Morocco After CAN 2025: Combining Football Cities with Desert Adventure

Morocco After CAN 2025: Combining Football Cities with Desert Adventure

Morocco hosted the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN 2025) across six cities — Marrakech, Casablanca, Rabat, Agadir, Tangier, and Fez — with the tournament running from December 2025 into January 2026. If you were there for it, or you're visiting one of these cities since, the appeal that made Morocco a compelling tournament host is exactly what makes it a compelling place to travel more broadly: modern stadiums sitting a short drive from imperial medinas, Atlas mountain villages, Atlantic coastline, and the Sahara itself, all reachable within a single trip.

Why these host cities work well together

Marrakech, Casablanca, Rabat, Fez, Agadir, and Tangier were chosen as host cities partly because they're already Morocco's most-visited destinations, each anchoring a genuinely different side of the country. Marrakech gives you the medina, the souks, and the closest jumping-off point for a Sahara crossing. Casablanca is the economic capital with the Hassan II Mosque and a proper Atlantic corniche. Rabat, the political capital, has a quieter, more orderly old town and the Kasbah of the Udayas. Fez is the country's spiritual and artisanal heart, with the oldest and arguably most intact medina in Morocco. Agadir is the modern beach resort city, and Tangier sits at the literal meeting point of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, a short ferry ride from Spain. Combining two or three of these with a desert leg is a genuinely well-balanced way to see the country, tournament or no tournament.

Pairing a city stay with the desert

The most popular combination we see is Marrakech plus a Merzouga desert crossing, simply because Marrakech is the shortest drive to the Sahara of any of the six host cities — still 9-10 hours by road over the High Atlas, but shorter than starting from Casablanca, Rabat, Fez, or Tangier. If your trip starts in one of the other host cities, routes exist from most of them too: Fez has its own multi-day route into the desert via the Middle Atlas, and Casablanca-based itineraries typically loop through Marrakech en route. Whichever city you start from, treat the desert leg as its own multi-day trip rather than a day excursion — the driving distances involved (as little as they might look on a map of a country this size) genuinely require 3 days or more to do properly and still leave time in the dunes themselves.

What a combined itinerary typically looks like

A common structure runs city time first, desert second: a few days split across two or three host cities taking in the main sights, then a private multi-day tour into the Sahara to close out the trip, since it tends to land best as the finale rather than squeezed in the middle. For travelers with a week or more, it's realistic to see two host cities properly and still get 3 full days in the desert; with two weeks, all six cities plus the Sahara, the Atlas Mountains, and the coast are genuinely within reach without constantly rushing.

Getting between the cities

Morocco's train network (ONCF) connects Casablanca, Rabat, Fez, and Tangier comfortably and is a genuinely pleasant way to travel between them. Marrakech is also on that network, connected to Casablanca and points north. Agadir sits outside the main rail line, so a private transfer or domestic flight is the more practical link from the other cities. None of the six host cities are connected to Merzouga by rail — reaching the desert always means a road journey, whichever city you start from, which is exactly why we run those legs as private multi-day tours with a dedicated driver rather than something to bolt onto a train-based city-hopping itinerary.

What to pack for a trip spanning cities and desert

Layer for a bigger range than any single city suggests: comfortable shoes for walking medinas and stadium areas alike, sun protection, and — critically, if the desert is part of your route — a proper warm layer for cold desert nights even if the city legs of your trip feel mild. A light jacket covers cooler evenings generally; a scarf or shesh is genuinely useful once you're in the Sahara, both for sun and blown sand.

Extending a Morocco trip around the Sahara

If a desert crossing is the piece you're adding to a city-based Morocco trip, our 3-day Marrakech to Merzouga tour is the most straightforward way to add the Sahara onto a Marrakech stay, with a private driver-guide the whole way.

Plan Your Morocco Trip

• Email: hello@merzougaway.com
• WhatsApp: +212 675 203 319 / +212 668 534 981

Whether your trip is built around a specific city or a full circuit of the country, our local team can help put together an itinerary that actually fits the time you have.

This guide is regularly updated. Last updated: July 2026.