Morocco Holidays Built as Private Tours
A Morocco holiday with us is a private tour rather than a resort package: your own vehicle and driver-guide, hotels or riads booked along the route, a night in a Sahara desert camp and airport transfers. One week covers Marrakech, the High Atlas and the dunes; ten days to two weeks adds Fes, Chefchaouen or the coast.
What a private Morocco holiday can include
Nothing is bundled by default. Each itinerary is assembled from the pieces below, and every tour page states exactly which of them it covers.
- Your own vehicle and driver-guide for every touring day: air-conditioned, sized to your party, and leaving when you are ready rather than when a coach fills up.
- Accommodation along the route: riads inside the medinas of Marrakech and Fes, kasbah hotels in the Dades Valley and the pre-Saharan south, pitched at the budget you give us.
- Breakfast every day, and dinner on touring nights where the itinerary says so. In the south there is rarely anywhere else to eat in the evening, so dinner is usually taken where you sleep.
- A desert camp night at Merzouga (Erg Chebbi) or Zagora, normally with a camel ride in and dinner and breakfast at camp.
- Arrival and departure transfers at the airport, port or station, arranged like our standalone airport transfers in Morocco.
- Official city guides for the medinas of Fes and Marrakech, on itineraries that include them.
What is usually left out: international flights, travel insurance, tips and drinks. Lunches and monument entry fees vary from one itinerary to the next.
Private tour or beach-resort package?
Both are sold as Morocco vacation packages, and they are very different trips. A resort package is one hotel, usually in Agadir or Marrakech, with excursions bolted on. A touring holiday moves you through the country and puts the sights in the middle of the day, not at the end of a coach ride.
| Private touring holiday | Beach-resort package | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you sleep | A different riad or kasbah every one to three nights | One hotel for the whole stay |
| Meals | Breakfast daily, dinner on many touring nights | Often full board or an all-inclusive buffet |
| Getting around | Your own vehicle and driver-guide | Airport coach, optional shared excursions |
| What you see | High Atlas, Sahara, medinas, gorges | The resort, plus a day trip or two |
| Pace | Set by you and changeable on the day | Fixed by the excursion timetable |
If the plan is a week beside a pool, a resort is simpler and cheaper, and we do not sell those. The usual compromise is a touring holiday that finishes with two or three slow nights in Essaouira or Marrakech.
Sample holiday lengths
| Length | A typical shape | Desert nights |
|---|---|---|
| 1 week | Marrakech, the Tizi n'Tichka pass, Ait Ben Haddou, the Dades Valley and Merzouga, then on to Fes or back to Marrakech | 1 |
| 10 days | Casablanca or Marrakech, Rabat, Chefchaouen, Fes, the Sahara and the High Atlas | 1 |
| 2 weeks | The full loop of imperial cities, desert and mountains, with rest days and a finish on the Atlantic coast | 1–2 |
For day-by-day versions, use our Morocco itinerary planner, or browse every multi-day tour by length and starting city.
Who a touring holiday suits
- First-time visitors who want the Sahara, the medinas and the mountains in one trip without driving or navigating themselves.
- Couples and friends who would rather choose their own stops than follow a minibus timetable.
- Families, because a private vehicle stops when the children need it to; our Morocco family tours page covers pacing.
- Older travellers who want hotel-to-hotel service and luggage that never leaves the vehicle.
It suits you less well if you want to stay in one place for the week, or if the budget points towards trains and buses, which are cheap and perfectly good between the big cities.
When to go
Spring (March to May) and autumn (September to November) are the best seasons for a touring holiday. December to February is mild by day in Marrakech but cold at night in the Sahara, and June to August often passes 40°C inland, which pushes a summer trip north towards Chefchaouen and the coast. Our month-by-month guide to the best time to visit Morocco has the detail.
8-Day All-Inclusive Deluxe Morocco Private Tour from Marrakech to Sahara, Chefchaouen & Imperial Cities
Marrakech
From € 1040.00 based on 7 person This price is based on 7 travelers. Price varies for different group sizes.
