3-Day Desert Tour from Fez to Marrakech via Merzouga

Day 1: Fez – Ifrane – Azrou – Midelt – Ziz Valley – Merzouga

Morning departure from your riad for Merzouga, a journey of about nine hours through the Atlas Mountains to the great Tafilalet oasis with its villages, palm trees and kasbahs. You stop in the alpine town of Ifrane, in the cedar forest of Azrou where monkeys live, and in Midelt for lunch. The Ziz Valley offers breathtaking views of a green ribbon of palms in the middle of the desert. You continue into the desert until the Erg Chebbi dunes appear, then cross them by camel to your camp.

Overnight: Merzouga – Berber tent camp

Day 2: Merzouga – Todra Gorge – Dades Valley – Ouarzazate

After sunrise over the dunes, ride your camel back to the hotel at the edge of the dunes for breakfast and a shower. Head for the Todra Gorge, whose canyon walls rise 300 metres, for a quiet walk and lunch in a local restaurant. Continue along the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs, lined with old fortified houses, some restored and many in ruins. You pass through the Dades Valley and Kelaat M’Gouna, the “pink city”, then the palm grove of Skoura with kasbahs such as Amridil set among gardens. Forty-five kilometres further you reach Ouarzazate.

Overnight: Ouarzazate

Day 3: Ouarzazate – Ait Ben Haddou – High Atlas – Marrakech

After breakfast, you can visit the film sets and studios of Ouarzazate, Morocco’s Hollywood. You then explore Ait Ben Haddou, a fortified village listed by UNESCO in 1987 and used as a backdrop for Gladiator, Indiana Jones and Lawrence of Arabia, on foot among its traditional earthen kasbahs. The road then climbs over the High Atlas by the Tizi n’Tichka pass, with a lunch break in the mountains, before dropping to Marrakech and your riad or hotel.