5 days tour from Marrakech to Merzouga
5 days tour from Marrakech to the Sahara desert. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
5 Days/4 Nights |
Marrakech |
Fes |
Private |
overview
A 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes via the Sahara desert is an excellent and relaxing way to travel between the two imperial capitals (Marrakech and Fes).
In these five days in Morocco, you will explore and visit a variety of stunning locations and viewpoints: the high Atlas Mountains, the Valley of Ounila in Telouet, the Ait Benhaddou Kasbah, Ouarzazate, the Valley of Roses, the Todra valley, the Todra gorges, and the Ziz valley; and, of course, we will not miss the magical Sahara desert of Erg-Chebbi sand dunes, the Middle Atlas Mountains, The Cedar Forest, and Ifrane City come to an end in Fes.
highlights
- 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.
- Have a walk around the traditional souk (large market) of Rissani.
- observe barbary apes in the Midel Atlas’s cedar forest
- Discover Ifran (Moroccan Switzerland).
- Visit Fes.
Includes
- PICK UP AND DROP OFF AT YOUR ACCOMMODATION.
- AC PRIVATE FUELED TRANSPORTATION (4WD VEHICLE, VAN, MINIBUS).
- A DRIVER WHO SPEAKS ENGLISH OR A DRIVER ACCOMPANIED BY AN ENGLISH-SPEAKING GUIDE.
- OVERNIGHT IN A HOTEL OR A RIAD.
- OVERNIGHT IN A DESERT CAMP (PRIVATE TENTS).
- MERZOUGA CAMEL TREKKING.
- BREAKFASTS AND DINNERS.
Excludes
- LUNCHES
- DRINKS
- MONUMENT FEES
- TIPS AND GRATUITIES
5 days tour from Marrakech itinerary
After picking you up from your hotel in Marrakesh at 8 am, you will drive 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.
After breakfast, we’ll have 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 then sleep beneath a starry sky in a tent.
After breakfast, we will begin our excursion around the Erg-Chebbi dunes. We will visit several interesting places in Merzouga. We’ll stop in Khamliya village to listen to African music (Gnawa) performed by people who are originally from the south of Africa. Then we’ll continue our desert road trip to the desert behind the Erg-Chebbi dunes. We’ll visit an abandoned village to witness the functioning fossil minerals, then drive to a nomadic Berber family to learn about their lifestyle.
We’ll return to Khamliya for a delicious lunch at a nearby restaurant. We’ll take a ride to Merzouga Lake in the afternoon. If we’re lucky, we’ll find it full of water and see some birds, such as ducks and flamingos. If not, we’ll have to find it even if it’s dry because we can see camel pasture. While we’re there, we can observe and learn about local palm farms, then we will drive back ahead riad
After breakfast, we’ll continue on to Rissani, where we’ll explore the famous, traditional, and largest market in the area, looking for locally created goods and arts and crafts. Visit Rissani on one of the following days: Sunday, Tuesday, or Thursday. Souks are open on these three days, which are ideal for desert residents who wish to go shopping.
Then we’ll keep going, passing through Erfoud city and Aoufous hamlet on our route to the Ziz valley, which is located in Errachidia city.
We’ll first take a break to admire the lush green oasis filled with thousands of palm trees. After that, we’ll continue to Midelt via Errachidia and the Middle Atlas Mountains plateau, including the Tizi N’talghoumte pass (1907m). Dinner and overnight accommodations will be in a hotel in Midelt.
After breakfast in the hotel, we will depart Midelt and travel to Fes via the Middle Atlas, where you will be able to enjoy breathtaking mountain views. Following that, we’ll make a stop in the cedar forest, which is famous for its enormous apes. Then we go on to Ifrane, known as “the Switzerland of Morocco,” where we can rest for a while. Following that, we will travel to Fes, Morocco’s oldest city. We will drop you off in Fes at your Riad, hotel, or airport at the end of our 5-day Marrakech to Fes via Sahara desert tour.
Tour Map
Tour Gallery
- 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.
- The drive back from Erg Chebbi to Marrakech on the last day is somewhat lengthy. Please prepare yourselves for it.
- 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 desert tour is negotiable. Between 07:30 and 08:00 AM is the best time.
- The 3-day itinerary can be customized to be a 4-day Marrakech to Merzouga excursion with an additional night at Erg Chebbi, or halfway between Merzouga and Marrakech.
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Most populare tours in Morocco
Are you looking for a trustworthy travel company for your upcoming trip to Morocco? You’ve come to the right place! We offer a wide range of Morocco tours across the whole country.
Our private tour itineraries allow you to see the best of Morocco, with departures from Casablanca, Marrakech, Fez, Ouarzazate, and Tangier. There are so many regions and sights in Morocco: The Atlas Mountains, the Atlantic Ocean, the Sahara Desert, and other sights. You can choose from a wide range of multi-day tours in Morocco as we’ve merged the most important.
In addition to admiring internationally renowned attractions like the Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou, the historic medina of the spiritual city of Fez, or the golden dunes of the Sahara desert, you will have a travel experience unlike any other as you explore the real Morocco, its culture, and its people on an unforgettable journey.
