Erg Chebbi dunes rising behind the road into Merzouga
(have it: PHOTO-2026-09-23-11-07-58 4.jpg · eager load, 1200×800)
Desert tours from Fes cover around 470 kilometers on the first day alone. You leave the city in the morning, climb into the Middle Atlas, pass through cedar forest, cross a long stretch of dry plateau and reach the dunes at Merzouga before sunset. It is a genuine journey rather than an excursion, and the first thing worth deciding is not which hotel you want but how many days you are willing to give it.
This page covers both trips we run from Fes, what each day actually involves, and which length I would put you on. That includes the times I tell people the three-day version is the wrong choice.
Two different trips leave from Fes
The first goes to Merzouga and brings you back to Fes. It works if Fes is your base, or if you have a flight out of Fes and only a couple of days to spare.
The second crosses the country. You start in Fes, spend the night in the Sahara, then continue west through the Todra and Dades valleys, past Ait Ben Haddou and over the High Atlas into Marrakech. You end up somewhere different from where you started, which suits most people visiting Morocco for the first time, because you see the mountains, the desert and the south without backtracking.
Both routes: round trip to Fes, and the crossing to Marrakech
(to be produced · no competitor on this search has one)
The crossing runs in three, four or five days. The round trip to Fes is shorter. Everything is private, so the vehicle and the driver are yours and the route bends to you rather than the other way round.
Which one I would put you on
Four days. If you have the time, that is the version I recommend, and I say so even though the three-day costs less.
The difference is where you sleep on the first night. On the three-day trip you drive from Fes to Merzouga in one go. On the four-day you stop at Midelt instead, which cuts the longest day roughly in half and means you arrive at the dunes the next afternoon without having spent the whole day looking at the road.
Real guests in the desert, or AZ-ZDDINE himself
(written permission needed for visible faces)
Four days is the better choice if you are traveling with children, if you are older and would rather not sit in a car all day, if you take photographs and want to be able to stop, or if you simply prefer to travel slowly. If you have ten days or more in Morocco, you can afford it easily.
The three-day works. People do it and enjoy it. But it is a lot of driving, and there are travelers I steer away from it: anyone who dislikes long road journeys, anyone with young children who need frequent breaks, anyone prone to motion sickness. I would rather tell you that now than have you work it out somewhere past Midelt on the first afternoon.
Five days is for people who want to be in the Sahara rather than pass through it. It adds a full day around Merzouga.
The four-day trip, day by day
Day one: Fes to Midelt
We agree a pickup time in advance and collect you from your riad. The first stop is Ifrane, a cool, green mountain town that looks almost nothing like the rest of Morocco. We pull in near the main cafes for coffee, a restroom and photographs.
From there we continue to the cedar forest near Azrou. Barbary macaques live in the forest and you will usually see them from the road. Vendors sell peanuts and bananas to feed them, which is fine, but keep hold of your things. The monkeys are quick and they will take food, a phone or a bag if you give them the chance. If it is raining or snowing we keep the stop short or look from the car.
Barbary macaques in the cedar forest near Azrou
Lunch is in Midelt, where there are several restaurants and a proper choice of food. Then you stay the night, which is the whole point of the four-day version.
Day two: Midelt to Merzouga
This is the day the landscape changes. The mountains give way to stony plateau, then to the Ziz Valley, where a river of palm trees runs between red cliffs. We stop where it is worth stopping. Through Erfoud and on to the edge of the dunes.
Ziz Valley — palm groves between the red cliffs
At Khamlia we meet the camp team and your luggage goes into a Jeep. They take you into the desert. You arrive to mint tea and Moroccan cookies, or a cold drink if it is warm.
Then the camel ride, which takes about an hour and is timed for sunset.
Day three: Merzouga to the Dades Valley
Breakfast at the camp and some time around Merzouga before you leave. Depending on what interests you, that can include the Amazigh villages nearby and the music they are known for. Then west, out of the desert, toward the Todra Gorge, where the road runs between rock walls a few hundred meters high, and on to the Dades Valley for the night.
Dades rock walls with travelers on the viewpoint
(have it: PHOTO-2026-09-23-11-07-59 4.jpg)
Day four: Dades to Marrakech
Through Ouarzazate to Ait Ben Haddou, the fortified village built of earth that you have probably seen on screen without knowing where it was. There is time to walk up through it. After that the road climbs the High Atlas over the Tizi n'Tichka pass and drops down into Marrakech.
Ait Ben Haddou, the fortified ksar
How the three-day and five-day differ
| Three days | Four days | Five days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Night one | Merzouga, after a 470 km drive | Midelt | Midelt |
| Time around Merzouga | Sunset and sunrise | A morning | A full extra day |
| Longest driving day | Fes to Merzouga, the full distance | Roughly half of it | Roughly half of it |
| Suits | Short trips, people who do not mind long drives | Most people | People who want to stay in the desert |
The fifth day is spent around Merzouga rather than driving: Khamlia, the villages, the oases, a Jeep into the dunes if you want one, or nothing at all.
The drive, honestly
The first day of the three-day trip is about 470 to 480 kilometers.
