- 5 days/4 nights - Departure Marrakesh-Desert-Fes

1st day: Marrakesh –Ouarzazate Morning departure at 8 o’clock from your hotel or riad in Marrakesh to cross the High Atlas Mountains. After the Tichka pass, you leave the main road and take a side road to the Telouet Kasbah, which belonged to the Lords of the Atlas, the Glaoui family, and which now stands in ruins after the last Pasha fled the country following the departure of the French. From there you continue for lunch at Ait Ben Haddou along the newly asphalted connecting road. This is the most famous Kasbah in Morocco and is a UNESCO World Heritage site, which we visit after lunch. After visiting the Kasbah, you continue to see another famous one of the area, Kasbah Tifoultoute. In Ouarzazate you spend the night in a riad.

2nd day: Ouarzazate – Toudgha Gorges After breakfast provided for you, there is the morning departure to the Dades Gorge, passing the Oasis of Skoura, where numerous ancient kasbahs, some sadly in ruins apartment, stand amongst the palm trees. From here, our route takes us through Kela’a M’gouna, the Valley of Roses , famous for the Rose Festival in May, where we stop to see the cosmetic articles locally-made from the valley’s abundant roses. These products are well-known throughout Morocco and are highly valued. From here, you take an off-road route to have a better impression of the landscape. Along the way, you will stop at some Berber nomad caves, used by different nomads as they pass, to have a glass of tea with them. You stop in the Dades gorge for lunch. The trip continues a short distance to Tinghir and the very different Toudgha gorges, where you spend the night in a hotel or Kasbah.

3rd day: Toudgha – Merzouga After breakfast, there is time to walk by the river. There are opportunities to walk, either along the river through the gardens or up the road on the other side of the gorges. Lunch will either be here in the gorges or later at the bivouac at the Erg Chebbi dunes. You drive there via the Oasis of Tafilalet, Erfoud, famous for its Date Festival, and Rissani, which is the seat of the Alaouite family of the present king of Morocco . At the bivouac you are welcomed with a glass of tea before taking a camel ride to watch the sunset from the top of the dunes which is spectacular. Later there is dinner and the night in a nomad tent at the foot of the dunes.

4th day: Merzouga After breakfast, you take the camels, either riding or walking behind, as they carry everything needed to cook your lunch out in the dunes. Lunch will be prepared by your camel man. You’ll walk about three hours in the morning, followed by another three in the afternoon to return to the bivouac for dinner and the night.

5th day: Merzouga – Fes After breakfast, departure for Rissani and Erfoud, where there will be a stop to see how locally found fossils are worked into furniture and artefacts. From then the road leads north to Er Rachidia and the Ziz Valley , famous for the extent of its palm trees. Lunch is in Midelt, which is called “the apple capital”, in the Middle Atlas and at the foot of the Ayachi Mountain . We cross the Tizi-n-Talremt pass and reach Azrou, where you can see Barbary apes looking out for tidbits. We reach Fes at the end of the afternoon.