On this page
- 1. Choosing the Right 10-Day Family Circuit
- 2. How Much Driving Does a 10-Day Trip Involve?
- 3. Desert, Mountains & Coast
- 4. Imperial Cities & the North
- 5. The Deep South
- 6. The Atlantic Coast
- 7. Which Route Works Best for Different Ages?
- 8. Best Time of Year for a 10-Day Trip
- 9. 10-Day Morocco Itinerary FAQ
Ten days is enough to properly cover one complete circuit - not several regions rushed together, but one done at a pace that leaves room to actually enjoy it. Below are four ways we build a 10-day family route, each with a different priority: the full desert-mountains-coast experience, deeper cultural time in the imperial cities, a proper two-night Sahara stay, or a purely coastal trip that avoids the desert transfers altogether. All four are built around short or manageable transfers, with no need for an internal flight.
They're starting points, not fixed packages. Every family adjusts the pace once we know their children's ages - what follows is the shape each route tends to take. If ten days feels like more than you need, our private Morocco family tours can be built just as easily around five or seven days instead.
Choosing the Right 10-Day Family Circuit
With ten days, the decision is less about driving tolerance - there's enough time to space it out properly on any of the four - and more about what you actually want more of. Desert, Mountains & Coast is the broadest of the four, touching the Sahara, the Atlas, and the Atlantic in one loop, which suits families who want genuine variety and haven't been to Morocco before. The Deep South goes narrower and deeper: a full two-night desert stay rather than the one-night taste shorter trips allow, for families who know the Sahara is the priority.
Imperial Cities & the North leans furthest from the classic desert-and-kasbah image of Morocco - Fes, Meknes, Volubilis, and a finish in Chefchaouen reward children old enough to engage with history and architecture rather than just landscapes. The Atlantic Coast is the outlier: no desert, no mountains, a corridor of coastal cities and beach towns for families who'd rather trade the Sahara for sea air, or who are travelling with very young children for whom the desert transfers don't make sense yet.
How Much Driving Does a 10-Day Trip Involve?
Ten days gives enough room to space driving days out with real rest days between them, rather than compressing the same distances into a shorter trip.
Desert, Mountains & Coast
The Complete Circuit - the broadest of the four.
The broadest of the four - Marrakech, Ait Benhaddou, a desert camp near Merzouga, and a finish on the Atlantic coast at Essaouira. For children, this route delivers the widest range of genuinely different experiences in one trip - kasbah towers to climb, a camel ride into the dunes, and a beach to finish on, rather than one landscape the whole way through.
Days 1-2: Marrakech
Medina souk hunt and Jardin Majorelle.
Day 3: Marrakech to Ait Benhaddou
Tizi n'Tichka pass, kasbah towers.
Day 4: Ait Benhaddou to Merzouga
Ouarzazate stop, sunset camel ride.
Day 5: Desert Camp
Free morning, dunes, sunrise.
Days 6-7: Merzouga to Marrakech
Via Dades Gorge.
Days 8-9: Marrakech to Essaouira
Ramparts, beach, and seafood. Families who want to add a specific desert evening earlier in the trip sometimes combine this route with a sunset dinner in Agafay on day one before heading south.
Day 10: Departure
Imperial Cities & the North
History, Architecture & the Blue City.
A one-way route from Marrakech to Fes, Meknes, and a finish in Chefchaouen. This route rewards children who engage with hands-on history - a zellige tile workshop, tanneries seen from a rooftop, Roman ruins to explore at Volubilis - more than the desert or mountain routes do. Best suited to children eight and up.
Days 1-2: Marrakech
Medina and a zellige tile workshop.
Day 3: Marrakech to Ouzoud
Waterfalls and Barbary macaques.
Day 4: Ouzoud to Fes
Shorter second driving day.
Days 5-6: Fes
Medina, tanneries, and a Volubilis day trip.
Day 7: Fes to Meknes to Chefchaouen
Meknes medina en route.
Days 8-9: Chefchaouen
Blue medina and easy hikes nearby.
Day 10: Departure
From Tangier or Casablanca.
This route works best with an open-jaw flight plan - arrive in Marrakech, depart from Tangier or Casablanca - rather than looping back for a long final-day drive.
The Deep South
A Proper Sahara Stay.
For families who already know the desert is the priority - two full nights at a Merzouga camp instead of the one-night taste shorter trips allow. A genuine rest day in the dunes, not just a sunset ride and an early departure, tends to be what children remember longest - enough time to actually settle into camp life rather than passing through it.
Days 1-2: Marrakech
Medina souk hunt and Jardin Majorelle.
Day 3: Marrakech to Ait Benhaddou
Tizi n'Tichka pass, kasbah towers.
Day 4: Ait Benhaddou to Dades Gorge
Ouarzazate stop.
Day 5: Dades to Merzouga
Sunset camel ride into camp.
Days 6-7: Desert Camp
A full rest day, sandboarding, and sunrise.
Day 8: Merzouga to Zagora
Draa Valley introduction.
Day 9: Zagora to Marrakech
Day 10: Departure
The Atlantic Coast
No Desert, No Long Transfers - the gentlest of the four.
The gentlest of the four - Casablanca, Rabat, El Jadida, and Essaouira, with manageable coastal drives and several nights based in one place. For younger children or families who'd rather trade the Sahara for beach time, this route means more days spent simply being somewhere - sandcastles, beach time, and a walkable rhythm - than being driven between sights.
