A first-timer’s week, honestly costed.

People ask what a week costs and we give a range, which is unsatisfying. So here is the breakdown we use internally, per person, for seven days, excluding international flights, at the three levels most trips fall into. Everything is in euros because that is what we quote in.

Simple. Around €900–1,200. Guesthouses and small riads outside the most expensive quarters, breakfast included, dinners out, shared ground transport or trains between cities, and one or two paid musical sessions. This is a real week and it is not a compromised one; most of the difference between this and the next tier is the bed.

Considered. Around €1,600–2,400. Riads chosen for where they are and who runs them, a private vehicle and driver for the whole week, most dinners included, three or four sessions, and a host travelling with you. This is where most of our journeys sit, and the private driver is the single line item that changes the trip most.

Unhurried. €3,000 and upwards. Fewer moves, better rooms, private ceremonies rather than shared ones, studio time if you want it, and enough slack in the schedule that a good day can be allowed to run long. The marginal cost of the last tier buys time more than luxury.

What the numbers hide: the driver is the thing people under-budget and the thing they are most glad of. A private vehicle across a week in Morocco costs somewhere between €600 and €900 with fuel and the driver’s accommodation, and it is what makes the argan cooperative, the roadside shrine and the unscheduled two hours in a village possible. Shared transport turns those into things you drive past.

The four places worth spending more, in order: the driver; a room inside the medina rather than ten minutes outside it; the number of sessions rather than the size of them; and an extra night somewhere you have already arrived, instead of another city. The four places not to: airport transfers, which you can arrange locally for a third of the quoted price; bottled water; hammam packages sold through a hotel; and a guide for anything you were happy to wander through.