Our 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes crosses Morocco from the red city to the oldest medina in the world, and it takes the long way round on purpose. You go over the High Atlas, down the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs, into the Erg Chebbi dunes for two nights, and out again through the Ziz Valley and the cedar forests of the Middle Atlas.
This Marrakech to Fes desert tour is one-way and private. You travel only with your own group, in an air-conditioned vehicle, with the same driver-guide for five days. Because you never double back, every kilometre shows you something new, and you finish exactly where the next part of your Morocco trip begins.
| Duration | 5 days / 4 nights |
|---|---|
| Start | Marrakech (pick-up at your hotel or riad, around 8:00 am) |
| End | Fes (drop-off at your hotel or riad, in the late afternoon) |
| Desert | Erg Chebbi dunes, Merzouga (2 nights in the desert area) |
| Tour style | Private one-way tour, customizable |
| Accommodation | 1 night Ouarzazate + 1 night Dades Valley + 2 nights Merzouga (see options) |
| Meals | 4 dinners and 4 breakfasts |
| Total distance | About 1,145 km, one way |
| Price | On request (see what affects the price) |
Quick answers about the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes
- Where does it end? In Fes, at your riad. You do not come back to Marrakech, so nothing is repeated.
- Which desert? Erg Chebbi, next to Merzouga, where the dunes reach about 150 m and run some 28 km from north to south.
- How much driving? Roughly 205 km on day 1, 134 km on day 2, 266 km on day 3, a short 4×4 loop on day 4 and 478 km on day 5.
- Where do you sleep? One night in Ouarzazate, one in the Dades Valley and two in the Merzouga area (camp, hotel, or one of each).
- Is the camel ride obligatory? No. A 4×4 can take you to the camp instead, at no extra cost.
- What is not included? Lunches, drinks, entrance fees and tips.
Highlights of the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes
- Crossing the High Atlas on the Tizi n’Tichka pass, where the sign at the top reads 2,260 m.
- Visiting the Telouet Kasbah, the mountain palace of the Glaoui family on the old salt road.
- Walking through the Ksar of Ait Ben Haddou, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.
- Seeing Ouarzazate, the Kasbah of Taourirt and the Atlas Film Studios.
- Following the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs through Skoura and the Kasbah of Amridil.
- Driving the Valley of Roses at Kelaat M’Gouna, where the rose harvest is celebrated every May.
- Climbing the hairpins of the Dades Gorges, above the Monkey Fingers rocks.
- Standing inside the Todgha Gorge, which narrows to about 10 m between walls of some 160 m.
- Riding a camel into the Erg Chebbi dunes at sunset and sleeping in a desert camp.
- Spending a whole day in the Sahara, with nomad families and the Gnawa music of Khamlia.
- Following the Ziz Valley north, then the cedar forest of Azrou and its Barbary macaques.
- Arriving in Fes, whose medina has been on the UNESCO list since 1981.
Why choose a private 5 days Marrakech to Fes desert tour?
The 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes is one-way for a reason. A round trip to the desert costs you a full day of repeated road. This route spends that day going forward instead. You cross the south, then climb north through the Middle Atlas, and you end in a different city with a different history, a different accent and a different kitchen.
Because the tour is private, you also set the pace. For example, you can stop longer in the Todgha Gorge, swap one camp night for a hotel with a pool, or ask for a Spanish-speaking driver-guide. If you are comparing formats, read our guide to private vs group tours in Morocco.
Itinerary of the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes
The plan below is our standard route. However, we adjust the stops, the hotels and the camp to your wishes. Driving distances and times come from the road itself and do not include stops.
Day 1: Marrakech – Tizi n’Tichka – Telouet Kasbah – Ait Ben Haddou – Ouarzazate
Your driver-guide picks you up at your riad or hotel at around 8:00 am. First, the road climbs into the High Atlas through Berber villages, walnut groves and red terraced fields. After about two hours you reach the Tizi n’Tichka pass; the sign at the top reads 2,260 m, although GPS measurements place the road at roughly 2,205 m.
