3 Day Marrakech to Fes Desert Tour via Merzouga & Erg Chebbi

Breakfast comes first, then the drive continues south through landscapes that shift by the hour, from green valleys to open rock and plains. The main stop of the morning is Todra Gorge, a narrow canyon with steep rock walls on both sides and a stream running along the base. It's a short, easy walk in, and one of the more dramatic stops on the whole route.

From the gorge, the road heads toward Erfoud, a town known locally for the fossils dug out of the surrounding desert stone. The land keeps opening up and drying out from here, and by mid to late afternoon, the dunes of Erg Chebbi appear on the horizon as you roll into Merzouga.

This is where the camel trek Erg Chebbi happens, timed for the golden hour so the sand shifts through orange and gold as the sun drops. It's slow and quiet, and usually the part people talk about most once they're home. Dinner, music, and a night under a genuinely dark sky follow once you're settled at camp.

Overnight: desert camp, Merzouga.

Sunrise over the dunes is optional but worth setting an alarm for. The colors move fast, and the whole camp is quiet at that hour. After breakfast, the route changes character: instead of heading back toward Marrakech, you continue north to finish the trip in Fes.

The road follows the Ziz Valley for a while, a ribbon of palm groves and green fields cutting through otherwise dry country, then reaches Midelt, a smaller town tucked between two mountain ranges. From here, the scenery shifts again: pine and cedar forests replace the desert palette, and the drive through Azrou is one of the few places in Morocco with a real chance of spotting wild Barbary macaques in the trees.

The last stop before Fes is Ifrane, sometimes nicknamed Morocco's Switzerland for its alpine-style buildings and cooler climate, a strange but pleasant contrast after three days in the south. You'll reach Fes in the evening, which is where this desert tour Marrakech to Fes comes to an end, with drop-off at your accommodation.