Overview
Five days. Four nights. The Mediterranean north to the Sahara, entirely private.
This is the northern-gateway run — Morocco from Tangier on the Strait of Gibraltar all the way down to the desert and on to Marrakech — done as your party alone, with your own vehicle, your own driver-guide, and your own desert camp. It's the natural choice if you're arriving by the Tangier ferry from Spain or flying into Tangier, and you want the blue city, Fes, and the Sahara dunes in one tight, private loop. The market sells this as a fixed minibus with a fixed group. This is the opposite: you set the pace, and Chefchaouen — only two hours from Tangier — comes early, in the best light, before the day-trippers.
Day 1 leaves Tangier and drives south into the Rif to **Chefchaouen**, the blue city, with the afternoon and evening to wander the indigo lanes. Day 2 is a morning in the blue medina before driving to **Fes**. Day 3 is the **Fes el-Bali medina** with a local guide — the tanneries, the madrasas, the souks, the world's largest car-free urban area — then south into the **Middle Atlas** (Ifrane, the cedar forests and Barbary macaques) and down the **Ziz Valley** to **Erg Chebbi**, arriving at the dunes for the camel trek into your **private desert camp**: proper beds, private facilities, a Berber dinner, drumming, and a sky with no light pollution for a hundred kilometres.
Day 4 begins with the dune sunrise, then the kasbah road west — the **Todra Gorge** walked on foot, the **Dades Valley** of a thousand kasbahs — with an overnight in the kasbah country. Day 5 continues to **Aït Benhaddou**, the UNESCO mud-brick ksar, and over the High Atlas by the **Tizi n'Tichka pass** into **Marrakech**, where the trip ends.
Best for: travellers arriving via the Tangier ferry from Spain or flying into Tangier, anyone who wants the blue city, Fes, and the Sahara in a fast private loop, couples and families who want the journey to themselves, travellers combining southern Spain with a Morocco leg.
Not the right fit if: you want a slow, low-mileage holiday (this is a long north-to-south transit with several long drive days — the longest in the short-trip range), you want the full imperial-cities loop (Rabat, Meknes, Volubilis — see WPVMCFM7), you want more than one night in the desert (possible as a custom extension), or you're travelling in peak summer and can't tolerate desert heat (spring and autumn are far more comfortable).
Hakim founded Morocco Way in 2014 with one rule: every guide is born in the region they show you. Your driver-guide knows the Rif, the Atlas passes, and the desert country as home ground — and a private trip means the route bends around you, not around a minibus timetable shared with strangers.
Day by Day
Your driver-guide collects you from Tangier — the airport (TNG), the Tanger Med or Tanger Ville ferry port, or your hotel, your party only, included in the trip price. Provide your arrival details at booking (flight number, or the ferry you're crossing on from Tarifa or Algeciras) so we can time the pickup. If your ferry is delayed, the driver tracks the crossing and waits.
If you have time in Tangier before departing — the white city on the Strait of Gibraltar, with its kasbah, its medina, the Cap Spartel lighthouse, and the Caves of Hercules — your driver-guide can include a short Tangier orientation before heading south (tell us at booking).
Then south by private vehicle into the **Rif Mountains** to **Chefchaouen** — about 2 to 2.5 hours, the closest of the northern highlights to Tangier. **Chefchaouen** — "the blue city" — is a small town of indigo-washed lanes stacked on a hillside, founded in 1471 and famous for the blue paint covering nearly every wall, door, and stair in the medina. You arrive with the afternoon ahead of you and the evening to wander the blue medina at your own pace — the main square (Plaza Uta el-Hammam), the kasbah, the lanes that everyone photographs. The town is small, safe, and made for walking.
Dinner is included tonight at your accommodation or a recommended local restaurant.
Night: private room at a hotel or riad in Chefchaouen (1 night, en-suite, your party only). Dinner included; lunch en route at your own choice; no other meals on Day 1.
The blue-city morning. Breakfast at your accommodation, then time in the **Chefchaouen medina** in the morning light — the best hours for photography, before the day-trippers arrive.
