Tangier Marrakech Desert Tour

Day 1: Tangier – Chefchaouen – Fez

We pick you up at your hotel, riad, Tangier airport or Tanger Med port and drive to Chefchaouen, where you spend about an hour and a half exploring the blue city with a local guide. We continue to Fez for the night.

Day 2: Fez – Ifrane – Azrou – Merzouga

After breakfast we leave Fez and drive through Ifrane to the cedar forests near Azrou, home to wild Barbary macaques – a great place for photos. Lunch is in the small Berber village of Zaida. We continue through the Atlas Mountains via Midelt and Rich to Erfoud, where the Tafilalet oasis and the Sahara begin, and on to Merzouga.

Your camels and camel guide are waiting to take you on a one-hour ride into the Erg Chebbi dunes. At camp the team shows you to your own luxury tent with private bathroom. After a cup of tea there is time for sunset and sandboarding on the dunes nearby, followed by dinner and Berber music.

Day 3: Merzouga – Rissani – Todra Gorge – Dades Valley

Wake at dawn for sunrise over the dunes, return to camp for breakfast and ride back by camel to Merzouga. We visit the market in Rissani (market days are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) and a fossil workshop in Erfoud, then drive through the palm groves of Touroug and Tinjdad to the Todra Gorge. Its high cliffs are popular with climbers, and a short walk through the gorge is the best way to enjoy it. Free time for lunch, then on to Boumalne Dades. Dinner and overnight in a hotel.

Day 4: Dades Valley – Ouarzazate – Aït Ben Haddou – Marrakech

After breakfast we stop at a viewpoint over the Dades Valley and its many kasbahs, then follow the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs through the Valley of Roses and the Skoura palm grove to Ouarzazate. Here you visit the Taourirt Kasbah – once a residence of the powerful Glaoui family – and a film studio.

We continue to Aït Ben Haddou, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987, where Gladiator, The Mummy and The Jewel of the Nile were filmed. After free time for lunch we cross the Tizi n’Tichka pass and drop you at your hotel in Marrakech around 6:00 pm.