Morocco Tour Packages: Imperial Cities, Atlas and Sahara

Match the Length to Your Days

The length decides how much of the loop you see and how many hours you spend in the vehicle each day. A 3-day tour squeezes the desert run into two long drive days, while 7 to 11 days spreads the same road out and adds the northern cities. Prices below are the lowest listed per-person rates from the catalog.

Where to Start

Most long packages start in Casablanca, which has the busiest airport at Casablanca Mohammed V (CMN) with 10.4 million passengers in 2024. Marrakech Menara (RAK) is the second gateway and starts most 3 and 4 day tours. Casablanca to Marrakech is 239 km by road, about 2 h 27 min of driving, with an hourly train taking about 2 h 39 min.

Fez-Saiss (FEZ), Tangier Ibn Battouta (TNG) and Rabat-Sale (RBA) are the other international airports, and the Al Boraq high-speed train links Tangier to Casablanca in about 2 h 10 to 2 h 17 min. Only one listing starts in Tangier, the 7-Day Tangier to Marrakech Tour.

Private or Shared

Private means your own vehicle and driver, and it is the norm on the long packages. Shared group tours cut the price hard but put you in a minibus on a fixed schedule: the 10-Day Morocco Desert Tour via Imperial Cities takes up to 14, the 4-Day Luxury Desert Tour to Fes up to 17, and the 4-Day Luxury Sahara Tour from Marrakech up to 60. One listing, the 3-Day Merzouga Sahara Desert Tour, sells both, with a shared standard, a shared luxury and a private premium option.

What Luxury Actually Means

Read each listing item by item, because the word luxury covers four different things in this catalog. On the 10-Day Luxury Private Morocco Tour it means 9 nights in 4 to 5-star hotels and riads. On the 7-Day Luxury Morocco Tour it means authentic boutique riads and a private 4x4 or minivan. On the 7-Day Private Casablanca to Marrakech Tour it means a luxury desert camp with private bathrooms. On the 4-Day Luxury Desert Tour to Fes, the 4-Day Luxury Sahara Tour and the 3-Day Merzouga tour the luxury tent is only an option you pay extra for, and the lowest price is likely the standard tent.

A riad is a traditional Moroccan house built around an inner courtyard, now commonly converted into guest accommodation, especially in Marrakech, Fes and Essaouira. A riad night is not automatically a hotel night, and rooms are often smaller, so check which one the listing actually books.

The Long Packages at a Glance

The 7 to 11 day Morocco tour packages compared on price, length, start city and rating, from the $1,227 entry point to the $3,994 top end. The 10-Day Morocco Tour with Desert Camp is a new listing with no reviews yet. Every price is the lowest adult rate on the listing.

The Classic Loop and Its Long Legs

Almost every one of these tours runs the same road: Casablanca and Rabat in the north, Chefchaouen and Fes, then south through the Middle Atlas to Merzouga and a camel into the Erg Chebbi dunes, back west through the Todra and Dades gorges, Ouarzazate and Ait Ben Haddou, and over the High Atlas at Tizi n'Tichka to Marrakech. The legs are long. Casablanca to Rabat is about 1 hour of driving.

Fes to Merzouga is about 7 hours, with the distance given as 457 km by Rome2Rio and 463 km by KimKim. Ouarzazate to Merzouga is 353.7 km, about 5 h 43 min. Tizi n'Tichka, the highest major pass in North Africa, measures 2,205 m by a GPS survey while the sign at the top still reads 2,260 m, and snow can close it from November through March.

Who Each Price Level Suits

At the bottom, the 10-Day Morocco Tour with Desert Camp at $1,227 is a new listing with no reviews and a camp with basic facilities, and it does not say whether the group is private. The 10-Day Best of Morocco from Casablanca at $1,269 sells in four tiers and the lowest may be tour only, with no hotels at all. The 8-Day Casablanca to Marrakech Tour at $1,231 books standard accommodation and charges for most dinners and museum entrances.

In the middle, the 8-Day Private Morocco Tour at $1,300, the 7-Day Tangier to Marrakech Tour at $1,537 and the pick, the 7-Day Private Casablanca to Marrakech Tour at $1,511, all give you a private 7 to 8 day loop with a driver.

