This private 3-day desert tour from Fes to Merzouga and back is the best way to explore the southeast of Morocco without changing cities at the end. You’ll cross the Middle Atlas to the great Erg Chebbi dunes, spend the heart of the trip among nomads and oases, and still return to Fes — ideal if that’s where your flights are based.
The pace is relaxed: a sunset camel trek and night in a Sahara camp, a full 4×4 day exploring the desert around Merzouga, and a scenic drive home through palm valleys and cedar forests. Fully private, with standard, luxury or mixed accommodation options.
At 8:00 am your private Fes desert tour sets off south, passing the pretty town of Ifrane — the “Switzerland of Morocco” — before a stop in the Azrou cedar forest to watch its wild macaque monkeys in their natural habitat.
You’ll continue toward Merzouga through the palm groves of the Ziz Valley and the fossil town of Erfoud. Reaching the Erg Chebbi dunes, you’ll climb aboard a camel for the ride to your desert camp, where dinner and a starry Sahara night await.
It’s worth waking early on day two for the extraordinary beauty of a Sahara sunrise and the deep silence of the dunes. After breakfast at camp, you’ll set out on a full 4×4 desert tour around Merzouga.
You’ll visit the seasonal Lake Sirji, the village of Khamlia where sub-Saharan Gnawa music is played, the old mines known to nomad families, and the great souk town of Rissani. There’s time to meet a nomad family and take in the shifting landscape before a second night near the dunes in a small hotel or riad.
Today you say goodbye to the desert — but with a camera full of memories. The road back to Fes passes through Erfoud, famous for its fossils and marble, then follows the sweeping palm groves of the Ziz Valley up to Midelt, the “city of apples,” where you’ll stop for lunch.
From there you’ll cross the cedar forests near Azrou once more before arriving back in Fes around 6 pm, where your driver drops you at your accommodation.
Note:
Please If the itineraries we offer do not meet your needs, contact us. and tell us about your ideas, and one of our experts will contact you to help you create a one-of-a-kind trip…
This 3-day Fes to Merzouga desert tour gives you a genuine Sahara experience — camel trek, desert camp, nomad villages and dune sunrises — and returns you to Fes, so it fits neatly around Fes-based flights or a longer northern trip.
Every departure is private and easy to tailor: choose your camp style, add a night in the dunes, or extend the route to end in Marrakech instead. Just tell us what you’d like.
