Morning
Land at RAK
Marrakech Menara is about 6 km from the medina. No car reaches most riads — El Fenn sends a porter with a cart to the nearest gate.
Check in: El Fenn
Derb Moullay Abdullah Ben Hussain, Bab El Ksour. Several old riads knocked together behind one door; the roof terrace and pools are the reason to book it.
Afternoon / Day
Koutoubia Mosque
Avenue Mohammed V. Non-Muslims cannot go in, so walk the rose gardens on the south side — the 12th-century minaret is the template every other one copies.
Souk Semmarine and Rahba Kedima
Walk north from the square through the covered souk to the old spice and apothecary plaza. Agree a price before anything is wrapped.
Evening
Jemaa el-Fna at dusk
The square only turns on after sunset — food carts, gnawa drummers, storytellers. UNESCO listed it as intangible heritage, not architecture.
Dinner at Nomad
1 Derb Aarjane, on the corner of Rahba Kedima. Modern Moroccan on four levels; ask for the top terrace and book ahead.
Morning
Jardin Majorelle
Rue Yves Saint Laurent. Tickets are sold online only, on the official site — nowhere else. Opens 8:00; the first slot is the quiet one.
Musee Yves Saint Laurent
Next door to the garden, 10:00 to 18:30, closed Wednesdays. The permanent hall is one dark room of forty-year retrospective.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Terrasse des Epices
15 Souk Cherifia, Sidi Abdelaziz. Open daily; lunch runs 12:00 to 17:00. Booth seating on an open roof above the souk roofs.
Musee des Confluences, Dar El Bacha
Rue Dar El Bacha. The 1910 pasha's residence, now a national museum — go for the zellij courtyard as much as the shows.
Le Jardin Secret
Rue Mouassine 121. In October it runs 9:30 to 18:30, daily. Two walled gardens and a tower with the best short view of the medina.
Evening
Dinner at Le Trou au Mur
39 Derb el Farnatchi, Rue Souk el Fassis, Qua'at Ben Ahid. Old Moroccan home cooking — tangia, pastilla — that most restaurants have dropped.
Morning
Bahia Palace
Avenue Imam El Ghazali, off Rue Riad Zitoun el Jdid. Late 19th-century and built for a grand vizier; the painted cedar ceilings are the point. Go at opening.
Saadian Tombs
Rue de la Kasbah, beside the Kasbah Mosque. Sealed up for two centuries and reopened in 1917; the Hall of Twelve Columns is a ten-minute queue for a two-minute look.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Naranj
84 Rue Riad Zitoun el Jdid, a two-minute walk from Bahia. Lebanese, Monday to Saturday 12:30 to 22:30 — closed Sundays.
Ben Youssef Madrasa
Kaat Benahid, north medina. Reopened in 2022 after a long restoration; the carved cedar and zellij courtyard is the finest in the city.
Maison de la Photographie
46 Rue Ahl Fes, Bin Lafnadek. Open daily 9:30 to 19:00. Moroccan photography from 1860 to 1960, three floors, then the roof.
Evening
Hammam at Les Bains de Marrakech
2 Derb Sedra, Bab Agnaou, Kasbah. Book the traditional gommage before the desert leg — it is the last proper wash for three days.
Dinner on the El Fenn roof
Last night in the city — eat where you sleep, on the terrace over Bab El Ksour with the Koutoubia lit up to the east.
Confirm the driver for 8:00
Four driving days start tomorrow. Confirm the pickup gate, not the riad — cars cannot enter the medina lanes.
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Morning
South on the N9
The main paved crossing of the High Atlas to the south. Allow four hours to Ait Benhaddou without stops, more with them — it is slow, hairpinned mountain road the whole way, and long-running widening works can add to that. Check conditions the night before.
Tizi n'Tichka pass
The high point of the N9 over the High Atlas — the summit sign reads 2,260 m, though GPS surveys put it slightly lower. Stop at the pull-in: argan stalls, mineral sellers, and the whole southern slope below.
