Morocco is getting more and more attention from tourists the last few years. Which is understandable, since there are some amazing sights to be seen. But mainly, it is also very affordable!
We are about to share with you our 10 day Morocco itinerary which is going to take you from Rabat in the north, through Casablanca towards Marrakesh, and then all the way to the southeast where the highlight of the trip will be an epic overnight stay in the Merzouga desert.
We decided to fly from Basel to Rabat, make our way from north to south, and fly back home from Marrakesh. After browsing Google flights and Skyscanner, we were able to find one-way flights in february for around 50 euro’s this way!
A great general tip for traveling on a budget: look for the cheapest flight options and schedule your itinerary around that instead of the other way around!
Rabat
We spent a bit more than a full day in Rabat. And that was plenty of time for us. On our first day we got ourselves a smoothie bowl and some pancakes for breakfast at Boho Café, after which we started to explore the city.
First we headed towards the Mausoleum of Mohammed V and the Hassan Tower, a 12th-century minaret that was never fully finished. The area itself also serves as a great viewpoint across the city.
From there, you are very close to the river and coast of Rabat, along which you can walk towards the Andalusian Gardens. The gardens are very beautiful and peaceful. But before you enter the gardens you can walk through the Oudaya Kasbah. At the edge of the Kasbah, you get an equally beautiful view of the coast and Bouregreg river.
After walking along the rest of the coast line, we headed back into the city center to find ourselves some lunch. Even though there didn’t seem to be a lot of variety of plant-based options in traditional Moroccan food (mainly couscous, tahin and falafel). At least we were able to always find something plant-based. And if you manage to avoid the restaurants that cater to tourists, you can get a full meal for about 6 euros. Otherwise you might be looking at prices around double that.
After further walking around the city and browsing the markets. We decided to head back and rest for a bit before we would head out for dinner again. We watched the sunset at the beach which was very cool, but also very windy! The waves were going crazy and combined with the strong wind you could taste the salt on your lips from just walking on the street nearby.
Casablanca
The next morning we took the train to Casablanca. This would just be a stop on our way towards Marrakesh where we would go to later that day. You can easily take a train between the major cities in Morocco, and the tickets are pretty cheap. Its even easier to just book your tickets beforehand on the official website from the Moroccan railways.
We highly recommend doing just a quick stop for half a day in Casablanca if you travel between Rabat and Marrakesh. Casablanca is a completely different vibe from Rabat which is cool and refreshing to experience. But after visiting the Hasan II mosque and walking through the city, there probably isn’t much more that would keep your interest there as a tourist.
So that is exactly what we did. After arriving in Casablanca at Casa Port station, still early in the morning, we headed for breakfast first. We were happy to find another smoothie bowl place called BOL Superfood bar (yeah we love those very much). On our way there we quickly checked out the Casablanca Cathedral. But the main reason to visit Casablanca is to visit the Hassan II mosque. We were in awe of the size of this mosque, as well as the detail everywhere.
You do need to buy a ticket to enter, but it allows you to enter the square as well as enter the mosque itself. And if you still have any kind of student card, bring it! It will allow to you pay only half.
After spending some time checking out the inside of the mosque, we headed to the main train station Casa Voyaguers. We were able to take a bus there and these busses are also very cheap. Often you only pay 0,40 cents so therefore its good to have some small cash on hand. Also, make sure to head out to the bus station on time. Most of the time, the google maps locations are correct. But sometimes they are not, or they just don’t show any physical sign that would resemble a busstop. So you are just in a random spot along the street, hoping the bus will actually stop there.
We also pre-booked our train towards Marrakesh, and it was supposed to take us another 3 hours approximately to reach Marrakesh. Unfortunately the train was delayed quite a bit so it took us a bit longer. But we didn’t worry too much since we brought our lunch and some snacks that we prepared the night before. And luckily there was good airconditioning on the train.
Marrakesh
After arriving in Marrakesh and taking a bus to the medina, we immediately noticed that Marrakesh is indeed the main tourist place. It was busy in most places, and there were tourists everywhere. Whereas in Rabat and Casablanca, you mainly see locals when walking through the streets. And once you enter the inner streets of the medina you will see that every corner of every street is filled with little shops that try to sell their products to tourists.
