Day by day itinerary
1. Fes - Ifrane - Azrou (cedar forest and apes) - Midelt - Ziz Valley - Merzouga - sunset camel trek (Cedar forests, the Ziz Valley and the sunset ride into the Sahara, approx. 8 hours drive)
An early collection from your Fes hotel or riad. The first stretch crosses the Saiss plains to Ifrane, a town whose alpine look has earned it the nickname "Switzerland of Morocco". After it you gain height, up into the cedar forests of the Middle Atlas, with a halt at Azrou where Barbary macaques gather beside the road. Lunch is in Midelt, not included. Then the long drop towards the Ziz Valley: thousands upon thousands of date palms trace the river there, below red cliffs and old kasbahs. The route passes Er-Rachidia and Erfoud before reaching Merzouga. After a short rest, camels take you into the Erg Chebbi dunes at sunset and on to the luxury desert camp. Every tent there is private and ensuite, with real beds, hot shower, and sockets for charging. Dinner is Moroccan, eaten under open sky, and Berber drumming carries on by the fire. You sleep at the camp, half board.
2. Merzouga - Rissani - Tinghir Oasis - Todra Gorge - Dades Valley (Sahara sunrise, the holy town of Rissani, gorges and the Valley of Kasbahs, approx. 4 hours drive)
Up early to ride the camels back across the dunes as the sun comes up, then breakfast at camp. Rissani is next, the holy town where the Alaouite dynasty of Morocco began, and its dates market is worth the browse for the sheer number of varieties grown across the Tafilalet. Tinghir comes next, an oasis town on the Todra river; the walk runs along the riverbank between palm groves and Berber villages while your guide talks through the town's Jewish heritage. The road then runs into Todra, or Todgha, Gorge, where the limestone climbs 300 metres on either side. Lunch, not included, is at a small cafe within the gorge. In the afternoon the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs carries you west to the Dades Valley, the gateway to the Dades Gorge. Dinner and the night are at a hotel there, in a private ensuite room with air conditioning, half board. An upgraded hotel in the same valley can be taken instead, which costs 40 EUR per person on top.
3. Dades - Rose Valley - Skoura - Aït Ben Haddou - Tizi n'Tichka - Marrakech (Rose Valley, a UNESCO ksar, the High Atlas crossing and arrival in Marrakech, approx. 6 hours drive)
Breakfast, then west along the Valley of the Roses as far as El Kelaa M'Gouna, where a cooperative shows how rose water and perfume are drawn out of the petals; spring, April into May, is when to see it. Skoura and its palm groves follow, on the way to Ouarzazate. Aït Ben Haddou takes the middle of the day, listed by UNESCO as World Heritage and well known from the screen: Gladiator, Game of Thrones, Lawrence of Arabia. You eat lunch, not included, looking across at the ksar, then walk over the river into the village itself. The afternoon is the High Atlas. The road tops out at Tizi n'Tichka, 2,260 m, then comes down past villages built of stone and mud into Marrakech, late in the afternoon, and the drop-off is made at your hotel or riad.