4 Days Tour from Fes to Merzouga: Erg Chebbi, Desert Camp and Todra Gorge Round Trip

We leave Fes at about 8:00 AM and climb into the Middle Atlas. The first stop is Ifrane, built by the French in the 1930s, with sloping Alpine-style roofs that earned it the name “Switzerland of Morocco”. Then we drive through the cedar forests of Azrou, where Barbary macaques are happy to share your lunch (lunch not included).

The road winds through the Atlas, then south to Rissani, and the red dunes of Erg Chebbi appear almost out of nowhere. At the foot of the dunes, a kasbah or hotel waits with mint tea, and in the evening we have dinner with Berber music.

Your day in the Sahara. After breakfast you choose: walk through the dunes, relax at the hotel, or visit Merzouga and Khamlia, a village known for its Gnawa music and West African roots. At dusk your camel is ready for a 90-minute trek into the sunset to a traditional Berber camp.

Your guide cooks dinner while the stars come out, and there is Berber music around the fire. You sleep in a tent among the dunes.

Wake early for sunrise over the dunes, then ride your camel back to the hotel for breakfast, watching the shadows shift across the sand. We drive to Rissani, a historic town on the edge of the Sahara, and on to Erfoud, famous for its fossils. You can visit the workshops where they are cut and polished.

Then we continue to Tinghir and the Todra Gorge, a canyon about 300 metres deep. You can hike between the cliffs before dinner and a quiet night at a hotel in the gorge.

After breakfast you can hike more in the Todra Gorge, then we begin the drive back to Fes through the Middle Atlas. We arrive in Fes around 8:30 PM.