5-Day Desert Tour from Fes: Round Trip to Merzouga and the Sahara

This is the day built around the Erg Chebbi 5-day tour highlight everyone books this trip for. Erg Chebbi is the tallest dune field in Morocco, with some ridges over 150 meters, and you spend most of the day in and around it.

In the morning there's time to visit Khamlia, a small village a few kilometers from Merzouga known for its Gnawa musicians, descendants of West African communities who settled in the area generations ago. Ask, and they'll usually play a short set. From there, Rissani's market is worth a stop too. It's still a working souk rather than one set up mainly for tour groups.

By late afternoon you head out on camels into the dunes. It takes about an hour to reach the camp, timed so you arrive as the sun starts dropping and the sand shifts from gold to a deep orange-red. Dinner at the camp is usually a tagine cooked over coals, with drumming around the fire afterward if the camp staff are in the mood for it. You sleep in a fixed tent with a real bed, not a sleeping bag on sand, though it does get cold once the sun's gone even after a hot day.

Most people get up before dawn to watch sunrise from the dunes, then head back for breakfast and a shower before the next leg.

The drive to Tinghir runs through Erfoud, past long stretches of palm groves. Todra Gorge is the stop most people remember afterward: a narrow canyon with rock walls rising 300 meters on either side, close enough that a normal conversation echoes off them. There's a short, flat walk along the river at the base if you want time out of the car.

From Todra, instead of continuing toward Ouarzazate like most routes do, this Fes to Merzouga desert itinerary turns north into the mountains, toward Msemrir. The road narrows and slows down here, following a river valley with small Berber villages built right into the hillside. You'll spend the night in a guesthouse in or near Msemrir, a much quieter stop than the main desert towns.

This is the day most people haven't heard about before they book. The road from Msemrir to Imilchil climbs through the High Atlas, past small Amazigh villages where, depending on the season, fields are still worked with mules instead of tractors.

Imilchil sits near two lakes, Isli and Tislit, tied to a local legend about two lovers from rival tribes who were kept apart. Every September the area holds a large moussem where marriages are still arranged the traditional way. Outside of that month, it's just a quiet, high-altitude stop that most desert itineraries never reach. After a look around, you head down toward Midelt and apple country for the night.

The final leg retraces part of Day 1 in reverse, though the light and direction make it feel like a different road. You'll pass back through Azrou's cedar forest and Ifrane before dropping into the plains around Fes. Depending on stops along the way, you're usually back in Fes by late afternoon, ending this Morocco desert journey from Fes right where it began.