Luxury Morocco holidays usually mean three places: a riad or palace hotel in Marrakech, a lodge in the High Atlas and, time permitting, a night or more in the desert. Marrakech is a short-haul flight, so even a long weekend works. A week lets you add the mountains. The dunes need longer than most people expect.
Quick answer
Base yourself in Marrakech, in a medina riad or a palace hotel, and add two nights in the High Atlas. Add the Sahara dunes only if you have nine nights or more. March to May and October to November are the best months. UK passport holders need no visa for stays of up to 90 days. Flight-inclusive packages are protected under ATOL 10713.
- Flight time from London
- About 3.5 to 4 hours to Marrakech.
- Time difference
- Morocco has used GMT all year since 20 September 2026: the same time as the UK in winter, one hour behind during British Summer Time.
- Passport
- Must expire at least 3 months after the date you arrive.
- Currency
- Moroccan dirham (MAD), a closed, non-convertible currency.
- Ramadan
- Expected to begin around 8 February 2027, depending on the moon sighting.
- Packages
- Hotels and routes for Morocco holidays from the UK.
Riad, palace hotel or resort: where to stay in Marrakech
The choice in Marrakech is less about star ratings and more about how you want the city to feel. A riad puts you inside the medina walls, in a house built around a courtyard. A palace hotel gives you gardens, several restaurants and a large pool. A resort outside the walls trades atmosphere for space and quiet.
| Type | What you get | Trade-offs | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medina riad | A handful of rooms around a courtyard, a roof terrace, breakfast served in the house, the souks on your doorstep. | Cars cannot reach most riad doors, so bags go the last stretch by handcart. Stairs and no lift are common. Pools, where they exist, are plunge-sized. | Couples who want to walk everywhere and like a small, personal house. |
| Palace hotel | Large gardens, a full spa, several restaurants and bars, a proper pool, and a car to the door. | Highest nightly rates in the city. You feel the medina less once you are inside the grounds. | First visits, milestone trips and anyone who wants a pool day between sightseeing days. |
| Resort outside the walls | Bigger rooms or villas, wide grounds and quiet nights, often in the Palmeraie or towards the Atlas. | A taxi or driver for every trip into the old city. | Families, longer stays and travellers who treat Marrakech as a base for day trips. |
For Marrakech luxury riads, ask three questions before you book. Can a car reach within a short walk of the door? Is there a room on the ground floor? Does the kitchen serve dinner, or only breakfast? The answers matter more than the photographs.
La Mamounia sits on Avenue Bab Jdid, just inside the medina walls, and offers rooms, suites and private riads within the hotel grounds. It suits people who want both the old city and a big-hotel pool. Our package gives you 7 nights at La Mamounia with breakfast.
How many nights do you need?
Five nights is the shortest trip that feels unhurried. Here are three splits that work, based on real drive times rather than map distances.
- 5 nights: Marrakech 3, High Atlas 2. The transfer to the mountains is short, so no day is lost to the road.
- 7 nights: Marrakech 4, High Atlas 2, Agafay 1. Or Marrakech 5 and the Atlantic port of Essaouira 2, for sea air and seafood instead of mountains.
- 10 nights: Marrakech 3, High Atlas 2, then 3 nights reaching the dunes via the Dades Valley and Todra Gorge, and a final 2 in Marrakech.
Fez is a separate trip rather than an add-on. Its medina deserves at least three full days, and the drive between Fez and Marrakech takes most of a day.
The High Atlas
The High Atlas rises straight out of the plain south of Marrakech. Its summit, Jebel Toubkal, reaches 4,167 metres and is the highest peak in North Africa. In clear weather you see the range from the city’s rooftops.
One established lodge here is Kasbah Tamadot. It is a Virgin Limited Edition hotel near the village of Asni, one hour’s drive from Marrakech. It has 37 rooms, riads, tents and suites, two restaurants and views of Mount Toubkal.
