3 days desert tour from Marrakech to fes
3 days desert tour from Marrakech to Fes via Merzouga. Join us on an unforgettable excursion with Berber natives and experience the desert in a way you’ve never seen it before.
TOUR DETAILS
| Period | Departure | Return | Tour Type |
|---|---|---|---|
3 Days/2 Nights | Marrakech | Fes | Private |
Overview
The 3 days desert tour from Marrakech to Fes desert tour is one of our desert excursions that allows you to explore the heart of Morocco. Within these three days, 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 at Fes.
Highlights
- 3 days Sahara desert tour from Marrakech to fes
- 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 the back of 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
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.
When we get to the ksar (fortified village) of Ait Ben Haddou, we’ll see the famous Kasbah. Then we’ll go south and visit the famous Kasbah (declared 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 a lot 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
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 in 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.
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
Tour Gallery
Ait-Ben-Haddou, also known as Ait Benhaddou, is a well-known fortified mud town on the outskirts of the Ouarzazate desert, about 30 kilometers away. The town sits proudly on a hill overlooking the barren landscape, and the river Asif Mellah creates a picturesque backdrop at the old town's gates.
The town's historic center, which has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1987, is especially impressive. The 17th-century fortress at the top of the hill above the fortified old town offers a spectacular view of the region!
The construction of the brown-red townhouses is regarded as unique. As a result, the old mud houses were built close together, sometimes nesting inside each other. Some historic townhouses are still in good condition and can be toured on the inside.
Ait-Ben-Haddou was also the setting for many films. Among the most well-known are Gladiator, Game of Thrones, Asterix and Obelix, Aladdin, Prince of Persia, the Mummie, The Hills Have Eyes II, Babel, Alexander, and Laurence of Arabia.
3 days desert tour from Marrakech to Fes is one of the best tour options to visit it.
The beautiful Dades Valley, close to Boumalne du Dades, with its picturesque Dades Gorge and spectacular serpentine road, is one of Morocco's absolute highlights. A drive through this canyon, whether by car or motorcycle, is a truly unique and adventurous experience.
The color contrasts and breathtaking landscape attract visitors. The most spectacular section of the route is certainly the breathtaking Zik-Zak road, which runs almost to the canyon's end. However, visitors from all over the world come to hike and trek.
The Dades Valley in Morocco is part of the imposing Atlas Mountains and is located in the province of Tinghir. The Dades Gorge, also known as the "Gorges du Dadès," stretches from the oasis town of Boumalne Dadès to the north to the village of M'semrir. A green river course runs alongside it, irrigating the valley and making it lush, providing a livelihood for the many small villages.
The numerous well-preserved clay castles, known as kasbahs, that were once built by the Berbers to defend themselves against enemies are also worth seeing and an attraction.
3 days desert tour from Marrakech to Fes is one of the best tour options to visit it.
Merzouga, a small desert town in Morocco, is a real travel highlight that is included in almost every round of the Morocco trip itinerary such as 3 days desert tour from Marrakech to Fes. This is the place to go if you want to do a desert tour with camel trekking in Morocco, possibly with an overnight stay in the desert! Because the Sahara has the most stunning sand dunes in this part of the country.
Merzouga's dunes, known as the Erg Chebbi dunes, can reach heights of 180 meters. This breathtakingly beautiful scenery is best experienced on the back of a camel. A fantastic experience that you will not easily forget.
Merzouga is a small town in southeast Morocco with a population of 500 people that relies almost entirely on tourism. The village is located directly on the edge of the desert, is quite spacious, and is entirely made up of the country's typical clay buildings. The majority of the houses were constructed from 1980 onwards to meet the tourist demand for hotels, restaurants, and stores.
A vacation to the Merzouga desert is one of the greatest things to do in Morocco. The huge Erg Chebbi dunes, which reach up to 200 meters in height, are a fascinating landscape formed entirely by the wind. Merzouga's ideal location on the sand dunes makes it the ideal starting point for camel rides, jeep tours, and other exciting desert excursions.
Thousands of years ago, the Draa River crossed the desert and traveled hundreds of kilometers west until it met the Atlantic. A large percentage of this river has dried up, but its course still holds one of Morocco's most beautiful landscapes.
The Draa Valley is not only beautiful; it also has thousands of years of history, as evidenced by the ancient cave paintings and carvings discovered in the area.
Archaeologists discovered the statuette of Venus of Tan-Tan, one of the oldest prehistoric sculptures ever discovered, in the Draa Valley. Furthermore, the Draa Valley was once an important transit point on trans-Saharan caravan trading routes, as well as a center for Jewish, Arab, Berber, and Christian civilizations.
All the destinations are included in Marrakech desert tours, Fes desert tours, Ouarzazate desert tours, and Casablanca tours.
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 days desert tour from Marrakech with an additional night at Erg Chebbi, or halfway between Merzouga and Fes.