With your driver-guide (or at your own pace, your choice) you take in the washed-indigo lanes, the **Plaza Uta el-Hammam** and its red-walled **kasbah**, the **Ras El Maa** spring at the edge of the medina where the mountain water comes down, and the climb to the **Spanish Mosque viewpoint** above the town for the panorama over the blue rooftops and the Rif behind (a gentle 20-to-30-minute walk up). There's time to browse the local crafts — Chefchaouen is known for wool goods, woven blankets, and goat's cheese.
Late morning, drive south to **Fes** — about 4 hours by private vehicle, with a lunch stop on the way (your own choice and expense, typical bill 80 to 150 MAD per person). You arrive in Fes in the late afternoon.
Your accommodation is a **riad in the Fes el-Bali medina** — a traditional courtyard house, private to your party. Dinner is your own choice tonight at a Fes restaurant (typical bill 150 to 300 MAD per person), as tomorrow morning you'll tour the medina.
Night: riad in Fes el-Bali (1 night, en-suite, your party only). Breakfast included; lunch on the road and dinner at your own choice.
The big day — the medina in the morning, the desert by nightfall. Breakfast at the riad, then a guided walking tour of **Fes el-Bali** with a local guide who knows the maze as home ground.
The morning takes in the **tanneries** (the centuries-old dye pits, seen from a leather-shop terrace — your guide brings mint to hold against the smell), the speciality souks organised by trade, the **El-Attarine and Bou Inania madrasas** (Marinid religious schools in carved cedar, stucco, and zellij), the **Al-Qarawiyyin** (founded 859, often called the world's oldest existing university, viewed from the gates), and the **Nejjarine fountain and woodwork museum**. About 3 to 4 hours with a tea break.
Around midday you leave Fes and head south into the **Middle Atlas**. Stops on the way: **Ifrane**, the "Switzerland of Morocco," an alpine-style hill station; the **cedar forest near Azrou**, home to troops of Barbary macaques; and the long, scenic descent through **Midelt** and the **Ziz Valley**, where a vast palmery threads the canyon floor and a panoramic viewpoint opens over thousands of date palms. Lunch on the way at your own choice (typical bill 80 to 150 MAD per person). This is a long driving afternoon — roughly 7 hours from Fes to the desert in total — but the landscape changes the whole way.
You reach **Merzouga** and the edge of **Erg Chebbi** in the late afternoon. You meet your camels (well cared-for working animals with a local handler) and ride into the dunes as the sun drops — about an hour in the saddle, with a 4x4 alternative available on request at no extra charge.
Your **private desert camp** sits among the dunes, booked for your party only. Proper beds, blankets, private or en-suite washing facilities. Dinner is a Berber meal around the fire — soup, tagine, fruit, mint tea — followed by drumming and a sky with no light pollution for a hundred kilometres. The Milky Way is visible in season.
Night: private tented desert camp in Erg Chebbi (1 night, proper bed, private/en-suite facilities, your party only). Breakfast at the riad, dinner at the camp included; lunch on the road at your own choice.
Day 4 starts before dawn for the **Erg Chebbi sunrise** — the dunes shifting through grey, pink, orange, and gold as the sun comes up over Algeria to the east. About 30 to 45 minutes. Camel trek (or 4x4) back to Merzouga and breakfast at the edge of the dunes.
Then west along the kasbah road. The morning highlight is the **Todra Gorge** — a canyon where the walls rise some 300m and narrow to barely ten metres apart, with a shallow river and a road threading the gap. You walk a stretch on foot with your guide (flat and easy), about 45 to 60 minutes, with time for mint tea at a gorge café.
The road continues through **Tinghir's** palmery and up the **Dades Valley** — the "valley of a thousand kasbahs," lined with earthen fortresses, rose-growing villages, and the famous switchback road of the Dades. Lunch on the way at your own choice (typical bill 80 to 150 MAD per person).
You overnight in the **Dades or Skoura area** in a private room at a kasbah-style hotel with valley views. Dinner is included tonight at the hotel.
Night: private room at a kasbah-style hotel in the Dades/Skoura area (1 night, en-suite, your party only). Breakfast at the desert camp, dinner at the hotel included; lunch on the road at your own choice.
