Morocco Itinerary: Marrakesh, Fes, Sahara & Toubkal

Morocco is an amazing place to travel. The best way to spend it is by seeing the old cities and traditional markets, plus the Atlas mountains and desert scenery.

This itinerary has each of those things. You’ll start at Marrakesh, ride camels in the Sahara Desert, and then see the cities of Fes and Chefchaouen, before ending with an epic hike up Mount Toubkal, the highest mountain in North Africa.

It’s closely based on my own 10 day trip, although I streamlined it and made a few improvements based on my recent experiences in the country.

In this travel guide, I’ll show you some of the top things to see and do in Morocco!

About This Itinerary

Here’s a quick summary of the places in this itinerary:

Marrakesh — 1 day
Sahara Desert trip — 4 days
Fes — 2 days
Chefchaouen — 1 day
Mount Toubkal — 2 days

In the following sections, I’ll cover each of these places in detail so you know what to expect!

The desert at Merzouga is one of the best things to see in Morocco

Camel caravan

Morocco Itinerary Day 1: Marrakesh

Welcome to Morocco! Start your trip by exploring the historic city of Marrakesh, which is famous for its markets and architecture.

If you’re staying at a hotel in the medina (old city), then you can walk from your hotel doorstep to all of the places listed below, which is what I did.

• Medresa Ben Youssef

This Islamic madrasa (college) was founded in Marrakesh in the 16th century, and at one time, it was the largest Islamic school in North Africa. Today, it’s a UNESCO-designated world heritage site.

You can tour the building for a small fee, and it’s full of beautiful mosaics and other interesting details. If you’re looking for nice photo spots in Marrakesh, some of the doorways here are fantastic.

This place is very popular with tourists, though, so getting here early in the day is a good idea.

• Marrakesh Medina

One thing you must do in Marrakesh is see the souks and markets in the old city. The biggest of these is Souk Semmarine.

These markets are loaded with nice crafts to look at, buy, and photograph, and it’s fun to wander the alleys and hunt for souvenirs.

You’ll see all kinds of pottery, rugs, lamps, shoes, spices, leather, wood carvings, and more. There are also the usual travel souvenirs like fridge magnets and coffee mugs.

A lot of the market sellers can be pushy, and they may not leave you alone, so you need to be ready to keep walking if you aren’t interested. You can also say ‘la shoukran’ (‘no thank you’) politely but forcefully.

At the same time, you’ll also have to dodge incoming donkeys, motorbikes, and other foot traffic in the narrow alleys, so it’s a pretty hectic experience.

I always asked the sellers before taking pictures of their wares, and they usually don’t mind as long as their face isn’t being photographed.

• Jemaa el-Fnaa

This is the main square of Marrakesh, and it’s a crazy place with snake charmers, street performers, food stalls, and fruit juice sellers.

It’s an assault on your senses, and scammers abound, so keep your wits about you; but it’s still an interesting place to see while you’re in Marrakesh.

• Other Places To See In Marrakesh

If you have more time in Marrakesh, here are some other places that are worth seeing:

Bahia Palace — 19th century palace with a photogenic courtyard and fountains.
Saadian Tombs — Royal necropolis from the 16th century with marble columns and detailed mosaics.
Badi Palace — Ruined palace from the 16th century.
Koutoubia Mosque — Largest mosque in Marrakesh, built in the 12th century.

• Overnight in Marrakesh

Spend your first night in Marrakesh, which has lots of great hotels for every budget.

Here are some of my top picks:

Budget — Riad Malfa. A small hotel in the middle of the medina. This is where I stayed, and the French lady who owns it was very friendly and helpful throughout my trip. Say hi to Beatrice for me.

Midrange — Riad Spa Sindibad. Comfortable rooms on the outskirts of the medina. Includes breakfast and a pool.
High End — Riad Aslal. Accessible hotel on the edge of the medina, but still within walking distance of the main sites. Includes breakfast and a pool.

Day 2: Sahara Desert Trip (Marrakesh To Tinghir)

One of the best excursions you can do in Morocco is a trip to Merzouga, where you can ride camels in the sand dunes and camp on the outskirts of the Sahara Desert. This was the highlight of my time in Morocco!

This is normally done as a 3 or 4 day trip since Merzouga is a long drive from Marrakesh. You’ll spend one night in a hotel on the way there, and see lots of interesting sights along the way.

I’d recommend doing a 4 day trip instead of 3 days, because you want to make all the driving worthwhile. You can begin the trip in Marrakesh and end in Fes, which is what we’ll do for this itinerary.

I booked this trip with GetYourGuide and it included transportation, guides, meals, accommodation, and camel rides at the sand dunes. It was a great trip!

