5 days, 4 nights
Daily Tour
25 people
Arabic, English, Espanol, Francais
Departing from Fes and returning to Marrakech, this 5 day/4 night tour is our ultimate desert experience. We will take you through panoramic mountain roads to kasbahs, gorges, valleys, monkey forests and palm groves. The highlight of the trip will be spending the night beneath the stars in a traditional nomadic tent in the Sahara dunes.
This is our longest desert trip and if you have time during your trip, we recommend this tour to enjoy the desert at a leisurely pace, soaking in the landscape, atmosphere and hospitality of the nomadic peoples.
All of our tour plans are only guides. We don’t take a one size fits all approach and one thing we love about offering private trips is that every trip is unique – once you get in touch with us, we will work with you to plan the perfect itinerary, activities and accommodation for a truly memorable experience!
To enquire about this tour, please email itrantravelmorocco@gmail.com or WhatsApp +212 0675321420.
The starting price for this trip is £350 per person, based on a family of 4 travelling. Please note that the price per person varies dependent on group size, choice of accommodation and time of year. The larger the group the more cost effective the per-person rate.
After breakfast in your riad, we will leave towards the southeast following the ancient caravan route to Merzouga. During this journey you’ll experience glimpses of the Middle Atlas and High Atlas mountains. Stopping at the Cedar forest of Azrou, the largest one in Morocco, if we are lucky we will sight some Barbarian apes.
After lunch in Midelt, we will continue through the large open high desert, watching how the scenery changes to reveal hints of the desert as we approach the city Errachidia. Our journey continues along the Ziz Valley and the Tafilalet date palm grove, famous for date cultivation. This area is the home of the Alaouite dynasty - the current ruling royal family in Morocco. We will arrive at Merzouga at the end of the afternoon – to be welcomed with a glass of mint tea before you check in to your riad.
After breakfast in the riad we will start our full ‘desert day.’ We will visit the Gnawa people - originally slaves brought from Sudan - to experience their music and lifestyle.
In the afternoon you will mount your camel, guided by an experienced camel man, to explore within the sand-sea of Merzouga. Overnight will be at our desert camp. Enjoy sunset and dinner before spending the night in the dunes, listening to Berber music, or stargazing.
This morning you have a ‘date with the sunrise.’ When you are in the middle of the desert, waking up early is a must to watch the spectacular sunrise from the top of a dune close to the camp. After breakfast, we will return to Merzouga on camels. We will then head to Rissani, where we will visit the traditional market (market days are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday).
Next we continue to Erfoud, where many fossils have been found, before making our way to the Touroug and Tinjdad palm groves. One hour later we will best the Todra Gorges. The course of the river has carved out a cliff-sided canyon. You will have some free time to walk through the gorge to better appreciate the beauty of the landscape, before having lunch.
In the afternoon we continue to the Dadès valley, also known as the fig valley. We will have dinner and spend the night in Dades. Your hotel has panoramic views of the valley and a beautiful outdoor swimming pool.
After breakfast in our hotel we will drive through the Dades Valley towards Kalaat Mgouna and Ouarzazate. The route through Dades Valley is ‘the way of the thousand Kasbahs’ – providing numerous opportunities to take some of your best photographic shots of the trip. We’ll stop at Kalaat Mgouna, "the rose city," to purchase rosewater, which will make your linen smell good a long time after your trip is over!
Continue to Ouarzazate via Amridil Kasbah, one of the last Berber chieftains during the 18th century. We will spend the night in Ouarzazate, the city known as the ‘gateway to the desert.’
After an early breakfast in the riad, we start our journey to reach the ksar (fortified village) of Ait Ben Haddou, where we will visit the famous Kasbah (declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986). Famous films have been shot in this spectacular stage, including Gladiator and Game of Thrones.
After visiting the kasbah we will head to Marrakech through the Tizi n’Tchka pass. At 2.260m we can enjoy spectacular views. We will enjoy beautiful landscapes from the viewpoints along the way, before arriving to Marrakech at early evening where our adventure ends.
We focus on authentic, locally owned accommodation for all of our trips. On this tour you will stay in a mix of hotels and a desert camp. We have accommodation in mind, but once you contact us to book your trip, we will work with you to choose the perfect accommodation for your budget and needs.
We work with solo travelers, couples, families - all the way to large groups - and have a range of transport options to suit groups of all sizes.
Our shortest desert trip is a 3 day trip. If possible, we recommend spending as long as possible on your desert trip to reduce the traveling time each day and allow you to really soak up the desert atmosphere, and slower pace of life in the South East. If you're traveling all the way to the Sahara desert, you may as well make the most of it! If, however, you only have a short period of time, we can make it work in just 3 days!
We will take a deposit in advance of your trip online, and then accept the balance in cash when you arrive for your trip in Morocco.
Member Since 2023
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