Marrakech to Fes Desert Tour – 3 Days

Depart your riad at 08:00 and climb the hair-pin bends of Tizi n’Tichka, pausing at 2 205 m for mint tea and panoramic photos of terraced Berber hamlets.

Drop into the Ounila Valley to tour Ait Ben Haddou’s earthen granaries with a local guide; film buffs will recognise sets from Gladiator and Game of Thrones.

After lunch in Ouarzazate, skirt the palm-lined Skoura oasis and smell distilled petals in Kalaat M’Gouna’s Rose Valley—in May the whole town celebrates a 60-year-old rose festival.

By late afternoon the road snakes past the famous “Monkey Fingers” rock pinnacles and the Dades switchbacks; check-in at a boutique kasbah overlooking the gorge and enjoy a tagine dinner under desert stars.

Wake to canyon views, then drive east to Todra Gorge, where 300 m limestone walls rise around a crystal stream—perfect for an optional 45-minute walk or a photo session of climbers on the bolted routes.

Continue through adobe ksour and fossil stalls until the asphalt ends at the Erg Chebbi dune sea. Mount your camel for a slow, rhythmic trek as the sand blushes orange; meanwhile, a support 4 × 4 shuttles your main luggage straight to camp, ready inside your private tent.

Arrive in time for sand-boarding, a Berber-fire dinner, and a celestial show unspoiled by light pollution.

Rise before dawn for brief dune climbs or a sunrise camel ride. Journey north beside the date palms of the Ziz Valley, Morocco’s second-largest oasis belt.

Lunch in Midelt, then crest the Col du Zad at 2 184 m; winters can dust the asphalt with snow even as the Sahara scorches behind you.

Stop in Azrou’s cedar forest to hand-feed (optional) curious Barbary macaques before a pastry break in alpine-roofed Ifrane, nick-named “Little Switzerland” for its chalet architecture.

Arrive at your Fes riad around 18:30, your Atlas-to-Sahara odyssey complete.