Day by day itinerary
1. Marrakech - Imlil (1,740m) - Aremd - Sidi Chamharouch - Toubkal Refuge (3,207m) (1h drive + 5-6h trek)
Collection from your Marrakech hotel at 08:00, then a 90-minute drive south over the Haouz Plain and up into the High Atlas to Imlil at 1,740m. This is the trailhead village, and it is here that your licensed mountain guide, your cook and the mule team are waiting. The mules take the main luggage, so you walk with a daypack. The trail follows the Aït Mizane Valley past Aremd, a terraced village of stone houses set among walnut groves, and climbs on to the shrine of Sidi Chamharouch at 2,310m, where the cook has a picnic lunch ready. Above the shrine the path steepens into switchbacks, scree and rock for another 2-3 hours until the Toubkal mountain refuge appears at 3,207m. Accommodation is dormitory style with separate showers. The cook prepares a Moroccan dinner, and you turn in early for the pre-dawn start.
2. Toubkal Refuge (3,207m) - Toubkal Summit (4,167m) - Imlil (1,740m) (6-8h trek)
Up at 05:00, packed breakfast in hand, walking by 05:30. You cross the stream above the refuge and climb the south cirque, over boulder fields and scree, the guide setting a pace you can hold. After 3-4 hours you reach the summit of Mount Toubkal at 4,167m. The view runs 360 degrees: Sahara plains eastward, the Atlantic side to the west past the peaks of the Nfiss Valley, and the whole High Atlas chain in between. You get 30-45 minutes up there, which is when the packed breakfast gets eaten. The descent takes the same line back to the refuge, where the cook has a hot lunch waiting, and then continues down to Imlil for a late afternoon arrival. Check into the mountain lodge, which has ensuite rooms and hot showers, and dinner is a celebration. Overnight at the Imlil lodge, dinner and breakfast included.
3. Imlil - Tizi n'Tichka - Aït Ben Haddou - Skoura - Dades Valley (6h drive)
Breakfast, then east over the Tizi n'Tichka Pass at 2,260m and down the far side to Aït Ben Haddou. You cross the river, walk the earthen alleys and go up to the top of the ksar for the panorama; lunch can be taken nearby. A short stop follows at Ouarzazate for the Atlas Film Studios, and then the road runs east by way of the Skoura oasis and the Valley of Roses, which holds its rose festival in May. The Dades Valley comes late in the afternoon, by way of the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs. Dinner and the night at a Dades hotel with ensuite rooms, air conditioning and views over the valley. An alternative Dades hotel is available for a supplement of 40 EUR per person.
4. Dades - Tinghir - Todra Gorge - Rissani - Merzouga - sunset camel trek - luxury camp (5h drive)
After breakfast the route drops to Tinghir, where you walk out into the palm oasis, and then enters Todra Gorge, a narrow canyon walled by limestone 300 metres high. Lunch is at the gorge. Heading east you pass Rissani, where Morocco's Alaouite dynasty began, and Erfoud, a town built on fossils, before reaching Merzouga. Sandboarding on the edges of the dunes is included and the boards are provided. Late in the afternoon a camel carries you into the Erg Chebbi dunes at sunset, ending at a luxury ensuite camp with a private tent, real beds, quality linens and a hot shower. Dinner is Moroccan, eaten under the stars, with Berber drumming at the fire. Overnight at the luxury camp at Merzouga, dinner and breakfast included.
5. Merzouga - Ouarzazate - Tizi n'Tichka - Marrakech (approx. 9h drive)
Wake before dawn if you want the optional camel ride over the dunes at sunrise; breakfast is at camp afterwards. The drive back to Marrakech runs through Ouarzazate, the gateway to the desert, and there is a lunch stop en route. You recross the High Atlas at Tizi n'Tichka, 2,260m, and drop onto the Haouz Plain, reaching Marrakech in the early evening, somewhere between 18:00 and 19:00, and you are set down at a hotel, a riad or the airport. Be aware that the whole of Day 5 is spent in the vehicle, roughly 9 hours of it, and that an extra night at Ouarzazate or Dades will split the journey.