5 Days from Fes to Marrakech: The Deepest Sahara Desert Tour

This is the version we recommend to anyone who has more time than they need and would rather spend it on extra sunsets in the dunes than on the road. It also allows more flexibility to add optional desert activities like sandboarding or a Khamlia village music evening without cutting into the Todra Gorge or Ait Benhaddou stops.

If your trip through Morocco is once-in-a-lifetime, or you simply prefer depth over ground covered, five days lets the Sahara crossing breathe: two proper desert-area nights, unhurried mountain stops, and a Marrakech arrival that feels like the culmination of a journey rather than the last leg of a drive, with time built in at nearly every major stop along the way.

Trip Highlights

• Two nights in the Merzouga area for a deeper desert immersion
• Extra time to explore Erg Chebbi beyond the standard camel ride
• Visit to Rissani's historic caravan market
• Full daylight walk into the Todra Gorge
• Unhurried exploration of the Dades Valley's kasbahs
• Ait Benhaddou explored thoroughly, including its hilltop granary
• Room for optional add-ons like sandboarding or a Gnawa music village visit
• The most complete Fes-to-Marrakech desert itinerary we offer

Day-by-Day Itinerary

1. D1

   Day 1: Fes to Merzouga via Ifrane, Azrou and the Ziz Valley

   Your driver collects you from your Fes accommodation for the drive south into the Middle Atlas, through the cedar forests and chalet-style buildings of Ifrane, then Azrou, where wild Barbary macaques often appear along the forest road. Past Midelt, the route follows the Ziz Valley's long ribbon of palm groves down toward the desert, with the landscape shifting from mountains to flat hamada plains. Reaching Merzouga in the afternoon, you'll ride camels out into Erg Chebbi's dunes for sunset, then spend the night at a private tented camp with a traditional Berber dinner and campfire music beneath the stars.

2. D2

   Day 2: Full day around Erg Chebbi and Rissani

   With a second night near Merzouga built in, today is unhurried. After sunrise over the dunes, you can rest at the camp, take an optional sandboarding or quad session on the surrounding dunes, or visit a small desert village to hear Gnawa music from families descended from the old trans-Saharan trade routes. Later, a trip into Rissani lets you walk the region's old caravan market town and see the ruins nearby linked to the Ksar of Sijilmassa, once a major stop on the gold and salt caravan routes. You'll overnight a second time in the Merzouga area before heading west.

3. D3

   Day 3: Merzouga to Dades Valley via Todra Gorge

   Today the route turns west through Erfoud and Tinghir toward the Todra Gorge, with real time to walk beneath its towering 300-meter limestone cliffs rather than pausing briefly at the entrance. Continuing into the Dades Valley, you'll pass its distinctive folded rock formations and a string of kasbahs along the so-called Road of a Thousand Kasbahs, with stops to take it in properly rather than through the window. Overnight is in a hotel in the Dades or Ouarzazate area, giving you a comfortable base and mountain views before the final approach to Marrakech.

4. D4

   Day 4: Dades Valley to Ouarzazate and Ait Benhaddou

   With a full day allotted, today includes real time in Ouarzazate, Morocco's desert-edge film capital, where an optional visit to the film studios shows sets used in international productions. From there, Ait Benhaddou gets the time it deserves, a proper walk through its earthen kasbah lanes and up to the hilltop granary, with views back over the valley and irrigated fields below. Rather than pushing on to Marrakech the same day, you'll overnight in the Ait Benhaddou or Ouarzazate area, leaving the mountain crossing for a fresh final day.

5. D5

   Day 5: Ait Benhaddou to Marrakech over the High Atlas

   The final day climbs into the High Atlas Mountains via the Tizi n'Tichka pass, Morocco's highest major road crossing, winding past Berber villages terraced into the slopes and roadside stalls selling local minerals and crafts. The descent brings you down through the foothills into Marrakech, where you'll be dropped directly at your accommodation. After five days and around a thousand kilometers, this marks the end of the one-way journey from Fes, no return leg, just the arrival in Marrakech that the whole route has been building toward.

What's Included

Where You'll Stay

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