Morocco on your own
Three hours' flight from Paris: passes at 2,260 m, valleys of kasbahs and real Saharan dunes — the most exotic road trip you can fit into a week.
Morocco is the perfect playground for a first road trip beyond Europe: cheap rentals, decent roads, human distances, and a gradient of worlds within a few hours' drive — medinas, Atlas orchards, southern palm groves, the Erg Chebbi dunes, Atlantic trade winds.
The classic loop from Marrakech (the Atlas via the Tizi n'Tichka, Aït-Ben-Haddou, the Dadès and Todgha gorges, the Merzouga dunes, back through the Drâa valley or Agdz, then Essaouira) fits into 8 to 12 days. An ordinary car suffices on the main route; a 4x4 adds only comfort and a few optional pistes.
The destinations that matter
- 01
Marrakech
2 nights
Jemaa el-Fna square at nightfall, the souks, the gardens: two days of urban intoxication before the silence of the Atlas.
- 02
Aït-Ben-Haddou and Ouarzazate
1 night
Southern Morocco's most beautiful fortified village, on its hill since the 11th century — and gatekeeper of the kasbah road that begins here.
- 03
Dadès and Todgha gorges
2 nights (one per gorge)
Two parallel cuts into the High Atlas: the vertiginous Dadès hairpins, the orange walls of the Todgha — the beating heart of the thousand-kasbah road.
- 04
Merzouga and Erg Chebbi
1 to 2 nights
Dunes of 150 metres blushing at sunset, a bivouac night under a Saharan sky: Erg Chebbi is the desert dream you can reach in a rental car.
- 05
Drâa Valley
1 night
A hundred kilometres of unbroken palm grove winding between black djebels, strewn with earthen ksour: the old caravan road is the south's most beautiful green line.
- 06
Essaouira
2 nights
Atlantic-battered ramparts, a blue port, an artists' medina swept by the trade winds: the ocean breather that ideally closes the southern loop.
On our publishing schedule
Coming soon“Morocco on your own”, the complete edition, is in preparation
Same method as our Namibia guide: day-by-day itineraries, driving, a costed budget and checklists. Leave us your address and you'll hear about the launch — at the launch price.
In the meantime, our reference
The “Namibia on your own” guide — €29
- The same method, already applied to Africa's easiest self-drive country
- 3 day-by-day itineraries, 4x4 insurance decoded, costed budget
- Instant download, 14-day guarantee — currently in French, English edition coming
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