4 Days Tour from Marrakech to Merzouga Desert

Day 1: Marrakech – Ait Benhaddou – Ouarzazate – Dades Valley

This 4 days tour from Marrakech to Fes, in the place you want: you can do it from the airport itself, as soon as you land, or from any other point in the Red City, such as your hotel. There our driver/guide will be waiting for you with a comfortable vehicle for the entire route.

We will cross the High Atlas mountains through the Tizi N’tichka pass, which offers unbeatable views of the peaks of this mountain range, snow-capped from autumn to spring. The first big stop of this day will be the Ait Benhaddou kasbah: its visit (optional) is full of reasons, including its declaration as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and its choice as a filming location in important films and series (Lawrence de Arabia, Game of Thrones).

Crossing Ouarzazate, the Hollywood of Morocco, we enter the road of the ‘thousand kasbahs’, named for the large number of adobe fortresses it houses. The Valley of the Roses wi will visit it first, and Dades Valley, later, are responsible for providing color and vegetation to this final stretch of the first day.

A charming riad in the Dades Valley will be the accommodation chosen for dining and resting at night on this first day of the tour to the Merzouga desert.

Day 2: Dades Valley – Todra Valley – Merzouga Desert

The second day begins with breakfast at the riad, where the first-hand experiences will be even greater. The best appetizer, before reaching the Merzouga desert, is the Todra Gorges: our vehicle will travel its winding roads safely, but we will also set foot to get up close to its spectacular rock walls and the small sheet of river that it has made. this miracle of nature possible.

A similar adjective deserves the Merzouga desert, ‘bathed’ by a sea of dunes of fine, golden sand. In this city that gave them their name, we will have a reference hotel where we will change the word “vehicle”: the four wheels will give way to the humps, where we will ride on the backs of our camels to reach the tent camp (optional). And replaceable with a 4×4 vehicle).

The sunset in the Erg Chebbi dunes will become one of the most special moments of the route to the Merzouga desert, as well as the contemplation of the stars in a particularly clear and bright night sky.

At the end of the day, it will be time to enjoy dinner and a restful sleep in the camp’s Berber tents, where not a single detail of comfort is missing.

Day 3: Merzouga Desert – Rissani – N’kob – Ouarzazate

The incomparable sunrise of the Merzouga desert will greet you at the beginning of the third day. A spectacle of light and silence that will be followed by the camel ride to return to Merzouga by camel. During the morning you will also be able to clean up (in the camp or in a hotel, depending on the contracted package) to continue in greater comfort.

Once again en route, the Merzouga desert will be left behind to continue through other sectors of the Sahara desert, where towns of interest are also located. This is the case of Rissani, which has the largest traditional medina in the south of the country. After Rissani, we will continue through Alnif, Tazarine and N’Kob, all small towns that maintain the charm of the ancient Berber settlements in the desert.

Shortly after, we will deviate slightly from our route heading south to enter the Draa Valley: this way we will be able to see the largest palm grove in North Africa in all its magnitude. Before reaching Zagora, we will retrace our steps until we reach Ouarzazate. This city, considered the ‘Gateway to the Desert’, will now be our ‘departure door’ the next day, since here we will spend the night in a comfortable hotel, with dinner included.

Day 4: Ouarzazate – High Atlas – Marrakech

The fourth and last day of this desert trip will take us back to Marrakech. But after breakfast at the hotel, there will still be time to visit one more monument: the spectacular Taourirt kasbah, one of the largest and best preserved in southern Morocco. Your visit, which is optional, will allow you to appreciate its careful decoration with adobe bricks on the outside and with plasterwork and colored tiles in different passages inside.

Once the visit is over, we will hit the road again to complete the last 200 km that separate us from Marrakech. To get to the Red City we will cross the Atlas through the Tizi N’tichka pass, remembering again the green landscapes and the Berber villages of the first day. Our services will end at Marrakech airport or any other agreed point, with a farewell of thanks, good wishes for the future and hope for a future reunion.