3 days Tour from Fes to Marrakech + Desert

This is the day that your Fes to Sahara desert journey starts. From the city of Fes, you will have an early morning departure towards the Sahara Desert. You have to take into consideration that this is going to be a long day, but really worth it in terms of landscape variety. You will have the privilege to travel from the Middle Atlas mountains, all the way to Erg Chebbi dunes, near the border with Algeria. Undoubtedly this trip is one of our best tours from Fes.

We head south in direction of Azrou, as we enter the Atlas Mountains. This will be the first real stop of the day and you’re going to be amazed. At Cèdre Gouraud Forest, you will have the chance of interacting with wild monkeys. The Barbary macaque is an endemic species to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. The lovely cedar forest will with primates is remarkably photogenic.

Cèdre Gouraud is literally a 40-meter high cedar tree located in the forest on the outskirts of Azrou. The Gouraud cedar is estimated to be 800 years old and owes its name to the French General Henri Joseph Eugène Gouraud.

Crossing the Mid Atlas until Midelt, the Moroccan capital of apples, we now start to climb higher altitudes until we reach the Rich city. From now on, the journey is going down altitude wise, as we finally arrive in the fabulous Ziz Valley.

You now notice how the landscape changes abruptly as we enter the Draa Tafilalet region, from a green and forest scenario, to dry mountains. Yes, the Sahara Desert is close. Draa-Tafilalet region‘s principal watersheds are that of the Draa River and the Ziz River, which waters the Tafilalt oasis down south near the dunes you’re heading.

You will have a couple of photo stops in Ziz valley and Al-Hassan Addakhil dam. Our last section of the journey is almost done as we cross Errachidia all the way to Erfoud, the last city before the dunes.

Erg Chebbi Dunes are the tallest dunes in Morocco, and its highest dune reaches above 250 meters.

As soon as we arrive at Erg Chebbi Dunes, you will be taken to your hotel room where you can rest before going to have dinner. If we get to the dunes on time, you will have the opportunity of enjoying your first Sahara Desert sunset. But as you know, the sunset calendar changes throughout the year, as in wintertime sunsets much earlier that throughout spring and summertime. During the evening you will enjoy live music from the local staff and have lots of fun.

For those who wish to repeat and enjoy the early sunrise in the dunes, this is your last chance. Those who want to rest a bit more and get ready to start the day, breakfast will be served and you should pack to get ready to move on. Today, our final destination is the fantastic city of Ouarzazate.

After leaving the dunes we cross the desert into Rissani where we quickly explore its central traditional market. The road will be amazing today as we traverse from the desert to the mountains. For sure the highlight of the day will be to visit the Gorges du Todra, a fabulous 300-meter high canyon that opens narrowly into a road passing through. You will stop and have some time to explore the area and make great photos.

Furthermore, on the way you will stop to visit the incredible Kasbah Amridil inside Skoura oasis before you arrive in Ouarzazate city, often called the Door of the Desert. You will have dinner in the hotel and hopefully have a good night’s sleep so that you get some rest to continue your tour the next day.

After breakfast, we will leave our hotel in Ouarzazate in order to visit several places in the city. We start with the charming Taourirt Kasbah, a 17th-century palace totally made of mud. You can chose to take an official guide that explains to you the details of the place, or, just pay the ticket and explore the place on your own, but watch out not to miss the most important rooms with ceiling decoration and the best window views.

After Taourirt we move one to the exciting Atlas Film Studios. Don’t get this place wrong, we’re talking about the fact that these are living studios, so possibly, you will visit this place while some important Holywood production is being shot there. You might even cross Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt?! Who knows…

Throughout the years, the Atlas Studios Ouarzazate has served as a shooting location for Babel, The Living Daylights, Black Hawk Down, Gladiator, Alexander the Great, Kingdom of Heaven, Kundun, Body of Lies, The Mummy, and Star Wars for example.

You will not be ready to visit of one the most marvelous places in south Morocco. Get ready to roam inside Ksar Ait Benhaddou, a full mud-made village included on the list of UNESCO as a World Heritage site.

Ait Benhaddou is a remarkable illustration of the construction of southern Morocco with an amazing collection of structures offering a full prospect of pre-Saharan clay building architecture. The oldest buildings date back from the 17th century.

After visiting Ait Benhaddou you will be taken across the high Atlas Mountains, up to altitudes above 2000 meters, in order to cross the mountain range to be able to get to our final destination of the day: Marrakech.

The mountain crossing takes you through breathtaking views, and if you visit Morocco from late November to late February, you will surely see this region of Morocco full of snow. The contrast of getting from the Sahara Desert to Marrakech, couldn’t be more unbelievable.

Upon arrival to Marrakech, you will be taken to your riad/hotel.