Wild 10 Day Morocco Itinerary With Kids

I keep saying ‘this was the best trip’ after a lot of trips, but this one truly, was the best. My oldest came up to me when we were sitting by the fire in the middle of the Sahara Desert listening to the beat of the drums, gave me a BIG hug and said “Mom, this is the coolest trip ever. Thank you”. She was 9!

I struggled a lot with committing to an itinerary because there was so much to see and everything was super far apart. There were many cities I had to cut out from our itinerary because it was just not feasible. Even then, there was a ton of driving if you plan to include the Sahara.

I debated for a while wether we should get a guide and driver for the trip or just self drive. We ended up renting a car with Budget right from the airport and it worked out really well. I’m glad we were able to self-drive and stop at any given moment when any of the kids needed something.

If you’re looking for a guided tour, I’ve heard really great things about Morocco Helping Tours. We would’ve booked with them if we didn’t do this DIY style. I have no affiliation with them other than being recommended their services by several friends who have used them before.

Day 1 – Marrakesh

Our flights were in and out of Marrakesh, so we spent the first two nights in this beautiful city. We had two full days to explore, though part of the first day was used for a mid-day jet-lag nap 🙂

Where to Stay in Marrakesh with Kids

Riad Janate and Spa

I was booking everything last minute, as usual, and this Riad had availability. I booked it purely based off of the photos I saw, and I was not disappointed! The Riad was absolutely beautiful, right in the Medina and walking distance to everything. The food was top notch, the hospitality was excellent and the rooftop terrace views were unreal.

We took the first day to just explore the city by foot. I intentionally didn’t book any activities as I wasn’t sure how our overnight flight would go in terms of energy levels and sleep the following morning. We took an easy stroll along the markets and souks to really take in the vibrant colors of Marrakesh.

I kept seeing advice to get a guide for the markets, but we decided to just explore at our own pace. I’m sure we missed out on some history but I don’t think my kids were in a state to absorb any information on this day anyway 🙂

If you love guided walking tours, this Guided Walking Tour of the Medina is a great option and the one I was considering. You can also get a tour through your Riad when you arrive.

There are no cars allowed inside the Medina, but there are motorcycles, donkeys and lots of people. It’s chaotic, but that’s part of the charm. Keep your head on a swivel, especially if you have young kids who like to dart in various directions and help older kids understand how to navigate these streets. Make sure to sample some of the fresh pomegranate or orange juice while you’re here – it was to die for!

Day 2 – Marrakesh

I had a lot of places I wanted to visit in Marrakesh but we only had so much time and so much patience for architecture and history between the three kids.

We started the day visiting Madrasa Ben Youssef to see the beautiful architecture and tiling work. Make sure to come early as it gets insanely crowded.

We followed that up with doing our own Mosaic Workshop with the kids! We booked it the morning of and really loved it. We got to keep our tile creations and bring them home with us. Our instructor shared a little bit about the history and the process of how these mosaic pieces are created, and served us traditional Moroccan tea during the workshop. The girls were so happy we got to do this!

Day 3 – Dades Gorge

The following day we set out early to drive to Dades Gorge in the Atlas Mountains. The road is quite windy at the beginning as you climb up the mountain pass, but it does eventually straighten out. If you tend to get carsick make sure to take typical precautions.

The drive to Dades is long but beautiful, with lots of stunning views along the way. In the spring, the valley turns a beautiful green – a stark contrast to all the orange and yellow hues of the desert. If you’re really lucky you might catch the roses blooming in Rose Valley, where literal tons of roses are harvested between April and May.

If you have some spare time, you can stop at Ouarzazate on the way and check out some of the movie studios. Many Hollywood movies were filmed in this region and there’s remaining movie sets in Atlas Studios or the Cinema Museum. We skipped these due to time constraints!

We didn’t have time for this on our version of the itinerary, but make sure to check out Monkey Fingers hike. It’s a 4 hour hike through some really cool rocks with lots of fun climbing for the kids. I wish we had booked an extra night here or at least one other night at Todra Gorge before heading to the Sahara. There was so much to see in this region of Morocco and it felt like we were just speeding through it. I originally included this stop as a way to break up the 11 hour drive to Merzouga, but quickly realized this should’ve been a full destination of it’s own!

