| Morocco Desert Tour | ||||||||||||||||||
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Kasbahs, Caves & Dunes |
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3 days / 2 nights (* see notes) |
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Cultural Tours Handcrafted in Morocco
Tour summary
A stunning 3-day desert adventure tour from Ouarzazate, going off-road in 4x4 vehicle into the High Atlas Mountains above the Valley of Roses and into the Dadès Gorge. You travel through the Valley of a Thousand Kasbahs, sip tea with cave-living nomads, walk in the Todra Gorge, ride a camel in the Sahara and sleep in the desert dunes of Erg Chebbi. Action-packed itinerary, with local Sahrawi guide to escort you and with daily driving times of around 6 hours. Suitable for those with a limited time available and accessible to all ages and all fitness levels.
Or call us now on +212 (0)615 647918 (Morocco) or +44 (0)208 123 7969 (UK)
Please note: All our Morocco tours can be customised to allow extra days for shorter daily car journeys, extra activities, relaxation days, exploration days etc. We can also adapt tours to connect with different start/end locations in Morocco. Let us know your wishes and we will build your perfect Morocco tour itinerary.
Price: Contact us for a personalised quotation.
Prices will vary according to number of people travelling in vehicle, number of days, time of year, category of accommodation chosen and activities requested.
NB Our Morocco tours are private tours organised upon request.
Day-to-day tour itinerary
Day 1
Ouarzazate - Skoura - Kelaa M'Gouna - Roses Valley - Dadès Gorge - Dadès Valley - Todra Gorge
This Morocco desert tour departs early morning from your hotel in Ouarzazate. You travel in 4x4 vehicle eastwards via the Skoura oasis, passing the Lake Mansour Eddahbi. As you enter the Valley of Roses at Kelaa M’Gouna, you take the route north into the High Atlas Mountains as far as Bou Tharar. From here the journey is off-road to discover Ait Atta Berber nomads living in caves in the mountainside. We stop to share some mint tea in the simple grottoes before continuing on rocky tracks to enter the Dadès Gorge. The astounding rock formations from thousands of years of erosion of the sandstone have left the ‘monkey’s fingers’. The valley is especially beautiful in spring when the almond orchards are in blossom. You head up into the gorge to the famous switchback mountain pass and enjoy lunch along the route. From here you will drive for about 2 hours through the Dadès Valley, also known as the Valley of a Thousand Kasbahs, due to the numbers of crumbling mud-built kasbah fortresses and villages which line this route which once was the trade caravan route from the Sahara to Marrakech. At Tinerhir you reach the road that winds up into the Todra Gorge, with its immense cliffs that attract rock climbers from around the world. Palm trees, figs, oleander and pomegranate and olives line grow in the fertile valley, which is Morocco’s highest oasis. Dinner is enjoyed on the roof-terrace or the dining room of this cosy traditional guesthouse that is located close to the narrow gorge, where the river runs next to the road. NB this is an ideal location for spending an extra few days trekking or rock climbing.
Stay: Traditional guesthouse in Todra Gorge
Meal plan: Breakfast & dinner
Day 2
Todra Gorge - Tinejdad - Erfoud - Rissani - Merzouga - Erg Chebbi desert
Morning time for walking in Todra Gorge. Around 11.00 a.m. you then pass via Tinerhir and Tinejdad, skirting the northern side of the stark Jbel Saghro mountains. You enter into the Tafilalt oasis as you reach Erfoud. Between Erfoud and Rissani, look out for the ‘khettara’ ancient water irrigation system that lines the road and also the Museum of Geology and Paleontology. This region is particularly rich in prehistoric fossils, ammonites and trilobites embedded in the bedrock for millennia. Polished black marble and granite is a speciality of Erfoud and you may wish to visit a marble workshop along the way. In Rissani, the birthplace of the current Alaouite dynasty, you stop for lunch before then continuing to Merzouga to reach the Moroccan Sahara dunes of Erg Chebbi. Here you swap your 4x4 for a camel and local nomad guide to take you to your bivouac desert camp in the Erg Chebbi desert dunes for the night.
Stay: Standard or luxury desert camp Merzouga
Meal plan: Breakfast & dinner
Day 3
Erg Chebbi desert - Merzouga - Rissani - Alnif - N'Kob - Draa Valley Oasis - Ouarzazate
Early morning departure by camel from your desert camp in the Sahara dunes. You rejoin your 4x4 vehicle and driver to continue your Morocco desert tour to return to the oasis town of Rissani, but this time heading west along the southern slopes of the Jbel Saghro mountain range. You pass through the small towns of Alnif and Tazzarine, perhaps finding a few prehistoric fossils along the way! At N’Kob, a Berber village with some 45 kasbahs, you stop for lunch overlooking the palm groves. Then you continue into the Draa Valley oasis and follow the route of the Draa river back up through Tamnougalt and Agdz. If time permits you will stop in Tamnougalt to visit the kasbah and museum which dates to the 16th century. You reach Ouarzazate late afternoon and we drop you at your hotel. Alternatively, you can choose to continue your holiday in Morocco with us by adding on one of our Suggested Morocco Adventure Tour Itineraries.
Stay: N/A
Meal plan: Breakfast
- We can arrange transfers from/to Marrakech as well as accommodation in the Ouarzazate region to make this a 5-day / 4-night circular tour from Marrakech.