4 day Fes Desert Marrakesh Tour

Your 4 day Fes Desert Marrakesh Tour, "Sounds of the Sahara" starts from Fes on Day 1 after breakfast at your hotel. We’ll head into the Middle Atlas Mountains stopping in Azrou to see the Barbary apes living in the mountain forests. You’ll see the amazing changes in the landscape as we leave the mountains and start our drive to the Sahara Desert.

Lunch will be in Midelt, the “apple capital” of Morocco.

After lunch, we’ll drive alongside the Ziz Valley. The impressive palm-filled Ziz Oasis stretches for hundreds of meandering kilometres along the valley floor. We’ll stop so you can take pictures from a panoramic lookout point.

We’ll pass through Erfoud, famous for its Date Festival each October and known for its fossils and fossil products, then turn off the highway and travel across flat rocky desert to the Saharan region of Merzouga, towards the magnificent sand dunes of Erg Chebbi. Erg Chebbi has the highest dunes in North Africa, and the sight of them rising suddenly out of the desert floor never fails to impress!

By late afternoon, we’ll reach the desert hotel, where your camels will be waiting. You’ll leave civilization behind and camel-trek into the high dunes, where you’ll see the sands change colour as the sun moves across the sky. You’ll have time to explore, take pictures, and watch the sunset before camel-trekking back out of the big dunes.

When you arrive at the desert camp, you’ll enjoy a traditional Moroccan meal, followed by African music – drumming & singing & dancing – around a campfire. Feel free to join in! You’ll spend the night in tents surrounded by small dunes.

After breakfast the next morning, we’ll take the 4x4 and travel off-road to explore the diverse desert landscapes around Erg Chebbi. We’ll visit a spot where you can see ocean fossils embedded in desert rock. Then we’ll head across the hamada (black desert) to the home of a local Berber nomad family. You’ll take tea with them in their desert home – a priceless experience!

We’ll have lunch in Khamlia, then enjoy live Gnawa music (traditional African music) & dance performed by local musicians.

Back at the hotel, you'll have time to relax and watch the sunset before having dinner at the desert hotel. You’ll spend a second night in the Sahara.

After breakfast in the desert on Day 3 of your 4 day Sahara Tour from Fes, we’ll leave the dunes behind and drive to the town of Rissani to visit the neighbourhood souk (market), where local people buy everything from vegetables to clothing to livestock. On Tuesdays, the travelling market arrives, and people flock from nearby villages to shop.

We’ll continue on our way to Tinghir and the Todra Gorge. You’ll hardly believe you started the day in the Saharan dunes when you see the lush green oasis full of palm trees and farmers’ crops. The steep walls of the Todra Gorge are 300 metres high. This is a popular spot for rock climbers, as well as Moroccan families enjoying a picnic by the river.

Here we’ll stop for lunch at a nearby restaurant, and you’ll have a chance to walk along the river.

From there we’ll drive to the Dades Valley, known as the "Valley of the Thousand Kasbahs", following the winding road through the mountains.

You’ll stay the night in a guesthouse overlooking the spectacular Dades Gorge. Nearby you’ll see the rock formation known as “Monkey Toes”.

In the morning you’ll have time for a walk along the gorge before we head to Kalaat M’Gouna, the “Valley of the Roses”, where millions of rose petals are harvested each year to produce a huge array of rose-infused products for culinary and cosmetic use. The harvest culminates in May with the annual Rose Festival – worth attending if you can arrange your visit around this popular festival. We'll make a stop here so that you can see, smell, and, if you wish, purchase some products made from local roses.

We’ll continue our journey to Ouarzazate, known as the "Hollywood of Morocco". Ouarzazate is home to several film studios, both Moroccan and international. The surrounding landscape is a popular on-location site and has been used to portray everything from the Egyptian desert to the surface of Mars. You’ll tour one of the Moroccan film studios.

We’ll then drive to Ait Ben Haddou, the oldest Kasbah in the south of Morocco, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Although the village was originally built in the 17th century, people still live and work there today, their homes built right into the rock or with mud bricks, which are made locally using the same methods as in ancient times. Ait Ben Haddou has also featured in many films, including The Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven.

We’ll have lunch in the village, and you’ll have time to explore the Kasbah. It’s a gentle climb through winding streets to the top, where you can see in all directions.

After that we’ll head into the High Atlas Mountains. We’ll take a side road to visit the ruins of Telouet Kasbah (Palace of Glaoui) in the traditional Berber village of Telouet before crossing over Morocco’s highest road pass – the Tizi-n-Tichka pass at 2260m. We’ll stop at the top of the pass for refreshment and to take pictures of the stunning views before descending towards Marrakesh.

We’ll reach Marrakesh in the evening. We’ll drop you off at your hotel/riad, bringing your Sounds of the Sahara – 4 days from Fes tour to an end.