Make sure to drive up to the view point of Dades to see the classic snaking road shot! The best lighting is of course at sunset and maybe sunrise, as the light peeks through the gorge. We got here just in time to catch sunset!

Where to Stay in Dades Gorge

We stayed at Dar Ahlam Dades Gorge, for just $100/night. The dinner and breakfast was excellent, and it’s close to both the serpentine road and Monkey Fingers. There’s an outdoor pool and lots of outdoor patio space but it was just a bit too cold to make use of those when we went in March.

Day 4 – Todra Gorge + Sahara

The next morning we set out early on a two hour drive towards Todra Gorge. I heard that there was world-class outdoor climbing here and I knew we had to give it a go! It was really hard trying to find information about climbing guides here online, but after scouring Google Maps for a few minutes and WhatsApp’ing a few places, I had our guide locked in.

We went with Aventures Verticales Maroc, and they were able to provide climbing gear for the kids and an excellent English-speaking guide for the day. We’ve never done lead climbing before so it was nice to have a guide with us to set up the routes and navigate the gorge. If you’re well versed in climbing, you can just rent the gear and go out on your own.

Most people who drive through Todra Gorge only come out for a few minutes to admire the Gorge itself. While it’s absolutely beautiful, it was so much more meaningful to spend some time here and get in some of the best outdoor climbing. There’s also a short hike you can do here to check out some berber villages, just past the gorge. We – you guessed it – didn’t have time for that but it looked pretty cool!

We climbed with our guide for a full 4 hours, setting up different pitches along the gorge. There’s also a via ferrata that looked really cool for ages 8+, but we decided to stick with climbing for this trip. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay too long as we still had a 3 hour drive ahead of us to our next destination.

This next part was our absolute favorite part of the trip by far (even though everything else up till now has been amazing)

We had a stay booked RIGHT IN the Sahara desert. WHAT! And the best part was we got to ride into the Sahara on camels! If you can, try to time your arrival with sunset for the best experience. The ride in takes about an hour by camel, or 15 minutes by 4×4.

When you arrive to Merzouga, you will park your car at a private parking lot which belongs to the lodge, and then take either the camels or a 4×4 in to the camp. The hosts will typically bring all your luggage in by 4×4 separately, if you choose to ride in via camels.

Day 5 – Sahara

We had two nights booked in our camp in the Sahara, and I wouldn’t recommend staying any less than that. The drive out here is quite long and there’s enough to do here to stay for at least two nights.

Where to stay in Sahara with Kids

I really loved our accommodation – Sahara Majestic Luxury Camp. The hosts were super wonderful, it was clean, the food was spectacular and our host was also our guide for our day trip in a 4×4 around the Sahara. There are quite a few options though, and they all have some sort of “luxury” buzzword attached to them. I think most of them offer very similar tours to each other.

I was pleasantly surprised with functioning warm showers!

You can book everything through the accommodation – camel rides, ATV tours, 4×4 tour of the Sahara and sandboarding (included in the stay). Dinner and breakfast are also included in the price of the accommodation. The hosts sprinkle in other fun things throughout the stay like nightly dance parties, a night walk to see the stars, a ride or walk up to the top of the dunes for sunset, and really anything else you could possibly ask.

During our stay here we opted to do the 4×4 Sahara tour. I was a bit skeptical of ATVs with our 2yo so we went for the safer feeling option with carseat and all. This tour was about 4-5 hours and took us all around the area. Our guide, who was also one of the camp hosts, showed us around the different geological regions of the Sahara, took us to hunt for fossils, meet a nomadic Berber family and have tea with them and finally lunch at his family home in Merzouga! It also included a bit of very thrilling 4×4 driving around the dunes. I can certainly see why ATVs are so popular here, but I was too nervous to try those.

It was really eye opening to see how the nomadic Berber people lived. Their camps are made of just wood and wool blankets that they make from their own camels – sometimes taking up to a full year to make one single blanket. They have one DIY stove where they cook their bread and boil their water. The family we visited had two little kids who were happy to show off their adorable goats to our girls.

We got back to the camp around 3pm and had some time for sandboarding before dinner. You can grab the sandboards right from the camp and walk up the dunes.

