3-day desert tour from Fes to Merzouga
Book your 3-day desert tour from Fes to Merzouga with camel trekking and camping.
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Table of contents
3-day desert tour from Fes to Merzouga main info
Departure location:
Fes
Return location:
Fes
Departure time:
08:00 AM
Itinerary duration
3 days/ 2 nights
Highlights of our 3-day desert tour from Fes to Merzouga
- Enjoy a drive through the Middle Atlas Mountains and across the Tizi-n-Talremt Pass with great panoramic views
- Take a break in the Cedar Forest nearby in Ifrane and watch the Barbary monkeys
- Discover the local Berber villages & interact with local people
- Journey along the Ziz Valley and explore its boundless palm trees
- Make a stop in Erfoud to visit the fossil exhibits and learn about locally made artifacts
- Go on a camel to the dunes of Erg Chebbi and get pictures with blue turbans.
- Enjoy a night of Berber music and drums around a campfire with nomads.
- Overnight in a beautiful desert camp at the foot of the dunes of Erg Chebbi.
- Final of your marvelous trip from Fes to the desert of Merzouga
3-day desert tour from Fes to Merzouga overview
The 3-day desert tour from Fes to Merzouga offers the best experience of a camel trip and desert tours. Hence, you will visit the most beautiful in Morocco and the largest Forest as well. You will also explore the Middle Atlas Mountains towards the Sahara of Merzouga. Here, you will meet nomads and spend a great night under the starry sky like never before. Our tours from Fes include pick up and drop off services.
3-day desert tour from Fes to Merzouga Itinerary
Day 1: Fes – Ifrane – Midelt – Erfoud – Merzouga
A 3-day tour from Fes to Merzouga will drive through different sites and views. Therefore, we visit the beautiful town of Ifrane. There will be enough time to admire its nature and visit its lion statue in the park. After that, you visit Cedar Forest which offers barbarian apes and long trees. Secondly, we keep driving via the Middle Atlas views and visit Azou then we stop in Midelt for lunch. Moreover, we will head to Ziz Valley to enjoy the panoramic view of the green valley. Later on, we visit Erfoud and move to Rissani town. The town is famous for the old market and the Berber pizza you can have for lunch. Finally, we reach Merzouga, and you will be welcomed with mint tea at your accommodation and have free time by yourself. Overnight.
Day 2: Desert Tour and Camel Trip
After breakfast, we will start our 3-day desert tour from Fes to Merzouga and the Fes desert tour by 4×4 to explore tourist areas. That is to say, we visit Khamlia village to enjoy traditional Gnawa music, originally from Mali. We also visit nomad families who live in hand-made tents near the border. We then visit Mifis mine to discover the Berber work in pits more than 3o m. You will also experience a panoramic view of the whole desert. Next, we visit the lake that attracts different birds, and we drive back to your accommodation.
Finally, you start your camel trip to spend a night in camp. You will enjoy a delicious dinner and music around the fire.
Day 3: Merzouga- Ziz Vally – Ifrane – Fes
Today, you will wake up early to experience the sunrise view. After shower and breakfast, we drive back to Fes. However, we will make stops at interesting places again. Finally, we end our 3-day tour in Morocco from Fes to Merzouga after we drop you off at your Riad or airport.
3-Day Desert tour from Fes To Merzouga includes:
- Pickup and drop off from accommodation.
- Camel for each in Merzouga
- Berber tent accommodation.
- Vehicle with gasoline
- Dinner and Breakfast
3-Day Desert four from Fes to Merzouga excludes:
- Monuments fees
- Lunches
- Tips
- Soft drinks
Related tours:
We’ve created a variety of tour itineraries starting in Fes, including Morocco desert excursions and city tours. However, if none of the options listed below meet your requirements, please let us know by filling out our contact form.
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3-Day Desert Tour from Fes To Merzouga highlights overview:
Our 3-day desert tour from Fes to Merzouga is jam-packed with fascinating sights. As a result, we’d like to give you a heads-up on what to expect while traveling with us.
