3 Days Desert Tour from Marrakech to Fes
Join this 3 days desert tour from Marrakech to Fes via Merzouga for an unforgettable Desert Trip with Berber natives and uniquely experience the desert.
Marrakech to Fes desert tour details:
Overview
The 3 days desert tour from Marrakech to Fes is one of our Morocco desert tours that allows you to explore the heart of Morocco. Within this 3 days tour from Marrakech to fes, you can explore the high Atlas Mountains, the old settlement of Ait Benhaddou Kasbah, the Todra Valley’s scenery, the Todra gorges, and the Sahara’s magnificent dunes. Take in the palm trees of Ziz Valley and the Middle Atlas Mountains panoramic views. See the monkeys in Cedar Forest and Ifrane City, called “Morocco’s Switzerland,” before concluding 3 day tour from Marrakech at Fes.
Highlights
- 3-day Sahara desert tour from Marrakech
- Crossing through the High Atlas Mountains and the Tizi N’Tichka pass.
- Spend time in Ait Ben Haddou’s Casbah and discover the Berber village.
- Promenade along the Todra oasis’s stream to the beautiful gorges.
- Taking a camel ride across the dunes.
- Enjoy the sights of Erg Chebbi and its magnificent sunset from behind your camel.
- Spend the night in the Merzouga desert camp after enjoying a Berber meal under the stars.
- Explore the Middle Atlas Mountains, Azrou cedar forest, and Ifran city.
- Visit Fes.
Includes
- Pick up and drop off at your accommodation
- AC private fuelled transportation: 4WD vehicle, van, and minibus for the groups.
- A driver guide or a driver accompanied by the guide.
- Overnight in the riad/hotel.
- Overnight in a desert camp (private tents)
- Merzouga camel trekking
- Dinners and breakfasts
Excludes
- Lunches
- Drinks
- Monument fees
- Tips and gratuities
3 days desert tour from Marrakech to Fes itinerary
Day 1: Marrakech - High Atlas - Ait Ben Haddou - Ouarzazate - Dades Valley.
After picking you up from your hotel in Marrakesh at 8 am, the 3 days desert tour from Marrakech to Fes will start by driving to the High Atlas or Sof Moroccan Atlas Mountains. You will pass through the Tizi N’Tichka port, where you can take pictures of the small Berber villages that blend into the landscape. You will also see panoramic views and take pictures of these villages.
We’ll see the famous Kasbah when we get to the ksar (fortified village) of Ait Ben Haddou. Then we’ll go south and visit the famous Kasbah (declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986). It has been used in many favorite movies, like Gladiator, Obelix, The Mummy, The Jewel of the Nile, Sahara with Penélope Cruz, and much more. Free lunchtime in town. Then we move on to Ouarzazate, which means “noiseless or without confusion” in the Berber language. Here, we’ll see the Taourirt kasbah, one of Morocco’s most beautiful ksars.
The next place to go is the Rose Valley, a beautiful place to see more than 700,000 palm trees and a lot of kasbahs in the area. In this Valley, damascene roses are grown for rosewater, which is very valuable. The Rose Festival is held here every year in May, and it is a significant museum for Moroccan history. Finally, we arrive in the Dades Valley, where we will rest for the night, to end the first day of our fantastic 3 days desert tour from Marrakech to Fes.
Day 2: Dades Valley - Todra Gorges - Merzouga
After breakfast, the 3 days desert tour from Marrakech to Fes will continue by starting in one of the most spectacular views of the Dades Valley from a strategic lookout in the mountains, where we’ll be able to admire a large number of kasbahs and the picturesque features of each one. From Tinerhir, an excellent asphalt road travels up the valley to the gorge and then to the desert. We’ll make a few stops along the road and eventually arrive at the Todra Gorges.
The scenery is breathtaking. The area is populated by locals, who can be seen in their adobe villages. These gorges are popular with rock climbers because they have rock walls with a lot of different shapes. After a short walk through the Todra Gorges, you’ll have some time to have lunch in Tinejdad or Touroug.
Then, we’ll keep going through the desert until we reach the spectacular dunes of Merzouga. Camel rides will take us one hour to our nomad camp in the middle of a sea of dunes. We’ll stay there until the sun comes up again tomorrow morning (Erg Chebbi). Before dinner, we’ll watch the sunset from the top of a dune and sleep beneath a starry sky in a tent.
Day 3: Merzouga - Ziz Valley - Cedar Forest - Fes
After breakfast, we start our last day to the north, through the Tafilalet palm grove. You’ll see thousands of palm trees along the 20km of road. This way leads us to the Ziz Valley, where the river comes down from the high Atlas and feeds the palm grove. Here we make a stop and, from this high viewpoint, enjoy a magnificent view of the valley and the town of Aoufous.
We’ll make another stop in Midelt, just in the heart of the Atlas, where you’ll have free time for lunch and rest for a while. In the afternoon, we continue our way through the Cedar Woods. If we are lucky, we’ll see some monkeys. The next place we’ll visit is the city of Ifrane, situated on the northwestern slope of the Middle Atlas at 1630 meters above sea level. Its broad avenues, its urban development with perfect cleanliness, the gardens, the green areas, and its architecture make this city look like a Swiss town.
Ifrane feels misplaced in Morocco. That’s why it’s named Moroccan Switzerland, and if that’s not enough, it has an important ski resort, Michlifen. At about 6 pm, we arrive at Fez, transfer to the hotel, and end our stunning 3 days desert tour from Marrakech to Fes.
Tour Map
Know before you go
- The cost of the tour is based on the number of people in your group and the kind of accommodation you stay in during the trip.
- A 4×4 vehicle can easily seat up to four adult guests. However, if your tour has more than five individuals, a van will be used.
- Local guides and (if applicable) entrance fees are not included. You make direct payments to suppliers for those.
- The pick-up time for your 3 days desert tour from Marrakech to Fes is negotiable. Between 07:30 and 08:00 AM is the best time.
- The 3 days desert tour from Marrakech to Fes itinerary can be customized to be 4 day desert tour from Marrakech to Fes with an additional night at Erg Chebbi, or halfway between Merzouga and Fes.