Already in Merzouga? Spend a full day discovering the desert, sleep in our camp and travel to Fez the next day with your private driver.
Many travellers arrive in Merzouga by bus or with a rental car and want to continue north without a long bus ride. This tour picks you up at your hotel in Merzouga for a full day around the dunes, with the camel ride to our camp at sunset.
The next morning, after the sunrise, your private driver takes you to Fez through the Ziz valley, Midelt and the cedar forests of the Middle Atlas.
Highlights
Pick-up at your hotel in Merzouga
Rissani, nomads and Gnawa music
Night in our desert camp
Ziz valley and Middle Atlas
Drop-off at your riad in Fez
Day by day
Day 1
A day around Merzouga: Rissani, nomads, Khamlia, camel ride and night in our camp
A whole day to live the desert. In the morning we drive to Rissani, the old caravan capital, to walk through its market, one of the most authentic in Morocco, with its spices, its dozens of varieties of dates and its animal market; we also see the old ksar and the mausoleum of Moulay Ali Cherif. Back in the desert, we visit a nomad family in the black hamada, who welcome us for tea in their tent of goat hair, and the village of Khamlia, where the Gnawa musicians play their hypnotic rhythms. After lunch and a rest in the hotel, you can add a quad, buggy or sandboard session if you wish. Before sunset your camel is waiting: the caravan enters Erg Chebbi, stops on a crest for the sunset and reaches our camp, where dinner, drums and the stars are waiting.
Day 2
Merzouga – Ziz valley – Midelt – Ifrane – Fez
After the sunrise over the dunes and breakfast in the camp, you return to Merzouga by camel and we set off north. We follow the Ziz valley, a deep canyon filled with thousands of palm trees and dotted with old ksour, and stop at a viewpoint over its blue lake near Errachidia. The road climbs through the Ziz gorges and the tunnel of the Legionnaire to Midelt, the 'apple city', at the foot of the Jebel Ayachi, where we stop for lunch. In the afternoon we cross the Middle Atlas, with its cedar forests where Barbary macaques come close to the road, and pass through Ifrane, a mountain town with sloping roofs nicknamed 'the Switzerland of Morocco'. We arrive in Fez in the early evening and your driver accompanies you to your riad in the medina.
Included
Private air-conditioned vehicle
Local driver-guide
Pick-up and drop-off at your riad, hotel or airport
Nights in riads, kasbahs and guesthouses
Dinners and breakfasts
Camel ride with cameleer
Night in our desert camp in Erg Chebbi
Visit to a nomad family
Not included
Lunches
Local guides in the cities (on request)
Entrance fees to monuments
Tips
Good to know
Pick-up between 7:00 and 8:00 at your riad, hotel, airport or port. Bring a small bag for the desert night: big luggage stays in the vehicle. Hotels can be upgraded on request.
No payment is needed to book: you pay on arrival in cash (dirhams or euros). Free changes if the weather is not good.
Questions
Are the tours private?
Yes. Only your group travels in the vehicle, with your own driver, and the program can be adapted.
Where do the tours start?
Wherever you are: your riad or hotel in Marrakech, Fez, Tangier, Casablanca, Agadir, Ouarzazate, Errachidia or Essaouira, or the airport or port when you land.
Which camp do we sleep in?
In our own camp in Erg Chebbi, with private tents, bathrooms with hot shower, dinner and breakfast, and Berber music by the fire.
Can I change the itinerary?
Yes, every tour is private and flexible: add nights in the desert, a quad or buggy ride, a different finishing city or better hotels. Just tell us when you write.
