The trip
Overview
Morocco works best as a single sweeping arc: the theatre of Marrakech first, then over the High Atlas passes to the desert for a night in a camp among the dunes, and north to finish in Fes, the most complete medieval city in the Arab world. Direct flights from Dubai to Casablanca — with easy connections to Marrakech — put the whole country within reach of nine days.
For UAE residents the interest is in the contrast, not the novelty of the desert itself. Moroccan dunes come with kasbahs, mud-brick villages and snow-capped mountains behind them; the medinas of Fes and Marrakech are living cities where the crafts are still made in the lanes that sell them. We use riads throughout — courtyard houses where the city noise switches off the moment the door closes.
Highlights
- ✦Two full days in Marrakech — souks, the Bahia Palace and Jemaa el-Fna at dusk
- ✦Crossing the High Atlas via the Tizi n'Tichka pass and Ait Ben Haddou kasbah
- ✦A night in a desert camp among the Erg Chebbi dunes, with camels at sunset
- ✦The tanneries, medersas and blue gates of Fes, guided by a local specialist
- ✦Riad courtyard houses in both imperial cities
Who it suits
- ●Couples and friends who want a touring trip with real variety of landscape
- ●Photographers — the light in the dunes and medinas needs no filter
- ●Travellers who have done the Gulf deserts and want the mountain-backed version
Why this journey works
- ✓One clean arc with no backtracking, ending in a different city than you started
- ✓A private driver-guide makes the long desert legs part of the experience, not a cost
- ✓Riads and kasbahs keep every night characterful without ultra-luxury pricing
Day by day
Days 1–3
Marrakech — the red city
Fly from Dubai via Casablanca or direct where schedules allow, and disappear into a riad in the medina. Two full days: the souks with a guide who knows which workshops matter, the Bahia Palace and Saadian Tombs, the Majorelle Garden, and Jemaa el-Fna square as it fills with storytellers and grill smoke at dusk. Dinner one night on a rooftop overlooking the minarets.
Day 4
Over the Atlas to kasbah country
Climb the switchbacks of the Tizi n'Tichka pass — often snow-dusted into spring — and drop into the pre-Sahara at Ait Ben Haddou, the fortified mud-brick village familiar from a dozen films. Continue through the Skoura palm grove to a kasbah-style hotel for the night.
Days 5–6
The Sahara — a night among the dunes
Drive east through the Todra Gorge to Merzouga, where the Erg Chebbi dunes rise three hundred metres from the plain. Camels carry you into camp for sunset; dinner is by firelight with Amazigh drumming, and the star field is the best you will see anywhere within a short-haul arc of the Gulf. Sandboarding at dawn, then begin the journey north with a night en route in the cedar country around Midelt.
Days 7–8
Fes — the medieval city
Arrive into Fes and hand yourselves to a local guide: nine thousand lanes, the Chouara tanneries viewed from the terraces, the Bou Inania medersa's carved cedar, and coppersmiths hammering in Seffarine square as they have for centuries. Your riad sits inside the old walls — the last two nights are the trip's most atmospheric.
Day 9
Home to the UAE
Fly out of Fes or transfer to Casablanca for the direct flight home to Dubai.
When to go
Spring and autumn are ideal — warm days, cool nights, and the Atlas passes clear. Winter is excellent for the cities and surprisingly cold in the desert at night; pack proper layers for the camp. July and August are extremely hot inland and in the dunes, so summer departures are better routed to the coast and mountains.
Planning around seasons, regions and style? Read the full Morocco destination guide →
What’s included
- ✓Return flights from Dubai or Abu Dhabi, into Marrakech and out of Fes where schedules allow
- ✓Private 4x4 with an English-speaking driver-guide for the full circuit
- ✓Riad and kasbah-style accommodation, daily breakfast
- ✓One night in a private-bathroom desert camp with dinner, camel ride and sandboards
- ✓Local guides in Marrakech and Fes
- ✓PCT travel consultant support before and during travel
Not included
- —Travel insurance
- —Lunches and most dinners
- —Hammam and spa treatments
- —Personal spending
Ways to extend it
- +Start with two nights in Casablanca and Rabat
- +Add Chefchaouen, the blue town, after Fes
- +Finish with three nights on the Essaouira coast
- +Add a cookery class in a Marrakech riad
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