1. Marrakech - Tizi n'Tichka (2,260m) - Aït Ben Haddou - Ouarzazate - Rose Valley - Dades Valley (Over the High Atlas into the Valley of a Thousand Kasbahs, approx. 6 hours drive)
Your driver collects you at your Marrakech hotel. The road runs southeast and begins climbing almost at once, past terraced Berber villages and almond groves, up to the top of Tizi n'Tichka at 2,260 m, the highest paved crossing in the country. Stop as often as you like on the way up. On the far side sits Aït Ben Haddou, listed by UNESCO as World Heritage, whose earthen towers have stood in for other worlds in Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator and Game of Thrones. Wander the alleyways and climb to the granary at the top, where the view runs down the Ounila Valley. Lunch is at a local restaurant facing the ksar, not included. The afternoon runs on past Ouarzazate, then the Rose Valley, and finally into the Dades Valley itself, where towers of red rock and the Monkey Fingers formations line the road. Arrival is late in the day. Dinner and the night are spent at a Dades Valley boutique hotel on a half-board basis. An upgraded Dades Valley hotel can be arranged instead for a 40 EUR per person supplement.
2. Dades Valley - Todra Gorge - Erfoud - Rissani - Merzouga (Erg Chebbi) (Canyon walls, desert markets and the sunset ride into the Sahara, approx. 4 hours drive)
Breakfast first, then the road works further up the Dades Gorge, stopping where the Tissadrine switchbacks stack themselves against the cliff. Todra Gorge comes next, its sheer limestone walls 300 metres above a flat riverbed you can walk along. After that the oases thin into stony plateau. Erfoud follows, a town built on its fossil workshops, then Rissani, the old caravan settlement at the Sahara's edge; you can add a fossil workshop, or the Rissani souk if the day happens to be a market day. The Erg Chebbi dunes stand on the horizon by mid-afternoon, the tallest of them 150 metres. Camels wait at the edge of the sand for the sunset ride to the luxury desert camp, where your tent is private and ensuite, with real beds, a hot shower, quality linens and electricity. Dinner is Moroccan and served under the stars, and the drumming starts around the campfire afterwards. Overnight at the camp, half board.
3. Merzouga - Ouarzazate - Tizi n'Tichka - Marrakech (Sunrise in the Sahara, the Atlas in afternoon light, then home, approx. 9 hours drive)
Get up before dawn, because sunrise over the Erg Chebbi dunes is the point of the early start. Breakfast at camp follows, then a camel or a 4x4 brings you back out to where the sand ends, and no departure time is imposed on you. Ouarzazate breaks the drive west, with time for lunch and a choice between the Taourirt Kasbah and the Atlas Film Studios, plus anything Day 1 left out. The last climb is Tizi n'Tichka in afternoon light. You are back in Marrakech at some point between 18:00 and 19:00, set down right at your riad.