We leave Fes at 7:30 in winter and 8:30 in spring. The earlier start in winter is not arbitrary. The daylight is shorter, the camel ride is at sunset, and the arithmetic only works if we are moving early. It is a full travel day either way.
Inside the vehicle — back seats, legroom visible
(nobody on this search shows this)
People sometimes picture hours of empty desert with nowhere to stop, and that is not what this route is. There are restaurants, cafes and roadside stops the whole way. You will find tagines, grilled food, salads, pizza and vegetarian options depending on where we are. We plan the stops so you can eat, use a restroom and walk around.
Winter can close or complicate the mountain roads with snow. If that happens we watch the conditions and change the plan. Getting you there comfortably matters more to me than following the itinerary I printed.
The desert camp
We work with two camps near Merzouga: Sahara Stars Camp and Azawad Luxury Camp. They are partners, not ours, and I would rather tell you that than imply otherwise.
The camp from outside, ideally at dusk with the lights on
(have a daytime version: PHOTO-2026-09-23-11-07-59.jpg)
The camps we use have tents with proper beds, private bathrooms, hot showers and running water, heating and air conditioning, electricity and Moroccan furnishings. It is more comfortable than most people expect of a night in the Sahara, which is usually the thing guests mention afterward.
Inside a tent, bed made up
The tent bathroom — toilet and shower
(this is what substantiates the amenities sentence above)
Dinner is served at the camp: Moroccan salads, chicken, beef, and vegetarian dishes if you tell us in advance. After dinner there are often drums and music around the fire. If the sky is clear, stay out in it. There is very little light for a long way in any direction.
You do not have to ride a camel
The camel ride is the part most people look forward to, and it is about an hour across the dunes at sunset.
Camel trek at sunset, with real guests riding
It is also optional. If you would rather not ride, a Jeep takes you straight to the camp and you still get the dunes, the sunset, dinner, the music and the night. If you have a mobility problem, a joint problem or any concern at all, tell us when you book and we will arrange the Jeep without making a thing of it.
When to go, and how cold the nights get
Do not come in July or August for a desert trip. The heat is genuinely difficult and it will spoil the thing you came for. If those are your dates, go to the coast instead: Essaouira, Agadir, Tangier, Casablanca or Rabat will give you a far better week.
From September through spring the Sahara is comfortable. What surprises people is the gap between afternoon and night.
| Month | Typical night temperature |
|---|---|
| January | 2 to 6°C / 36 to 43°F |
| April | 12 to 17°C / 54 to 63°F |
| July | 26 to 29°C / 79 to 84°F |
| October | 14 to 17°C / 57 to 63°F |
Those are typical ranges rather than guarantees. In winter you want a warm layer for the evening at the camp, and another for the mountains, which are colder than the desert. Pack as though you are going to two different places, because you are.
The full month-by-month picture for Merzouga nights is coming in a separate guide.
Who drives you, and what you travel in
Hamza, Ibrahim and Reda have driven these routes with me for more than ten years. Sometimes I drive the trip myself.
The driver, face visible, by the vehicle
On a journey like this the driver is not a detail. They know which cafe in Ifrane has a clean restroom, where the macaques come down to the road, and which pass to avoid when the weather turns. They talk to people in the villages and they talk to you, and when the plan has to change at short notice, that is who changes it.
What you travel in depends on how many of you there are. A couple or three people get an SUV, usually a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado or a Skoda Kodiaq. Four to six people get a Mercedes Vito. Larger groups go in a minivan up to ten seats, or a minibus for seventeen to twenty. Every vehicle is air conditioned.
What is included
On the four and five-day trips: the private vehicle and driver for the whole route, your hotels, meals as agreed with you, the desert camp at Merzouga with dinner and breakfast, and the camel ride or the Jeep alternative.
Not everything belongs in a package, and a few things are usually easier to pay for as you go: lunches on the road, where you choose your own, and entrance fees at sites like Ait Ben Haddou.
Tell us what you want covered and we will write it down before you pay anything. I would rather spell it out than have you find out at Ouarzazate.
What it costs
From $550 per person for the three-day trip, fully arranged, based on two people traveling together in the quiet season with our standard riads.
The four and five-day trips are also full arrangements with hotels, transportation and meals. They cost more because they add nights.
Four things move the price: how many of you are traveling, the level of riad you want, the season, and how many nights you spend in the desert. Tell us your dates and what you have in mind and we will give you a real number rather than a range.
How booking works
We ask for a 30% deposit to hold the hotels, the camp and the vehicle. You can pay it by credit card, PayPal or bank transfer, and the balance in cash when you arrive.
If you cancel at least 31 days before your arrival date, the deposit is refunded in full. Inside 31 days we usually cannot refund it, because the camp and the hotels are already held. If your dates move, we can normally move the trip with them, subject to what is available.
Plan your trip from Fes
Tell us when you are coming, how long you have and what you want out of it, and I will tell you which version of this trip fits, including if the answer is that you should wait for a better month.
Still working out the distances? How far the Sahara really is from Marrakech covers the other side of the country.
