Morocco Itinerary: 17 Days from Casablanca

Your journey opens in Casablanca, Morocco's Atlantic-facing economic capital, a city of white Art Deco buildings, broad boulevards and ocean light. After your driver-guide collects you from the airport, you visit the immense Hassan II Mosque, built partly over the sea and crowned by a 210m minaret. A gentle first evening on the corniche lets you ease into Moroccan time before the long, varied road ahead.

Travel note · Jet lag is normal on day one - keep it easy. The mosque is the single must-see in Casablanca.

A quick coastal motorway run reaches Rabat, the dignified, UNESCO-listed capital. You explore the Andalusian-blue Kasbah of the Udayas overlooking the Bou Regreg, the 12th-century Hassan Tower and the marble Mausoleum of Mohammed V. The stork-haunted Roman and Merinid ruins of Chellah cap a relaxed day in a city that rewards slow walking and offers a calm contrast to the medinas to come.

Travel note · Rabat is uncrowded and easygoing - a good place to find your feet before busier cities.

You leave the coast for the Rif Mountains and Chefchaouen, the blue pearl founded in 1471 by Moulay Ali Ben Rachid as a stronghold against the Portuguese. The road climbs through olive country before the indigo medina appears beneath Jebel el-Kelaa. With the afternoon and a leisure day to follow, there is no rush - you settle in and wander the famous blue lanes as the evening light turns soft and golden.

Travel note · Save your best photography for early morning, when the blue alleys are empty and the light is even.

A full day to enjoy the most relaxed town in northern Morocco. After a dawn photo walk through the blue medina you can hike up to the Spanish Mosque for a panorama over the whole town, follow the river to the Ras el-Maa springs where locals do laundry, or simply browse Rif wool blankets and crafts. The unhurried Andalusian-Berber atmosphere makes Chefchaouen the perfect early pause on a long grand tour.

Travel note · The Spanish Mosque climb takes about 30-40 minutes uphill and is the classic sunset spot - go a little early for a good position.

Descending from the Rif, you reach Volubilis, Morocco's best-preserved Roman ruins and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where 2,000-year-old mosaics still lie open to the sky. A stop in Meknes, the 17th-century capital of Sultan Moulay Ismail, takes in the great Bab Mansour gate and Place el-Hedim. By late afternoon you are inside the medieval medina of Fes, settling into a riad amid the call to prayer and the scent of cedar and spice.

Travel note · Volubilis has almost no shade - bring a hat and water. Meknes is an easy, often-overlooked imperial gem.

A complete day exploring Fes el-Bali, founded in the 9th century and the largest car-free urban zone on Earth. Your local guide leads you through a tangle of thousands of lanes to the Bou Inania and Al-Attarine madrasas, the Nejjarine fountain and the Al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859 and frequently called the world's oldest surviving university. The Chouara tanneries, where leather is still cured in stone vats, complete an immersive day in a living medieval city.

Travel note · A guide is genuinely needed here - the medina is famously disorienting. Bring small cash for the tannery terrace and cooperatives.

Today you climb into the Middle Atlas. Ifrane, a 1930s French hill station, looks more alpine village than Moroccan town, while the cedar forest near Azrou shelters troops of Barbary macaques. Crossing the high steppe past nomad encampments, you descend to Midelt, an apple-trading town set between the Middle and High Atlas, where a kasbah-style hotel and clear mountain air prepare you for tomorrow's run to the Sahara.

Travel note · Pack a warm layer for the Middle Atlas - it can be cold or snowy outside high summer.

The spectacular Ziz Valley leads you down to the desert, its emerald palm oasis cutting through red rock past kasbahs and Berber villages. Beyond Erfoud and the old caravan town of Rissani, the dunes of Erg Chebbi rise abruptly from the plain. In the late afternoon you mount camels and ride into the sand to a luxury camp, where a Berber dinner, drumming and a sky thick with stars await the first of two desert nights.

Travel note · Take only an overnight bag onto the camel and leave the rest with your driver. Closed shoes and long trousers make the trek comfortable.

A full day to live the desert at its own pace. After a dune sunrise and a slow breakfast, a 4x4 excursion explores the wider Erg Chebbi: the Gnaoua musicians of Khamlia, descendants of sub-Saharan caravans; the seasonal flamingo lake of Dayet Srji; old kohl mines; and nomad families who still move with the seasons. You return to camp for a second night beneath a famously brilliant desert sky.

