6-Day Casablanca Desert Tour: Fes, Merzouga Dunes and Marrakech

Overview

Highlights

• Camel trek at sunset and a night in a desert camp at Erg Chebbi
• Guided visit of the Fes medina, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
• Ifrane, cedar forests and Barbary macaques in the Middle Atlas
• Todra Gorge and the kasbahs of the Dades Valley
• Aït Benhaddou and the Tizi n'Tichka pass over the High Atlas
• Guided tour of Marrakech on the final day

Itinerary

1. 1

   Day 1 Casablanca – Rabat – Fes

   Pickup at your Casablanca hotel or at Mohammed V Airport. If time allows, see the Hassan II Mosque from its esplanade before heading north to Rabat, about an hour away. Walk the Kasbah of the Udayas and visit the Hassan Tower and the Mohammed V Mausoleum. After lunch, drive inland to Fes, roughly three hours, and check in to your riad in time for dinner. A good first day to stretch your legs after the flight without a very long drive.

   Overnight: Riad in Fes Meals: Dinner

2. 2

   Day 2 Fes guided visit

   Explore Fes el-Bali with a local guide, the largest car-free medina in the world. Pass through Bab Boujloud, follow lanes lined with spice merchants and coppersmiths, peek into the Bou Inania madrasa and the doorway of the Al-Qarawiyyin mosque, and watch the leather dyers at work from a terrace above the Chouara tannery. In the afternoon, see the gates of the royal palace and the view from the Merenid tombs as the medina turns golden. Free evening. Your guide can also arrange a stop at a weaving cooperative or a ceramics workshop on the edge of the medina if you want to see how the famous blue pottery of Fes is made.

   Overnight: Riad in Fes Meals: Breakfast, dinner

3. 3

   Day 3 Fes – Ifrane – Midelt – Merzouga

   Leave early for the longest drive of the trip. Climb to Ifrane, a tidy mountain town with sloping roofs, then cross cedar forests where Barbary macaques gather near the road. Have lunch in Midelt, between two Atlas ranges, then follow the Ziz Valley with its palm groves and canyons. In the late afternoon you reach Merzouga, swap the vehicle for a camel and ride into the dunes of Erg Chebbi for sunset. Dinner and the night in a desert camp, often with drumming around the fire.

   Overnight: Desert camp in Merzouga Meals: Breakfast, dinner

4. 4

   Day 4 Merzouga – Todra Gorge – Dades Valley

   Climb a dune for sunrise, then ride back to Merzouga for breakfast and a shower. Drive west through Rissani and the oasis towns of the Tafilalt to Tinghir and the Todra Gorge, where limestone walls rise around 300 meters on either side of a clear stream. Walk into the narrowest section before lunch. In the afternoon, continue to the Dades Valley, with its strange rock formations and earthen villages, for the night. Along the way, your driver points out the khettaras, ancient underground irrigation channels, and the date palms that make this region famous. Dinner tonight is often a slow-cooked tagine.

   Overnight: Hotel or guesthouse in the Dades Valley Meals: Breakfast, dinner

5. 5

   Day 5 Dades – Ouarzazate – Aït Benhaddou – Marrakech

   Follow the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs past the Rose Valley and Skoura to Ouarzazate, the gateway to the desert. Continue to Aït Benhaddou, a fortified earthen village and UNESCO site that has appeared in many films and series. Cross the river and climb to the granary at the top for the view. After lunch, the road climbs over the Tizi n'Tichka pass at about 2,260 meters before winding down to Marrakech in the early evening. If you are curious, your driver can stop at an argan oil cooperative on the descent, run by local women.

   Overnight: Riad in Marrakech Meals: Breakfast, dinner

6. 6

   Day 6 Marrakech guided visit, end of tour

   Spend the morning with a local guide in Marrakech: the Koutoubia mosque, the carved Bahia Palace, the Saadian tombs and the souks of the medina, where each lane is dedicated to a different craft. Finish in Jemaa el-Fna square, which comes alive in the late afternoon with musicians, storytellers and food stalls. The tour ends after the visit. We can arrange a transfer to Marrakech airport, or back to Casablanca if your flight home leaves from there. Plan an extra night if you can: Marrakech rewards time.

   Overnight: — (tour ends in Marrakech) Meals: Breakfast

Prices

Prices in euros per person. The amount in your currency is an estimate; payment is processed in USD. Some peak-season dates carry a supplement; you will see it when you pick a date.

Included

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