10-Day Private Morocco Tour: Marrakech, Sahara Desert, Chefchaouen, Fes & Casablanca - Luxury, Culture & Adventure
Marrakech
From € 875.00 based on 7 person This price is based on 7 travelers. Price varies for different group sizes.
Morocco 7-Day Private Tour: Chefchaouen, Fes Heritage & Merzouga Desert Safari From Casablanca
Casablanca
From € 875.00 based on 7 person This price is based on 7 travelers. Price varies for different group sizes.
12-Day Private Luxury Morocco Tour: Marrakech, Desert, Chefchaouen & Imperial Cities
Marrakech
From € 1062.00 based on 7 person This price is based on 7 travelers. Price varies for different group sizes.
7-Day Private Morocco Tour: Chefchaouen, Fes Heritage & Merzouga Desert Safari
Marrakech
From € 640.00 based on 7 person This price is based on 7 travelers. Price varies for different group sizes.
11-Day Exclusive Morocco Tour: Smart Private Exploration from Casablanca
Casablanca
From € 1060.00 based on 7 person This price is based on 7 travelers. Price varies for different group sizes.
The all-inclusive question
Morocco all-inclusive holidays usually mean a resort hotel. On a touring holiday a single all-in price is harder, because the best lunch is often wherever the road puts you at one o'clock. One of our itineraries is sold as all-inclusive: the 8-day tour from Marrakech to the Sahara, Chefchaouen and the imperial cities, with a luxury desert camp. Its page lists what the price covers. For any other tour, ask and we will set out the inclusions line by line before you book.
Planning the shape of the trip
- Fly open-jaw if you can: into Marrakech and out of Fes or Casablanca, or the reverse, so no day is spent driving back the way you came.
- Allow two nights in each big city. One night in Fes or Marrakech is a transfer, not a visit, because arrival day goes on check-in and finding your feet.
- Count the driving. Marrakech to Merzouga is about 560 km and nine to ten hours, split over two or three days.
- Put the coast last. Essaouira is about 2.5–3 hours from Marrakech and an easy final stop before the flight home.
- Check the dates of Ramadan. Sights stay open, but daytime cafés are scarcer outside the big cities and evenings come alive after sunset; read our guide to Ramadan in Morocco before you fix dates.
If no set itinerary fits your dates, send them through our custom itinerary request and we will build one around your flights. For a sense of budget first, read our Morocco trip cost breakdown.
Frequently asked questions
Is a Morocco all-inclusive holiday worth it?
It depends on the holiday you want. For a week at one hotel, an all-inclusive resort package is simple and good value. For seeing the country, a touring holiday with breakfast daily and dinner on touring nights gives you more, because lunch on the road is inexpensive and part of the experience.
How many days do I need for a Morocco holiday?
Seven days is enough for Marrakech, the High Atlas and one night in the Sahara. Ten days lets you add Fes and Chefchaouen without rushing. Two weeks covers the imperial cities, the desert, the mountains and a few days on the coast, with rest days built in.
Can a touring holiday include beach time?
Yes. The usual way is to finish in Essaouira, about two and a half to three hours from Marrakech, for two or three nights on the Atlantic. Essaouira is windy and better for walking than sunbathing; for a classic lie-on-the-sand finish, Agadir is the alternative.
Which city should a Morocco holiday start from?
Marrakech suits a holiday centred on the south, the High Atlas and the desert. Casablanca has the widest choice of flights and leads naturally into the imperial cities. Fes and Tangier suit northern routes. Flying into one city and out of another usually saves a full day of driving.
More ways to travel
- Morocco Guided Tours with Driver-Guides and Local City Guides
- Morocco Food Tours: Moroccan Cooking Class, Markets and Street Food
- Morocco Family Tours: Private Trips Paced for Children
- Merzouga Desert Tours: Erg Chebbi Dunes, Camel Treks and Camps
- Morocco Imperial Cities Tour: Marrakech, Fes, Meknes and Rabat
- Morocco Atlas Mountains Tours: Imlil, Ourika and Berber Villages