4-Day tour from Marrakech to Fes via Merzouga
Take a 4-day tour from Marrakech to Fes to see all that Morocco has to offer. Explore the lively souks and famous sites of Marrakech before heading out into the Atlas Mountains to see old kasbahs and the vast Sahara Desert. Your trip ends in Fes, where the historic Medina and time-honored customs will give you an amazing four-day experience of Morocco.
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Table of contents
4-day tour from Marrakech to Fes main info
4-day tour start
Marrakech
4-day tour end
Fes
Time of departure
08:00 AM
Duration of the Tour
4 days/ 3 nights
Highlights of our 4-day tour from Marrakech to Fes
- You can drive through the Atlas Mountains and Tizin Tichka this way.
- See the UNESCO World Heritage site Kasbah Ait ben Haddou.
- Come to Ouarzazate to see the famous Kasbah and studios.
- You can ride camels in the Sahara Erg Chebbi dunes.
- Ascend to the mountains in Dades Valley.
- Go to Todra Gorges and Oasis.
- Stay the night in the Merzouga desert with a bonfire and music in the background.
- You can get to Fes by driving through the Ziz valley and the Middle Atlas Mountains, which have groves of cedar trees.
Overview of a 4-day desert tour from Marrakech to Fes
This is the best way to get from Marrakech to Fes over 4-day desert tour. It shows off the royal towns of Fes and Marrakech. So, you go through the High Atlas Mountains and see the Atlas Studios and Kasbahs. First you go to Rose Valley and Todra Gorges. Then you go to Merzouga Desert. Here are the plans for the best camel ride and desert tour. Last, you go to Ifrane and Cedar Forest by going through the Middle Atlas Mountains. Then the 4-day desert tour from Marrakech to Fes comes to an end.
Itinerary for a 4-day tour from Marrakech to Fes
Day 1: Marrakech, Ait Ben Haddou, Ourzazate, and Dades Valles.
We will pick you up from your Raid to begin your 4-day tour from Marrakech to Fes. After that, we’ll drive through the High Atlas Mountains and stop at the Argan Oil Cooperation. After that, we go to the kasbah of Ait Ben Haddou. The place is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has been used in movies before. The second thing we’ll do is go to Ouarzazate town. Atlas Studios is like Hollywood in Africa. We’ll drive to the Rose Valley in Kalaa Magna after your visit to the Studios. The last stop is your place to stay for the night in Dades Valley.
Day 2: Dades Valley, Todra Gorges, and Merzouga
We start the second day of our 4-day tour from Marrakech to Fes after breakfast. It makes sense for us to drive to Todra Gorges. It’s fun to walk through rocks that are about 300 m high there. After that, we go by Berber towns and their farms, and then we stop at an old drainage system in Jorf. We finally drive to Erfoud and get to the Merzouga desert. From here, you can start your camel ride to the camp in the desert. After dinner, you can play music around the fire and watch the sun go down. Overnight is under a sky full of stars.
Day 3: Explorations of Desert Areas by 4x4
A desert tour is part of our 4-day tour from Marrakech to Fes. We will take you to see the Sahara of Merzouga after you have food and a shower. First, you’ll go to Khamlia Village. People who are originally from Mali live there. Folk music is played for guests. At night, we take a car to the Mifis mines, which are hidden behind the hills. For another thing, you can have Berber pizza and tea with families who live on the move and are close to the border. Lastly, you go to the dry lake and one of the palm tree groves. Next, we’ll check into your overnight stay.
Day 4: Merzouga to Ifrane to Fes via the Ziz Valley
This is the last day of our 4-day tour from Marrakech to Fes. We will see a lot of different places on this day. First, you go to an old market in Rissani and a store that sells fossils in Erfoud. Besides that, you get a wide view of Ziz Valley. A lot of Kasrs and different kinds of date fruit live there. The second thing we do is drive along the Middle Atlas Mountains. For lunch, we’ll stop in Midelt, and then we’ll go to Cedar Forest to see ours. Besides that, you will enjoy the most beautiful town in Morocco. Ifrane Town, also known as the “Switzerland of Morocco,” has beautiful scenery and buildings. You will also enjoy the park’s lion figures and the fresh air. Finally, our four-day trip from Marrakech to Fes comes to an end at your hotel in Fes.
4-Day tour from Marrakech to Fes includes
- Pick-up and drop-off service.
- English-speaking guide or driver.
- Going camping.
- Spend the night in a camp in Erg Chebbi that has its own bathroom and shower.
- Camp mint tea.
- You can sandboard at the camp.
- There was Berber music in the camp.
- Being able to choose when and where to stop.
- Stops to take in the views and give you time to eat lunch.
- Private, comfortable 4×4 car that comes with gas and air conditioning.
- For breakfast.
