7-Day Sahara Desert Tour: Casablanca to Fez
Casablanca → Marrakech → Sahara Desert → Fez
A one-way crossing for travellers landing in Casablanca and departing from Fez (or vice versa): Marrakech, the Atlas passes, two nights in the dunes, and the gorges, finishing in Fez rather than doubling back.
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Highlights
- A day in Marrakech before heading into the mountains
- The Tizi n'Tichka pass and Ait Benhaddou
- Two nights at a private desert camp near Merzouga
- The Todra and Dades gorges on the way north
- A finish in Fez, with two days to explore before you fly home
Day by day
A working draft: the order and pace are ours to adjust once we know what matters most to you.
Casablanca to Marrakech
A transfer south, with the afternoon free in the Marrakech medina and spice souks.
About 3 hours on the road, roughly 240 km
Riad, Marrakech
Marrakech to Ait Benhaddou
Over the Tizi n'Tichka pass, with an afternoon at Ait Benhaddou: a UNESCO World Heritage ksar since 1987, filmed in Lawrence of Arabia and Gladiator, its towers turning deep ochre as the light drops.
About 4 hours on the road, roughly 200 km
Guesthouse below the ksar
To Merzouga
East through the Dades and Todra gorges and across the flat hamada to Erg Chebbi, dunes the wind has piled up to 150 metres high, arriving as they shift from gold to rust.
About 6 hours on the road, roughly 350 km
Desert camp, Erg Chebbi
In the dunes
A full day with no driving. Sandboarding, a camel trek, or simply time to sit still, then a shared tagine dinner and Berber drumming after dark.
No driving today
Desert camp, Erg Chebbi
Merzouga to Todra Gorge
West across the hamada into the Todra Gorge, cut by the Todgha River to a narrowest point of about 10 metres with walls up to 160 metres high.
About 2.5 hours on the road, roughly 130 km
Guesthouse in the gorge
Todra Gorge to Fez
North through the Middle Atlas cedar forests, watching for Barbary macaques at the roadside, to Fez.
About 7 hours on the road, roughly 420 km
Riad, Fez medina
Fez medina
A full guided day through the Chouara tanneries' 11th-century dye pits, the carved Bou Inania madrasa, and the ninth-century Al-Qarawiyyin mosque and university, then the working souks.
No driving today
Riad, Fez medina
Included
- ✓Private car and driver for the full route
- ✓6 nights' accommodation, breakfast included
- ✓1 camel trek and 2 desert camp dinners
- ✓Local guides in Fez
Not included
- —International flights
- —Most lunches and dinners
- —Entry fees to monuments and museums
- —Tips for driver and guides
Questions about this route
Ask about this route
Send us your rough dates and what you'd want to change, and we'll come back with a real draft, not a form letter.
Tour at a glance
- Duration
- 7 days · 6 nights
- Transport
- Private car/4x4
- Languages
- English, French
- Availability
- Year-round
From the blog
Private or group: what actually changes on the road
The difference isn't comfort so much as control over the day.
By Omar Hafidi
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A first-timer's route through the Marrakech medina
Where to start when every street looks the same as the last.
By Anouar
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How many days do you actually need in Marrakech?
Enough to slow down, not so many that you run out of medina.
By Anouar
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