Fes → Ifrane → Azrou → Midelt → Ziz Valley → Merzouga
You leave Fes in the morning and climb into the Middle Atlas. The first stop is Ifrane, a clean little town with red roofs and parks that people call the Switzerland of Morocco. Then the road enters the cedar forest near Azrou, home to the Barbary macaques, small wild monkeys that live only in Morocco and Algeria. After the forest come wide high plains, and you stop for lunch in Midelt, the apple town under the snowy peak of Jbel Ayachi.
In the afternoon you cross the Ziz Gorges and pass the Tunnel du Légionnaire, then follow the Ziz Valley, a long green river of date palms below the road. At Erfoud the sand begins. In Merzouga you meet your camels and ride into the dunes of Erg Chebbi for sunset. At the camp you have mint tea, dinner and music by the fire, and then the sky fills with stars.
Key stops
Ifrane · Azrou cedar forest · Midelt · Ziz Gorges · Ziz Valley · Erg Chebbi
Stay
Desert camp in Merzouga
Merzouga → Khamlia → Nomad families → Erg Chebbi
Today there is no long drive. After breakfast, your driver takes you around the dunes by 4x4. First you visit a nomad family in their tent of dark goat hair. They move with their goats and camels to find water and grass, and they will offer you tea and bread baked in the sand. Then you drive to Khamlia, a small village whose people came across the Sahara from West Africa long ago. The Gnawa musicians welcome you with deep drums, iron castanets and old songs.
In the afternoon you see the other faces of the desert: the black volcanic stones of the hamada, the old mining area of Mifis and, after a rainy winter, the lake of Dayet Srji, where flamingos sometimes stop. Before sunset, climb a big dune and watch the sand turn red. You sleep near the dunes again tonight, in a camp or a comfortable hotel with a pool.
Key stops
Nomad family · Khamlia Gnawa music · Mifis · Dayet Srji · sunset dune
Stay
Hotel or riad in Merzouga
Merzouga → Ziz Valley → Midelt → Azrou → Ifrane → Fes
Wake up early for sunrise over the dunes, then ride back to Merzouga for breakfast and a shower. The road north follows the Ziz Valley, where thousands of date palms fill the river bed below the road. Stop at the viewpoint above the palm grove, then continue through the Ziz Gorges and the Tunnel du Légionnaire, dug by French soldiers in 1928.
After lunch in Midelt, the road climbs to the high plains and the cedar forest of Azrou, where the Barbary macaques often wait by the road. Then comes Ifrane, the little town with red roofs and a stone lion in the park. In the evening you come down into Fes, and your driver takes you to your riad in or near the old medina.
Key stops
Sunrise · Ziz Valley · Ziz Gorges · Midelt · Azrou · Ifrane