Our guide also offered to take us up to one of the taller dunes to we could get a good view of the entire sand dunes of Erg Chebbi. It turly is just a sea of sand in every direction!

We got back to camp and had a delicious dinner. Dinner is served to everyone at the same time, family style and consist of about 78 courses – you will NOT be hungry after! After dinner everyone goes straight to the fire pit for some singing, dancing and Moroccan tea!

After the party, everyone is invited to go on a walk to see the stars! The hosts explain which stars we can see, point out some constellations with a laser, and can also help you take a night-time photo with your phone.

You can use an app like PhotoPills to check when the core of the Milky Way becomes visible and go out at night to see the stars then. I went out around 4am for some night shots both nights we were there. I even convinced Danny to come out with me one of the nights.

Day 6 – Ait Benhaddou

Unfortunately sleep was not part of the itinerary on this trip, so I was struggling quite a bit in the morning after having very broken sleep the two nights before!

We took a 4×4 ride out of the dunes after breakfast to pick up our car from the Merzouga parking lot and continue our trip. This was another long drive day – 6 hours – so make sure to pick up some snacks in Merzouga before heading out. There are lots of fruit stalls and small grocery stores in Merzouga where you can pick up some food.

This night’s stop was also quite unique – we were staying in a house made out of clay in a Kasbah! A Kasbah is a North African fortress or citadel, usually built entirely out of clay.

Where to stay in Ait Benhaddou

We absolutely LOVED our stay at Kasbah El Hajja. Some of the reviews mentioned there was no electricity or hot water – and honestly I was kind of excited for the candlelit vibes – but turns out they do have electricity and even hot water for showering. The dinner and breakfast were great, and I think this may have been my favorite Tagine of the trip. Staying in the Kasbah for one night is absolutely worth it for the experience and for getting to see the old town without all the tourists.

There’s not a whole lot to do at Ait Benhaddou in terms of activities, but there’s a hill right across from there that you can climb up for the best view of sunrise. That being said, it’s quite the photographer’s paradise and I’m glad we had the evening and next morning to walk around and admire the beautiful architecture.

While you’re here, make sure to check out some of the artists. There’s a traditional art-form born here (I think) that uses tea and sugar water to create just absolute masterpieces. We ended up buying two pieces because I loved it so much! They paint using brewed tea, then add shadows using sugar water, and then use a burner to bring the painting to life.

We tried using this painting method at home but it didn’t quite work out with the shadows. I’m not sure if I did something wrong or something got lost in translation but I ended up using just lemon juice for the shadows and that worked really well when we went to burn it! If you try it, make sure to use thick watercolor paper.

Many movies were filmed here, including Gladiator and Game of Thrones, and some of the shop owners were proud to tell us that they were involved in the filming of these movies.

The town felt quite magical, like stepping back in time. Today there’s only a couple of families that still live here, as well as a handful of guesthouses where visitors can spend the night. The rest of the buildings have been turned into Berber museums and shops!

Day 7 – Taghazout

I sat on this part of the itinerary for many days and didn’t book our stay until the morning of. Partly because I wasn’t sure the kids would be up for another long drive to the coast, and partly because I couldn’t find decent accommodation in Taghazout. But Danny really wanted to check out the surf in Morocco and the kids have been doing quite well on the drives so we went for it!

I booked a mediocre place. The only thing it had going for it was the stellar location. Everything else was quite bad so I do not recommend staying there. We ended up leaving one night early and going to a nice Riad in Essaouira instead to fix our mistake.

Taghazout itself was nice, but not much to do here besides surfing. The small beach at Taghazout wasn’t my favorite – there was tons of glass everywhere and lots of trash, but the beach right next to Taghazout was excellent! We didn’t really get to swim as the water was still quite cold in March and Danny needed a wetsuit for surfing, but the kids enjoyed a relaxing day at the beach after our jam-packed itinerary.

Day 8 – Taghazout & Essaouira

Just 40 minutes outside of Taghazout are coastal sand dunes! They’re much smaller than the ones we saw in the Sahara, but it was really cool to see them right off the ocean shore. You can rent an ATV, camels or sandboards right on the spot, but we decided just to walk around and admire the views by foot this time. The camels didn’t seem well taken care of there and we didn’t want to worsen the situation.