Days 1-2: Casablanca
Hassan II Mosque and the coastal corniche.
Day 3: Rabat
The Kasbah of the Udayas, a fortified blue-and-white quarter overlooking the Atlantic, plus a beach afternoon.
Day 4: Rabat to El Jadida
Portuguese cistern and a coastal stop.
Day 5: El Jadida to Essaouira
Shorter second driving day.
Days 6-9: Essaouira
Beach days, ramparts, medina, and day trips.
Day 10: Departure
How to Plan a 10-Day Morocco Itinerary with Children
Ten days gives real room to get the pace right, but it's still easy to overreach.
Space out the longer driving days. With ten days, there's no need for back-to-back transfers - build in genuine stay-put days wherever the route allows.
Don't add a fifth region to fill the extra days. Ten days over four routes still means real time in each; the same ten days spread across five or six stops usually means less time anywhere that matters.
Build in at least one full rest day. Somewhere in the middle of the trip, a day with no driving and no fixed plan tends to matter more than an extra sight.
Reconsider the return leg. A loop back to the starting city works for some routes; for others, an open-jaw flight (arriving and departing from different cities) avoids a long final-day drive.
Let the desert stay be long enough to matter. If the Sahara is part of the plan, two nights genuinely changes the experience compared to one - it's worth the extra day if the itinerary allows it.
Which Route Works Best for Different Ages?
Age is a useful guide, not a rule - what your children are drawn to matters as much as how old they are.
Ages 2-4: The Atlantic Coast. Minimal driving, no desert nights, and days built around beach time rather than long transfers - the easiest of the four to manage with very young children.
Ages 5-7: Desert, Mountains & Coast. The variety keeps this age group engaged - a kasbah to climb, a camel ride, a beach to finish on - without asking for the deeper desert commitment of the Deep South route.
Ages 8-12: The Deep South or Imperial Cities. Old enough to appreciate a full two-night desert stay, or to engage with Fes's history and workshops rather than just its scenery.
Teenagers: Any Route, More Independence. All four work, but teenagers generally get more from routes with a physical or cultural edge - sandboarding in the dunes, or exploring Chefchaouen or Fes with more freedom and age-appropriate activities.
Best Time of Year for a 10-Day Family Trip
Over ten days, a trip often crosses more than one micro-climate - desert, mountain, coast - so it's worth checking each in turn rather than Morocco's weather as a whole.
What All Four Have in Common
Whichever route fits, a few things stay constant across all four.
A private vehicle means the pace adjusts to your family, not a fixed schedule - a stop happens when someone needs it, a slow morning doesn't cost the rest of the day, and if a child is unwell, the itinerary simply shifts rather than the family falling behind.
None of the four requires an internal flight. And every version travels with a driver used to families specifically - over ten days, that familiarity compounds, since the same driver who noticed what worked on day two can adjust the pace by day seven.
Ten Days Is Enough to Do One Thing Properly
Ten days will not show your family every region Morocco has. It's enough, though, to properly experience one - the desert and the coast together, a deep cultural circuit through the imperial cities, a Sahara stay long enough to actually settle into it, or an easy coastal trip with nothing to rush toward.
Choose the version that matches what your family actually wants more of. We can build the rest around it.
10-Day Morocco Itinerary FAQ
Is 10 days enough to see Morocco with children?
Ten days is enough to properly cover one full circuit - the desert, mountains and coast together, the imperial cities, a proper multi-night Sahara stay, or the Atlantic coast - without rushing. It's not enough to do all of Morocco's regions at once, and trying to fit in everything usually costs more than it delivers.
Can we do a proper Sahara trip with 2 nights in 10 days?
Yes. A 10-day trip gives enough room for a two-night desert stay without making the entire itinerary about getting to and from Merzouga. The journey is broken into several manageable stages, with a full day in the desert between the main transfers.
Should a 10-day Morocco itinerary be a loop or one-way?
Both work, depending on the route. A loop starting and ending in Marrakech suits the desert-and-coast or deep-south formats well. A one-way route suits the imperial cities or northern circuits better, avoiding a long final-day drive back to the start.
How much driving is realistic over 10 days with children?
With 10 days, driving days can be spaced out with genuine rest days in between, rather than back-to-back transfers. The routes above space out the longer driving days wherever possible, with genuine stay-put days built in when the route allows.
Which 10-day itinerary suits younger children best?
The Atlantic Coast route is the best fit for younger children, as it avoids the long desert transfers entirely and keeps most days built around a single base with short excursions. Desert, Mountains & Coast also works for children five and up, since the driving is spread across ten days.
Is a private driver still worth it for a 10-day trip?
Yes, arguably more so than on a shorter trip. Over 10 days, a private driver who knows the family's pace and can adjust the second half of the trip based on how the first half went makes a bigger difference than on a quick city break.
Further Reading
- Volubilis - background on the Roman ruins visited on the Imperial Cities & the North route
- Kasbah of the Udayas, Rabat - background on the fortified quarter visited on the Atlantic Coast route
Written by
Said, Senior Guide and co-founder of Morocco Tours. A former mountain guide, Said has been a guide certified by Morocco's national tourist office since 2009.
Most families know within a few minutes which of these four routes fits - it usually comes down to whether variety, culture, the desert, or an easy coastal pace matters most. Once you know, the exact stops and driving days get built around your children's ages. Our Family Tours page has more detail on how we adjust each of these by age group.
Explore Morocco Family Tours → · Plan a Private Trip →
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