Marrakech · 5 days · 4 nights

Merzouga, Zagora and the Telouet Road

Five days, Marrakech out and back: the Tichka, a night on Erg Chebbi, the Draa, and Telouet on the way home.

Days: 5
Nights: 4
Departs: Marrakech
Vehicle: Toyota Land Cruiser
From: €450

From €450 per person · minimum 4 travellers · private departure

The southern loop everyone drives, with a way home almost nobody takes. Out over the Tizi n'Tichka to Aït Ben Haddou and Ouarzazate, camels into Erg Chebbi for the night, then west on the old road through Alnif and Nekob to the Zagora palmeraie — and back up into the Atlas by the Ounila valley and Telouet instead of the main road.

Highlights

Aït Ben Haddou and the Ouarzazate studios on the first day
Camels into Erg Chebbi at sunset, and a night in the camp
The southern road through Alnif, Tazzarine and the kasbahs of Nekob
Telouet and the Ounila valley on the way back, instead of the main road

5 days · 4 nights · Marrakech

Day by day

Day 01

Marrakech · Aït Ben Haddou · Ouarzazate
Over the High Atlas by the Tizi n'Tichka at 2,260 m, stopping at the viewpoints on the way up. The afternoon at Aït Ben Haddou, the clay ksar behind Gladiator and Game of Thrones, then Ouarzazate for the night — and the film studios if there is light left.
Day 02

Ouarzazate · Todra · Merzouga
The Valley of the Roses and the Skoura palmeraie, then the limestone walls of the Todra gorge. On past Erfoud until the tarmac ends at the dunes. Camels into Erg Chebbi late in the afternoon, dinner and a night under canvas.
Day 03

Merzouga · Nekob · Zagora
Sunrise on the dunes, then southwest on the old road through Alnif and Tazzarine — volcanic ground, the Anti-Atlas, and Nekob with its forty-five mud-brick kasbahs. Night in the Zagora palmeraie, where the sign still gives Timbuktu at fifty-two days by camel.
Day 04

Zagora · Tamnougalt · Ouarzazate
North up the Draa, the longest river in Morocco, through a palm grove that runs for a hundred kilometres. Kasbah Tamnougalt at Agdz, a stop on the trans-Saharan caravan road. Ouarzazate for the night, with time for the Taourirt kasbah.
Day 05

Ouarzazate · Telouet · Marrakech
Back up into the Atlas, but by the Ounila valley — Telouet, the half-collapsed palace of the Glaoui — and then down into Marrakech.