5 Days Marrakech to Fes Desert Tour

Departure from your Marrakech riad or hotel around 08:30. After crossing the Tizi n'Tichka pass, you leave the main road for the Telouet Kasbah — the fortress of the Glaoui, the "Lords of the Atlas." The interior remains closed since the 2023 earthquake, but a local guide walks you around the exterior and its remarkable history.

You follow the scenic Ounila Valley road to UNESCO-listed Ait Ben Haddou for lunch, then explore Morocco's most famous kasbah — filming location of Gladiator and Game of Thrones. Continue through Ouarzazate to the palm groves of Skoura:

• Overnight in the Skoura oasis — ensuite room, dinner and breakfast
• All meals included on this tour, with vegetarian and vegan options

Morning visit of the beautifully restored Kasbah Amridil and a walk in the oasis among olive and fruit trees. Continue through Kelaat M'Gouna, the Valley of Roses, with a stop at a local rosewater cooperative.

Then an off-road stretch across the plateau, stopping at nomad caves to share a glass of tea with a Berber family, before reaching the Dades Gorge for lunch:

Overnight at a Dades guesthouse — dinner and breakfas

Free half-day to walk the valley, stroll the gardens and fields, or simply relax

After breakfast, departure via Rissani (souk visit if it's a market day) and Erfoud, with a stop at a fossil workshop — this desert once lay beneath an ocean. The road climbs north through Er Rachidia and the spectacular palm-filled Ziz Valley, with lunch in Midelt, the "apple capital" of the Middle Atlas.

You cross the Tizi n'Talremt pass to Azrou and its cedar forests — watch for the Barbary apes — and reach Fes in the early evening, where your driver escorts you to your riad.

Your desert day, your choice:

• Option A — Full-day camel trek: ride or walk beside the camels (~3h morning, ~3h afternoon) while your camel man carries everything and cooks your lunch out in the dunes
• Option B — 4×4 desert circuit: Khamlia village for live Gnawa music, the old city of Rissani with its 360 ksars and its souk (3 market days a week), built on the site of Sijilmassa, the caravan crossroads to Timbuktu

In the afternoon, a sunset camel ride through the dunes (1–1.5h), then dinner and your second night at the luxury camp. From May to September the full-day trek may be replaced by the 4×4 option for safety in the heat.

After breakfast, a short drive to Tinghir and the Todra Gorge — a walk between the sheer cliffs under a narrow strip of sky. Between Tinjdad and Erfoud you can descend into the khettara — the ancient underground irrigation channels, always cool beneath the desert. Lunch in a Berber village on the way, then through Erfoud and Rissani to Merzouga:

• Camel ride into the dunes to your camp (or 4×4 if you prefer), welcomed with tea
• Sunset walk to the crest of the nearest high dune
• Luxury camp — private bathroom, king-size beds, handmade Moroccan furnishings
• Dinner, Berber drums by the fire, and total desert silence