Day by day itinerary
1. Casablanca - Ifrane - Azrou (cedar forest and Barbary apes) - Midelt (6h drive)
Your driver meets you either at Casablanca Mohammed V Airport or at your hotel, and the road turns southeast straight away, leaving the coast behind and climbing towards the Middle Atlas. Ifrane is the first stop, a town Moroccans call their Little Switzerland for its alpine buildings and its cooler air. Next come the cedar forests around Azrou, with photo stops among the old trees and the Barbary macaques that sit by the roadside. The day ends at Midelt, a farming town sitting in the gap between the Middle Atlas and the Sahara. Dinner and the night at a Midelt hotel, ensuite room with air conditioning, half-board.
2. Midelt - Ziz Valley - Erfoud - Merzouga - sunset camel trek - luxury camp (5h drive)
After breakfast the road drops into the Ziz Valley, past date palms in their thousands, fortified kasbahs and sheer cliffs, while the country turns steadily to desert. Erfoud, known for its fossils, comes next, then Merzouga. In the evening a camel carries you over the Erg Chebbi dunes as the sun sets, and the ride finishes at the luxury camp, where your ensuite tent is private and holds real beds, quality linens, a hot shower and electricity. Dinner is Moroccan and eaten under the stars, drumming follows at the fire, and the night sky has nothing at all in the way of it.
3. Merzouga - Rissani - Tinghir - Todra Gorge - Dades Valley (4h drive)
Up before first light for the sunrise ride over the dunes on camelback, with breakfast back at camp. The first stop is Rissani, birthplace of Morocco's Alaouite dynasty, where the dates market is worth the time. On to Tinghir, where you walk the riverbank in the shade of the palms, and then into Todra Gorge, walled by 300m limestone cliffs; lunch is at the gorge. The afternoon follows the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs into the Dades Valley. Dinner and the night at a Dades Valley hotel.
4. Dades - Rose Valley - Skoura - Aït Ben Haddou - Tizi n'Tichka - Marrakech (6h drive)
The route takes the Valley of the Roses and then Skoura, where Kasbah Amridil, restored and run as a private museum of Berber building, is open to visit, and then on to Ouarzazate. At Aït Ben Haddou, UNESCO-listed and used as a set for Gladiator and Game of Thrones, you cross the river with a guide and explore the village; lunch is nearby. The final leg takes the High Atlas at Tizi n'Tichka, 2,260m, and Marrakech comes up late in the day, where you are set down at your hotel or riad.