Book Now: 4 Day Sahara Desert Tour

• Drive To The Atlas Mountains

The first day of your Sahara tour will involve approximately 6 hours of driving, but it’ll be broken up into segments to make it easier. My group started at 7:30 AM.

After being picked up by your tour company in Marrakesh, you’ll first drive approximately 2 hours to the mountain pass of Tizi n’Tichka, where you can enjoy panoramic views of the High Atlas mountains.

The road winding up the mountain makes the view even more impressive! This is the highest mountain pass in North Africa, with an elevation of 2,205 meters (7,234 feet).

Tizi n’Tichka mountain pass

From here, we drove another 30 minutes and then made a bathroom stop at a restaurant overlooking the Berber village of Melladi, where we were given a free tour of an Argan oil shop.

Argan oil comes from the argan tree, which is native to Morocco and Algeria, and it’s used in hair and skin products because of its health benefits.

Even though I didn’t buy anything, they let us sample some of the Argan products; and it was worth a stop here just to see the nice views of the Berber village.

• Ait Ben Haddou

From Melladi, it’s a 1 hour drive to your next stop, which is the fortified village of Ait Ben Haddou.

This photogenic Moroccan clay village is a UNESCO-designated world heritage site, and it was used as a background set for a lot of famous movies, including Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, and Game of Thrones.

The view across the river is my favorite. It’s great for photos, and it’s easy to see why this place has been featured in so many Hollywood movies.

Ait Ben Haddou as seen from across the river

Fortified village of Ait Ben Haddou

We spent about 1.5 hours wandering the streets of Ben Haddou with our guide and hiking to the top of the hill, where there’s a granary with views of the whole village.

When we were done touring the fort, we ate lunch at a nearby restaurant and I ordered my first tajine in Morocco. Yum.

Bridge across the river

• Drive To Dades / Tinghir

After you’re done touring Ait Ben Haddou, it’s a 3 hour drive to Dades or Tinghir, where you’ll spend the first night of your Sahara tour in a hotel.

The hotel and town where you stay will depend on your tour company, and this can change from time to time based on availability, your budget and preferences, and other factors.

Some tours stay the first night in the town of Dades, and visit the Dades Gorge the next morning.

I stayed at Hotel Saghro in Tinghir, which was clean and comfortable, with private A/C rooms and a pool.

We ate our dinner at the hotel’s in-house restaurant, which was amazing. There was a variety of great food in big portions.

Tinghir valley views

Day 3: Tinghir To Merzouga (Sahara Desert)

• Todgha Gorge

The second day of your Sahara trip will involve 4 or 5 hours of driving, with some more sightseeing along the way.

After breakfast, we drove 30 minutes from Tinghir to the Todgha Gorge, which is a giant slot canyon with rock walls up to 400 meters high (1,312 feet).

This canyon is impressive, and it reminded me a little bit of the Zion Narrows in Utah, USA. It’s a popular spot for rock climbing, and we got to see some people actively climbing while walked through the canyon on foot with our guide.

• Exploring Tinghir

Next, we spent some time exploring the town of Tinghir, where we had stayed the night before.

Our local guide took us on a walk through the Todra river valley and showed us some of the fruits they grow there, including apples, figs, apricots, and pomegranates.

Our 30 minute walk through the valley eventually brought us back to town, where we wandered the streets of the ancient Jewish quarter and visited a rug shop.

Our guide petting a donkey

• Drive To Merzouga

From Tinghir, it’s a 3 hour drive to your final destination, the Merzouga desert.

We broke this up by stopping for lunch and then visiting an outfitter shop in Ksar Touroug where we could buy head scarfs, henna tattoos, and Berber clothes to wear in the desert.

Having a proper desert outfit makes the photos more fun when you go on your camel ride, which is next!

• Sunset Camel Ride

It’s time for a camel ride into the desert! This is a great experience and the tour companies time it to happen during the sunset, that way you can see the camels casting long shadows across the sand dunes. It’s epic.

We transferred our main bags and backpacks to the tour company so they could bring them to the desert camp in their vehicle, and then I hopped on a camel with only my camera bag and a water bottle.

If this is your first time riding a camel, it can be a bit intimidating, but it gets easier as you go. We were even able to take pictures and videos while we rode.

We spent about 1 hour riding the camels to our desert camp in Erg Chebbi, with short pauses for photos along the way.

• Overnight In Merzouga

After arriving at our desert camp in the dunes of Erg Chebbi, we got our baggage and we were assigned to our tents.

Some of these tents are luxurious, but I chose to stay in a basic tent, which was cheaper and still pretty comfortable. The bathrooms and showers were in a separate tent.

