Agadir → Taroudant → Taliouine → Ouarzazate → Aït Ben Haddou
We pick you up at your hotel or riad in Agadir after breakfast. The ocean slowly disappears behind you, and the road runs east through the Souss Valley, a wide plain full of orange trees and argan trees. After about one hour you reach Taroudant. Its walls are made of red earth and they go all the way around the old town. Many people call it "the little Marrakech", because it feels like Marrakech many years ago — busy, but gentle. Take a short walk in the souk, look at the silver jewellery and the spices, and drink a fresh orange juice.
Then the road climbs into the Anti-Atlas. The hills become dry and rocky, and small villages hang on the slopes. In Taliouine we stop at a saffron cooperative. Here, local families grow the crocus flower and pick the red threads by hand, one by one, in the autumn. You will taste saffron tea and learn why this little spice is so precious. In the afternoon we pass Tazenakht, a town known for its colourful carpets, and arrive in Ouarzazate, the door to the desert. Just before sunset we reach Aït Ben Haddou. Climb up through the narrow lanes to the old granary at the top and watch the sun turn the clay houses gold.
Key stops
Taroudant ramparts · Taliouine saffron cooperative · Tazenakht · Ouarzazate
Stay
Guesthouse or hotel in Aït Ben Haddou
Aït Ben Haddou → Ouarzazate → Skoura → Valley of Roses → Dades Gorges
In the morning, walk across the river into the ksar while it is still quiet. This village has stood here for centuries, on the old caravan road between the Sahara and Marrakech. Today only a few families still live inside, but the walls, the towers and the small doors tell the old story very well. Then we drive back through Ouarzazate. If you like cinema, you can stop to see the film studios from the outside, where many famous movies were made.
The road east is called the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs, and it is easy to see why. In Skoura, the old Kasbah Amridil stands in the middle of a deep green palm grove. Later we reach Kelaat M'Gouna, the town of roses. In spring, the whole valley smells of the small pink Damask rose, and the shops sell rose water and rose oil all year. In the afternoon the road turns into the Dades Gorges. The rocks here are red and strange — some people say they look like monkey fingers. Your guesthouse sits by the river, and dinner is a warm tagine while the cliffs go dark around you.
Key stops
Kasbah Amridil, Skoura · Kelaat M'Gouna rose shops · Monkey Fingers rocks
Stay
Hotel or guesthouse in the Dades Valley
Dades → Tinghir → Todra Gorge → Erfoud → Merzouga
After breakfast we drive to Tinghir, a long green oasis full of date palms and mud houses. A few minutes later the valley closes, and you walk into Todra Gorge. The walls rise more than 300 metres on both sides, and a clear stream runs over the stones at your feet. Climbers hang on the rock, and Berber women wash wool in the water. It is a cool, quiet place before the heat of the desert.
The afternoon road is long and open. The mountains fall away, and the land becomes flat and black with stones. This is the hamada. We pass Erfoud, a town famous for fossils, and then, suddenly, you see them on the horizon: the orange dunes of Erg Chebbi. In Merzouga your camels are waiting. You ride for about an hour and a half into the sand, while the dunes change from yellow to orange to pink. At the camp, the team makes mint tea and a big dinner. Later, they bring out the drums. When the music stops, just lie on the sand and look up. There is no light here except the stars.
Key stops
Tinghir palm grove · Todra Gorge walk · Erfoud fossils · Merzouga
Stay
Desert camp in Erg Chebbi
Merzouga → Rissani → Draa Valley → Ouarzazate → Marrakech
Wake up early, before the sun. Climb the dune behind your tent and wait. The first light comes from Algeria, just a few kilometres away, and the whole erg turns red and gold. After this quiet moment, you ride back to Merzouga for a shower and breakfast. Then we drive through Rissani, the old home of the Alaoui royal family and once the great caravan city of Sijilmassa.
The road back west passes small oasis towns like Alnif and N'Kob, with its many kasbahs, and then runs along the Draa Valley, the longest river valley in Morocco. In the afternoon we cross the High Atlas over the Tizi n'Tichka pass, more than 2,200 metres high, and come down into Marrakech in the evening. We drop you at your riad or hotel. Want to end the tour back in Agadir instead? Just tell us. We add one more day, sleep in Ouarzazate or Taliouine, and bring you back to the ocean the next afternoon.
Key stops
Sunrise on the dunes · Rissani · N'Kob · Draa Valley · Tizi n'Tichka
Stay
Tour ends in Marrakech (or Agadir with one extra day)