Ifrane:
Ifrane is our first port of call. According to Morocco World News, this charming city is the cleanest in the country and the second-cleanest city in the world.
Ifri is the singular form of the Berber word Ifrane, which means caves. It got its name from a cave in the Tizguit Valley, about 7 km outside of Ifrane.
We will make a special stop in Ifrane, where you will learn why it is regarded as Morocco’s cleanest city. You will also have a better understanding of its past if you do this. We’ll, for example, pause at the Atlas Lion Statue, which represents both Ifrane and Morocco as a whole. Ifrane’s centerpiece is a World War II-era German prisoner’s ode to independence carved into the rock. This lion once roamed the Cedar Forest, but it went extinct long ago. In addition, the Atlas lions football team in Morocco is named after this legendary animal. In moreover, the team trains in Ifrane, where the climate makes it easier for them to get their daily workout in.
Azrou:
Our next stop is Azrou Forest, a forest in the High Atlas Mountains where we’ll see some wildlife.
Many of the trees in the forest are native to the Himalayas and the Mediterranean region, including many cedar trees. They are also very tall, with some reaching a height of 40 meters. This area is home to a wide variety of animals. We will, however, only see Barbary Macaque monkeys on our 3 days tour in Morocco, a desert tour starting in Fes.
These monkeys are very sociable; unlike the other monkeys, which we expect to steal from people, they don’t all steal. Also, these Magots live in families rather than in groups, especially those who have families. They actually attack other monkeys who are not related to them, and we often find some of them blooded when we visit them, and we’ve even witnessed them fighting in the wild.
Most of Morocco’s wildlife dwells in cedar forests. On the other hand, we only see monkeys and the occasional small squirrel when we go on a tour there. Besides humans, there are other creatures that call this place home. Wild pigs, deer, and numerous other animals can be found here.
The Atlas Mountains:
The Atlas Mountains are a massive mountain range in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia that stretches for 1,600 miles/2,500 kilometers. Interestingly, the mountains in this area block the passage of clouds from the west to the south and west, which is pretty cool. This means that on our 3-day trip in Morocco, you’ll go from lush greenery to the arid Sahara where it never rains.
Winter sports such as skiing and admiring the snow are popular among Moroccans who flock to these mountains. This vacation in the mountains is what we hope you’ll remember because you’ll get to try new things like snowboarding. Toubkal is also home to the mountains’ highest point (4,165 meters).
The dam and Ziz valley in Errachidia:
Fes to Merzouga is a cross-Atlas mountain journey. The next major settlement is Errachidia, located at the very tip of the mountains. So it’s no surprise that it’s been dubbed the Sahara Desert’s gateway, alongside Ouarzazate. Errachidia is a province where many government buildings are located, making it the place where most documents, such as passports, driving licenses, and car papers, are made.
The Dam:
There are numerous dams in the region, one of which is located in Errachidia, the Ksar Souk city. The dam was built by Hassan Addakhil over a nine-month period in May 1968 to March 1971. The Atlas mountains get a lot of rain now that winter has arrived. To store water, the Alaouite dynasty built a dam here.
Not to mention that this dam is the only water supply for the surrounding areas like Erfoud, Rissani, and Taouz in the Sahara Desert. People nowadays have access to water year-round, unlike in the past when it was only available from wells.
Ziz valley:
It’s one of Morocco’s longest rivers, stretching all the way from Errachidia to Algeria over the Sahara Desert. However, the most important part of it is only about 30 kilometers; this is where the locals make agriculture. So they plant a wide variety of things, such as olive, bamboo, and date palms. By far the most popular, you’ll notice a slew of them in the river as soon as you arrive. When we arrive in Erfoud later on, there is a market where you can try some dates and other dried fruits if you desire.
