One-way desert crossing · From Marrakech
Depth over distance: the slowest and richest way from Marrakech to Fes.
About this tour
This five-day crossing gives each landscape the time it deserves. Rather than covering the road from Marrakech to Fes in long stages, you spend nights in Ouarzazate, beside the Todra Gorge and twice around Merzouga, so there is always time to walk, explore and simply enjoy where you are.
Highlights include the kasbahs of Aït Benhaddou, Taourirt and Amridil, the Valley of Roses, the Dades and Todra gorges, a full day discovering the desert around Erg Chebbi and a sunset camel ride to a night in the dunes. On the last day you cross the Ziz Valley and the cedar forests of the Middle Atlas to reach the imperial city of Fes.
It is the slowest and richest version of the Marrakech to Fes route, ideal for travellers who want a deeper look at the south.
Best for: Travellers heading to Fes who prefer shorter driving days and more time at each stop.
Marrakech · Tizi n'Tichka · Aït Benhaddou · Ouarzazate · about 198 km · About 4 hours of driving
Cross the High Atlas by the Tizi n'Tichka pass (2,260 metres), stopping at viewpoints over Berber villages. Explore Aït Benhaddou on foot, crossing the river and climbing to the hilltop granary.
In the afternoon visit Ouarzazate, the 'door of the desert': the Taourirt Kasbah and, if you like, the Atlas film studios. Relax at your hotel in the evening.
Ouarzazate · Skoura · Kalaat M'Gouna · Dades Valley · Tinghir · Todra Gorge · About 5 hours of driving
Drive the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs through the Skoura oasis, visiting the restored Kasbah Amridil, and Kalaat M'Gouna, where rosewater cooperatives distil the petals of the Valley of Roses. Detour into the Dades Valley to see the Monkey Fingers rock formations and the hairpin road at Tissadrine.
Continue to Tinghir and spend the night near the entrance of the Todra Gorge, ideal for a walk in the soft evening light when the day visitors have gone.
Todra Gorge · Tinjdad · Erfoud · Merzouga · About 3 hours of driving
Walk through the gorge in the morning, when the light on the orange cliffs is at its best, then continue east through the palm groves of Tinjdad and Erfoud to Merzouga.
The afternoon is free to relax at your hotel beside the dunes, or to climb the sand for sunset.
Merzouga · Khamlia · Mifis · nomad camps · Erg Chebbi · About 2 hours of off-road driving
Having slept in a hotel beside the dunes, you start the day unhurried. Your guide then takes you off-road around the edge of Erg Chebbi to places most day visitors miss: the silent ruins of the Mifis mines, a nomad family's camp where tea is poured from high above the glass, and the black stony plains of the hamada that stretch towards Algeria.
Lunch is in the village of Khamlia, where a Gnawa troupe performs its trance-like music of drums, chanting and metal castanets. Afterwards, walk through the palm gardens and, in wet years, visit the seasonal lake where flamingos stop to feed. In the late afternoon it is time for the main event: your camel guide leads you into the dunes for sunset, sandboarding and a night in a Berber camp, with dinner and drumming around the fire.
Merzouga · Rissani · Erfoud · Ziz Valley · Midelt · Azrou cedar forest · Ifrane · Fes · about 458 km · About 7 hours of driving
Your last morning in the Sahara begins before dawn, with the sun rising over the Algerian border as you sit on the crest of a dune. After breakfast and a shower at camp, your driver-guide meets you in Merzouga. On the way out of the desert, stop in Rissani, birthplace of Morocco's reigning Alaouite dynasty, and at a fossil workshop in Erfoud, where the black stone is full of ammonites and orthoceras.
The long drive to Fes is broken into easy stages. Admire the Ziz Valley from a viewpoint above its palm-filled canyon, have lunch in Midelt, the apple town at the foot of Jbel Ayachi, then climb into the cedar forests of the Middle Atlas, where troops of Barbary macaques live. After a stroll through Ifrane, with its chalet-style houses and lion statue, you reach Fes in the early evening, ready to explore the medina.
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.
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.
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.