Day 9 – Essaouira

The drive to Essaouira is just 2.5 hours which seemed like a walk in the park after our 6 hour drives to the desert.

Essaouira is a beautiful port city in Morocco, also known as the “windy city of Africa”. And it definitely delivered with the windy part. It’s perfect for kite surfing, and we got to watch some really great kite surfers while we were there. The Essaouira Medina is a UNESCO world heritage site with stunning sea views from the historic Skala de la Ville.

Where to stay in Essaouira with kids

We stayed at this beautiful Riad in the heart of the Medina. The family room was super spacious and the breakfast was excellent!

We were quite tired by this point of our trip so we didn’t do much other than walk the historic part of town and look for souvenirs to bring home for friends and family.

If I had the energy, I would have probably signed us up for a cooking class since we didn’t get a chance to do that in Marrakesh!

Day 10 – Marrakesh

We had an early flight so we stayed at an apartment just 6 minutes away from the airport. Highly recommend staying near the airport if you have an early flight, as driving around Marrakesh can be tricky!

This apartment was really great, beautifully decorated and had parking space available, all for just $60.

Logistics of Traveling Around Morocco with Kids

My biggest question when I was planning this was wether we needed to hire a guide for the entire trip or if we could drive ourselves and hire guides for small sections that we could not do on our own (like climbing, Sahara tour, etc).

After reading that the roads were quite good, and getting quoted $3000 for a driver for the 10 days we decided to just rent a car for $300 instead. The roads were indeed mostly fine and we had no issue driving around. It was nice to have the flexibility to stop at any point and alter our trip as needed on the go.

Make sure to stick to the speed limit though, as there are LOTS of police checkpoints along the way. We did get pulled over at one point near the end of the trip driving from Taghazout to Essaouira. There was a small section where the speed limit changed from 80 to 60 and back to 80, and Danny didn’t bother slowing down for the brief section of 60. I guess that section had a policeman stationed with a radar checking our speed because we got pulled over shortly after and he showed us a photo of us driving that section, 20km over the limit.

The part we didn’t know though is you can haggle your fine 🙂 When the cop said it’ll be 300MAD, Danny was visibly surprised by the price (unintentionally), and the cop asked him what price he’d like to pay instead. We ended up paying 150MAD for the fine, which is about $16 USD.

Marrakesh driving is quite chaotic and it was a bit of a challenge navigating those roads immediately after landing with no sleep. But the good news about Marrakesh driving is we didn’t have to do much of it. We just drove to our Riad’s parking lot and left the car there for two nights. Marrakesh is best explored by foot especially since you cannot drive inside the Medina. You could probably rent the car once you’re done visiting Marrakesh so that it’s not just sitting in the parking lot but we didn’t want to deal with the logistics of that.

When to travel to Morocco with Kids

The best time to visit Morocco is in the Spring (March-May) or Fall (Sept-Nov) when the temperatures are mild. I loved the spring as it’s a very green time of year and you’ll get a much more colorful palette.

Summer here is brutally hot and I wouldn’t even consider going to the desert that time of year as temperatures get up to 50C. Our host from the Sahara Luxury Camp said that they now close their accommodation for July/August because too many families with kids were getting sick from the heat. If you must come to Morocco during this time, stick to the coastal cities like Essaouira, Rabat or Casablanca.

Winter is low season and can get quite cold and rainy. Even in March it was surprisingly cold and we had our puffy jackets with us. The accommodations are not insulated and it can be quite cold to sleep at night.

What I would change about our Morocco Itinerary with Kids

I would definitely spend at least two nights in the Atlas Mountains. Wether that’s two nights at Dades Gorge, or one night at Dades Gorge and one night at Todra Gorge, but I would really try to get more time there. Especially if you’re going to be doing climbing or Via Ferrata or any of the hiking in that area!
Possibly switch up the coastal region with Ourika Valley, another section of the Atlas Mountains. There was a pretty bad flood that happened there just a few days before we came so the area looked quite different and we decided to skip it for the time being. But on a good day, it’s a great area to visit and quite different to everything else on the itinerary
If you have more than 10 days, I would definitely try to add Chefchaouen, Casablanca, Fes or Rabat.