3-Day Ouarzazate to Fes Desert Tour

Ouarzazate is often called the door of the desert, and this private tour walks straight through it. Starting from the airport or your hotel, you spend the first day among the kasbahs of the south, from Ait Ben Haddou to the Valley of Roses. The second takes you through the Dades and Todra gorges to the dunes of Erg Chebbi for a sunset camel ride and a night at our luxury camp. On the third, you cross the Atlas from south to north, through the Ziz Valley, the cedar forests and Ifrane, to arrive in Fes.

In three days, you travel from one side of Morocco to the other and see almost every kind of landscape it has: earthen villages, palm oases, deep canyons, sand dunes, high plateaus and green mountain forests.

The route at a glance

• Day 1: Ouarzazate → Ait Ben Haddou → Skoura → Valley of Roses → Dades Valley (about 210 km)
• Day 2: Dades Gorge → Tinghir → Todra Gorge → Merzouga, then by camel to camp (about 290 km)
• Day 3: Erg Chebbi → Erfoud → Ziz Valley → Ziz Gorges → Midelt → Azrou cedar forest → Ifrane → Fes (about 470 km)

Getting to Ouarzazate

Ouarzazate Airport has domestic flights, mostly connecting via Casablanca, and the city is a regular stop on bus routes from Marrakech, Agadir and Zagora. Many travellers also arrive after a few days in Marrakech or at the end of a trip through the south. We pick you up at the airport, bus station or your hotel.

Day 1: kasbahs and the Valley of Roses

The tour begins with Ait Ben Haddou, 30 kilometres from Ouarzazate. The ksar is a cluster of earthen houses, towers and granaries stacked up a hillside above the Ounila river, and it has been inhabited for centuries. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most filmed places in Africa. Cross the riverbed and climb through the lanes to the granary at the top, where the view stretches over the valley and the old caravan route to Marrakech.

Back through Ouarzazate, you head east on the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs. In the Skoura oasis, the tall earthen kasbahs of old landowning families rise out of the palm grove. Further on, the villages of Kelaat M’Gouna are the centre of Morocco’s rose-growing region. From late April to mid-May, the hedges around the fields are covered in pink damask roses, picked at dawn to make rosewater and oil.

By late afternoon you reach the Dades Valley, where you spend the night at a traditional kasbah hotel with dinner.

Day 2: two gorges and the dunes

After breakfast, you drive up into the Dades Gorge, where the road climbs in a series of tight hairpin bends that have become one of Morocco’s most photographed views. Along the way, you pass the rounded red rock formations known as “monkey fingers”.

The road then continues east to Tinghir, whose palm grove stretches for kilometres below the mountains, and turns north into the Todra Gorge. At its narrowest point, the canyon is only a few metres wide, with walls about 300 metres high. You leave the car and walk along the stream in the cool shade of the cliffs.

The afternoon drive crosses the pre-Saharan plateau to Merzouga, where the dunes of Erg Chebbi rise suddenly out of the flat, stony plain. Your camels are waiting. Ride into the sand for the sunset and on to camp, where dinner is served and the drums come out after dark.

Day 3: across the Atlas to Fes

Start the day with the sunrise from the dunes, then breakfast. The long drive north begins in Erfoud and follows the Ziz Valley, a long oasis of date palms and earthen villages. The river has cut a gorge through the mountains, and the road follows it through the Tunnel of the Legionnaire, dug by French engineers in the 1920s.

Over the Tizi n’Talghemt pass, at about 1,900 metres, you reach Midelt on its high plateau, where you stop for lunch. In the afternoon, the land turns green as you enter the Middle Atlas: first open pastures, then the cedar forest near Azrou, home to Barbary macaques. After a stop in Ifrane, a tidy mountain town with Alpine-style houses, you descend to Fes and arrive in the late afternoon.

Tailoring the route

The tour is private, so it can be shaped around your plans. Film fans can start with the Atlas Film Studios on the outskirts of Ouarzazate, where the sets of dozens of Hollywood and European productions still stand in the desert; the visit takes about an hour before you set off for Ait Ben Haddou. If you’d like more time in the Sahara, an extra night in Merzouga adds a full day of exploring around Erg Chebbi by 4x4, with visits to a nomad family, the ghost mining village of Mfis and the Gnawa musicians of Khamlia.

At the other end, we can arrange a licensed guide for a tour of the Fes medina the day after you arrive, so you can find your way through its maze of souks, madrasas and tanneries. And if you’d like to keep going north to Chefchaouen and the Rif Mountains, the 8-day Ouarzazate grand loop continues from Fes and brings you back to Marrakech.

Where you’ll sleep

• Dades Valley (1 night): a traditional kasbah hotel with a private room and bathroom.
• Erg Chebbi (1 night): our luxury desert camp, with a private tent for your booking, en-suite hot shower and flushing toilet, comfortable beds and electricity for charging. Heavy blankets are provided in winter, and family tents are available on request.

Dinner and breakfast are included both nights.

Best time to go

The most comfortable months are March to May and September to November. Late April to mid-May is the time to see the roses on day one. In winter, days are bright and nights cold, and the Middle Atlas can be snowy on day three. In summer, the heat in the desert and the gorges is strongest in the early afternoon, so the Todra walk and the camel ride are timed for the cooler hours.

Who this tour is for

Travellers starting in Ouarzazate who are continuing to Fes and the north, with the Sahara on the way. It fits well at the start of a longer trip that continues to Chefchaouen, Meknes or Tangier.

Good to know

• Day three is the long one (about 7.5 hours with stops). The first two days are shorter.
• Arriving in Fes: most riads are inside the car-free medina, so a porter will help with luggage from the nearest gate.
• Winter: from December to February the Middle Atlas around Midelt and Ifrane can see snow. We’ll check road conditions before departure.
• Nights in the desert are cold from October to April, so bring a warm layer for the evening around the fire.
• Film fans: you can add a visit to the Atlas Film Studios before leaving Ouarzazate.
• Carry cash: bring dirhams for lunches, entrance fees and tips, as cards are rarely accepted outside the cities.