7 Days from Marrakech to Fes: Kasbahs, Todgha Gorges and the Merzouga Desert

This is the classic south to north crossing, done privately and at your own pace. You travel one way, so no day is spent driving back over ground you have already seen, and you finish in Fes, where many travellers continue to Chefchaouen or fly home.

Day 1: Marrakech – Tizi n Tichka – Ait Ben Haddou – Ouarzazate

We leave Marrakech in the morning and climb the Tizi n Tichka pass at 2260 metres, with stops at the viewpoints and in a Berber village on the slopes. In the afternoon we reach Ait Ben Haddou, the fortified earth village listed by UNESCO, and climb through its houses to the old granary for the view over the valley. Night in Ouarzazate.

Day 2: Ouarzazate – Skoura – Valley of Roses – Dades Valley

Morning visit of the Taourirt kasbah and the film studios that gave Ouarzazate its nickname. We then follow the road of a thousand kasbahs through the palm grove of Skoura and Kelaat M Gouna, where damask roses are grown and distilled, before turning up into the Dades Valley for the night.

Day 3: Dades – Todgha Gorges – Merzouga

We drive up the Dades gorge to see the rock formations known as the Monkey Fingers and the hairpin bends above the valley, then cross to Tinghir and walk into the Todgha Gorges between limestone walls three hundred metres high. In the late afternoon we reach Merzouga, where camels take you into Erg Chebbi for sunset. Dinner, Berber drums and a night in the camp.

Day 4: Sunrise over Erg Chebbi – Khamlia – Rissani – Midelt

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

Day 5: Midelt – Azrou cedar forest – Ifrane – Fes

We cross the Middle Atlas, stopping in the cedar forest near Azrou where Barbary macaques live wild among the trees, and in Ifrane, the alpine looking town built in the French period. Arrival in Fes in the late afternoon.

Day 6: Fes, guided day in the medina

A full day in Fes el Bali, the largest car free urban area in the world: the Al Quaraouiyine university, the Bou Inania and Attarine medersas, the tanneries seen from the terraces of the leather souk, and the workshops of the coppersmiths and weavers.

Day 7: Volubilis and Meknes

Day out from Fes to the Roman city of Volubilis, with its mosaics still in place, and to Meknes, the imperial city of Moulay Ismail, with its Bab Mansour gate and monumental granaries. Return to Fes, where the tour ends.