10 Days Tangier to Marrakech Grand Tour of Morocco

Sahar Stargazing Experience

10 Days Tangier to Marrakech Grand Tour of Morocco

The unhurried version of the north-to-south crossing. Ten days means nothing gets compressed: Tangier and the cape get a day, Chefchaouen gets two nights, Fes gets a full guided day, the Sahara gets two nights with a free day between them, and Marrakech gets a day at the end rather than an evening arrival before a morning flight.

The route begins at the Strait of Gibraltar, works down the Atlantic coast to Assilah, turns inland to the Rif and the blue town, comes south through the Roman city at Volubilis and the imperial gates of Meknes to Fes, crosses the Middle Atlas and the Ziz Valley into the Sahara, and finishes west along the old caravan corridor through the Todra Gorge and the Dades Valley, past Ait Ben Haddou, and over the High Atlas.

Stargazing in the Merzouga Desert

Stargazing is one of the unforgettable experiences included in our Morocco desert tours. Rather than being a separate activity, it is part of your desert camp experience and takes place during your stay in the Erg Chebbi dunes, as outlined in your tour itinerary.

How Our Stargazing Experience Is Organized

After enjoying a traditional dinner at the desert camp, we gather together and take a peaceful 10-minute walk into the heart of the dunes. Away from any artificial lights, you’ll reach a quiet location where the night sky reveals thousands of stars in remarkable clarity.

Our experience begins with fascinating stories about the nomadic people of the Sahara and how they relied on the stars for navigation and orientation across the desert. You’ll learn about their traditions, legends, and their deep connection with the night sky.

Using a professional laser pointer, your guide will introduce you to the most prominent stars, constellations, and celestial objects visible above the Sahara. With virtually no light pollution, the Merzouga dunes offer one of Morocco’s most spectacular stargazing environments, making this a truly memorable part of your desert adventure.

Duration: 10 days / 9 nights

Start: Tangier

End: Marrakech

Tour Style: Private

Stargazing Experience : Merzouga Desert

HIGHILGHTES:

– Cape Spartel, where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean
– The Cave of Hercules and the Tangier Kasbah
– The whitewashed medina of Assilah on the Atlantic
– Two nights in the blue-painted town of Chefchaouen
– The Spanish Mosque viewpoint and Ras El Ma
– The Roman ruins of Volubilis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
– Bab Al-Mansour and the imperial architecture of Meknes
– A full guided day in the Fes medina
– Al-Qarawiyyin and the Chouara tanneries
– Ifrane and the cedar forest Barbary macaques
– Camel trekking into the Erg Chebbi dunes at sunset
– Two nights in a luxury desert camp
– Two guided stargazing sessions in the dunes
– A full 4×4 day in the Sahara with nomad families and Khamlia village
– Rissani, Erfoud and the fossil workshops
– The Todra Gorge, the Dades Valley and the Roses Valley
– Ait Ben Haddou Kasbah and the Tizi n’Tichka pass
– A full guided day in Marrakech

TOUR Itinerary

You are met at the airport or the ferry terminal and taken to your accommodation. The day covers Tangier and the headland west of it.

The Kasbah sits at the highest point of the old city, with a terrace looking north across the strait to Spain, which is plainly visible on a clear day and explains a great deal about the city’s history in one glance. The route works down through the medina and out to the Grand Socco.

In the afternoon the coast road leads to Cape Spartel at the north-western corner of Africa, where the Atlantic and the Mediterranean meet, and the Cave of Hercules, a sea cave whose opening is shaped, from inside, roughly like a map of Africa.

Overnight: Hotel or riad in Tangier

The morning runs south along the Atlantic to Assilah, a small walled town known for its whitewashed ramparts and the murals painted across the medina walls, renewed each summer during the town’s arts festival.

The route then turns back east and inland, stopping at Tetouan, whose medina is a UNESCO World Heritage Site built by Andalusian refugees after the fall of Granada, before climbing into the Rif Mountains.

Chefchaouen appears in the late afternoon, stacked up the hillside in blue and white.