Afternoon / Day
Telouet Kasbah
Signposted detour east off the pass. The Glaoui family seat on the old salt caravan road — half ruin outside, painted and tiled state rooms inside.
Check in: Ksar Ighnda
Ait Ben Haddou - Asfalou, 45002 Ouarzazate. A restored kasbah with a garden and pool, ten minutes from the ksar itself.
Late lunch at the hotel
You will arrive after the village restaurants have thinned out. Eat at Ksar Ighnda, then sleep off the pass for an hour.
Evening
Ksar of Ait Benhaddou
Cross the Ounila riverbed on the footbridge and climb through the earthen houses to the agadir on top. UNESCO listed; go in the last hour of light, when the day tours have gone.
Dinner at Ksar Ighnda
Nothing else is open late out here. Tagine in the garden, and a genuinely dark sky overhead.
Morning
Taourirt Kasbah, Ouarzazate
Avenue Mohammed V. Another Glaoui stronghold, on the edge of the town that has been Morocco's film back lot since the 1980s.
East on the N10
The Valley of a Thousand Kasbahs. Roughly two hours of driving today in total, split by stops — the easiest day of the four.
Afternoon / Day
Kasbah Amridil, Skoura
Inside the Skoura palm grove. One of the best-preserved pisé kasbahs on the route, still with its olive press and grain store in place.
Valley of Roses, Kelaat M'Gouna
Damask roses grow in hedges along the irrigation channels here and are distilled in town. October is well past the May harvest, so this is a shops-and-scenery stop.
Check in: Hotel Xaluca Dades
Boumalne Dades, on the bluff above the valley. A big, plain, reliable base — the point is the gorge road, not the hotel.
Late lunch at the hotel
Buffet at Xaluca Dades. Eat properly here — the gorge road has almost nothing on it after the first few kilometres.
Evening
Dades Gorge switchbacks
Drive the R704 north from Boumalne to the Tissadrine hairpins, about 30 km up. Turn round at the top viewpoint café and come back down in the low sun.
Dinner at Xaluca Dades
Back at the hotel. Early night — tomorrow is the longest day before the desert.
Morning
East to Tinghir on the N10
About an hour from Boumalne. Leave by 8:30 — the gorge is at its best before the tour buses and the light goes flat.
Todra Gorge
North of Tinghir the road runs into a limestone slot barely wide enough for two cars, with walls around 300 m high. Walk the narrows; climbers work the left wall.
Afternoon / Day
East to Erfoud
Out of the Atlas foothills onto flat black hammada, via Tinejdad — about three hours to Erfoud, then another 50 km south to Merzouga. The landscape empties out completely.
Lunch at Kasbah Hotel Xaluca
Six kilometres outside Erfoud. The obvious midday stop on this road, and the last full meal before the camp kitchen.
Evening
Camel trek into Erg Chebbi
Ride out from the edge of the erg to the camp — about an hour and a half, timed to reach the dunes at golden hour. Take a scarf; sand moves.
Night at Bivouacs Xaluca
A permanent tented camp out in the dune sea at Erg Chebbi. October nights are cool rather than cold, but bring a layer.
Dinner and drums at the camp
Tagine under the awning, then the crew brings out the drums. Walk fifty metres past the last lamp and the sky is genuinely full.
Morning
Sunrise on the dune above camp
Climb the ridge behind the tents in the dark — twenty hard minutes in soft sand. The erg turns from grey to orange in about ten.
Camels back to Merzouga
An hour out of the dunes the way you came in, arriving before the heat builds.
Check in: Kasbah Hotel Tombouctou
At Erg Chebbi on the Merzouga side. A pool, a shower and a real bed after the camp — the second desert night is the one you appreciate.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at the hotel
Eat and sit out the middle of the day indoors. Nothing outside is worth doing between 12 and 3.
Gnawa music at Khamlia
A village of Saharan Black Moroccan families about 7 km south of Merzouga. The music houses play afternoon sessions of gnawa; tip, and buy the CD.
Rissani and the ksour loop
Forty minutes west. The successor town to Sijilmassa, the caravan city that ran the gold road; the Moulay Ali Cherif mausoleum and a circuit of mud-brick ksour.