The kasbah-road and High Atlas day, ending in Marrakech. Breakfast at the hotel, then west toward Ouarzazate.
Depending on the route and your pace, stops may include the **Skoura palmery** and its kasbahs, the **Valley of the Roses** near Kelaat M'Gouna, and **Ouarzazate** — Morocco's film-studio town, with the Taourirt Kasbah for a short stop. Lunch on the way at your own choice (typical bill 80 to 150 MAD per person).
The major stop is **Aït Benhaddou** — the fortified mud-brick ksar of stacked kasbahs above the Ounila river, on the old caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech, UNESCO World Heritage-listed and familiar from decades of film. You cross the riverbed, climb through the earthen lanes, and your driver-guide explains the rammed-earth construction and the trade history. About 60 to 90 minutes.
Then up and over the **High Atlas by the Tizi n'Tichka pass** (2,260m), the highest major paved pass in Morocco — switchbacks, long mountain views, and a stop at the best viewpoints. Down the northern side into the Haouz plain and **Marrakech**.
The trip ends on arrival in Marrakech in the evening. We drop you at your onward Marrakech hotel, or at Marrakech-Menara airport (RAK) for a departure, your party only, timed around your plans (tell us at booking).
If you'd like to extend — nights in Marrakech, a guided Marrakech medina tour, a day trip to the Ourika Valley or Essaouira, or a finish on the coast — tell us at booking and we'll build it in. We can also finish the trip back in Fes instead of Marrakech if that suits your onward flights better (a shorter Day 5 — tell us at booking).
Breakfast at the kasbah hotel included. Other meals on Day 5 are at your own choice and expense.
Includes & Excludes
What's included
Not included
Frequently Asked
Morocco has one of the lowest crime rates in the world and, compared to the US and Europe, is considered a very safe destination. Moroccan people are known for their hospitality and they will make you feel very welcomed, for more information on the topic contact us and we’ll provide you with some personal single-traveller experiences.
No. You may wear whatever you feel comfortable in, we only have one exception on tours of the Mosque like Hassan II. To enter you would need to dress conservatively as you would in a church (no shorts, tanks tops, etc.).
As in any country you should use direction with your attire if you want to avoid unwanted attention.
US Dollars, Sterling and Euros are readily exchangeable. We recommend you take a mixture of cash and credit cards. Scottish bank notes and Australian dollar travellers cheques and cash are NOT normally accepted in Morocco.
With accurate information on the schedule of your arrival, our guide and our driver await you at the customs exit at the airport, with a sign with your name and first name. It’s always easy, this appointment. In case of concern, you can contact us by phone with our contact information noted in our emails. We are always at your disposal 24 hours a day
Fully private, from the Tangier pickup to the Marrakech drop-off. The vehicle is yours alone — your party only, with Morocco Way's driver-guide, never pooled with other bookings. Your rooms are private throughout, and the desert camp is booked for your group, not shared with strangers. This is the key difference from the standard market version, which runs a fixed minibus with a fixed group on a fixed clock. With Morocco Way you set the start times, the stops, and the pace — which matters from the very first morning, since being in Chefchaouen in the early light rather than at the coach's midday slot is the whole point. The trade-off is cost: a private trip costs more per person than a minibus seat, and the per-person price depends on how many of you are travelling (larger parties pay less each).
Yes — this trip is built for exactly that. Tell us at booking which crossing you're on (most travellers come from Tarifa to Tanger Ville, the fast 1-hour passenger ferry, or from Algeciras to Tanger Med, the larger vehicle port about 45 minutes east of the city). Your driver-guide meets you at the port, tracks the crossing in case of delay, and waits. We can collect you from Tanger Med, Tanger Ville, Tangier airport (TNG), or your Tangier hotel — just tell us where you'll be. If you'd like a night in Tangier before the tour starts, or a short Tangier orientation on Day 1 (the kasbah, Cap Spartel, the Caves of Hercules), we can arrange either. Note the ferry ticket itself is not included in the trip price — you book that separately with the ferry operator.
