One-way desert crossing · From Tangier
From the ferry port to the Red City in four days, with a night in the dunes.
About this tour
Many travellers arrive in Tangier by ferry from Spain or on a flight into Ibn Battouta airport and need to reach Marrakech. This tour turns that journey into a crossing of the whole country, from the Mediterranean to the Sahara and over the High Atlas.
It is a fast-paced trip, and we say so plainly: each day involves six to seven hours of driving, broken by stops that are worth every minute. You walk the blue lanes of Chefchaouen, sleep in Fes, cross the cedar forest and the Ziz Valley, ride a camel into Erg Chebbi and spend the night in a desert camp.
The last two days follow the Todra Gorge, the Dades Valley and the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs to Aït Benhaddou and Marrakech. If you have a fifth day to spare, we recommend adding a night in Chefchaouen or a guided morning in Fes.
Best for: Travellers arriving from Spain with limited time who want to see the north, the desert and the south on the way to Marrakech.
Tangier · Tetouan road · Chefchaouen · Ouezzane · Fes · About 6.5 hours of driving
We collect you at 8:00 am from your hotel, the ferry terminal or the airport. The road leaves the coast and climbs into the Rif, a range of green ridges and cork oak very different from the Morocco of the south. By late morning you reach Chefchaouen, founded in 1471 and painted in countless shades of blue.
Take two hours to wander: the main square of Uta el-Hammam, the red-walled kasbah, the steps and doorways that have made the town famous. After lunch, the road winds south through Ouezzane and the wheat country of the Sebou plain to Fes, where you arrive in the evening.
Fes · Ifrane · Azrou cedar forest · Midelt · Ziz Valley · Erfoud · Merzouga · Erg Chebbi · About 7 hours of driving
If you would like a glimpse of Fes before leaving, tell your driver: an early stop at the palace gates and the Borj Sud viewpoint takes half an hour. Then the road heads for the mountains, past Ifrane's tidy gardens and into the cedars near Azrou, where the macaques are usually waiting.
The landscape empties as you cross the plateau to Midelt for lunch, then drops through the tunnel of the Ziz Gorges into date-palm country. At Merzouga, swap the car for a camel and ride into the sand in the last light of the day. Dinner, music and a starlit sky follow in camp.
Erg Chebbi · Merzouga · Rissani · Tinghir · Todra Gorge · Dades Valley · About 5 hours of driving
Your camel guide wakes you before dawn. Watch the sun come up over the Algerian border from a high dune, then ride or drive back to the village for a shower and breakfast. The road west passes Rissani, cradle of the ruling Alaouite dynasty, and runs along the edge of the desert to Tinghir.
Stretch your legs in the Todra Gorge, where a clear stream runs between cliffs of orange limestone, and continue through Boumalne to the Dades Valley. Your hotel looks over the river and its fig and walnut gardens; dinner is served there.
Dades Valley · Kalaat M'Gouna · Skoura · Ouarzazate · Aït Benhaddou · Tizi n'Tichka · Marrakech · About 6.5 hours of driving
The final day follows the route of the old caravans. Pass the rose fields of Kalaat M'Gouna and the kasbahs half hidden in the palms of Skoura, and pause in Ouarzazate, where film studios stand at the edge of town.
Aït Benhaddou is the high point: a fortified village of earth rising in tiers above a dry river, familiar from dozens of films. After a walk to the top, drive over the Tizi n'Tichka pass, the highest main road in Morocco, and down to Marrakech. We drop you at your riad or at the airport 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
The cities, valleys and landscapes we recommend for a first trip to Morocco.
Where the dunes are, the best season to visit and what a night in Erg Chebbi is really like.
When to go, how long to stay, how to get around and how to build a route that fits your time.
Related tours
North to south in nine days: Tangier, Tetouan and Chefchaouen, Volubilis and a guided day in Fes, a night in the Merzouga dunes, the kasbah road to Marrakech and a finish in Casablanca.
Ten days from Tangier to Marrakech with time to breathe: Chefchaouen, two nights in Fes, two nights at the Merzouga dunes with a 4x4 day, the gorges of the south and two nights in Marrakech.
Sixteen days from the Strait of Gibraltar to Marrakech and the Atlantic: Tangier and Asilah, two nights in Chefchaouen, Rabat and Casablanca, Fes, two nights at the Merzouga dunes, Ouarzazate, Marrakech and Essaouira.
A one-way crossing that turns a long transfer into an adventure: kasbahs, the Dades and Todra gorges, a camel ride into Erg Chebbi, then cedar forests on the road to Fes.