- Food for dinners.
- Each person gets a camel for one hour and thirty minutes in the desert.
4-Day tour from Marrakech to Fes excludes
- Lunches.
- Tips.
- Drinks.
Starting From €100
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4-day tour from Marrakech to Fes: an overview of the best parts
Merzouga desert
There are more important sand hills around the village than the village itself. People often use the word “Merzouga” to refer to the whole desert area, which includes many important towns like Hassi Labied, Takojt, Tanamoust, Tiharyin, Taboumyat, Khamlia, and more. The name of the village comes from two different stories. Some people think that the word “Merzoug” comes from the name of a family that lived in the past. Second, some people think the name comes from Arabic, where it means “rich land.”
Another strange story that most of the Berbers in Merzouga believe. People say that a long time ago, there was a rich group of people who lived in peace in Merzouga. After eating their meals, which were mostly couscous, they started to fight with it. To punish them for throwing away food, God sent huge sand dunes and storms until they were fully covered in dunes.
The dunes are called Erg Chebbi, and they are about 30 to 15 km long. If you go farther east, though, you’ll see other sand dunes, like those in Znigui, Jdaid, and Ramlia.
Ait Benhaddou Kasbah
The small town, or Ksar, is built by Thami El Gloaui, one of Morocco’s richest Bashas. This small Berber town is one of the most important in the southeast of Morocco because it is in a very good spot. It made sense, and most of the camel fleet going from Sijilmassa to Marrakech stopped there to rest or even store their goods. At the very southernmost point of the High Atlas Mountains is Ait Benhaddou. It’s clear that it has some of the best views on this 4-day trip from Marrakech to Fes. Moroccan building is best shown by the great wall and the tall towers made of clay.
A lot of the people who used to live in the village have moved across the river. Also, there are only a few families left, and travel is their main source of income.
Ouarzazate, Oualywood of Africa
Some people call it the “Hollywood of Africa,” and it’s only a few kilometers from the village of Ait Benhaddou. Before we talk about what this city has to offer, we’d like to talk about how it got its name. Even the name of the city, Ouarzazate, tells you that it is a Berber city. It has two parts: “Ouar,” which means “without,” and “Zazate,” which means “noise.” This means that the whole name means “a place without noise.”
It is well known that producers and directors from all over the world love to visit Ouarzazate. Out of Africa is where the fifth season of Prison Break and some episodes of Game of Thrones are being filmed. There are two main studios in the city that are called Atlas Studios. They have the most beautiful designs and views that will take you back in time. This city is also known as the entrance to the Sahara desert. In the last few years, an international airport has been built just for people who want to go on desert tours.
Rissani and Erfoud
There are two big desert towns where most Sahrawis have built new, modern homes and streets. The first stop is Rissani, which is on the schedule because it is where the ALaouite empire began. Not only that, but it was the beginning of the famous trade paths that led to Tombouctou. This is one of the oldest and biggest traditional souks in the country. It is in Rissani. There, you should be able to find most of what you need. The souk, on the other hand, is only open Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday.
What’s cool about Rissani is that sellers who bring goods to the city still use old-fashioned ways to get around. Remember that it’s the donkey, so don’t be shocked if you find a park full of them on a souk day.
On the other hand, there’s Erfoud. If you’re coming from the Sahara desert, Merzouga, which is about a half-hour drive away, is the real way to get to the sand dunes. Erfoud is the biggest city closest to the Merzouga desert, so it’s more likely to be the capital of the desert area. One thing you should not miss when you go to Erfoud is one of the many fossil workshops that are there. Erfoud is also in charge of the Ziz Valley, which is where most of Morocco’s dates come from. Not to mention that every year the city puts on a date event. A lot of people from all over the world come to buy and sell different kinds of dates.
Cedar forest and Ifrane
You can see both Ifrane and the Cedar Forest in Azrou on the 4-day tour from Marrakech to Fes. Little Switzerland in Morocco is one thing. It is the cleanest city in Africa and the eighth cleanest in the world. There is a change when you first walk into this amazing city. The coldest place in Morocco is Ifrane, which is in the Middle Atlas Mountains. Landscapes, parks, and clean air make it a beautiful place to be. On top of that, it is the best place in Morocco to go skating.
The figure of the Atlas lion is certainly the most interesting thing to see in Ifrane. People who live in Ifrane say that the second one was cut by a German prisoner in exchange for his freedom. Ifrane is also home to Al Akhawayine University, which is one of the best and most prestigious universities in Africa. It has a lot of different areas that other universities in Morocco don’t.
But the cedar forest, which is not far from Ifrane, is nice to see. A lot of different animals lived there, but many of them are no longer alive. The friendly Barbary macaques now live there. You can take it easy and enjoy the fresh air in a setting that looks like a zoo.