Marrakech

4 Days desert tours from Marrakech to Marrakech
Day 1: Marrakech – Ouarzazate – Dades Valley
Our Desert Trip from Marrakech to Dades valley begins with our driver picking you up at 08:00 am from your hotel or riad in our air conditioned 4X4s or minivans (depends on group size). Our journey starts by crossing the high Atlas Mountain to Ouarzazate through the Tizi n’Tichka pass 2260 meters above sea level, giving an awe inspiring view of colorful landscape and the Berber villages along the way. In Ouarzazate, we will stop to visit the famous Taourirt Kasbah and have lunch beside this famous castle of 300 rooms! Afterwards we continue our travels through the palm roads of Skoura palmeraie to Dades valley & the city of roses for dinner & our overnight stay.

Day 2: Dades – Todra Gorges – Merzouga Dunes (Erg Chebbi)
Day 2 begins with breakfast then a drive to Todra Gorges passing by Tineghir. Todra is popular for its canyons and its panoramic palm plantations by the river, all of which will be covered & visited. Later on, we continue our trip to Tinjedad for a lunch at a local restaurant, then we proceed to Erfoud ot visit the local fossil crafts workshop. Eventually we will reach the captivating dunes of Erg Chebbi (Merzouga Dunes). After checking into the hotel, you will have an hour & a half long camel trek prepared for you at sunset. The trek ends when we reach the nomad camps by nightfall for an animated dinner by the campfire before spending the night in a bivouac under the starry skies of the dunes.

Day 3: Merzouga – Tazarine – Agdz – Ouarzazate
Well wake up before sunrise to catch the first glimpses of the sun as it casts its rays of the dunes of Erg Chebbi, followed by a breakfast in the camp and a camel trek back to the hotel for a quick shower. Afterwards, we drive to Rissani, a small Saharan town in southeast of Morocco to visit another fossil workshop before continuing to the Agdez & Draa valley junction where we head north to Ouarzazate after crossing the volcanic Atlas Mountains. We will spend the night in Ouarzazate.

Day 4: Ouarzazate – Ait Benhaddou – Marrakech
The final day will also begin with breakfast, then a visit to Ouarzazate’s famous cinema studio known as Africa’s Hollywood. Afterwards we head to the UNISCO Heritage site of Ait Benhaddou Kasbah where some of the modern classics like gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia & Indiana jones were shot. We will also get the chance to visit the Kasbahs to learn about Moroccan architecture. Finally we will be taking the Tizi n’Tichka pass through the Atlas Mountains to return to Marrakech with a stop at the mountains for launch.Read more

4 Days Desert Tour From Marrakech to Fez
Day 1: Marrakech – Ait Ben Haddou – Ouarzazate – Dades Gorge:
After leaving the city of Marrakech behind, we head south over the Tizi n’Tichka Pass (2260m) while enjoying superb views of the mountains and the Berber Villages on the way. We stop for lunch in a traditional restaurant and visit the Kasbah of Ait Ben Haddou, which is a World Heritage site. This famous kasbah has been used as the backdrop for more than 20 films.

After lunch, we continue through Ouarzazate, which is the gateway to southern Morocco, and continue towards the Skoura oasis, which is a fertile area lined with immense palm groves. Following on from Skoura we arrive at the Valley of Roses.

Roses are a very important crop booster to the local population. The rose season begins around 10 April and ends around 20 May, depending on climate conditions. The Rose Festival or Moussem of Roses takes place on the second weekend in May and lasts for two days. Many festivities take place, including performances by folk groups and the Miss Roses contest, whose winner then takes part in a procession on a decorated float. Traders from all over the region come to sell their specialties and handicraft products.

Finally, on this day we arrive at the spectacular Dades Gorge and this is where you will have dinner and spend the night in your hotel.

Day 2: Dades Gorge – Todra Gorges – Merzouga:
After breakfast at the hotel we depart Dades Gorge and head towards Todra Gorges: a massive fault, rising to 200m in a narrow valley, thickly dotted with palm groves and Berber Villages. After lunch in the gorge, we go further into the Sahara to Merzouga which has the largest natural underground body of water in all Morocco and stands on the edge of the great dunes of Erg Chebbi.
Dinner and overnight in hotel in Merzouga.

Day 3: Merzouga – Merzouga Dunes:
After a leisurely breakfast, you drive to the village of the Negroes, Khamlia. These people came from Sudan and were originally brought north as slaves. You will meet some families and enjoy mint tea with them and listen to traditional gnaoua music.

Our next stop will be at Mfis, a small village to the south-east of the dunes, close to the coal and copper mines where most of the people in Merzouga used to make their livings.

Then, after a further stop in Merdane village, we carry on to meet Berber families before driving back to Merzouga to check-in at your hotel.

In the afternoon, you will mount your camel to cross the dunes and discover one of the secrets of the ‘sea of sand’. Our stop will be in a virgin oasis. Enjoy the silence of the desert, appreciate the natural beauty surrounding you and watch the majestic sunset.

Spend the evening under a canopy of stars, twinkling with an intensity you may never have seen before. Sleep in traditional Berber tents, jaima.

Day 4: Merzouga – Ziz Valley – Fez:
After breakfast in the desert, we depart to Rissani where we visit the traditional Berber suq and the ruined Kasbah of Sijilmassa Leaving Rissani we travel through the Ziz Valley and Errachidia. We will stop en route for lunch before reaching Azrou where there is a cedar forest which is home to a troupe of Barbary apes then heading to Ifrane which locals call the Switzerland of Morocco, we may have stopped or continue to Fes and drop you off in your Riad/Hotel.Read more