We were headed towards our appartment where we were met by our host who was extremely friendly. We got settled in and went out straight for food since we were pretty hungry after hours of travel.
Marrakesh is filled with rooftop places. And we managed to find one (Koulchi Zine) with a bunch of plant-based options that were all clearly marked on the menu. Even though eating in a restaurant is not the cheapest option available, if the price for a full meal is still only 11 euros there is no problem a budget can’t fit a nice meal every once in a while.
After we got back to our apartment and got ready for bed, Elea started to not feel great. Her stomach was acting up and in the middle of the night she got sick as well. We figured it must be from the food we ate, but were not sure what since we ate the same food and I was still feeling fine. Luckily, our host knew exactly what medicine she needed and was so kind to get it for us. But still, the next day Elea was still sick and exhausted, so I spent the day shopping for tea and some food that are light on the stomach for Elea. But also I had to go out for food for myself. Once I went out for dinner by myself, I could also start feeling my stomach bloating. And by that time I got back to the apartment, I wasn’t able to sleep untill I got so sick that everything had to come out. How I got sick a full day later than Elea, we still don’t know. But we had no choice but to rest and recover as soon as possible, because a day later we would start our adventure into the desert.
Merzouga Desert
After resting as much as we could the previous day, and only going out to get some food and snacks for the next day, we woke up early and got picked up by our driver for our desert trip. We booked a group tour which would last 3 days and 2 nights. Aside from lunch and drinks, everything was included and we only had to pay 120 euros each. If you are interested in booking the same trip, check them out here.
The first day consists of a lot of driving. But you get to see some very cool sights just staring outside the windows already. First, after leaving Marrakesh, you head straight towards the Atlas Mountains. Which looks incredible from afar already. The contrast of the snowy mountain tops against the palm trees and warmer environment around Marrakesh looks very special.
You drive through the mountains towards a place called Aït-Ben-Haddou, a UNESCO World Heritage site which you visually might recognize from films like Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven and many more. A local guide was waiting for us to walk us through the entire area, but we were told it was optional to walk with him so we decided to explore by ourselves.
Even though it was a cool place to explore, we quickly realized that everything around it was very much set up to get the maximum amount of money from all the tourists. The inside of the the place didn’t feel very authentic anymore because it was completely filled with shops and stands catered to tourists. The local guide also took the rest of our group to a shop to buy a scarf for when we would get to the desert. Luckily, we were smart enough to already buy one for ourselves in Marrakesh. But they were charging the rest of our group three times as much compared to what we paid back in Marrakesh. On top of that, the guide took our group to a restaurant that was a literal tourist scam. Only providing a menu with ‘full-course’ menu items, where we later found out that the so called starter salads were just a very tiny plate of lettuce and some greens. And the dessert filled with ‘seasonal fruits’ consisted of a whole, unpeeled, orange.
We already didn’t like the fact that we only were presented full-course menus, especially since we were still being careful with what we were going to eat after we only just recovered from our sickness. At the same time, they were charging ridiculous prices for the menus. So we asked immediately if it was okay and possible to only order a single menu item. The waiter told us it was okay and we both ordered a vegetable couscous. Once we saw the food that was served to our other group members, we were very glad with our decidison to do so.
But once we were done eating and wanted to pay, the same waiter wanted to charge us the full menu price. We obviously objected, which eventually led to us having to walk to the manager. The manager showed his employees a menu that he grabbed from the back, which did include individual prices. We ended up paying that price (although still on the expensive side) and left. If we had known all of this beforehand, we would have also went for food by ourselves at a smaller place across the street.
Next our journey would continue towards the desert. But along the way we made one more stop for the day at Ourzazate. This place is famous for its movie sets and we made a quick stop outside of Atlas Studios. Unfortunately the tour didn’t allow us the time to go inside.