For shared groups, the 10-Day Morocco Desert Tour via Imperial Cities at $2,403 takes up to 14 with city tours in Fes and Marrakech, but monument fees are not included. For the slowest pace, the 11-Day Private Morocco Tour Package at $2,518 adds walking guides in five cities. At the top end, the 7-Day Luxury Morocco Tour at $1,799 books boutique riads, and the 10-Day Luxury Private Morocco Tour at $3,994 includes breakfast, lunch and dinner, with local guides in Marrakech, Fes and Volubilis.

The Short Tours at a Glance

The 3 and 4 day tours compared on price, length, the desert night and rating, from $129 to $641. Two run north to the imperial cities with no desert night at all, and on the desert tours the tent standard depends on the option picked at booking.

The Desert Run from Marrakech

The desert tours cross the High Atlas at Tizi n'Tichka, stop at Ait Ben Haddou, sleep near the Dades or Todra gorges and reach Merzouga for a camel into the Erg Chebbi dunes. The camel ride to camp takes about an hour and leaves one to two hours before sunset. The problem is distance: Marrakech to Merzouga is about 534 km and 9 h 27 min of driving per Rome2Rio, or 560 km and 10 to 13 hours per KimKim.

In 3 days that makes two very long drive days, with the return to Marrakech around 8:00 PM on day 3 on the 3-Day Merzouga Sahara Desert Tour and not guaranteed. The 4-day versions split the same road more kindly, and the 4-Day Luxury Desert Tour to Fes runs it one way, dropping you in Fes instead of driving back.

The Imperial-City Run

Without the desert, the short tours point north to Fes, Chefchaouen, Rabat and Casablanca. The 4-Day Imperial Cities and Chefchaouen Tour at $641 is private, with 3 nights in hotels or riads and local guides in Fes and Chefchaouen. The 3-Day Imperial Cities and Chefchaouen Tour at $293 covers the same cities in a day less, and the itinerary shows arrivals around 20:30 at the Fes hotel on day 1 and back in Marrakech around 20:30 on day 3, so expect two long days in the van and a tight pace in Chefchaouen.

What the Listings Say Is In

The figures below come from each tour's own record on the booking platform, not from operator marketing elsewhere. Transport is the one thing every package includes, but hotels, meals, camp class and entrance fees vary widely. A $1,227 tour and a $3,994 tour both put you in a desert camp for a night, yet the difference shows up in the tent, the hotels and the guides.

Check the listing column before you compare prices.

What Is Never In

Flights to and from Morocco are excluded on every listing, and so is travel insurance. Drinks are extra almost everywhere, with lunches not included on nearly all packages. Tips are not included either.

Budget for them in dirhams, suggested figures are 5 to 10 MAD for hotel porters, 15 to 20 MAD for short taxi rides and about 10 percent in restaurants. For full-day guides one source suggests 100 to 150 MAD while another suggests 150 dh per person or 300 to 400 dh per group, so treat any of these as a range rather than a rule.

The Fine Print to Read

Four details catch buyers out. First, the 10-Day Morocco Desert Tour via Imperial Cities lists at $2,403 but the platform adds $302 in extra charges at checkout. Second, the 10-Day Best of Morocco from Casablanca sells in four tiers from tour only, where the lowest price may buy no hotels at all, and it cancels free only up to 3 full days before departure, shorter than the 24 hour window on the other listings.

Third, a single supplement applies on most packages, a premium charged to solo travelers taking a room alone that can run from 10 to 100 percent of the room rate, though no exact amount is stated for these tours. Fourth, monument entrances are not included on the 10-Day Morocco Desert Tour via Imperial Cities, the 8-Day Casablanca to Marrakech Tour and the 4-Day Imperial Cities and Chefchaouen Tour, so add those tickets to your own budget.

Erg Chebbi in Figures

Erg Chebbi is a sand sea on the edge of the Sahara with dunes up to 150 m high, running about 28 km north to south and 5 to 7 km east to west at 730 m elevation. Merzouga sits on its western edge, roughly 50 km from the Algerian border, with Rissani the closest town of real size. Getting there is the expensive part in hours, Marrakech to Merzouga is given as 534.1 km and 9 h 27 min of driving by one source, and 560 km with 10 to 13 hours by another.

That is why 3 day tours pack the drive hard while 7 to 11 day packages spread it.

The Camel Ride and the Camp

The ride to camp takes about an hour and usually leaves one to two hours before sunset, with the dromedary walking at about 4 km/h. A 4x4 ride is the usual alternative to the camel. Camps range from standard tents with shared facilities to luxury ones built around a courtyard with flush toilets and rooms for 2 to 4 people, and winter nights in the dunes drop below freezing.