Erfoud:
The next stop is Erfoud, a city with a lot to offer, including dates, minerals, and fossils. When the French colonized Morocco, they began construction on this city in 1912. However, the Berbers were the ones to give it its name; according to them, it was named after a plant in the river called Ounfoud. On the other hand, legend has it that the name was given by two Berbers who were crossing the river and the second asked him about the depth to which the first replied: “Ar Afoud,” which means “to the knees.”
Erfoud attracts tens of thousands of visitors each October for an international dates festival. The carnival lasts for three days, and vendors sell a variety of local goods, including dates and Beber clothing. Additionally, there are music and theater performances in the city’s central square.
We’ll go to a mineral fossils museum. The fossils include trilobites, goniolite ammonites, and ammonites, as well as crinoids…
Erfoud was also the Jewish community’s primary residence; they coexisted peacefully with the Berbers. As a result, there is a Jewish cemetery on the way to Rissani that we can take you to if you’re Jewish.
Merzouga, the desert:
Our 3-day desert tour from Fes to Merzouga begins in Fes and ends in Merzouga, in the Sahara Desert. It’s not just the high point of our trip starting in Fes; it’s a feature of all of our Morocco tour packages.
Merzouga got its name from a Marzouq family that still has a home in Merzouga today. Some locals claim that Merzouga got its name from the Arabic word Merzouq, which means wealthy. They attribute Merzouga’s wealth to the dunes, which draw a lot of tourists.
The dunes of Erg Chebbi, about 23 kilometers long and 5 kilometers wide, are Merzouga’s claim to fame. Dune Lala Merzouga stands 150 meters (500 the tallest dune in the area. Because there was once a lake here, the dunes were formed, and because it’s the desert, it’s frequently windy, especially in the summer. As a result, it has gathered here. There is yet another explanation for the existence of the dunes: locals believe that couscous was once used as a weapon by people fighting millions of years ago. As a result, God sent a sandstorm to punish them.
Many different roots and tribes can be found in and around Merzouga, a town with many small villages surrounding it. For example, you’ll find Berbers and Arabs in the center, and dark-skinned people with the surname Gnaoua, who were slaves, in another village called Khamlia.
As part of our 3 day tour in Morocco from Fes, here are the best things to do in Merzouga.
Camel trekking:
The highlight of your trip with us will be a camel tour of the Erg Chebbi dunes. On the second day of our excursion, our staff will place them near the dunes, and you will ride them for about an hour and a half during which time you can ask the leaders to make photo stops. If you leave early enough, you may be able to see an imaginary sunset from a dune near the camp, depending on the departure time. Not to mention that the camel ride is scheduled twice a day, once in the afternoon and once in the morning, depending on when you want to camp from the camp.
Camping at Berber tents:
Many tourists come to Merzouga to experience nomadic life, the Berbers’ way of life, and camping at Erg Chebbi is a dream come true for them. Because we’re your travel agency, we’ll take you to one of the luxury or standard camps to spend the night. Our Berber team will provide entertainment by lighting fires and playing traditional Berber music.
Visiting the Berber family:
We will take you to a Berber family that lives in a tent behind the dunes before you do the camel ride and the camping in Berber tents. Experience how the Berbers travel to find food for themselves and their herd on this excursion. Visitor assistance is expected by these families; we usually bring them clothes or household necessities like fresh vegetables and fruits.
Music with the Gnaoua:
We’ll go to Khamlia in the morning on the second day. On the way, we’ll stop at a family cooperative where they make Gnaoua, which is the local music they play for each other.
There is a lake called Srij in this area.
Camel herding takes place on Srij Lake during the day because the animals are not used for work. The flamingos that migrate here every year bring a large number of tourists who come to see them and take pictures.
Oasis in the Desert:
To make the most of your time in Merzouga, you should also stop by the nearby oasis of Hassi Labied. You can see how the locals use well water to irrigate their crops here.
Conclusion:
It’s not the same as going to a place after reading about it in a book. Our Sahara desert tour in Morocco from Fes will take three days, and you’re welcome to join us.