Errachidia → Meski Blue Spring → Ziz Valley → Erfoud → Rissani → Merzouga
We meet you at Errachidia airport, the bus station or your hotel. Errachidia is a quiet modern town, but just south of it starts one of the most beautiful valleys in Morocco: the Ziz. Our first stop is the Blue Spring of Meski, a natural pool of clear water under palm trees, where the old Foreign Legion once made a camp. Then the road runs along the edge of the valley, and below you there is a long green river of date palms, with mud villages on both sides. Stop at the viewpoint and take your time — it is one of the best photos of the trip.
We continue to Erfoud, the town of dates and fossils, where you can visit a workshop that cuts black marble full of 350-million-year-old sea creatures. Then Rissani, the heart of the Tafilalet and the old land of Sijilmassa, the great caravan city of the Middle Ages. In the late afternoon you reach Merzouga, and the dunes of Erg Chebbi stand in front of you like orange mountains. Your camels are waiting. Ride into the sand for sunset, arrive at the camp for mint tea, and enjoy dinner and Berber drums under the stars.
Key stops
Meski Blue Spring · Ziz Valley viewpoint · Erfoud fossils · Rissani
Stay
Desert camp in Erg Chebbi
Merzouga → Erfoud → Errachidia → Ziz Gorges → Midelt
Watch the sun come up over the dunes, then ride back to Merzouga for breakfast and a shower. We drive north through Erfoud and Errachidia, and soon the landscape changes. The Ziz River has cut a deep gorge through the mountains, and the road follows it between steep walls of rock. At Foum Zabel you pass through the Tunnel du Légionnaire, dug by French soldiers in 1928. Below, small green fields and palm trees fill every corner of the gorge.
After the gorges, the land opens into high, wide plains. In the afternoon we reach Midelt, a calm town at almost 1,500 metres, under the snowy peak of Jbel Ayachi. It is famous for apples and for its colourful minerals and fossils. Take a walk in the town, then rest in your guesthouse.
Key stops
Ziz Gorges · Tunnel du Légionnaire · Rich · Midelt
Stay
Hotel or guesthouse in Midelt
Midelt → Zaida → Azrou cedar forest → Ifrane → Fes
Today you climb into the Middle Atlas. The road crosses the Col du Zad and enters the great cedar forest near Azrou. These old trees are home to the Barbary macaques, small wild monkeys that live only in Morocco and Algeria. Stop by the road and watch them play — but please do not feed them.
Next comes Ifrane, a little town with red roofs, clean parks and a stone lion in the garden. In winter there is snow here. Then the road goes down into the Saïss plain, and in the afternoon you arrive in Fes. We drop you at your riad in the medina, where a porter will help you with your bags through the narrow streets.
Key stops
Col du Zad · Azrou cedar forest · Ifrane
