3 days to Fes Desert Tour

Your 3 days to Fes Desert Tour, "Green Valleys, Golden Sands" starts from Marrakesh with an early morning pick-up at your hotel/riad. We’ll head towards the High Atlas Mountains, crossing over Morocco’s highest road pass – the Tizi-n-Tichka pass at 2260m. We’ll take a rest break at the top of the pass & you can take pictures of the stunning panoramic views.

Our next stop will be 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 are 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, then 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 exploring the kasbah, we’ll continue our journey, passing through Ouarzazate, known as the "Hollywood of Morocco" because of its thriving film industry. 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.

Winding our way through Dades Valley, we’ll arrive in Skoura, where we’ll visit the picturesque Kasbah Amridil. The 17th century fortified village (ksar) along the river is mostly in ruins now, but the Kasbah (fortified mansion) on the south end was built in the late 19th century and is one of the most impressive kasbahs in Morocco. The kasbah is still owned and maintained by the same family today.

Next we’ll travel 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 in this green valley so that you can see, smell, and, if you wish, purchase some products made from local roses.

We’ll then detour to reach the stunning Dades Gorge, where you’ll have dinner & stay overnight in a guesthouse run by a local Berber family. Nearby you’ll see the rock formation known as “Monkey Toes”.

Day 2 of your 3 day Sahara tour from Marrakesh to Fes starts with a walk through the impressive Dades Gorge before we start heading towards the Sahara Desert. We’ll drive to the town of Tinghir, a lush green oasis full of palm trees and farmers’ crops, and visit the nearby Todra Gorge. 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. We’ll stop here and you’ll have a chance to walk along the river.

Next, we’ll visit the town of Rissani, where we’ll have lunch and visit the local souk (market). This jumble of stalls is where local people buy food, clothing, household items & more. On Tuesdays, the travelling market arrives, and people flock from nearby villages to shop.

After leaving Rissani, it’s not far to the Merzouga region of the Sahara Desert. We’ll leave the highway and travel off-road across flat rocky desert towards the magnificent golden 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!

We’ll reach the desert hotel by late afternoon, where your camels will be waiting. After mounting up, 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 exiting the big dunes and camel-trekking to the desert camp.

Once there, you’ll enjoy a traditional Moroccan meal, followed by African music – drumming and singing and dancing – around a campfire. You’ll spend the night in tents nestled among the dunes.

After breakfast on the final day of your 3 day Sahara tour, we’ll start heading north towards Fes.

As we leave the dunes behind, we’ll pass through the town of Erfoud, famous for its Date Festival each October and known for its fossils and fossil products. We’ll then follow the meandering Ziz Valley, which contains the impressive palm-filled Ziz Oasis that stretches for hundreds of kilometres. We’ll stop at a panoramic lookout point so that you can take pictures.

Our next stop will in in Midelt, the “apple capital” of Morocco, where we’ll have lunch.

In the afternoon, we’ll head into the Middle Atlas Mountains, stopping at Azrou to see the Barbary apes that live in the cedar forests on the mountainsides.

Continuing towards Fes, we’ll pass through Ifrane, a popular ski resort town known as the "Switzerland of Morocco", with its steeply-peaked rooves designed to shed show easily.

We’ll arrive in Fes in the evening and drop you off at your hotel/riad, bringing your 3 days to Fes Desert Tour - "Green Valleys, Golden Sands" to a close.