On these listings the 7-Day Private Casablanca to Marrakech Tour states a luxury desert camp with private bathrooms, the 7-Day Luxury Morocco Tour states a night in a desert camp in Erg Chebbi with boutique riads elsewhere, and the 4-Day Luxury Sahara Tour from Marrakech offers a luxury tent with private bathroom as its higher option. The 10-Day Morocco Tour with Desert Camp states a camp with basic facilities, so check the camp line before booking.

Zagora and Agafay: The Shorter Alternatives

Two cheaper desert options exist outside these packages. Zagora lies about 350.3 km from Marrakech, roughly 5 h 58 min by road by one count and 6 to 7 hours by another, with smaller dunes than Merzouga. The Agafay is a rocky, dry landscape only 30 to 45 minutes from Marrakech, suited to a single day rather than a night under real dunes.

None of the catalog tours use either destination, every one routes to Merzouga or Erg Chebbi. If you want the tall dunes and the classic sunset camel line, the listings here are the way to get it.

Seasons on the Classic Loop

The table below compares the imperial cities in the north with the desert leg around Merzouga, using published climate averages. Marrakech averages 12.5 C in January and 29 C in July and August, with summer highs near 38 C, while inland Saharan summer maximums exceed 44 C. Spring (March to April) and autumn (October to November) are named as the best seasons for the imperial cities, and April to May and September to November as the best times for the Sahara.

Watch the pass as well. Snow falls frequently on Tizi n'Tichka (2,205 m by a 2022 GPS measurement, though the sign at the top still reads 2,260 m) from November through March, and heavy snowfall fully halted traffic on the Marrakech to Ouarzazate road over the pass in early January. The chergui, a hot Saharan wind that can reach 100 km/h, peaks in March and November.

Ramadan and Your Package

Ramadan 2027 is projected to run from 8 February to 8 March 2027, though local moon sighting decides the exact start, and the FCDO only commits to a February start. During the fast, public eating, drinking and smoking by day may offend, and Hassan II Mosque tours run on a reduced schedule of 9, 10, 11 and 14 (9, 10 and 14 on Friday).

For a package this matters less than you might expect. On a private tour like the 7-Day Private Casablanca to Marrakech Tour your driver controls the meal stops, and camp dinners run after sunset. Check whether your departure falls inside these dates before you book.

So When Should You Go?

The best months are April, May, September and October, which combine comfortable city sightseeing with the Sahara's best window and sit outside the strongest chergui winds. For a desert-focused trip, these four months are the ones both guides name first.

Entry Rules

Citizens of the USA, UK, EU, EFTA, Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand can enter Morocco visa-free for up to 90 days for tourism. Your passport should have an expiry date at least 3 months after arrival. Make sure an officer stamps your passport on entry, because departing without a stamp can be difficult.

Morocco also runs an e-Visa system, launched in July 2022, for nationalities that need one.

Money and Daily Costs

The currency is the Moroccan dirham (MAD), a closed currency that is not freely convertible and can only be exchanged inside Morocco. Notes come in 20, 50, 100 and 200 dirhams, and you must declare foreign currency of 100,000 MAD or more when entering or leaving. A budget guide advises carrying euro or dollar notes as backup because machines can be unreliable.

Outside what your package covers, one traveling couple spent about $45.47 per person per day over 45 nights, and a backpacker budget runs $40 to $60 a day with mid-range at $80 to $120. Local meals cost $5 to $10, museum entries $3 to $10, and short petit taxi rides in Marrakech 10 to 20 MAD.

Is It Safe for US Citizens to Travel to Morocco Now?

The UK FCDO carries no blanket advice against travel to Morocco. It does warn that terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks, including at tourist sites and transport hubs, and it flags petty theft in medinas and on beaches, bag-snatching and motorcycle drive-by thefts. Road accidents are frequent, which matters because a Morocco package is above all a driving tour, and unlicensed guiding is illegal, so stick to the licensed guides your operator provides.

The 2023 Al Haouz earthquake killed at least 2,960 people, and flash floods and summer wildfires also occur. Keep the ambulance number, 150, on your phone.

Dress and Conduct

Visitors to mosques must cover shoulders, chest and knees and remove shoes before entering. Public alcohol consumption outside licensed venues is prohibited, and attempting to convert Muslims can bring up to 3 years in prison. Pork and alcohol are uncommon in Moroccan cooking for religious reasons, so expect tagine and couscous on most tour menus.