5 Days
From Casablanca
5-Day Casablanca Tour: Fez & the Sahara
From the Atlantic gateway to the imperial cities and the dunes.
from€499 /person
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Imperial cities and the Sahara, out and back from Marrakech.
Imperial cities and the Sahara, out and back from Marrakech. This 5-day private journey begins in Marrakech and is designed to give you the best of the route without the rush — with hand-picked accommodation, an English-speaking driver-guide and plenty of freedom to stop wherever catches your eye.
Highlights include dades & todra gorges, night in erg chebbi, guided fez medina. Like every Edita itinerary it is fully flexible: we can lengthen or shorten it, upgrade your riads and desert camp, or change the start and finish cities to fit your flights.
Keep exploring: Morocco Tours from Marrakech · all 39 Morocco tours · Marrakech to Merzouga: The Complete Route
We leave Marrakech and head straight for the mountains, climbing the celebrated Tizi n'Tichka pass over the High Atlas — a thrilling road of hairpin bends, Berber villages clinging to the slopes and viewpoints across range after range. Descending the southern side, we reach the crown jewel of the journey: Ait Ben Haddou, a UNESCO World Heritage ksar of fortified earthen towers famous from Gladiator, Game of Thrones and many more. We take time to explore its steep lanes and climb for the view. Continuing to Ouarzazate, the desert's film capital, we then turn east along the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs, past the Skoura oasis and its old fortresses, to the dramatic Dades Valley. We check in near the gorge, with its striking folded rock formations and famous switchback road, for the night.
Today we complete the drive from the valleys to the great dunes, through some of the south's finest scenery. We begin at the Todra Gorge, where we walk beneath sheer limestone cliffs that rise 300 metres and narrow to a few metres apart above a cold, clear river — a favourite of rock climbers and an unforgettable place to stand. Continuing through the palm oasis of Tinghir and the date-trading town of Erfoud, the landscape opens into flat, stony hammada and the first ridges of orange sand appear ahead. Reaching Merzouga in the afternoon, we pause at your kasbah before the day's highlight: as the sun lowers, we ride camels in caravan out over the crest of Erg Chebbi to a desert camp, arriving for dinner, Berber music and a night under the stars.
We turn our backs on the dunes this morning and drive north across the whole width of the Middle Atlas toward Fez, retracing one of Morocco's most beautiful routes. From Merzouga the road follows the palm-lined Ziz Valley, pausing at the panoramic viewpoint over the Ziz gorges where a great green river of date palms winds through bare desert cliffs. Climbing higher past Midelt, the 'apple town' between the ranges, we enter the cedar forests around Azrou, home to playful troops of wild Barbary macaques that gather near the road. We continue through alpine Ifrane, with its steep roofs and tidy gardens, before descending toward Fez. Arriving in the late afternoon, we check in to a riad in the medina, leaving the evening free to rest after a scenic day on the road.
Today we dive into Fez el-Bali, the largest living medieval medina in the world and a UNESCO treasure of some 9,000 lanes where donkeys and handcarts still do the work of trucks. With a licensed local guide we thread through the maze to its landmarks: the Chouara tanneries, where leather is still soaked and dyed by hand in honeycombs of stone vats exactly as it was a thousand years ago; the Al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859 and recognised as the oldest continually operating university on earth; and the exquisitely tiled Bou Inania and Al-Attarine madrasas. We visit the coppersmiths hammering in their square, weavers at their looms and the fragrant spice souks. It is an intense, unforgettable immersion, and your guide makes sense of the beautiful chaos at every turn.
On our final northward leg we journey from Fez back to the Atlantic coast, taking in more of Morocco's imperial heritage along the way. We first stop in Meknes, the 17th-century capital of Sultan Moulay Ismail, to admire the immense Bab Mansour gate, the ramparts and the royal granaries and stables. Continuing west we reach Rabat, the country's graceful capital, where we visit the Kasbah of the Udayas above the river, the landmark Hassan Tower and the ornate Mausoleum of Mohammed V. From there it is a short drive down the coast to Casablanca. Depending on timing we may see the great Hassan II Mosque rising over the ocean before you are dropped at your hotel or the airport. It is a fitting, history-rich close to the journey through Morocco.
“Impeccably organised and completely private. We changed the plan twice and Edita made it effortless. The Sahara sunrise was unforgettable.”
“From Fez to Marrakech we saw a side of Morocco most tourists miss. Comfortable 4x4, wonderful riads and a driver who knew every hidden spot.”
5 Days
From the Atlantic gateway to the imperial cities and the dunes.
5 Days
A one-way journey from the desert airport across the south to Marrakech.
5 Days
Chefchaouen and the imperial cities on a northern culture route.