Morocco: Marrakech, the High Atlas and a Sahara night

Arrive in Marrakech

Marrakech Menara Airport to the medina

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Marrakech
• Environ 30 min de route

Après-midi

If you can, arrive by mid-afternoon so there is time to rest before the group meets at about 6 pm. Your See Sight Tours guide introduces the plan for the week, with every drive time, then walks the group to Djemaa el-Fna as the light goes.

Soir

Dusk is the hour for the square: the food stalls are lit, smoke rises from the grills, and storytellers, musicians and henna artists gather in the square UNESCO proclaimed a Masterpiece of oral heritage in 2001 (inscribed on its Representative List in 2008). Across the square the minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque glows against the evening sky. Before we sit down, your guide gives a short briefing on the souks: fair prices, how haggling works and how to say no politely. We finish with a welcome dinner together a short walk from the hotel.

Compris

• Pick-up at Marrakech Menara Airport (RAK) at any hour
• Welcome meeting and souk briefing
• Dusk walk to Djemaa el-Fna with your guide
• Welcome dinner

Bahia Palace, then over the High Atlas

Marrakech to Ait Ben Haddou over the Tizi n'Tichka pass

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Ait Ben Haddou
• Environ 4 h de route

Matin

Breakfast, then we are at the Bahia Palace when it opens, usually about 9 am (hours vary by day and season, and we confirm them locally), before the courtyards fill. Built in the late 19th century for the grand viziers of the day, it is a run of painted cedar ceilings, zellij tilework and planted courtyards, and a licensed Marrakech guide explains how the rooms were used. We leave the city by about 10:30 and the van climbs into the High Atlas on the N9, a road of long hairpins, walnut terraces and Amazigh villages built of the hillside's own red earth.

Après-midi

We stop for coffee on the way up, then at the Tizi n'Tichka pass at 2,260 metres for the view south, and stop for lunch together in a roadside village on the far side, paid by you (not one of the included meals). Ait Ben Haddou comes into view in the middle of the afternoon.

Soir

The evening is yours: watch the ksar turn gold at sunset from the riverbank, then dinner at your own pace.

Compris

• Bahia Palace entry with a licensed Marrakech guide
• Coffee stop on the climb
• Photo stop at the Tizi n'Tichka pass
• Sunset view of the ksar from the riverbank

Ait Ben Haddou early, then the Dades gorge

Ait Ben Haddou to the Dades gorge via Ouarzazate, Skoura and Kelaat M'Gouna

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Dades Gorge
• Environ 3 h de route

Matin

The ksar is a fortified village of earthen houses on the old caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987; we climb the lanes to the ruined granary at the top for the view over the Ounila valley in the morning light. After breakfast we drive east through Ouarzazate and past the Skoura palm grove, where we stay on the way back, to Kelaat M'Gouna in the Valley of Roses.

Après-midi

Lunch is in the Dades valley, a sit-down meal of tagine and bread. In the afternoon we turn up the Dades gorge, where the road winds past kasbahs and terraced fields, and walk among the eroded red rock formations people call the Monkey Fingers.

Soir

Dinner is at the hotel in the gorge.

Compris

• Early guided walk in the ksar of Ait Ben Haddou with a local guide
• Skoura palm grove and Kelaat M'Gouna on the way
• Lunch in the Dades valley
• Guided walk among the Monkey Fingers rocks in the Dades gorge
• Dinner at the hotel

The Todra Gorge, then a night in the dunes

Dades gorge to the Todra Gorge, then Merzouga and the Erg Chebbi camp

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Merzouga
• Environ 4.5 h de route

Après-midi

With a local guide we walk the narrowest stretch, where sheer limestone walls stand in places only about 10 metres apart above a shallow stream, then lunch together in Tinghir. The afternoon drive runs east across stony desert through Tinejdad and Erfoud to Merzouga, on the edge of the Erg Chebbi dunes. We leave the big bags in the van and take an overnight bag. Camels carry you out across the sand for about an hour as the sun sets, or ride in by 4x4 if you prefer, to the camp.

Soir

Dinner is under the stars, with music around the fire if the camp offers it.

Compris

• Guided walk in the Todra Gorge with a local guide
• Lunch in Tinghir
• Sunset camel ride into Erg Chebbi, or a 4x4 if you prefer
• Dinner and the night at a desert camp

Sahara sunrise, then back to Skoura

Merzouga to Skoura via Erfoud, Tinghir and Kelaat M'Gouna

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Skoura
• Environ 5 h de route

Matin

Your guide wakes you before dawn to climb a dune near camp for sunrise, when the ridges turn from grey to orange and there are no footprints ahead. Breakfast at the camp, then camels or a 4x4 back to the van.

Soir

We do not drive the 9 or so hours back to Marrakech in one go, as many short trips do; we split it here with a night in Skoura. Today's drive is about 5 hours, over our 4-hour cap and the longest of the trip, because the desert is far from everything; the Skoura split keeps it from being 9. We break it every hour and a half: a stop at the old khettara underground irrigation channels between Erfoud and Tinejdad, coffee in Tinghir and lunch in Kelaat M'Gouna or Boumalne, paid by you. We reach Skoura in the middle of the afternoon. Its palm grove is one of the largest in the south, scattered with earthen kasbahs, and before sunset your guide walks you to Kasbah Amridil, a 17th-century family kasbah now open to visitors. The evening is free.

Compris

• Sunrise dune walk with your guide
• Breakfast at the camp
• Khettara irrigation channels stop
• Walk in the Skoura palm grove
• Kasbah Amridil entry

Over the Tichka to Marrakech

Skoura to Marrakech via Ouarzazate and the Tizi n'Tichka pass

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 4.5 h de route

Après-midi

Breakfast in Skoura, then an 8:30 start so you are back in Marrakech early in the afternoon. We drive through Ouarzazate, a desert town known for its film studios, and turn north into the High Atlas. The road climbs through red and green valleys to the Tizi n'Tichka pass at 2,260 metres, with stops for coffee and the view, and drops down the long hairpins to the Haouz plain. We stop for a quick lunch on the way down, at your own expense. The drive is about 4 and a half hours, over our 4-hour cap because the only road back crosses the High Atlas, so we break it into three stretches. We reach Marrakech at about 2 pm and drop you at Marrakech Menara Airport or at a hotel in the city if you are staying on.

Soir

Book flights leaving after about 5 pm, or add a night in Marrakech so you have time for the Majorelle Garden and the souks; we can book it for you.

Compris

• Coffee stop and the view at the Tizi n'Tichka pass
• Drop-off at Marrakech Menara Airport (RAK) or a Marrakech hotel