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3 days tour from Fes to Marrakech via Merzouga Desert

Join the best Fes to Marrakech desert tour 3 days with camel ride and have a night at Berber tents.

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Highlights of our tour

Tour overview

The Fes to Marrakech 3 days desert tour offers you the opportunity to have a real desert experience, ride camels and spend the night in a beautiful desert camp, discover the most interesting places in Morocco such as Ifrane, known as the Switzerland of Morocco, in addition to cedar forest in Azrou the second largest forest in Morocco, and Ziz Valley, gorges of Tordra and Dades, Ait Ben Haddou Kasbahs, in addition to Road of a Thousand Kasbahs, Atlas Mountains and so many more. This is the best solution to travel between the two royal cities of Fez and Marrakech, discovering a large part of Morocco and enjoying a lifetime desert experience on the way.

Trip itinerary

Day 1: Travel from Fes to Merzouga Desert via Ifran, Cedar forest, and Atlas mountains:
Departure from Fes at 8 am, passing Ifrane, where the houses have sloping roofs, remarkable and unusual in Morocco. The reason is to cope with the annual snowfall. Near Azrou, 1250 m, with the Berber geomorphological name meaning “stone” or “rock”, you can see barbarian monkeys in the oak and cedar forests of the Middle Atlas. From here, we drive south along the N13 across the Middle Atlas, passing Timahdite (again, a Berber name, and if the word starts and ends with the letter “t”, it means female). We reach Midelt, 1508M, which means “the apple capital” of Morocco and is situated at the foot of the Ayachi Mountain. The town serves as a commercial agricultural center for the surrounding area and is also one of Morocco’s capitals for the mining of various minerals such as fluorite, vanadinite, quartz, and cerussite. We stop here for lunch. We continue south over the Tizi-n-Talghemt pass, known as the “She-Camel” pass. We descend through the Ziz Valley, which is particularly known for its palm trees and the length of the oasis. All along the road, there are countless “Ksars”, small villages with single houses. From here we reach the mining town of Er Rachidia (e.g. copper and malachite) and then Erfoud, famous for its date festivals and its fossils. It is fascinating to see how these millions of fossils have been turned into artifacts, so the shops are worth a visit. There is no obligation to buy anything! You continue to Rissani and finally to the famous red Erg Chebbi dunes in Merzouga. You will take a camel ride of one hour to one and a half hours, either from the camp or there. There is also the possibility to drive to the camp by off-road vehicle. You will have dinner and spend the night in an authentic nomad camp with shared bathrooms and a private tent for each couple or family. Alternatively, you can choose a luxury camp with en-suite bathrooms, king-size beds, beautiful Moroccan furniture, and lamps that are tastefully decorated to enjoy the tranquillity and beauty of the dunes.
Day 2: Erg Chebbi Merzouga desert to Dades valley via Todra Canyons and gorges.
If you wake up early enough, you can watch the spectacle of sunrise when the color of the dunes and the play of shadows is a fantastic sight. After breakfast at the camp, we drive to Tinghir and the Toudgha gorges. On the way, you will pass the water channels – “Khettarat” – into which you can descend to appreciate the architecture and the genius of this form of irrigation which prevents evaporation in the summer heat. The channels start at one end with a higher gradient until they finally emerge at the surface of the ground, where they are fed into the fields. You can learn more about these channels by reading Andrew Wilson’s work. In the gorge and valley, there is the option of walking across the gorge itself or through the gardens and fields of the village before you reach it. Later you will continue into the Dades Valley. The area that today forms the Dades Gorges was millions of years ago on the bottom of the sea. Large amounts of sediment were deposited around huge coral reefs, and over time this material became a variety of sedimentary rocks such as sandstone and limestone. Eventually, the movement of the earth’s crust led to the region being rose above the sea to form the Atlas Mountains and the surrounding landscape. The night is spent in a hotel or Kasbah.
Day 3: Dades Valley to Marrakech via Ouarzazte, Ait-Ben-Haddou Kasbah and High Atlas mountains.
After breakfast, we will go to the wonderful Valley of the Roses (the time of the roses is supposed to be in May) the rest of the year there are only shops or cooperatives selling water and Rosas products if you are interested in visiting, and the path of the thousand Kasbahs. We will continue on to the famous town of Ouarzazate, known for its film studios, (entrance fee is 8 € per person), and the wonderful Kasbah of Taourirte (entrance fee is 2 € per person and must be paid separately to guide you on a tour of the Kasbah), which is worth visiting. Also, visit the oldest ksar in all of Morocco, he also Ksar Ait Ben Haddou, which is the heritage of humanity and where films were filmed as Gladiator Game of Thrones Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves Babel, Aladdin…. we continue our journey in the mountains of the High Atlas then reach the mountain (Tizi n’Tichka, the top of Tichka), It is the highest road pass in North Africa, with 2260 meters high, we can also stop time for a visit to the women’s cooperative Atlas Argan oil for technical products Argan, In the afternoon we reach Marrakech (red city). Your Morocco desert tour from Fes to Marrakech ends as your driver escorts you to your riad.

Tour includes and excludes

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Testimonials

Great 3-day tour, Fes to Marrakech

In mid-January, my family and I (4 adults) did a three-day, two-night journey from Fes to Marrakech, which included excursions to Erg Chebbi and a night in the desert, as well as Ouarzazate, Todra, and the Dades Gorges. It’s a fantastic opportunity to explore a lot of the nation in a short period of time. With one night in a Berber tent in the Sahara and one night in a hotel in the Dades Gorge, the accommodations were fantastic. The SUV was a nice, air-conditioned vehicle (slightly cramped for 3 adults in the back, but was fine). Our driver/tour guide, Hassan, was the highlight of the trip, since he was competent, knowledgable, and genuinely enthusiastic about showing us about his nation. He taught us so much about Morocco and each of the places we visited; he knew everything and made the trip so worthwhile. Even though he drove a lot each day, we never felt rushed. We had plenty of time to learn about each stop and each area, as well as snap photos, walk about, and so on. Our guide also took us to local towns and musicians, places we would never have discovered on our own. Although lunch was not included, we were brought to excellent eateries each day. Dinner was complimentary and wonderful. This was absolutely worth it, coming from someone who usually prefers self-driving tours. It made everything so simple that we could make the most of our time. I would even consider a longer tour if you have a lot of time in the country (we only had 8 days). I strongly advise you to go, and I strongly advise you to ask Hassan to be your guide!

Yan Cui M

Amazing Experience, Amazing Driver, Amazing Country!

From Fes to Marrakesh, my sister and I enjoyed a lovely three-day journey. Aziz and Ali were really friendly and informative about the areas we saw as well as the Berber culture. We stayed in the desert tent the first night, listening to Berber music and gazing at the sky. On the second day, we requested a longer break in Todra Gorge so that we could go rock climbing there. Aziz and Ali altered our schedule slightly to ensure that we arrived in time for our climbing session, which we organized ourselves through aventures verticales. This is a journey that I would strongly suggest to anyone. The views of Morocco are breathtaking, and this company is dedicated to providing you with the greatest experience possible.

HannahLynne

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