3 Days from Errachidia: Todgha Gorges, Boumalne Dades and Merzouga

Day 1: Errachidia – Tinejdad – Todgha Gorges (Tinghir)

We leave Errachidia in the morning and drive west through Tinejdad and its old ksour, where fortified earth villages still line the road. In the afternoon we reach Tinghir and its long palm grove, then enter the Todgha Gorges: a narrow canyon where limestone walls rise some three hundred metres on either side and the road follows a cold, clear river along the bottom. There is time to walk the floor of the gorge, where climbers are usually on the walls above. Night in a hotel in Tinghir or at the mouth of the gorges.

Day 2: Todgha – Boumalne Dades – Dades Valley – Merzouga

After breakfast we drive to Boumalne Dades and turn up into the Dades Valley. We follow the river past kasbahs of red earth, the rock formations known as the Monkey Fingers, and climb the hairpin bends that look back over the whole valley. After lunch we turn back east, cross Tinejdad and Erfoud, and arrive in Merzouga in the late afternoon. Camels take you into Erg Chebbi for sunset, with dinner, music and a night in a desert camp.

Day 3: Sunrise in the dunes – Khamlia – Rissani – Errachidia

Sunrise over the dunes, breakfast at the camp, and a camel ride back to the village. We stop in Khamlia for Gnaoua music, then in Rissani for the souk and the mausoleum of Moulay Ali Cherif, before driving back up the Ziz Valley to Errachidia.