Afterwards we continued our journey towards our hotel for the night, which was located in the Dades Gorge, a very cool place to spend the night. Driving through the gorge right before sunset made for some beautiful views. We also briefly stopped at a viewpoint called “The Monkey Fingers”.
The next morning we got up for an early breakfast, after which we continued our journey towards the desert. This time we made our first stop while still inside the gorge so we could take a moment to enjoy the surroundings of the gorge. Afterwards, our guide also took us to a traditional village inside the Tinghir Oasis which was very closeby. It was a beautiful place with small gardens owned by the local people. It was also filled with blossoming almond trees, which really enhanced the beautiful feel of the place.
After leaving the oasis, it was time for our final part of the journey towards the desert. We made a lunch stop along the way and after that, we could finally start to see the desert in the distance. It was quite amazing, seeing the mountains on one side while seeing the desert approach ever so closer on the other side.
Once we actually arrived in the desert, we made a stop at a kind of resort from which our journey to the desert camp would begin. We both opted to not partake in camel riding, so instead we took a jeep ride towards the camp, which was actually very fun. This ended up being the perfect experience in our opinion, and let me tell you why exactly.
We arrived at the camp first, by ourselves, and had all the time in the world to settle into our tent. Afterwards, it allowed us time to walk into the desert by ourselves which was very cool and a lot of fun. We were able to take some cool pictures, just the two of us and nobody else around. Then, once sunset was starting to get close, we walked out into the desert once more. And after just a few minutes we could already see the groups that were riding camels approaching and getting ready to watch the sunset. We could easily walk towards them and enjoy the same sunset experience as them. Some people even told us they didn’t like the camel riding at all since it was very uncomfortable for them. Other people even decided to just start walking anyways because of that.
The sunset was an amazing experience, the golden colour of the sand against the blue sky and setting sun is a sight you will never see anywhere else.
Back at the camp, it was time for dinner. Even though they prepared a bunch of dishes for everyone and the food was pretty decent, the people in charge of the camp told us they were not informed that the both of us eat plant-based. Even though I made sure to confirm the availability of this option before I booked the tour and also on the day before the tour started. That lack of communication, and effort was kind of disappointing, but the people at the camp were kind enough to ask the chef to prepare us something else. We managed to get by with the food that was available and headed back to our tent to shower.
Afterwards, they started playing music around the campfire and people were dancing and enjoying it a lot. I even got invited to participate in playing one of the drums, which was a lot of fun especially for a drummer like myself.
After that we were pretty exhausted and headed to bed. The camp and tents were pretty comfortable and spacious, which I didnt expect for a desert camp. The tents even had private warm showers!
The next morning we had to get up early to watch the sunrise. This was equally as beautiful as the sunset. You could still see the starry nightsky. And the stars there look so bright like you have never seen before. Afterwards, we packed our bags and got some quick breakfast before we would start our journey back to Marrakesh. That last part was the most exhausting part, since we had to travel the whole way back in a single day while only stopping for food and bathroom breaks. But it was definitely worth the awesome experience we got to enjoy in the desert.
Back in Marrakesh
Once we got back in Marrakesh, we settled into our new Riad for the last day of our trip. We definitely recommend staying in a Riad at least once while you are in Marrakesh. The places look very nice and give a totally different vibe from any kind of hotel you might have experienced before. Usually, they also offer a very nice breakfast thats included in the price.
The next day would be our last day, which we used to finally explore the rest of Marrakesh. We walked around the Koutoubia mosque and went inside the Ben Youssef Medersa. The last one is definitely worth checking out. Even though it will probably be very busy with tourists. So it’s best to go as early as possible. The amount of detail present in every inch of every wall or tile is amazing to see.
After eating a lot of couscous during the desert trip, we were really craving some tofu curry. And luckily, we were able to find the perfect Thai place outside of the Medina. The restaurant is called: Eat me Marrakech, and we would definitely recommend anyone to go there. We both ate a delicious curry, which only costed 75 Moroccan Dirham. That’s only about 7 euros. Not bad for a restaurant meal!
Overall we definitely enjoyed our time in Morocco, and we hope this gives you an idea of where to go and what to do when you decide to visit Morocco as well!