Next, a side road drops into the Ounila valley to the Telouet Kasbah. Until 1956 this was the mountain seat of the Glaoui family, who controlled the pass and the salt mines behind it. The outside is crumbling, yet the painted cedar ceilings and zellij rooms inside are still remarkable.
Afterwards, you follow the old caravan track down to the Ksar of Ait Ben Haddou, on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1987. Caravans carrying salt, gold and dates once stopped below these earthen walls. You can walk up the lanes to the collective granary at the top, which looks out over the palm grove and the river.
Finally, a short drive brings you to Ouarzazate for dinner and the first night. Day 1 of the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes therefore ends early, with daylight left for the Kasbah of Taourirt or the Atlas Film Studios.
- Driving distance: about 205 km
- Driving time: about 4 hours 20 minutes
- Overnight: hotel or riad in Ouarzazate
- Meals: dinner
Day 2: Ouarzazate – Skoura – Valley of Roses – Dades Gorges
After breakfast the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs begins. In the palm grove of Skoura you visit the Kasbah of Amridil, whose ksar dates from the 17th century and whose mansion was built in the 19th; it appeared for years on the old 50-dirham banknote, and the Nasiri family still lives in part of it. Water still runs under the gardens here through khettara channels.
Later, the road reaches Kelaat M’Gouna and the Valley of Roses. Damask roses grow in hedges between the fields, and the town holds its rose festival for a week every May. You can stop at a distillery for rose water before continuing east.
Then you turn north at Boumalne Dades and climb into the Dades Gorges. In the late afternoon you reach the famous hairpin bends and the eroded cliffs known as the Monkey Fingers, right beside your hotel. Because the drive is short, there is time for a walk in the valley before dinner.
- Driving distance: about 134 km
- Driving time: about 2 hours 40 minutes
- Overnight: hotel or kasbah in the Dades Valley
- Meals: breakfast and dinner
Day 2 is the shortest driving day of the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes, so there is time for every stop.
Day 3: Dades Valley – Tinghir – Todgha Gorge – Erfoud – Merzouga (camel trek)
This morning you drive east to Tinghir, where a viewpoint looks down on a palm grove that stretches for kilometres along the river. Just above the town lies the Todgha Gorge. In its narrowest section the canyon closes to about 10 m between smooth walls of some 160 m, and elsewhere the cliffs reach 400 m; you walk along the river bed while climbers work on the rock above.
Afterwards, the road crosses stony plains through Tinejdad and Jorf, where rows of khettara wells mark the underground channels of the Ziz. Then comes Erfoud, a town of dates and fossils: the black marble cut in its workshops is full of orthoceras and other marine fossils from the Devonian, roughly 400 million years old.
In the late afternoon you arrive in Merzouga, at the foot of Erg Chebbi. A camel is waiting, and the trek into the dunes takes about an hour, timed so that you reach the camp for the sunset. In the evening, dinner is served under the tents, followed by Berber drums around the fire and a sky with very little light pollution.
- Driving distance: about 266 km
- Driving time: about 4 hours 20 minutes
- Camel ride: about 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes to the camp
- Overnight: desert camp in Erg Chebbi (standard or luxury)
- Meals: breakfast and dinner
Day 4: Erg Chebbi – nomad families – Khamlia and Gnawa music – Dayet Srji
Wake up early and climb the dune behind the camp for sunrise. After breakfast, a 4×4 takes you around the erg on the tracks the caravans used. The circuit passes the black volcanic hills, the abandoned galena mines of Mfis and the wells that nomad families depend on.
You then stop under a nomad tent for mint tea, and your guide translates while the family explains how they move with the pasture. Afterwards comes Khamlia, a village of about 390 people some 7 km south of Merzouga. Its families descend from sub-Saharan people brought north along the trans-Saharan routes, and their Gnawa music, played on the guembri and metal qraqeb, was added to the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage in 2019.