Two nights up here suit two different kinds of traveller. Walkers can spend a day on mule paths between Berber villages with a local guide. Others can stay put with the spa, the pool and the view.
Altitude sickness is a risk in the higher parts of Morocco. If you plan a serious trek towards Toubkal, build in a night at altitude first and tell your guide about any heart or lung condition.
The Sahara: Erg Chebbi, Erg Chigaga or Agafay?
This is where most Morocco plans go wrong. The famous dunes are a long way from Marrakech, and it pays to know the three options before you commit.
- Agafay: a stone desert about 30 km south-west of Marrakech, under an hour by road. There are no sand dunes, but the camps offer open views to the Atlas and a night under the stars without a long transfer.
- Erg Chebbi: the classic dune sea near Merzouga, with dunes rising to about 150 metres and running some 28 km along the Algerian border. From Marrakech it is roughly 560 km and 8 to 10 hours of driving over the Tizi n’Tichka pass.
- Erg Chigaga: more remote dunes near M’Hamid, reached by a long drive and a final off-road stretch. Fewer camps and fewer people.
The drive to Erg Chebbi is normally split over two days, with overnight stops around Ait Ben Haddou, the Dades Valley or the Todra Gorge. That is why the dunes need a longer trip, such as the 10-night split. On a week, Agafay gives you the desert evening without two days in a car.
Desert camps work best from October to April. In high summer the daytime heat makes them hard going, and from December to February desert nights are cold.
Best time to visit Morocco
The table shows average daily highs and lows at Marrakech airport, rounded to the nearest degree.
| Month | Average high | Average low | What to expect |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 19°C | 6°C | Sunny days, cold evenings, snow on the Atlas. |
| February | 21°C | 8°C | Mild days, chilly riad courtyards at night. |
| March | 24°C | 10°C | Good for walking the medina. |
| April | 26°C | 12°C | One of the best months overall. |
| May | 29°C | 15°C | Warm, good for pools and the mountains. |
| June | 34°C | 18°C | Hot by midday. |
| July | 38°C | 21°C | The hottest month. |
| August | 37°C | 21°C | Very hot, the Atlas is the escape. |
| September | 33°C | 19°C | Heat easing through the month. |
| October | 29°C | 16°C | Warm days, comfortable nights. |
| November | 23°C | 11°C | Settled and clear. |
| December | 20°C | 7°C | Sunny winter break, pack a warm layer. |
Winter sun in Marrakech is real, but the High Atlas is cold from December to February. Lodges there need fires and heated rooms, and higher walking routes can be under snow. Check how your riad heats its rooms before a January stay, as courtyard houses hold the cold.
What does a luxury Morocco holiday cost?
Seven-night packages with return economy flights, breakfast and private airport transfers start from £386pp for a week in Fez and £420pp for Agadir beach holidays. Both prices are for January 2027, based on two sharing. Travel dates, departure airport and room type change the price.
Flights leave from London, Manchester or Birmingham. July and August are the dearest months on these packages, and January and February the cheapest.
A High Atlas lodge, an Agafay camp night, a private driver to the dunes or a riad upgrade can be added to any of these on request, and each is priced for your dates. For a sense of how Morocco compares with long-haul options, see what a luxury holiday costs.
Before you go: entry, money and customs
- Entry stamp: border officials should stamp your passport on arrival. Check that they have, because travellers without an entry stamp have had trouble leaving.
- Passport condition: damaged passports have been refused. Replace a worn or torn one before you travel.
- Never post a passport: sending passports by post or courier to or through Morocco is illegal, and the authorities confiscate them.
- Cash limits: foreign currency worth 100,000 dirham or more, about £8,000, must be declared when you enter and when you leave.
- Drones: you need permission from the Directorate General for Civil Aviation to fly one. Without it you risk a fine and confiscation.
- Official information: the Moroccan National Tourist Office runs Visit Morocco, and the Foreign Office publishes the current travel advice for British visitors.