Overnight: Riad in Chefchaouen

A full day in the blue town on foot. The medina is compact and rewards walking without a plan, and the markets away from the main square are working ones rather than tourist stalls.

Ras El Ma, the spring at the top of the old town, still supplies water to parts of the medina. After lunch the path up to the Spanish Mosque takes about half an hour and gives the view back over the whole town and the mountains around it.

The late afternoon light on the blue walls is the reason most people come here, and having a second evening means you actually see it.

Overnight: Riad in Chefchaouen

The road runs south to Volubilis, where the street plan of the Roman provincial capital is still legible on the ground and the basilica, triumphal arch, and a number of floor mosaics survive in place.

Meknes follows, the imperial capital built by Moulay Ismail in the seventeenth century, where the monumental gate at Bab Al-Mansour gives the clearest sense of the scale he worked at. From there it is a short run to Fes.

A full day in the medina with a licensed local guide. Fes el-Bali has functioned more or less continuously since the ninth century.

The morning covers Al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859 and the oldest continuously operating university in the world, the Al Attarine Madrasa with its carved cedar and zellige, and the Chouara tanneries.

The afternoon moves through the artisan quarters, grouped by trade, with a drive taking in the Royal Palace gates, the Mellah, and the Borj Sud fortress for the view across the basin the city sits in.

Overnight: Riad in the Fes medina

An early departure south. Ifrane comes first, a town of pitched roofs and clipped hedges that could be dropped into the Alps unnoticed. Past it, the cedar forest around Azrou holds troops of Barbary macaques, one of the last wild populations of the species anywhere.

Lunch is usually at Midelt. Beyond it the road runs through the Tizi n’Tilghmt pass and enters the Ziz Valley, where a mountain-fed river supports a ribbon of date palms running for miles through bare rock.

Merzouga appears in the late afternoon. Camels are waiting at the edge of Erg Chebbi. The trek climbs into the dune field and stops on a high crest for sunset before dropping to the camp, where tea is waiting and your tent is ready. Dinner follows, then music around the fire.

STARGAZING EXPERIENCE – MERZOUGA DESERT

After dinner, we gather together and walk for about 10 minutes into the dunes to a quiet, dark location where there is no light pollution.

We begin with an introduction to the mythology of the nomads and explain how they used the stars they observed at night to navigate during the day.

Using a professional laser pointer, we guide you through the night sky, introducing the most important stars and constellations.

Sunrise from the dunes above the camp, breakfast afterwards, and a day with no long-distance driving in it.

Most of the Sahara is not sand. Beyond Erg Chebbi the ground turns to hammada, flat and dark and scattered with stone, and this is where the nomadic families graze and move. Part of the morning is spent with one of them over tea.

Khamlia lies south of the dunes, settled by communities brought north across the Sahara centuries ago. Its music has stayed closer to its sub-Saharan roots than anything else in Morocco.

Lunch is local. The afternoon takes in the seasonal lake north of Merzouga, which fills with flamingos in the months it holds water, and finishes with sandboarding before the light goes.

STARGAZING EXPERIENCE – MERZOUGA DESERT

After dinner, we gather together and walk for about 10 minutes into the dunes to a quiet, dark location where there is no light pollution.

We begin with an introduction to the mythology of the nomads and explain how they used the stars they observed at night to navigate during the day.

Using a professional laser pointer, we guide you through the night sky, introducing the most important stars and constellations.

Overnight: Luxury desert camp, Merzouga

A final sunrise over the dunes and breakfast at the camp. You leave by camel or by 4×4.

Rissani comes first, the historic seat of the Tafilalet, where the souk still functions as a working regional market and runs on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Erfoud follows, known for the workshops where marine fossils embedded in the surrounding rock are cut and polished, a reminder that this whole landscape was seabed once.

The afternoon runs west to Tinghir and the viewpoint above the palm oasis, then up the Todra river to the gorge, where the limestone walls rise around 300 metres above the riverbed. There is time to walk the gorge floor before the short drive to the Dades Valley.