In the afternoon you drive out to Dayet Srji, the seasonal lake west of the dunes. After good rains it fills and attracts flamingos and other migrating birds; in a dry year it is a white salt flat. Back at the dunes, the rest of the day is free for sandboarding, tea on a terrace or simply watching the sand change colour.
- Driving distance: about 60 km, mostly by 4×4
- Activity time: about 4 hours, plus free time
- Overnight: desert camp or hotel near the dunes
- Meals: breakfast and dinner
Day 4 is the calm day of the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes: no long transfer, and you sleep in the same area.
Day 5: Merzouga – Ziz Valley – Midelt – Azrou cedar forest – Ifrane – Fes
Today is the long one, so breakfast is early and the landscape changes completely. First you follow the Ziz north from Erfoud, past the gorges where a green ribbon of palms cuts through bare red rock, then past the Hassan Addakhil dam and Errachidia.
After that the road climbs onto the high plateau to Midelt, at roughly 1,500 m between the High Atlas and the Middle Atlas. This is the apple country of Morocco, and it is the usual lunch stop. Beyond it you cross the Tizi n’Talghemt pass at 1,907 m.
Then the pine and cedar forests begin. Near Azrou you stop in the Cèdre Gouraud forest, home to Barbary macaques, an endangered species found only in Morocco, Algeria and Gibraltar. Please do not feed them; your guide will explain why.
Finally comes Ifrane, built by the French administration in 1929 as a hill station and still called Little Switzerland for its pitched roofs and snow. It sits at 1,665 m and holds the lowest temperature ever recorded in Africa, −23.9 °C on 11 February 1935. An hour later you reach Fes, and your driver drops you as close to your riad as the medina allows.
- Driving distance: about 478 km
- Driving time: about 7 hours 50 minutes
- Overnight: not included (end of the tour in Fes)
- Meals: breakfast
From the Sahara to the oldest medina: what this route actually shows you
Four landscapes in five days
Few routes in Morocco change scenery as fast as the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes does. You start in an irrigated plain, climb to 2,260 m, drop into pre-Saharan oases, reach open sand, and finish in cedar forest at 1,665 m. As a result, you need a jacket and sandals in the same suitcase.
The Road of a Thousand Kasbahs
A kasbah is a fortified earthen house with corner towers, built for one extended family; a ksar is a whole village behind one wall. Between Ouarzazate and the Tafilalt every oasis needed both, because the road carried gold, salt and dates. Therefore the 300 km you drive on days 2 and 3 pass hundreds of them.
Khamlia and the memory of the caravans
The Gnawa families of Khamlia descend from people who came north with those caravans. Their music, with a three-string guembri and iron castanets, is the clearest living trace of the trans-Saharan trade anywhere on this route.
Why Fes is the right ending
Fes el-Bali was founded in the 9th century and has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1981. Al Qarawiyyin, founded there in 859, is often described as the oldest degree-granting university still in operation. After two nights in the dunes, the contrast is the point. Our guide to what to do in Fes covers the first day after this tour.
Gallery of the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes
What is included in the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes
Included
- Pick-up at your hotel or riad in Marrakech and drop-off in Fes.
- Private air-conditioned vehicle with fuel and tolls.
- English-speaking driver-guide (Spanish, French or Arabic on request).
- 1 night in a hotel or riad in Ouarzazate.
- 1 night in a hotel or kasbah in the Dades Valley.
- 2 nights in the Merzouga area: desert camp, hotel, or one of each.
- Camel trek in Erg Chebbi (one camel per person).
- 4×4 excursion around the dunes, with the nomad family visit and Khamlia.
- 4 dinners and 4 breakfasts.
Not included
- Lunches and drinks.
- Entrance fees and local guides (for example Telouet, Ait Ben Haddou, Amridil or the Atlas Film Studios).
