Marrakech, desert and Essaouira in 8 days

Itinerary: Marrakech, desert and Essaouira in 8 days

1. 1

   Day 1 · Marrakech with a guide

   Welcome and a tour of the city with a local guide: the Koutoubia, the Bahia Palace, the Saadian Tombs and the souks. In the evening, dinner among the food stalls of Jemaa el-Fna.

   
2. 2

   Day 2 · Marrakech — Aït Ben Haddou — Skoura

   The High Atlas with the Tizi n'Tichka pass, a visit of Aït Ben Haddou and Ouarzazate. In the late afternoon we reach Skoura and spend the night in a guesthouse among the palms.

   
3. 3

   Day 3 · Skoura — Valley of Roses — Dadès — Tinghir

   The Valley of Roses and the Dadès Gorge. In the afternoon we reach Tinghir and walk in the Todra Gorge in the light of sunset. Night in Tinghir.

   
4. 4

   Day 4 · Tinghir — Merzouga

   Tinejdad with its khettaras, Erfoud with its fossil workshops and Rissani with its souk. Arrival at the dunes in the afternoon. Sunset camel ride and a night at the Erg Chebbi camp.

   
5. 5

   Day 5 · Merzouga — N'Kob — Zagora

   Sunrise on the dunes and departure west on one of the most beautiful and least travelled roads in the country. In Alnif we stop with the trilobite fossil hunters, then cross the Jebel Saghro plateau, among volcanic rocks, nomadic shepherds and earthen villages. Lunch in N'Kob, the village of forty kasbahs. In the afternoon we drop into the Draa valley down to Zagora. Night in a kasbah in the palm grove.

   
6. 6

   Day 6 · Zagora — Draa valley — Marrakech

   We drive up the Draa valley in the morning, when the light on the palm groves is at its best, with stops at the Tamnougalt ksar and the Agdz viewpoint. Lunch in Ouarzazate and then the High Atlas with the Tizi n'Tichka pass. Arrival in Marrakech in the evening, after about 7 hours on the road with stops.

   
7. 7

   Day 7 · Marrakech — Essaouira

   We head for the ocean across the Haouz plain and the argan hills. We stop at a women's cooperative where you see the whole argan oil process, from harvesting to the press, and taste amlou with warm bread. Essaouira appears with its white walls and seagulls: an afternoon around the Skala, the harbour with its blue boats and the workshops of the carpenters who work thuya wood.

   
8. 8

   Day 8 · Essaouira — Marrakech

   Free morning in Essaouira: a stroll around the fish market, a coffee on Moulay Hassan square or a walk on the beach. Fish lunch at the harbour and back to Marrakech in the afternoon, about three hours' drive.