Marrakech → High Atlas → Aït Ben Haddou → Ouarzazate → Dades Valley
Your driver picks you up in Marrakech in the morning, and soon the city is behind you. The road climbs into the High Atlas through walnut trees, red earth villages and long mountain bends. At the Tizi n'Tichka pass you are 2,260 metres high, and the view goes far across the mountains. On the other side, the land becomes dry and wide, and you reach Aït Ben Haddou, the clay ksar listed by UNESCO. Walk across the river and climb up to the old granary at the top.
After lunch, you pass Ouarzazate, the door to the desert and the home of big film studios. Then the road follows the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs through the palm grove of Skoura and the Valley of Roses at Kelaat M'Gouna, where the small pink Damask roses are turned into rose water. In the late afternoon you arrive in the Dades Valley, with its red cliffs and green fields. Dinner is a warm tagine at your hotel.
Key stops
Tizi n'Tichka · Aït Ben Haddou · Ouarzazate · Skoura · Valley of Roses · Dades
Stay
Hotel or traditional riad in the Dades Valley
Dades Valley → Tinghir → Todra Gorge → Erfoud → Merzouga
After breakfast you drive to Tinghir, a long green oasis full of date palms and old mud villages. A few minutes later the valley closes and you walk into Todra Gorge. The rock walls rise about 300 metres on both sides, and a clear stream runs over the stones at your feet. Climbers hang on the cliffs, and local women wash wool in the water. It is a cool, quiet place before the heat of the desert.
In the afternoon the land opens into the black stony hamada. You pass Erfoud, the town of dates and fossils, and then 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 gold to orange to pink. At the camp, the team welcomes you with mint tea, a big dinner and Berber drums under the stars.
Key stops
Tinghir · Todra Gorge · Erfoud · camel trek · Erg Chebbi
Stay
Desert camp in Erg Chebbi
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
