Private 4 days desert tour
From Marrakech ending in Fez
You can’t see Morocco properly without going to the Sahara. The dunes are the part people remember years later.
This tour is my personaly curated and excecuted with my lisenced partner travel agency in Marrakech. It starts in Marrakech and ends in Fez. That’s the point of it – it’s built for people who want to cross the country rather than loop back to where they started.
It suits you if you’re flying out of Fez, continuing north to Chefchaouen or Tangier, or you simply don’t want to drive the same road twice. Also possible to start in Fez and finish in Marrakech.
Four days, two nights in the Sahara. Day one: over the Tizi n’Tichka pass, a stop at Aït Benhaddou, night in the Dades Valley.
Day two: no rush to the desert. Choose an easy hike at the Monkey Fingers, a walk through the palm oasis, or the Todra Gorge (both optional). Or just relax. Evening arrival in the dunes.
Day three: a full day in the desert. A 4×4 tour of the surroundings, second night in camp. Day four: north to Fez through the Ziz Valley oases and the Middle Atlas cedar forests, where the wild monkeys are.
ITINERARY
1st DAY Â Â Marrakech-Ait Ben Haddou – Dades valley (~6h driving)
2nd DAYÂ Â Â Dades-easy hike – Sahara desert (~4,5h drive)Â
3rd DAY Â Â Merzouga / Sahara desert / 4×4 tour
4th DAYÂ Â Merzouga – Fez (~ 8 h drive)Â
Highlights:
- Tizi N’Tichka mountain pass (2,207 metres/7,241 ft; the highest major mountain pass in North Africa);
- Ancient Ait Ben Haddou kasbah.
- Dades valley/Monkey Fingers Rock formations or Tinghir oasis walk, lunch with local family;
- Sahara desert in Merzouga village with Erg Chebbi Dunes (reaching heights of 160m);
- 4×4 tour of the desert, nomads, Merzouga village visit
- Camel ride, stay in the luxury desert camp, fireplace, live music;
- 2 nights in Sahara desert
ACCOMMODATIONS of the tour will depend on the availability; normally the ones in the pictures, but if not available very similar ones. You will receive photos of them after booking.
PRICE
For 2 people: € 1600
For 3 people: € 1750*
For 4 people: € 2370
For 5 people: € 2400
For 6 people: € 2600
(for more travellers ask for a price)
* price if 3 people stay in one suite room Dades and triple desert tent
– if 4 people: 2 separated rooms and 2 tents; if 5 people: one double and one triple room/tent. Six people – 3 double rooms and tent
– Discount if travelling with kids under 10 years old or can share one room more people.
– Optionl: discount if staying in Dades valley in simple but very authentic local family guesthouse (not in the winter season – too cold).
Included
- Comfortable transport with Airco, professional driver and his expenses;
- 3-night accommodations (boutique hotel in Dades Valley with a pool, 2 nights luxury camp in the Sahara desert.
- Camel ride in the Sahara desert;
- sand surfing
- 3 dinners (with live music at the desert);
- 3 breakfast;
- 4×4 tour of the desert (around 4 hours)
- Local Guide in Ait Ben Haddou
- My support during all trips (Whatsapp messages/calls if needed).
Not included
- 4 lunches (driver will stop and at desert camp lunch with desert nomads or at the camp -15eur/person); `
- Guided walk in Monkey Fingers or Tinghir oasis (around 4 hours)
- extra drinks;
- tips
- quads/buggies (if you want extra)
p.s. This tour is with a professional driver who is not a guide but will provide essential information during the trip. However, if you prefer to have more information during the tour, such as historical facts, I suggest adding an additional guide for the trip—great for bigger groups.
Would you like to book? Send me a message rasa@blondieinmorocco.comÂ
FULL ITINERARY
DAY 1 Marrakech-Ait Ben Haddou kasbah – Dades valley (~6h driving)
Your trip will start at 8 a.m. First, you will drive through the High Atlas mountains and cross the famous Tizi n’Tichka mountain pass. At an elevation of 2,260m (7,415 ft) above sea level, it is the highest major mountain pass in North Africa. The twisty mountain road is breathtaking, and you will stop a few times for pictures and a small coffee break. Will first visit the famous kasbah Ait Ben Haddou.
The first day of the tour will include the most driving, but you will have many small break stops. After lunch, you will drive further to the Valley of the Roses, which has beautiful views of the Dades Valley, the valley of a thousand kasbahs. Overnight in Dades Valley/Boumalne Dadès, in a stunning boutique hotel surrounded by the famous Monkey finger rock formations formed by erosion, which look like a primate’s fingers emerging from the Dades River, as the name indicates. Will drive up the famous ZigZag road for a panoramic photo (close to your hotel at Monkey Fingers). You will arrive at the hotel at Dadès Boumalne (Monkey Fingers) around 17h—dinner at the hotel.
HOTEL: Tonight at Dadès Boumalne Boutique Hotel with a swimming pool. Double/twin rooms
(depending on the tour date, will choose an available place from the photos below – with a swimming pool)
2nd DAY Dades valley-Sahara desert (~4,5h drive)
DAY 2 · Dades Valley – Sahara Desert (~4.5h drive)
No rush to the desert today. The morning is yours, and there are three optional guided experiences to choose from (extra cost):
1. A four-hour hike through the Monkey Fingers canyon with a local guide.
2. An hour’s drive on to the Tinghir oasis, where you walk among the palms and have lunch with a local family. Or the same location but the Todra Gorge on foot with a guide, walking in under cliffs that rise 300 metres on either side (I prefer oasis walk)
3, Or simply stay at the hotel and take the morning slowly. We can talk through which fits you.
You leave around lunchtime and reach Merzouga in the evening, camel rides. The Erg Chebbi dunes run 22 kilometres long and 5 wide, the tallest reaching 160 metres. From there you go in by camel – a slow walk out to the camp. Dinner, the fire, and live Berber music.
2 nights in luxury Sahara desert camp. Optional – one day in Sahara desert hotel with pool, and second day moving to the desert camp
3rd DAY Â Â Merzouga full day in Sahara
No packing up this morning, no driving on. You stay where you are. After breakfast you head out on a 4×4 tour of the desert surroundings, included in the price. You visit the nomad families who still live out here, stop in the desert villages, and see the parts of the Sahara most people drive straight past. Lunch out in the desert (to pay extra). The afternoon is yours. Rest at the camp, walk out into the dunes, watch the light change on Erg Chebbi. A second night under the stars. Two nights and one full day in the Sahara – the part of this trip people remember. You can do sand boarding (free) or even book extra buggies/quads.
4th DAYÂ Â Merzouga-Fez long day drive
After breakfast you leave the desert and head north. It’s a long day in the car, and worth knowing that before you book – but it’s the day that makes this trip a crossing of Morocco rather than a loop.
You follow the Ziz Valley, where the road runs above a river of palm groves stretching for kilometres between bare red cliffs. There’s a viewpoint where you stop and see the whole valley at once.
Then up over the Middle Atlas through Midelt, and into the cedar forests near Azrou – old trees, cool air, and the wild Barbary macaques that live in them.
You arrive in Fez in the evening.
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