5 Days Marrakech to Fez trip from Sahara Merzouga

Day 1: Marrakech – Telouet – Ait Ben Haddou – Ouarzazate:

We will pick you up at 08:00 a.m in your Hotel / Riad in Marrakech , then we will travel towards the south of the High Atlas Mountains through the spectacular Tizi-n-Tichka pass (2260m above sea level). This is a spectacular road of red mountains and Berber villages. We will visit Ait Ben Haddou, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, and the most famous Berber village in Morocco. Here films like Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator and Prince of Persia were filmes. We will continue for 30 km towards Ouarzazate, the gateway to the desert. Night in Ouarzazate.

Day 2: Ouarzazate – Valle Rosas – Skoura – Dades Valley:

The next morning we will leave this cinematic city and we will travel to Skoura, an ancient oasis of thousands of palm trees. We will continue to the Valley of Roses; the only place in Morocco where the Damascus Rose is grown, from which are extracted water and rose oil which are used for numerous cosmetic products. We will continue to the second valley, Dades, visit the amazing mountains in the Dades Valley. Here we we will take a short walk through the beautiful formation of sandstones gorges. Night in the Dades Valley.

Day 3: Dades Valley – Todra Gorges – Merzouga Dunes:

After breakfast, we will continue along the shore of Boulmane Dades, where the road is dotted with kasbahs (fortresses or castles) and ksour (citadels), and whose landscape is ocher, red and mauve. Around us we will find stony plateaus where wild camels graze. After a journey full of ksour, oases and palm trees we will arrive at Tineghir (where the spectacular gorges of Todra are) perched at an altitude of 1,350 m and surrounded by a palm grove. You will have some free time to walk through the gorges. We continue to Erfoud – the city of fossils – where we can see the quarries and discover how to work the fossils to give them the most varied forms and uses. Then we will pass by Rissani and finally we will arrive at Merzouga, in front of the high dunes of Erg Chebbi. In the afternoon, the camels wait for us to enter the desert while the sun goes down. Once we reach the camp in the middle of the desert of high dunes, we will spend the night in a tent. Dinner and night in a tent under the stars of the desert.

Day 4: Merzouga – Khamlia – View to the nomads – Rissani – Desert Erg Chebbi:

In the morning you can get up early to climb a dune and see the sunrise in the desert, then we will return to the hotel on a camel for breakfast and take a comforting shower if you feel like it and rest. Visit to Khamlia, a town whose occupants are originally from Mali, where we will have the opportunity to relax with a tea while enjoying a gnawa music concert. Then, we will exit to circle the dunes of the Erg Chebbi in a 4 × 4. This is an extension of the sand desert where the Great Dune of Morocco – more than 250 meters high – is, connected by path with part of the route followed by the old Paris -Dakar Rally and near the mountains that border Algeria. We’ll visit the khol mines, as well as the remains of an abandoned French and Berber settlement, and stop at a panoramic point where you can contemplate the Erg Chebbi as a whole. We will continue to a nomadic settlement where we will discover some secrets of their life and customs. We will go to Rissani, the first imperial city, where we will visit its original market, the largest in the south, where nomads and inhabitants of nearby towns come to sell their merchandise. If you wish, you can sample the tasty Berber pizza, which is only found here. Return to the hotel in the afternoon and you’ll have free time to walk through the dunes and rest. Night in hotel near the dunes.

Day 5: Erg Chebbi – Ziz Valley – Midelt – Azrou – Ifrane – Fez:

On the last day of the trip we will leave the desert and cross the Ziz Valley, driving through oases and villages such as Risani and Arfoud, where the dates festival is celebrated annually. Time for lunch in Midelt and continue to Azrou, where you will find the Cedros Forest where we will stop to see the local monkeys of Morocco. Time for a tea in Ifrane, which is known as the Moroccan Switzerland, where the second largest ski resort in Morocco is found. Arrival at your Hotel / Riad in Fez. End of the trip.