Travel note · This second desert night is the soul of the trip - it turns a quick photo stop into a real Sahara experience.

Heading west on the old caravan road, the "Route of a Thousand Kasbahs," you reach the Todra Gorge near Tinghir, where a stream has sliced a corridor between limestone walls 300m high and barely ten metres apart. From there the route follows palm oases to the Dades Valley, famous for its corkscrewing mountain road and the eroded "monkey-finger" rock formations that glow at sunset above your hotel.

Travel note · Walk up to the Dades switchbacks above your hotel for the iconic hairpin photograph at golden hour.

A short, photogenic day on the kasbah road. You explore the Skoura palmeraie and its Kasbah Amridil, one of the best-preserved earthen forts in the country, then pass Ouarzazate, the "door of the desert" and Morocco's film capital. Reaching Aït Benhaddou, a UNESCO World Heritage ksar of red pisé towers that has appeared in Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator and Game of Thrones, you climb the fortress at dusk and overnight in its shadow.

Travel note · A deliberately light driving day - linger in Skoura and catch the kasbah in both evening and early-morning light.

You cross the High Atlas via the Tizi n'Tichka, Morocco's highest major road pass at 2,260m, now eased by new viaducts but still ringed by terraced Berber villages and walnut groves. Dropping to the Haouz plain, you reach Marrakech in the afternoon and settle into a medina riad. As dusk falls you join the swirling theatre of Jemaa el-Fna, a UNESCO Masterpiece of Oral Heritage, with its musicians, healers and food stalls.

Travel note · In winter the Tichka can be misty or icy early; clear mornings deliver the best mountain panoramas.

A full day in the Almoravid capital, founded in 1070. A guided morning covers the lavish Bahia Palace, the gilded Saadian Tombs sealed for centuries and rediscovered in 1917, and the ruined El Badi Palace where storks nest on the walls. The afternoon pairs the cobalt Jardin Majorelle and YSL Museum with the souks' maze of spices, lanterns and carpets, leaving the evening free for a hammam or a final medina feast.

Travel note · Pre-book the Jardin Majorelle online; same-day queues can exceed an hour in peak season.

You trade the city for the mountains on a short drive to Imlil at 1,740m, the trailhead beneath Jebel Toubkal (4,167m), North Africa's highest peak. A guided hike climbs through walnut terraces and stone Berber hamlets toward Aroumd, with a home-cooked lunch and sweeping valley views. A night in a simple, characterful mountain guesthouse brings clean air, silence and a sky full of stars after the buzz of Marrakech.

Travel note · This is a day hike, not the Toubkal summit (which needs two days and winter crampons). Sturdy footwear is a must.

From the High Atlas you descend across the argan plains to the Atlantic and Essaouira, the old Mogador, whose star-shaped ramparts were designed in the 1760s by a captured French engineer. Argan trees, occasionally dotted with climbing goats, line the road. You arrive to a UNESCO-listed medina of whitewashed walls and blue shutters, a working fishing port, fresh sea air and the steady trade wind that draws windsurfers from around the world.

Travel note · Essaouira is breezy and cooler than inland - keep a light jacket handy even in summer.

A relaxed day on the coast to recharge after two weeks of road and altitude. Visit an argan-oil women's cooperative, ride a horse or camel along the broad beach toward the ruined Borj el-Berod, take a windsurfing or kitesurfing lesson in the sheltered bay, or simply drift between cafés, thuya-wood workshops and contemporary galleries. The UNESCO medina is made for slow, purposeless wandering and long Atlantic sunsets.

Travel note · Use this day to genuinely slow down - Essaouira's easy pace is the perfect counterweight to the desert and mountains.

The final leg runs south down the surf coast. You pass the empty sands of Sidi Kaouki and the surf village of Taghazout, with an optional inland detour to Paradise Valley, a palm-shaded gorge of natural pools and waterfalls in the Anti-Atlas foothills. Reaching Agadir, rebuilt as a modern beach resort after the 1960 earthquake, you transfer to Agadir Al Massira Airport for your departure, closing a 17-day arc from the Rif to the Atlantic surf.

Travel note · Allow at least three hours before an international flight. Marrakech is about three hours further if you prefer to fly from there.