Day 1: Arrive in Marrakesh (or Casablanca) on the first day.Dinner and a ride to the airport

When you land in Casablanca, a driver will be there to take you to your riad in Marrakesh. If your flight gets in early, you’ll have time to dip your toes in the exotic water that is this wonderfully flashy city. You could get into the spirit of Marrakesh this afternoon before your guided tour of the Medina tomorrow by riding in a caleche. These horse-drawn cars are the most romantic way to see the city from outside its pink walls. This evening, you’ll have dinner in the comfort of your riad.

Day 2: Go on a guided tour of Marrakesh. Private tour with a guide, breakfast, and lunch:

If you choose to explore the Medina on your own, don’t worry if you lose your way. Just look for Jemaa el-Fnaa, or “La Place,” as people from Marrakech call it, and you’ll soon find your way back home. That won’t be a problem after a private guided tour (which includes lunch), where the guide helps you find your way around the crowded streets and shows you the best places to see. He will keep you interested with stories about life inside the 19-kilometer wall that surrounds Marrakech’s Medina. Before you leave, you can talk to your guide (see our Marrakech travel information) about the places you’d most like to see. The tour lasts from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m..

Day 3: From Telouet to Ait Ben Haddou to Ouarzazate to Skoura (5 hours of transportation), breakfast and dinner.

Today, your path takes you over the 2260-meter-high Tizi n’Tichka Pass, which was built in 1936 and is a stunning feat of engineering. You go back and forth through a barren landscape with sharp turns, but the breathtaking views make it all worth it. Get your camera ready, and your driver will stop somewhere safe.

If you want to go further off the beaten road, Telouet is a great place to stop on the way back to Ait Ben Haddou. People say that the ruins of a slave town can still be seen, but not much is left of it, and Telouet is quickly falling apart. The next stop is Ait Ben Haddou. It’s a walled town with traditional mud-and-straw houses. Walking along the dark streets between crumbling walls gives you a creepy sense of history, though a lot of work has been done to bring some parts of it back to their former glory since it is now a UNESCO site of special interest.

The road then goes down to Ouarzazate, which was the home of the Glaoui family, a tribe. They charged people tolls to go through the mountains on their way to and from Marrakech. Salt was important to the Glaoui family’s wealth, and there used to be a big Jewish community nearby that oversaw the production of this valuable good.

The next stop is Skoura in the Valley of the Kasbahs. Before dinner, you have the afternoon to enjoy this peaceful area.

Day 4: From Dra Valley to Zagora to M’hamid to Erg ChigagaGetting there (6 hours), breakfast, lunch, and dinner

You will leave Skoura this morning and drive south for two hours until you reach the faraway village of M’hamid, where the paved road stops. After having lunch with a local family and getting some rest, you start the next part of your trip off-road, going into Erg Chigaga, which is Morocco’s wildest Sahara area.

Day 5: Erg Chigaga 4×4 adventure in the Sahara Desert, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Today is all about soaking up the desert experience as you walk along the 300-meter-high dunes of Erg Chigaga. They look like a huge ocean of sand going on forever. As you walk through the dunes, there isn’t much noise except for your feet, which isn’t as easy as your guide makes it appear. In this desert, you can meet families from the Ait Atta Berber tribe who live on the move and learn about their lives.

Day 6: Lac Iriki to Foum Zguid and then to Taroudant (8-hour trip), breakfast and dinner.

Today you have a long drive that will be both interesting and hard. Going off-road through the “badlands” of Erg Chigaga takes three hours. Along the way, you’ll see the famous 50-mile-long dry lake bed of Lac Iriki. After lunch at Foum Zguid, you’ll be greeted by a good road that will take you through the Anti-Atlas, a UNESCO Argan-tree Bioreserve, and finally to Taroudant, which is known as the “Grandmother of Marrakesh” because it looks like a smaller Marrakesh with its ramparts. In the sixteenth century, the Saadians briefly made it their capital before moving on to the Red City.

Days 7 and 8: Tiznit, Aglou, and MirleftFive hours of travel, breakfast, and dinner

Setting the direction for the southwest today, we’ll go to Mirleft in Morocco, a beach haven that hasn’t been touched by humans. Discover what the French have known for a long time in this always sunny paradise. This hidden gem has big beaches, long sunny days, and fun surf places. Anyone who doesn’t want to go to Mirleft can always go to Essaouira instead (see our Essaouira trip guide).

Today, August 8, we’ll go to Sidi Ifni and have breakfast.I see that you have a day off in Mirleft. A surf class on Morocco’s “Wild