It's the most distance-covering trip in our short-tour range, and we won't pretend otherwise — Tangier is in the far north, the Sahara is in the deep south-east, and five days means real driving, with Day 3 (Fes medina in the morning, then the long run to the desert) and Day 5 (kasbah road and the Tizi n'Tichka pass to Marrakech) being the longest. Being private helps a lot: you stop when you want, break the long drives where you like, and travel in an air-conditioned vehicle with only your own party. But if your priority is a relaxed, low-mileage holiday, this isn't it. If you have a sixth or seventh day, we strongly recommend adding it — a second desert night, or a slower Fes, transforms the pace. Tell us your priorities at booking and we'll advise honestly.
The camp is a proper private tented camp at Erg Chebbi, booked for your party only — proper beds (not mattresses on the floor), blankets, and private or en-suite washing facilities, with a Berber dinner around the fire and a sky with no light pollution for a hundred kilometres. The camel trek into the dunes at sunset (about an hour) is included but optional: the camels are well cared-for working animals with a local handler, and if you'd rather not ride — a back issue, a fear, a young child, simple preference — we arrange a 4x4 transfer to the camp instead at no extra charge. You can ride one way and take the 4x4 the other. If you'd prefer an upgraded luxury camp with full en-suite bathrooms and more space, tell us at booking and we can arrange it at additional cost.
The standard trip ends in Marrakech on Day 5 — the natural finish after the southern desert loop, and the easiest base for an onward stay or a low-cost return flight. But because the trip is private, we can adapt the finish: end back in Fes instead (a shorter Day 5, if your onward flight is from Fes), continue to Essaouira on the coast, or add nights in Marrakech with a guided medina tour. We can also reverse the whole trip to start in Marrakech and finish in Tangier if that suits your flights or your Spain plans better. Tell us your onward plan at booking and we'll route it the most efficient way. A change of finish point may adjust the price.
Spring (March to May) and autumn (September to November) are ideal across the whole route — warm days, cool nights, comfortable for Tangier, Chefchaouen, Fes, the gorges, and the dunes, and the calmest seas for the ferry crossing. Summer (June to August) is hot in Fes and the desert (Erg Chebbi regularly exceeds 40°C); the north (Tangier, Chefchaouen) stays more pleasant, but the desert leg is timed for the cooler late afternoon and it's not the comfortable season overall — it's also peak ferry season, so book the crossing early. Winter (December to February) brings cool, sometimes rainy and windy weather in the north (ferries occasionally delayed by wind in the Strait), cold desert nights, and the chance of snow on the Tizi n'Tichka pass. We run the trip year-round; tell us your dates and we'll advise honestly.
Yes, with the driving caveat. Because the trip is fully private, we pace it around your party — car seats for young children on request, more frequent stops, a 4x4 instead of camels for anyone who prefers it, and dietary needs handled with the hotels, riads, and camp in advance. The thing to weigh is that this is the most driving-intensive of our short trips; families with very young children or older travellers who tire on long drives are often happier adding a day to split the mileage, or choosing a route that starts closer to the desert. The blue city, the camel trek (or 4x4), and the desert camp are genuine highlights for children. Tell us the ages and any needs at booking and we'll advise honestly on the best-fit itinerary.
Book through our website, or send a WhatsApp (+212 628 848 511) with your dates and party size for an exact per-person private-tour quote. We confirm within 12 hours during Morocco business hours. A deposit secures your dates; the balance is paid in cash to your driver-guide on Day 1 or in advance via PayPal — most travellers pay the balance on arrival. At booking, please provide: (1) your dates and number of travellers (and children's ages if any), (2) your Tangier arrival details — flight number, or the ferry crossing and port (Tanger Med or Tanger Ville) — for the pickup, and your onward plan in Marrakech for the drop-off, (3) any dietary restrictions (forwarded to the hotels, riads, and camp), (4) any mobility or travel-sickness concerns, (5) camel or 4x4 preference for the dune transfer, (6) whether you want a Tangier orientation, any extensions, an upgraded luxury camp, an alternative finish (Fes), or a reverse routing. We are flexible for genuine reasons such as illness or family emergency — talk to us.