10-Day Morocco Honeymoon Itinerary

Arrive into Marrakech Menara (RAK) and check into your riad in the medina — the closer to Jemaa el-Fna, the better for atmosphere, though "close" is relative when you are navigating a labyrinth by lantern light. Spend the first morning sleeping in: this is a honeymoon, not a race. Afternoons belong to Bahia Palace, the Saadian Tombs, and getting happily lost in the souks of the Mellah. For dinner, book ahead for a rooftop restaurant overlooking the square at dusk — the muezzin call competing with the Gnawa drums below is the kind of soundtrack that travel writers reach for clichés to describe. Reserve one afternoon for a private hammam session together; a couple's scrub-and-argan-oil treatment in a riad spa runs around 600–900 MAD per person (indicative).

• Private riad in the medina (Derb Jedid quarter for quiet)
• Sunset at Le Jardin Secret rooftop, Mouassine
• Couple's hammam at a riad spa
• Souk dinner with private medina walking tour

A private vehicle south over the Tizi n'Tichka pass is not just transport — it is a full day's cinema. The road climbs through Berber villages clinging to rocky slopes, drops into the Valley of the Roses around El Kelaa M'Gouna (in bloom April to May), and arrives at the Dades gorges by late afternoon. Overnight in a kasbah guesthouse there, then continue the next day via the Todra Gorge — a narrow slot canyon where 300-metre walls close to about 10 metres apart — before reaching the Erg Chebbi dunes by late afternoon. At Merzouga, leave the vehicle and mount a camel for the 45-minute trek into the dunes for sunset. Two nights at a luxury desert camp means one evening for a private candlelit dinner in the dunes and one sunrise on the crest of Erg Chebbi before anyone else is up. Nights here are genuinely cold even in summer — bring layers and expect a sky dense with stars once the generators go off.

• Atlas crossing via Tizi n'Tichka and Valley of the Roses
• Todra Gorge walk between the cliff walls
• Private camel trek at sunset to Erg Chebbi camp
• Two nights at a luxury or mid-range desert camp

Drive north from Merzouga through the Ziz Valley gorges and the cedar forests of Ifrane — where Barbary macaques sit on the roadside waiting for tourist snacks — arriving in Fes in the late afternoon. Fes el-Bali, the medieval medina, rewards slow exploration: the Bou Inania madrassa with its intricate stucco, the Chouara tannery seen from a rooftop terrace with a sprig of mint pressed to your nose, and the cobbled lane of the dyers' souk where cloth hangs drying in primary colours. An early evening at a dar (traditional house) restaurant over pigeon pastilla and slow-cooked lamb is the definitive Fes meal. Two nights here is enough to get the texture without exhaustion.

• Bou Inania Madrassa and Chouara Tannery
• Private guided medina walk with an artisan quarter stop
• Dinner at a dar restaurant in Fes el-Bali
• Day trip option: Volubilis Roman ruins (45 min from Fes)

The drive from Fes to Chefchaouen takes about three hours through the Rif Mountains, and the approach — the town sitting in a natural amphitheatre of green peaks — justifies the journey alone. The blue-washed medina is compact enough to cover in a morning but photogenic enough to lose an afternoon in without noticing. Couples usually find themselves sitting in a café on Plaza Uta el-Hammam sharing mint tea and a kefta tagine, then wandering up towards the Spanish Mosque for a view over the whole valley. Chefchaouen is an easy final chapter: unhurried, cooler than Marrakech, and the kind of place that makes you want to stay one more night. It is also about two hours from Tangier Ibn Battouta airport for flights home, or you can reverse to Casablanca (around 3.5 hours).

• Medina walk through the blue-washed streets
• Spanish Mosque viewpoint at sunset
• Lunch in the plaza and mint tea ritual
• Transfer to Tangier or Casablanca for flights