8-day desert tour from Marrakech to Tangier

Tour highlights

• The Telouet kasbah and the Ounila Valley, off the usual route
• The Skoura palm grove and the Valley of Roses
• The Todra Gorge and sunset over the Erg Chebbi dunes
• A nomad family, the Gnawa music of Khamlia and the Mfis mines
• The Ziz Valley and the cedars of the Middle Atlas
• The Fes medina and the Chouara tanneries with a local guide
• Chefchaouen’s blue medina

Day-by-day itinerary

1. 1

   Day 1 · Marrakech · Telouet · Ounila Valley · Ait Ben Haddou · Ouarzazate

   A quieter way across the Atlas. After Tizi n’Tichka we leave the main road for Telouet, the kasbah of the Glaoui family, with tiled reception rooms and carved cedar ceilings. We drop down the Ounila Valley, with its earthen villages and terraced fields, to Ait Ben Haddou, which you explore on foot. The night is in Ouarzazate, the town of the film studios.

   Night: Ouarzazate

2. 2

   Day 2 · Ouarzazate · Skoura · Valley of Roses · Dades Gorges

   The road of a thousand kasbahs. We walk through the Skoura palm grove, home to the Amridil kasbah, and continue along the Valley of Roses: Kelaat M’Gouna distils the rose water sold all over Morocco, and celebrates it with a festival in May. In the afternoon we head into the Dades Gorges, with the rock formations known as the monkey fingers and the hairpin bends of Tissadrine.

   Night: Dades Valley

3. 3

   Day 3 · Todra Gorge · Tinghir · Erfoud · Merzouga

   In the morning, the Todra Gorge: a narrow canyon with walls of around 300 metres, explored on foot beside the river. We pass the Tinghir palm grove and Erfoud, the town of fossils, on the way to Merzouga. At the end of the afternoon the Erg Chebbi dunes appear: you ride up on a camel for the sunset or, if you prefer, go by 4x4 to the camp. Night in the desert.

   Night: Desert camp

4. 4

   Day 4 · 4x4 excursion around Merzouga

   A full day to see what lies around the dunes. We head out by 4x4 on the tracks around Erg Chebbi and visit a nomad family, who still live in tents as they always have, for tea. In Khamlia, the Gnawa village, we listen to their music, which came from sub-Saharan Africa. Then the old Mfis mines, the black desert scattered with fossils and, if it has rained in winter or spring, the lake at Dayet Srij. In the afternoon, free time on the dunes: sandboarding or simply the sunset.

   Night: Merzouga

5. 5

   Day 5 · Sunrise · Rissani · Erfoud · Ziz Valley · Midelt · Ifrane · Fes

   Sunrise on the dunes and breakfast before we leave. We head north through Rissani, cradle of the Alaouite dynasty, and Erfoud, then follow the Ziz Valley, a canyon of palms between mountains, through the Legionnaire’s Tunnel. We cross the Middle Atlas via Midelt, the apple town, and the Azrou cedar forest, home to Barbary macaques. We pass Ifrane, known as the Switzerland of Morocco, and reach Fes in the afternoon.

   Night: Fes

6. 6

   Day 6 · Guided tour of Fes

   A day with a local guide in Fes el-Bali, the medieval medina and UNESCO site: the Bab Boujloud gate, the Bou Inania madrasa, the façade of Al Qarawiyyin university, founded in 859, and the Chouara tanneries seen from the terraces. In the afternoon, the craft workshops and the view from the Marinid tombs.

   Night: Fes

7. 7

   Day 7 · Fes · Chefchaouen

   About four hours north, through olive groves, into the Rif mountains. In the afternoon, a walk through Chefchaouen’s blue medina and sunset from the Spanish Mosque viewpoint.

   Night: Chefchaouen

8. 8

   Day 8 · Chefchaouen · Tangier

   A last morning in Chefchaouen and transfer to Tangier, to the airport or port, for your flight or the ferry to Spain.

What’s included

Frequently asked questions