One-way desert crossing · From Marrakech
Turn the journey between Morocco's great cities into the adventure of your trip.
About this tour
You need to get from Marrakech to Fes anyway, so why not take the most spectacular road in the country? This private three-day crossing replaces a long train journey with the High Atlas, the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs, two of Morocco's great gorges, a night among the dunes of Erg Chebbi and the cedar forests of the Middle Atlas.
Each day has its own character. The first is all about mountains and kasbahs, ending in the red-walled Dades Valley. The second takes you through the Todra Gorge and across the desert to Merzouga, where you swap the car for a camel and ride into the dunes for sunset and a night in a Berber camp. The third crosses the Ziz Valley and the Middle Atlas, with Barbary macaques and alpine-style Ifrane before you arrive in Fes.
Expect around 1,000 km in total, with a longer final day. Your driver-guide sets the pace to suit you and knows where to stop for the best views, the cleanest cafés and the most interesting workshops along the way.
Best for: Travellers heading from Marrakech to Fes who enjoy scenic road trips and want one night in the Sahara on the way.
Marrakech · Tizi n'Tichka · Aït Benhaddou · Ouarzazate · Skoura · Valley of Roses · Dades Valley · about 321 km · About 6 hours of driving, with stops
The adventure starts at your door at 8:00 am. Leaving Marrakech, you watch the Haouz plain rise into the High Atlas, where Berber hamlets of stone and mud cling to steep valleys and women carry fodder along the roadside. Your driver-guide pulls over wherever the view opens up, most memorably near the summit of the Tizi n'Tichka, which at 2,260 metres is the highest paved pass in the range. On the southern side the green vanishes and the colours become ochre, rust and violet.
Aït Benhaddou is the first great stop: a ksar of earthen houses stacked up a hillside above the Ounila river, protected by UNESCO since 1987 and used as a backdrop by countless film crews. Walk up through its alleys to the ruined granary for the view, then have lunch nearby. The afternoon is a string of oases: Ouarzazate, the palm groves of Skoura with their crumbling kasbahs, and the rose-growing villages around Kalaat M'Gouna. You reach the Dades Valley in time for dinner beneath its red cliffs.
Dades Valley · Tinghir · Todra Gorge · Tinjdad · Erfoud · Merzouga · about 250 km · About 5 hours of driving
This morning you see the Dades Valley at its best. A short drive up the gorge brings you to the viewpoint above the hairpin road at Tissadrine and to the soft, rounded rocks locals call the Monkey Fingers. Back on the main road, head east to Tinghir, whose palm grove stretches for kilometres along the river, and walk into the Todra Gorge. Here the canyon walls rise about 300 metres and pinch in to just a few metres wide, with a shallow stream running over the stones at your feet.
After lunch, the landscape opens into flat desert. You pass Tinjdad and its old khettara, lines of wells linked by underground channels that still water the palms, then Erfoud, the fossil town. When the dunes of Erg Chebbi appear on the horizon, the camels are waiting. Ride into the sand for about an hour, watch the sun set from a high crest, then arrive at camp for tea, dinner, drumming around the fire and a night under the stars before tomorrow's long drive to Fes.
Merzouga · Rissani · Erfoud · Ziz Valley · Midelt · Azrou cedar forest · Ifrane · Fes · about 458 km · About 7 hours of driving
Wake before dawn and climb the nearest dune to watch the sun rise over the Sahara, then ride back by camel (or 4x4) for a shower and breakfast. The drive north begins in Rissani, the old capital of the Tafilalet region and a caravan town since medieval times; its souk is busiest on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. In Erfoud you can visit a workshop where fossil-rich black marble is cut and polished into tables and sinks.
The road then follows the Ziz Valley, a deep canyon filled with date palms and old kasbahs, and climbs through the Tizi n'Talghemt pass to Midelt, the 'apple capital' at the foot of Jbel Ayachi, a good place for lunch. The last stretch crosses the Middle Atlas: in the cedar forest near Azrou, Barbary macaques often wait by the roadside, and Ifrane, with its sloping roofs and tidy gardens, feels more like the Alps than North Africa. You reach your accommodation in Fes in the early evening.
Every tent is private. Pick the comfort level that suits you; tell us your choice when you book.
Private tents with their own en-suite bathroom, offering a good balance between comfort and the authentic feel of a Berber camp.
Spacious, elegantly furnished tents equipped with air conditioning and heating, so you stay cool on summer nights and warm in winter. Ideal for couples and families.
Absolutely. Every tour is private, so you can add or remove nights, change the camp style, combine routes or start on a different date. Tell us what you have in mind and we will adapt the plan and price.
A private, air-conditioned minivan or 4x4, depending on group size. Our vehicles are under five years old, regularly inspected and insured for tourist transport.
Yes, families travel with us often. Children love the camel ride and the camp. For young children we usually recommend a longer version of the route, with shorter driving days.
Comfortable clothes, a warm layer for the evenings, a hat or scarf, sunglasses, sun cream and closed shoes. For the desert night, a small backpack is enough; your main luggage stays safely in the vehicle.
Both camps have private tents with en-suite bathrooms, hot showers and comfortable bedding. The mid-range luxury camp offers a good balance between comfort and authenticity. The luxury camp adds air conditioning and heating in every tent, plus more spacious, elegantly furnished tents, so you stay comfortable on hot summer nights and cold winter ones.
Before you go
Where the dunes are, the best season to visit and what a night in Erg Chebbi is really like.
Day trips and short escapes from the city, from mountain villages to waterfalls and kasbahs.
A practical packing list for medinas, mountains and a night in the Sahara, with what to wear in each season.
Related tours
Short on time? Cross the High Atlas, walk the lanes of Aït Benhaddou, follow the palm-lined Drâa Valley and spend a night under Saharan stars near Zagora.
Our most requested route. Two days of mountain passes, gorges and oases lead to a sunset camel trek and a night in a Berber camp beneath the tallest dunes in Morocco.
The same classic crossing at an easier pace, with an extra day in the dunes to explore nomad life, Gnawa music in Khamlia and the oasis around Merzouga.
A round trip that shows both faces of the south: out through the Drâa Valley and N'kob to the dunes, back via the Todra Gorge, the Dades Valley and the Valley of Roses.