We were given some free time to explore the dunes or go sand boarding near our camp, and then we had dinner, which was amazing. After dark, they made a bonfire and did some Berber singing and dancing, which was joined by most of our group.

Before you go to sleep, don’t forget to venture out of the camp and climb a dune to look at the stars!

Day 4: Exploring Merzouga

This day can be spent exploring the area and cultures around Merzouga.

You’ll listen to Saharan music in the village of Khamlia, see the traditional markets at the town of Rissani, and try the local Berber pizza for lunch.

If you love the desert, like me, then you’ll be happy to know you get some more time there as well. You can ride the camels again, go quad biking on the sand dunes, or just rest at your camp.

Day 5: Merzouga To Fes

On the last morning at Merzouga, you’ll wake up early for another camel ride at sunrise. This is optional, and you can go back in a car if you prefer, but I enjoyed riding the camels again.

We started in the dark and rode the camels under the moonlight, which was a cool experience, and then dismounted and waited for sunrise on one of the sand dunes.

After sunrise, it’s time to start driving back to Marrakesh or Fes. In this case, we’ll be going to Fes since it’s the next destination on this itinerary anyway.

Along the way, there will be some new sights like the Ziz Valley, Midelt, and Azrou. You’ll see cedar forests, wild monkeys, and other things since it’s a different route from where you started on the first day of the Sahara trip.

• Overnight in Fes

Spend the next 3 nights in the city of Fes, which has plenty of good hotel options.

Here are some of my recommendations:

Budget — Dar Usham Fes. Small hotel in the middle of the Fes medina. This is where I stayed, and the owner was very friendly. The only downside is navigating the dark maze of tunnels to find the hotel, but the owner can help you out with this.
Midrange — Riad Sidrat Fes. Hotel with breakfast on the north end of the medina, near the main road but within walking distance of the tanneries.
High End — Riad Marjana. Beautiful Moroccan-style hotel on the outskirts of the medina. Includes breakfast and a pool.

Day 6: Fes

• Medina

If you thought the medina in Marrakesh was crazy, the one in Fes is an absolute maze, with endless tunnels and fake guides constantly approaching you to try to scam you. Even my hotel owner joked that it’s like something out of a horror movie.

It’s still worth seeing, but I would highly recommend hiring a guide in Fes to help you with navigation and avoiding scams. I did this without a guide and it was nightmarish at times.

You can book a tour guide in the link below.

Book Now: Fes Guided Walking Tour

• Tanneries

One of the main things Fes is known for is its leather tanneries, which have been operating in basically the same way for centuries.

There are several active tanneries, but the largest is the Chouara Tannery. You can visit any of the tanneries for a small fee.

The smell is nauseating, but it’s interesting to see the process at ground level, and there are also rooftop platforms where you can watch it from above.

Day 7: Chefchaouen Day Trip

For my second day in Fes, I did a day trip to the famous blue city of Chefchaouen, which I booked online through GetYourGuide.

This is a long day trip from Fes because it involves a 4 hour drive in each direction, plus 4 hours spent touring the city. In my experience, this was plenty of time to see the city, take tons of pictures, and even eat lunch at a cafe there.

There are hotels in Chefchaouen if you want to stay longer, and some people may prefer to do that, but I was happy with a day trip. There really isn’t a whole lot to see or do if you stay longer.

My day tour to Chefchaouen was only $26 USD and it included transportation in a minivan with a small group, and a local guide to show us around the blue city. I had a great experience with them. You can book this day tour in the link below!

Book Now: Chefchaouen Day Trip From Fes

Day 8: Fes To Marrakesh

It’s time to go back to Marrakesh for the last leg of your trip in Morocco. You can do this by flying or taking the train.

If you fly, it only takes about 1 hour and prices are surprisingly cheap for a one way ticket with RyanAir. You can shop for flights on Skyscanner.

The train is even cheaper, but takes about 6.5 hours for the journey. However, train rides can be fun, and you get to see more of the countryside of Morocco along the way. The ONCF trains are clean, safe, and comfortable.

The third option is a bus, although the journey from Fes to Marrakesh takes 9 or 10 hours. You can book a bus on this website.

Day 9: Marrakesh To Imlil (Mount Toubkal Hike)

If you’re a fit hiker looking for a challenge, the Mount Toubkal trek is a great way to top off your trip to Morocco. This was the grand finale of my time in the country, and in my opinion it was well worth the difficulty!

Toubkal is normally done as a 2 day trek, and it’s very strenuous. At the summit, you’ll get amazing views of the sunrise since it’s the tallest peak in Morocco, North Africa, and the Arab world.