- Extra activities such as sandboarding, quad or buggy rides.
- Accommodation in Fes and the guided tour of the medina.
- Tips and personal expenses.
- Travel insurance and flights.
Map of the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes
In detail, the route is: Marrakech → Tizi n’Tichka → Telouet → Ait Ben Haddou → Ouarzazate → Skoura → Kelaat M’Gouna → Dades Gorges → Tinghir → Todgha Gorge → Erfoud → Merzouga (2 nights, with Khamlia and Dayet Srji) → Ziz Valley → Errachidia → Midelt → Azrou → Ifrane → Fes.
Accommodation options
Every option of the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes uses the same route, vehicle and driver-guide. Only the level of comfort changes. We confirm the exact hotel and camp names when you book, according to availability on your dates.
| Option | Night 1: Ouarzazate | Night 2: Dades Valley | Nights 3 and 4: Merzouga |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | Hotel or riad in the town centre, private room with bathroom | Guesthouse or kasbah hotel near the gorges | Berber tent and a simple hotel by the dunes |
| Superior | Riad with a courtyard and pool | Kasbah hotel with views over the valley | Comfort tent with private bathroom, plus a hotel with a pool |
| Luxury | Boutique hotel or high-end kasbah | Boutique kasbah with terrace | Two nights in a luxury tent with private bathroom, or one night in the camp and one in a desert hotel |
We can also book your riad in Fes for the last night of the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes, even though it is not part of the tour price.
5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes price
The price is on request, because every private tour is quoted for your own group. In practice, four things change it:
- Group size: the price per person falls as more people share the vehicle.
- Accommodation level: standard, superior or luxury.
- Season: Christmas, New Year and Easter are the busiest periods.
- Extras: local guides, entrance fees, sandboarding, quad or buggy rides.
Send us your dates and the number of travellers through our contact page, and we reply with a clear quote and no hidden costs.
How to book this Marrakech to Fes desert tour
Booking the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes takes three short messages, and we answer the same day.
- Send your travel dates, number of people and preferred accommodation level through the contact form, by email at favoritesmoroccotours@gmail.com or on WhatsApp (+212 786 278 943).
- We reply with a personalised itinerary and a price.
- You confirm the tour. Payment by PayPal is accepted.
- Your driver-guide picks you up at your riad or hotel in Marrakech on the first morning.
Favorites Morocco Tours vs other Marrakech to Fes tour companies
Plenty of agencies sell this route with a single desert night squeezed between two very long drives. Ours gives the Sahara two nights and a full day, and it pushes the longest transfer to the end, when you are heading somewhere new rather than back where you started.
Besides that, we are a local team based in Marrakech. We publish the real driving times before you book, we keep the same driver-guide for the whole trip, and there are no compulsory shopping stops. Above all, we give you the honest picture before you book the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes. If you have less time, we will say so and point you to the 3 days tour from Marrakech to Fes instead.
Know before you go
- Day 5 of the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes is the long one, with about 7 h 50 of driving. Therefore we leave early, and we stop often.
- Book your Fes riad for the night you arrive. The tour ends in the late afternoon, so you want a bed waiting.
- Prefer the same route in reverse? See the desert tour from Fes to Marrakech or the longer 6 days Fes to Marrakech tour.
- Want to return to Marrakech instead? Take the 5 days tour from Marrakech to the Sahara Desert, which closes the loop.
- From December to February, snow or ice is possible on the Tizi n’Tichka and around Ifrane, and desert nights drop close to freezing. Pack a warm layer; see what to wear in Morocco.
- In July and August the south is very hot, often above 40 °C. Spring and autumn are the best seasons: check the best time to visit Morocco.
- The Valley of Roses is at its best in April and May, while the rose festival itself runs for a week in May.
- Tell us about any allergy or diet before departure. Camps and hotels prepare vegetarian and vegan meals with notice.