Overnight: Hotel in the Dades Valley

West through Kalaat M’Gouna and the Roses Valley, then the palm groves of Skoura with their scattered kasbahs. At Ouarzazate there is the option of visiting Atlas Studios.

A short distance on is Ait Ben Haddou, the fortified earthen village on the old caravan route, built from packed earth and straw, with time to walk up through the ksar to the granary at the top.

From there the road climbs the High Atlas and crosses the Tizi n’Tichka pass at 2,260 metres, descending into Marrakech.

A full guided day in the city. The morning covers Bahia Palace, with some of the finest zellige and carved cedar in the country, the Saadian Tombs, and the Koutoubia Mosque, whose twelfth-century minaret still sets the skyline.

The afternoon works through the souks of the medina, where trades occupy their own quarters, finishing at Jemaa el-Fna, which fills after dark with food stalls, musicians, and storytellers.

Transfer to Marrakech Menara Airport or your accommodation as your schedule requires.

– Meet and greet at Tangier airport or ferry terminal
– Private air-conditioned vehicle with fuel
– English-speaking driver
– Licensed local guides for the Fes and Marrakech medinas
– Nine nights accommodation as listed
– Private en-suite rooms in hotels and riads, private tent at the desert camp
– Meals: 9 breakfasts and 3 dinners
– Camel trekking experience in the Erg Chebbi dunes
– Full day 4×4 desert excursion with nomad and Khamlia visits
– Sandboarding
– Two stargazing experiences in the Merzouga desert
– Airport transfer on departure

– Lunches
– Drinks and beverages
– Entrance fees where applicable
– Tips

Please fill out the form below to contact us, and we will respond as soon as possible. For a faster response please send a WhatsApp: +212661144620 message or call us at +212661144620 . We look forward to connecting with you. Email: saharastargazing@gmail.com

How to pay for the tour?

Our payment process is simple and hassle-free. To confirm your booking, we require a small deposit, which can be easily paid via PayPal, bank transfer, or Wise at the time of reservation. The remaining balance is to be paid in cash to your driver or guide on the first day of the tour, in euros, US dollars, or the equivalent amount in Moroccan dirhams.

What currency is used, and how do I get money?

The currency in Morocco is the Moroccan Dirham (MAD). Credit cards are accepted in many hotels and larger businesses, but cash is needed in many smaller towns and markets.

Is it possible to customize the tour itinerary?

The currency in Morocco is the Moroccan Dirham (MAD). Credit cards are accepted in many hotels and larger businesses, but cash is needed in many smaller towns and markets.

What are the camps in the desert like?

You’ll spend the night in a traditional Berber desert camp featuring private tents. The camps offer essential comforts such as comfortable bedding, shared or private bathroom facilities (depending on the camp type), warm blankets, and a communal dining area for meals and relaxation.

Price & Booking Policy

As a staying guest of our hotel ,hotel KASBAH mohayut, we offer you a guided observation of the starry sky after dinner until midnight, seeing conditions permitting,
at 200
Dirhams per person.
As a non-staying guest of our hotel we offer a 3-course dinner with guided stargazing after dinner at 350 Dirhams per person. Only valid with a firm reservation and upon confirmation by hotel mohayut.
For passing through guests: Price: 350 Dirhams pp. Parking of the car and a guided observation after dinner for about an hour and a half .upon firm reservation confirmed by the hotel.
Occasional drive-by’s will not guarantee stargazing at SaharaSky.
Cancellations please 2 days before arrival date as confirmed by the hotel either by email to saharastargazing@gmail.com or by SMS to 0661144620 .

How Our Stargazing Experience Is Organized

Walk through the tranquil Erg Chebbi dunes under a sky filled with stars.
Witness the spectacular Milky Way in a pristine dark-sky environment.
Learn how Sahara nomads navigated using the stars for centuries.
Guided constellation and planet tour with a professional laser pointer.
Discover ancient Berber legends and celestial mythology.
Perfect opportunity for unforgettable night photography and astrophotography.
A romantic, peaceful, and unforgettable experience in the heart of the Sahara Desert.