This desert tour takes long journeys and long drive but is ideal for the people who are in Marrakech and desire to explore the Sahara desert ending in Fes but don’t have much time. As Morocco is a big country with lot of things and places to see, this tour can’t cover everything but still nice for the Sahara desert. We recommend you 3days and 4days desert tour to explore many things, and enjoy so much your trip.
If you are in Marrakech and desire to explore the vast Sahara desert, please feel free to contact us and we will be glad to plan your best itinerary, and please know that the itineraries can be edited according to your needs and requirements.
Overview & Highlights:
- Cross the high Atlas Mountains and Tizi-N-Tichka pass (2260m of Altitude).
- See Aït Ben Haddou Ksar; UNESCO world heritage site and home for many films.
- Experience camel riding in the Sahara desert.
- Enjoy spectacular sunset in the Erg-chebbi golden dunes.
- Spend an unforgettable night in an authentic Berber camp.
- Enjoy a luxurious drive along Ziz valley, the largest valley in morocco.
- Explore Midlet and Zaida; two beautiful Berber towns in the middle atlas.
- Visit the wild monkeys in the cedar forest.
- See Moroccan Switzerland, the beautiful city of Ifrane.
Itinerary:
Day 1: Marrakech – High Atlas Mountains – Ouarzazate – Merzouga desert.
We will start our long journey to the Sahara desert in the early morning. We will pick you up from your accommodation in Marrakech then we will cross the high Atlas Mountains through Tizi-N-Tichka pass with an altitude of 2260m. Where you will enjoy stunning views of the lush valleys and beautiful Berber villages along the way, make a short stop by the UNESCO world heritage of Aït Ben-Haddou Ksar, then pass by Ouarzazate city, the gate of the Sahara desert. Continue driving besides the rose valley before Dades valley, and then to the old town of Tinjdad where you will have lunch.
After a quiet stay for your midday meal we will head down to Erfoud city, known by its palm trees plantations and fossils expositions, not far from it we will enter Merzouga desert to the Erg chebbi, one of the best places in the world you may ever seen, where you will be welcomed by Berber mint tea and homemade Moroccan cookies before meeting your camels for trek into your desert camp, on the way you will enjoy a spectacular sunset in the desert before getting to the camp where you will take some time to relax before enjoying a delicious dinner and live Berber music around camp fire under an amazing starry sky.
Overnight in the Sahara desert.
Day 2: Merzouga desert – Ziz valley – Atlas Mountains – Ifrane – Fes.
Today you should wake up early if you would like to watch a wonderful sunrise over the dunes, and then take time for a hot shower and traditional Berber breakfast in the camp.
After you will ride back your camels to the village or maybe embark on the SUV if one camel is enough. From there we will start our journey leaving the Sahara desert taking the way to Fes, as we come to pass Erfoud, you will enjoy the drive along the luxurious way on the edge of the Ziz valley, the largest valley in morocco. At the top end of the Ziz valley we will make a short break where you will enjoy the panoramic view of that contiguous date palm oasis. Then we continue the way and pass by Errachidia, the capital city of that region lies on the edge of the high atlas, offering stunning views of the mountains covered by the snow almost the whole year, and the Berber villages in the plateau between the two atlases.
In Zaida we will make stop for lunch, enjoying fresh barbecue in one of the many street side restaurants. After quiet stay we will drive through the middle atlas enjoying the sheep herds, donkeys and dogs owned by the Berber people of the area, until getting to the cedar forest, the largest in morocco, where you will always find the wild monkeys but they are used to humans and they are happy to be fed, and surprisingly well mannered.
Leaving the forest we will make a coffee stop in Ifrane, a small ski resort town that is also known as the Moroccan Swiss village due to its alpine-style architecture. Here you will see yourself transferred to Europe at short notice, in fact here live Austrians, French and wealthy Moroccans, and it’s the most expensive soil in Morocco apart from the big cities. Continue to Fes in which we will arrive in the late evening and there our wonderful tour unfortunately ends.