4 days, 3 nights
Daily Tour
6 people
Arabic, English, Espanol, Francais
Departing from Fes and ending in Marrakech, this 4 day/3 night tour will take you through panoramic mountain roads to kasbahs, gorges, palm groves and monkey forests. The highlight of the trip will be spending the night beneath the stars in a traditional nomadic tent in the Sahara dunes. The second day of the trip is a full day in the desert where you will get to see the biggest dune in Morocco, visit a village previously part of Mali, and enjoy a Gnawa music performance.
Compared to our 3 day/2 night tour, this option gives you a full day in the desert and more time to soak up the stunning landscape. We’d recommend this tour if you have more time available and really want to enjoy the desert at a slower pace.
All of our tour plans are only guides. We don’t take a one size fits all approach and one thing we love about offering private trips is that every trip is unique – once you get in touch with us, we will work with you to plan the perfect itinerary, activities and accommodation for a truly memorable experience!
To enquire about this tour, please email itrantravelmorocco@gmail.com or WhatsApp +212 0675321420.
The starting price for this trip is £300 per person, based on a family of 4 travelling. Please note that the price per person varies dependent on group size, choice of accommodation and time of year. The larger the group the more cost effective the per-person rate.
We will pick you up at your hotel and will leave Fes travelling towards Ifrane. Situated in the northwestern slope of the Middle Atlas at 1630 meters above water level. With its broad avenues, wooden ski-style chalets and manicured gardens, this city is called ‘the Switzerland of Morocco.’
Stopping at the Cedar forest of Azrou, the largest one in Morocco, if we are lucky we will sight some Barbary apes. We will then head to Midelt along the magnificent hills and mountains of the Atlas. After Midelt we will drive through the fascinating Tiz n’Talghamt pass and the Ziz Gorge, taking in views of the High Atlas plateau. You’ll notice how the scenery changes to reveal hints of the desert as we approach the city of Errachidia. Here we will have lunch.
Afterwards, we will travel along the Ziz Valley, stopping for panoramic views along the way to Erfoud and Rissani. Arrive at Merzouga in the afternoon. You’ll be welcomed with a glass of mint tea before your camel ride, guided by an experienced camel man to explore within the golden sand sea of Merzouga. Overnight will be at our desert camp. Enjoy sunset and dinner before spending the night in the dunes, listening to Berber music, or stargazing.
This is a complete ‘desert day.’ This morning you have a ‘date with the sunrise.’ When you are in the middle of the desert, waking up early is a must to watch the spectacular sunrise from the top of a dune close to the camp. After breakfast we will return to Merzouga by camel. Then, we will skirt Erg Chebbi, a great extension of sandy desert where we can find the Big Dune of Morocco, more than 250m high.
We will continue by the former ‘Paris-Dakar Rally Road,’ stopping at the Tissardmin oasis where we can find fossil quarries still present in the area. We will continue by road, passing nomad settlements, where we can stop and enjoy tea with the families living there to learn more about their way of life. The next stop will be a high viewpoint where you can see the whole of Erg Chebbi.
Next we will reach Kamilia Village. The inhabitants of Kamilia came to Morocco from Mali, and we will take a relaxing cup of tea whilst listening to some of their traditional Gnawa music. In the afternoon, we will head to your Merzouga desert hotel, where you have free time to enjoy the town or the dunes next to the hotel to see the sunset. Dinner and night in the hotel.
This morning you have a ‘date with the sunrise.’ When you are in the middle of the desert, waking up early is a must to watch the spectacular sunrise from the top of a dune close to the camp. After breakfast, we will return to Merzouga on camels. We will leave the desert to head to Rissani, where we will visit the traditional market (market days are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday).
We will then continue to Erfoud, where many fossils have been found, before making our way to the Touroug and Tinjdad palm groves. One hour later we will best the Todra Gorges. The course of the river has carved out a cliff-sided canyon. You will have some free time to walk through the gorge to better appreciate the beauty of the landscape, before having lunch.
In the afternoon we continue to the Dadès valley, also known as the fig valley. We will have dinner and spend the night in Dades. Your hotel has panoramic views of the valley and a beautiful outdoor swimming pool.
After breakfast you can enjoy one of the best views of the Dadès valley from a strategic lookout point. From there you can see the amazing number of kasbahs. Then we will continue by a road known as the “one thousand kasbahs road,” through the Roses Valley and the giant Skoura palm until we reach Ouarzazate to visit the Kasbah of Taourirt, the old residence of the Glaoui the Pasha of Marrakech.
If you are interested we can visit the cinema studios in Ouarzazate before enjoying lunch in town.
In the afternoon we start our way back to Marrakech going through the mountain pass of Tizi n’Tichka with some stops to take pictures. Here we leave back the moonlike landscape to reach another one full of colors. We will arrive to Marrakech around 6pm where you adventure ends.
We focus on authentic, locally owned accommodation for all of our trips. On this tour you will stay in a mix of hotels and a desert camp. We have accommodation in mind, but once you contact us to book your trip, we will work with you to choose the perfect accommodation for your budget and needs.
We work with solo travelers, couples, families - all the way to large groups - and have a range of transport options to suit groups of all sizes.
Our shortest desert trip is a 3 day trip. If possible, we recommend spending as long as possible on your desert trip to reduce the traveling time each day and allow you to really soak up the desert atmosphere, and slower pace of life in the South East. If you're traveling all the way to the Sahara desert, you may as well make the most of it! If, however, you only have a short period of time, we can make it work in just 3 days!
If it works with your flights, a Marrakech-Fes tour can allow you to see more of Morocco and have a more diverse tour, as you will return from the desert via the Middle Atlas. It's also a good option if you want to continue traveling in Morocco after your desert trip. However, flights are often cheapest booked as return trips to the same airport, so depending on your time and budget this may be the better option.
We will take a deposit in advance of your trip online, and then accept the balance in cash when you arrive for your trip in Morocco.
Member Since 2023
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