- Bring cash in dirhams. ATMs exist in Ouarzazate, Boumalne Dades, Tinghir, Erfoud, Errachidia and Midelt, but not at the camp; see our guide to the Moroccan dirham.
- Pack a small overnight bag for the camp nights, because your main luggage stays in the vehicle.
Extra activities
These activities are optional on the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes. We book them on request, at an extra cost.
| Before the tour (Marrakech) | During the tour | After the tour (Fes) |
|---|---|---|
| Agafay desert quad bike and camel ride | Sandboarding in the Erg Chebbi dunes | Guided tour of the Fes medina |
| Ourika Valley day trip | Quad bike or buggy ride around the dunes | Day trip to Volubilis and Meknes |
| Essaouira full-day trip | Private dinner on the dunes | Day trip to Chefchaouen |
| Ouzoud waterfalls day trip | Local guide in Telouet or Ait Ben Haddou | Transfer to Fes airport or train station |
Reviews
Travellers who booked this Marrakech to Fes desert tour share their experience after each trip. If you have already travelled the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes with us, a short review helps other people decide. Read our reviews on TripAdvisor.
Frequently asked questions
How far is Fes from Marrakech through the desert?
Driving straight, Marrakech and Fes are about 530 km apart. Through the Sahara, this route covers roughly 1,145 km, which is why it needs five days rather than one long transfer.
Is the tour one-way, or do we come back to Marrakech?
It is one-way. You start in Marrakech and finish in Fes, so nothing is repeated. If you would rather return to Marrakech, choose the 5 days Sahara loop instead.
Can we do the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes in reverse?
Yes. The same itinerary works from Fes to Marrakech, and many travellers prefer it that way when they land in the north. Just tell us your direction when you ask for a quote.
Can we sleep two nights in the desert camp?
Yes. Alternatively, many travellers take one night in the camp and one in a hotel by the dunes, with a pool and a proper shower. Tell us your preference when you book.
Do the desert camps have private bathrooms?
Standard camps have shared or private bathrooms, depending on the camp. Superior and luxury tents always have a private bathroom with a hot shower.
Can I skip the camel ride?
Of course. A 4×4 drives you to the camp instead, at no extra cost, and your luggage travels the same way.
What is the best time of year for the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes?
March to May and September to November are the most comfortable months. Winter works too, although desert nights are cold and the Middle Atlas can see snow, while July and August are very hot in the south.
Is the tour suitable for families with children?
Yes, from about six years old. Only day 5 involves a long drive, and the cedar forest near Azrou usually saves that afternoon with children. Tell us their ages when you book.
What vehicle do you use?
We use a private air-conditioned vehicle sized for your group, from a Toyota Land Cruiser to a Mercedes minibus, plus a 4×4 for the desert excursion on day 4.
What should I pack?
- A warm jacket for the desert nights and for Ifrane, especially between November and March.
- Sunglasses, sunscreen and a hat or a scarf.
- Comfortable shoes, plus sandals for the sand.
- A small bag for the two camp nights.
- A power bank and some cash in dirhams.
How far in advance should I book?
Two to four weeks is usually enough. However, for Christmas, New Year and Easter you should book as early as possible, because the best camps fill up first.
How do I pay?
We accept payment by PayPal, and we explain the details when you confirm your booking.
Have another question about the 5 days tour from Marrakech to Fes?
Write to us through our contact page or on WhatsApp.
Who we are
Favorites Morocco Tours is a local travel agency based in Marrakech, and the crossing to Fes is one of the routes we run most often. We design private tours across Morocco, from the Sahara to the imperial cities. Our drivers and guides grew up on these roads, so they share the culture, the history and the small places that visitors usually miss. Learn more about us.
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Contact us
- Phone / WhatsApp: +212 786 278 943
- Email: favoritesmoroccotours@gmail.com
- Office: Marrakech, Morocco
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