3 Days Fes to Marrakech via the Merzouga Desert

This one-way tour is for travellers who are in Fes and moving on to Marrakech anyway. Instead of taking the train, you cross the Middle Atlas, sleep a night in the Sahara at Merzouga and arrive in Marrakech three days later having seen the gorges and kasbahs of the south.

A desert crossing instead of a transfer

We collect you from your riad in Fes around 7:30 and drive south to Ifrane, a tidy mountain town at 1,650 m, and on through the cedar forest near Azrou, where Barbary macaques often wait by the roadside. After lunch in Midelt, the road drops through the Ziz Gorges and along the green ribbon of the Ziz Valley palm groves to Erfoud and Merzouga. It is a full day of about 470 km and eight to nine hours with stops, and we time it so you reach the dunes for the late-afternoon camel ride.

A night in Erg Chebbi

Your camel trek lasts about 1.5 hours and ends at our camp between the high dunes of Erg Chebbi, some of which rise around 150 m. Dinner is a home-style tagine with soup and fruit, and after dinner there is often music around the fire. The tents have proper beds and blankets, and our camps have shared or private bathrooms depending on the option you choose.

Gorges, valleys and the road of kasbahs

After sunrise and breakfast, day two heads west through Rissani and Tinejdad to the Todra Gorge, then on to the Dades Valley for the night. On day three you follow the road of a thousand kasbahs through Kelaat M'Gouna, Skoura and Ouarzazate, stop at Ait Benhaddou and cross the Tizi n'Tichka pass into Marrakech, arriving in the early evening.

Practical notes

The whole trip covers around 1,050 km, and the first day is the longest. We can drop you anywhere inside Marrakech, including the airport if you fly out that night and your flight leaves after 21:00. If you want to start in Fes and come back to Fes instead, the shorter 2-day Fes to Merzouga desert tour is the better fit. Dress in layers: mornings in Ifrane can be cold even in spring, while the desert is hot by midday.