Be warned, this is a very tough hike. There’s a ton of elevation gain and the trail is rocky and unrelenting, with dust, rain, donkeys on the path. If you aren’t much of a hiker, then you may want to skip Toubkal and spend the time somewhere else like Casablanca or Ouzoud.

A guide is required for this hike by Moroccan law, and it’s helpful to have one anyway. I booked this through the tour company in the link below.

Book Now: 2 Day Mount Toubkal Trek

• Imlil To Toubkal Refuge

The first day of the Mount Toubkal trek is spent driving 1.5 hours from Marrakesh to the town of Imlil, and then walking from Imlil to the Toubkal Refuge, where you’ll stay the first night. My group started from Marrakesh at 8:30 AM.

You’ll spend 5 or 6 hours hiking on the first day, although there’s a lunch stop and plenty of other breaks along the way. This first day is challenging, partly because of the hot sun, but it’s not too terrible unless you get drenched by rain like we did.

The guides will bring a mule for carrying your extra luggage, so it’s a good idea to pack an extra bag of clothes in case this happens. There’s some nice scenery on the first day, but it gets much better at the summit!

• Overnight At Toubkal Refuge

For the first night of the 2 day Toubkal trek, you’ll stay at the Refuge, a building that sits in the valley at the foot of Mount Toubkal.

The Refuge has dormitory rooms with blankets and pillows, and private rooms for an extra charge. There are also shared bathrooms, showers, and dining areas.

It’s a relatively comfortable place to stay the night, but if you’re a light sleeper like me, then you probably won’t get more than an hour or two of real sleep here.

There was noise from other hikers until about 10 PM, and then the talking changes to snoring. I also think the altitude was affecting me, because I hardly slept at all.

Day 10: Finish Mount Toubkal Hike

• Toubkal Summit

The second day of the Toubkal trek starts bright and early at 3 or 4 AM, when it’s time to wake up and hike to the summit for sunrise.

This part of the hike is very tough. The main challenge for me was the altitude, because it makes each step a struggle to breathe. I’ve done higher altitude hikes than this in places like Colorado and Nepal, but never with such a short acclimatization period.

After about 3 hours of hiking in the dark, you’ll reach the summit of Mount Toubkal. It’s a steep and jagged mountain with amazing views, especially at sunrise. We spent 30 or 45 minutes at the summit enjoying the scenery, resting, and taking pictures. It was epic!

• Return To Marrakesh

Descending from Mount Toubkal was much easier than ascending. After about 2.5 hours of hiking at a very relaxed pace, we reached the Refuge again at 11 AM, giving us plenty of time to rest and eat lunch at the Refuge.

Hiking from the Refuge back to Imlil takes 4 or 5 hours, depending on your pace and the weather conditions. We got caught in another big rainstorm at Chamharouch and had to wait in the cafe, so that delayed us.

After the 1.5 hour drive from Imlil, we finally arrived back in Marrakesh at almost 7 PM. The Toubkal hike was an exhausting but spectacular way to end the trip.

Stay the night in Marrakesh and catch a flight out the next morning. Happy travels!

Alternate Itineraries For Morocco

If you aren’t a big hiker, you could modify this itinerary by skipping Mount Toubkal and spending the extra time doing a day trip to the Ouzoud waterfalls and/or the Volubilis Roman ruins. That’s what I would do.

GetYourGuide has a day tour to Ouzoud from Marrakesh, and a day tour to Volubilis from Fes. Both of these are high rated options.

Or, if you want a shorter trip, here’s what a 1 week itinerary for Morocco could look like if you want it packed with sightseeing:

Day 1 — Marrakesh. Spend the day exploring the markets of the medina, and other sights like the Medresa Ben Youssef and Jemaa el-Fnaa square.
Days 2-4 — Sahara Desert Trip. Do a 3 day trip to the Sahara Desert in Merzouga, starting from Marrakesh and ending in Fes. Here is a tour you can use.
Day 5 — Fes. Explore the medina and tanneries in Fes.
Day 6 — Chefchaouen. Do a day trip from Fes to Chefchaouen, the blue city of Morocco, and then return to Fes in the evening.
Day 7 — Marrakesh. Fly or ride the train back to Marrakesh or Casablanca for your flight out of the country.

When To Visit Morocco

Generally the best time to visit Morocco is in the spring (mid-March to May) or fall (September and October).

I did my trip at the end of September, and the weather was basically perfect for all of the activities on my itinerary, including the Sahara Desert and Mount Toubkal. Crowds were never a big issue.

You can also go to these places in the summer or winter, but the desert will be very hot in the summer, and the mountains will be very cold and snowy in the winter, so it’s not ideal and may require some extra planning.