3-Day Desert Tour from Marrakech to Fes

Most visitors to Morocco want to see both Marrakech and Fes, and the Sahara lies conveniently between them. Rather than taking the train or a flight between the two cities and making a separate trip to the desert, this 3-day private tour links them through the south. You leave Marrakech over the High Atlas, spend a night among the kasbahs of the Dades Valley and another in the Erg Chebbi dunes, then travel north through the Ziz Valley and the cedar forests of the Middle Atlas to Fes.

Because it’s one-way, you see three completely different Moroccos in three days: the red south, the Sahara and the green, cool Middle Atlas.

The route at a glance

• Day 1: Marrakech → Tizi n’Tichka → Ait Ben Haddou → Ouarzazate → Skoura → Kelaat M’Gouna → Dades Valley (about 350 km)
• Day 2: Dades Valley → Tinghir → Todra Gorge → Tinejdad → Erfoud → Merzouga, then by camel into Erg Chebbi (about 290 km)
• Day 3: Erg Chebbi → Erfoud → Ziz Valley → Errachidia → Midelt → Middle Atlas → Azrou cedar forest → Ifrane → Fes (about 470 km)

Day 1: mountains and kasbahs

Leaving Marrakech in the morning, you head straight for the wall of the High Atlas that forms the city’s skyline. The N9 road winds up through valleys of almond and walnut trees to the Tizi n’Tichka pass at 2,260 metres, where the air is noticeably cooler and, in winter, snow often lines the road.

On the far side, Ait Ben Haddou sits above a riverbed, a cluster of earthen towers and houses that once sheltered caravans crossing the mountains. It’s now a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the most filmed places in Africa. Walk up to the top for the view over the valley.

The afternoon follows the “road of a thousand kasbahs” east past Ouarzazate. Look out for the crumbling kasbahs of Skoura among the palms and the rose bushes of Kelaat M’Gouna, before the valley narrows into the Dades. Dinner and your night are at a kasbah-style hotel in the valley.

Day 2: through the gorge to the Sahara

After breakfast, a short drive brings you to Tinghir, where a long band of palm groves fills the valley floor below a ridge of bare mountains, with an old kasbah and an earthen ksar overlooking the town. The Todra Gorge begins just to the north. Leave the vehicle and walk into the canyon, where sheer limestone walls rise about 300 metres and the river runs clear over the stones at your feet.

Back on the road, the land flattens into stony desert. You pass through Tinejdad and Erfoud, known for its fossil workshops, where marble full of ancient sea creatures is cut into tables and sinks. Then Erg Chebbi appears: a wall of orange sand rising out of the plain.

In Merzouga, you meet your camels for the ride into the dunes, timed so you watch the sunset from a high ridge before reaching camp. Evening at camp means a Berber dinner, drums by the fire and an unforgettable night sky.

Day 3: north through the Ziz Valley to Fes

This is the day that makes the one-way route worthwhile. After sunrise over the dunes and breakfast in Merzouga, you drive north through Erfoud and into the Ziz Valley, where the river has cut a canyon through the rock, lined with palm groves and old earthen villages. Stop at a viewpoint above the valley for one of the best panoramas in southern Morocco. The road passes the reservoir of the Hassan Addakhil dam and the town of Errachidia before climbing towards the mountains.

Midelt, set on a high plateau between the Middle and High Atlas, is the usual lunch stop and is known for its apple orchards. From here the road rises over the Middle Atlas, and the landscape changes again: open pastures where Berber shepherds graze their flocks, then dense forests of Atlas cedar around Azrou. This is the home of the Barbary macaque, and the monkeys are often seen near the road.

The final stop is Ifrane, a mountain town built in the 1930s with sloping roofs and tidy gardens that locals call “the Switzerland of Morocco”. From there, it’s about an hour down to Fes. You arrive in the early evening, and your driver takes you as close as possible to your riad or hotel.

Arriving in Fes

The medina of Fes el-Bali is the largest car-free urban area in the world, so vehicles can’t reach most riads. Your driver will bring you to the nearest gate or car park and make sure you’re met by your riad or a porter who can carry your bags through the lanes. If you’re staying in the new town, we drop you at the door.

Most travellers spend at least two nights in Fes. We can arrange a licensed guide for a half-day or full-day medina tour after your trip, covering the Chouara tanneries, the Al-Attarine Madrasa, the Nejjarine fountain and the Al-Qarawiyyin mosque and university. It’s the best way to make sense of this labyrinth of more than 9,000 lanes.

Train, flight or desert tour?

There are three main ways to get from Marrakech to Fes, and it helps to compare them honestly.

• Train: the direct train takes around 7 hours and is comfortable and inexpensive, but it runs north through the plains via Casablanca, so you see nothing of the mountains or the desert.
• Flight: direct flights between the two cities are infrequent. With airport transfers and check-in, it rarely saves much time.
• This tour: it takes three days instead of one, but the journey becomes the trip. You cross two mountain ranges, sleep in the Sahara and see Ait Ben Haddou, the Todra Gorge and the Ziz Valley on the way. If you were planning a separate desert trip from Marrakech anyway, the one-way route also saves you the long return drive.

Where you’ll sleep

• Dades Valley: a traditional kasbah-style hotel with a private room and bathroom, where dinner and breakfast are included.
• Erg Chebbi: our luxury desert camp, with a private tent for your booking, en-suite hot shower and flushing toilet, and electricity for charging. We provide heavy blankets in winter and family tents on request.

Best time to go

The route crosses very different altitudes, so it’s worth thinking about the season. Spring (March to May) is ideal: the south is warm, the Middle Atlas is green, and there’s often still snow on the peaks. Autumn (September to November) is similarly pleasant. In winter, the Middle Atlas around Ifrane and Azrou can see snow, and the Tizi n’Tichka occasionally closes for a few hours after a storm. Your driver keeps track of road conditions and adjusts the plan if needed. Summer is very hot in the desert but cool and fresh in the cedar forests.

Who this tour is for

Travellers heading from Marrakech to Fes who want a night in the Sahara on the way, with the gorges and kasbahs of the south. It suits anyone with a tight itinerary who wants to see as much of Morocco as possible without doubling back.

Good to know

• Day three is the long one: about 7.5 hours to Fes with stops.
• Barbary macaques are wild and endangered, so please don’t feed them. Watch them from a respectful distance.
• More time? The 4-day Marrakech to Fes tour adds a second desert night, and the 5-day Marrakech to Fes tour halves the daily driving.
• Going the other way? The same route runs in reverse as the 3-day Fes to Marrakech tour.
• Bring cash for lunches and tips. ATMs are available in Ouarzazate, Tinghir, Erfoud, Midelt and Ifrane.