad and step out into the spectacle of Jemaa el-Fna square as it ignites with food stalls and storytellers at dusk.

Travel note · The Tichka can be foggy or icy in winter mornings. The new viaducts have cut the crossing time but the views remain superb.

A full day in the Red City, founded by the Almoravids in 1070 and packed with monuments and gardens. With a guide you tour the 19th-century Bahia Palace, the Saadian Tombs rediscovered in 1917, and the ruins of El Badi Palace. The afternoon mixes the cobalt-blue Jardin Majorelle and YSL Museum with the spice, leather and carpet souks. Evening is yours for a hammam or a final medina dinner.

Travel note · Book the Jardin Majorelle online in advance - queues are long. The souks are best with a guide on your first visit.

You swap city walls for mountain trails on a short drive south to Imlil at 1,740m, the trailhead village beneath Jebel Toubkal, at 4,167m the highest peak in North Africa. A guided day hike climbs through walnut terraces and Berber hamlets to viewpoints over the Mizane Valley, with a traditional lunch in a village home. You overnight in a mountain guesthouse, swapping the call of the medina for crisp Atlas air and silence.

Travel note · The full Toubkal summit needs two days and crampons in winter; this day hike is achievable for anyone reasonably fit. Bring proper footwear.

Descending from the mountains, you cross to the Atlantic and the breezy port of Essaouira, the old Mogador, whose star-shaped ramparts were laid out by a French engineer in the 1760s. Argan trees, sometimes with climbing goats, line the approach. You arrive to a relaxed, art-filled medina, the smell of grilled sardines from the working harbour, and the constant trade wind that has made the town a windsurfing and kitesurfing magnet.

Travel note · Essaouira is reliably windy and cooler than the interior - pack a light jacket even in summer.

A well-earned day to do as little or as much as you like in the most laid-back town on the tour. Options include an argan-oil women's cooperative, a horse or camel ride along the wide beach toward the ruined Borj el-Berod that inspired Hendrix legends, a windsurfing lesson in the bay, or simply hours of café-sitting, gallery-hopping and rooftop reading. The medina, a UNESCO site, rewards slow, aimless wandering.

Travel note · This leisure day is intentional. After two weeks on the road, Essaouira is the place to recharge before the journey home.

Your final day follows the wild surf coast south. You pass Sidi Kaouki's broad empty beach and the surf village of Taghazout, with the option to detour inland to Paradise Valley, a string of palm-fringed pools and waterfalls carved into the Anti-Atlas foothills. Reaching Agadir, rebuilt after the 1960 earthquake into Morocco's premier beach resort, you transfer to Agadir Al Massira Airport for your onward flight, the Atlantic at your back.

Travel note · Allow at least three hours before an international flight from Agadir. If departing from Marrakech instead, the drive is about 3 hours from Agadir.