Evening
Sunset over the erg from the terrace
The dunes are directly east of the hotel, so the good colour is behind you and the erg lights up. No walking required.
Dinner at Kasbah Hotel Tombouctou
Last desert meal. Tomorrow is the single longest drive of the trip, so set the alarm early.
Morning
North on the N13 up the Ziz
The long one: roughly 470 km by road to Fes, seven to eight hours with stops. Leave at 7 and the day still ends after dark.
Ziz Valley gorge viewpoint
Between Erfoud and Errachidia the road runs above a continuous ribbon of date palms in a red canyon. There is a signed pull-in at the top.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch in Midelt
The halfway town, at about 1,500 m between the High and Middle Atlas, known for its apples and its fossil shops. Grilled meat and a mint tea is the standard stop.
Over the Col du Zad
The N13 crosses the Middle Atlas plateau north of Midelt. Bare high grazing country, nothing like the south — the temperature drops noticeably.
Cedar forest above Azrou
Atlas cedars and a resident troop of Barbary macaques on the Ifrane road. Do not feed them — the guides will tell you the same thing.
Evening
Check in: Riad Fes
5 Derb Ben Slimane Zerbtana, in the Ziat quarter of the old medina. Relais & Chateaux; the water-court and the roof bar both look over Fes el-Bali.
Dinner at Riad Fes
Do not go looking for a restaurant after eight hours in a car. Eat in the courtyard and start the medina fresh.
Morning
Bab Boujloud and Talaa Kebira
Blue on the outside, green on the inside. Enter here and follow Talaa Kebira downhill — it is the medina's main artery and it only goes one way.
Bou Inania Madrasa
A few minutes down Talaa Kebira. The only madrasa in Fes with its own working minaret, and one of the few religious buildings non-Muslims may enter. Shut at prayer times.
Place Nejjarine
The carpenters' square: a cedar-fronted fondouk, now a wood museum, beside a tiled fountain. The rooftop terrace is worth the museum ticket on its own.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Fez Cafe, Le Jardin des Biehn
13 Akbat Sbaa, Douh. A riad garden in the middle of the medina — the only quiet table you will find all day. Book it.
Al-Attarine Madrasa
In the spice souk beside the Qarawiyyin. Small, 14th-century, and the densest zellij and carved stucco in the city. Climb to the student cells.
Al-Qarawiyyin
Founded in 859 and still a working mosque, so non-Muslims stay outside — but the doorways along Derb Boutouil give a clear line into the courtyard.
Chouara Tannery
Derb Chouara, Blida. The view is from the terraces of the leather shops that surround it; they hand you mint at the door, and you are expected to look at the bags after.
Evening
Dinner at L'Amandier, Palais Faraj
Bab Ziat, at the medina wall. Rooftop tables looking straight down over Fes el-Bali — the one dinner here worth dressing for. Reserve.
Fes el-Jdid and Out
Morning
Borj Sud viewpoint
The 16th-century fort on the hill south of the medina. The whole of Fes el-Bali lies below in one frame — the only place the scale of it registers.
Ain Nokbi potters' quarter
The kilns and zellij workshops east of the medina, where the Fassi blue-and-white is made and the mosaic tiles are chipped by hand. Watch first, buy second.
Afternoon / Day
Lunch at Eden, Palais Amani
12 Derb El Miter, Oued Zhoune. Courtyard dining in an art deco riad on the north side of the medina. Reserve — it is small.
Royal Palace gates, Fes el-Jdid
Place des Alaouites. Seven brass doors framed in blue and green zellij. The palace is closed, and the gates are the whole visit — ten minutes, well spent.
The Mellah
Fes el-Jdid's Jewish quarter, laid out in the 15th century. Balconied wooden houses face the street here — the opposite of the blank walls in Fes el-Bali.
Evening
Fly out of FEZ
Fes-Saiss is about 15 km south of the city, twenty minutes clear of traffic. Evening departures to Europe; leave the medina three hours ahead.
