8-day group tour: Marrakech, the Valley of Roses and the desert

Tour itinerary

Day 1

Arrival at Marrakech airport > Marrakech:

The group tour begins at Marrakech Menara airport, where a member of our team waits for you in the arrivals hall and takes you to the hotel or riad booked for you. The transfer takes about twenty minutes and leaves you right in the heart of the red city.

The rest of the day is free: you can rest after your flight, take a first walk through the lanes around your accommodation or climb up to a rooftop terrace for a mint tea. If you land in the afternoon, we suggest walking to Jemaa el-Fna square, which fills up towards sunset with juice stalls, gnawa musicians and open-air kitchens.

In the evening the driver who will be with you for all 8 days comes to meet the group — one of the agency's own drivers, who covers this route every week. He checks names and phone numbers and explains the plan for the following day. Overnight in a hotel or riad in Marrakech.

Day 2

Marrakech > guided visit of the city:

After breakfast you meet the licensed local guide who accompanies you for the whole morning: unlike other routes towards the desert, here Marrakech is visited at the very beginning of the trip, at a relaxed pace and before the long roads of the south.

You start at the Koutoubia minaret, 77 metres high and the twin of the Giralda in Seville, then reach the Bahia Palace with its painted cedar ceilings and orange-tree courtyards. Next come the Saadian Tombs, rediscovered only in 1917, and the medina listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, where the guide leads you through the dyers’, blacksmiths’ and slipper-makers’ souks and explains how bargaining works.

The afternoon is free: you can visit the Majorelle Garden and the Yves Saint Laurent museum, try a hammam or head back to Jemaa el-Fna for dinner. Entrance fees to the monuments are not included. Second night in Marrakech.

Day 3

Marrakech > Tizi n’Tichka > Aït Ben Haddou > Ouarzazate > Valley of Roses > Dades:

Departure at 8:00 heading south. The minibus climbs the hairpin bends of the High Atlas up to the Tizi n’Tichka pass, at 2,260 metres, between stone villages and terraced fields; the viewpoint at the top is the right moment for the group’s first photographs.

Down from the pass you reach the ksar of Aït Ben Haddou, a UNESCO World Heritage site: a maze of fortified earthen houses above the Ounila river, used as a set for dozens of films and television series. You walk up to the agadir at the top for the view over the valley, then stop for lunch nearby (lunch not included).

In the afternoon you cross Ouarzazate, the "gateway to the desert", and join the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs through the palm groves of Skoura. The highlight of the day is the Valley of Roses around Kalaat M’Gouna: this is where the Damask roses are grown that give rose water and essential oil, and in May the village holds its famous rose festival. Arrival in the Dades gorges in the evening, dinner and overnight at a hotel.

Day 4

Dades > Todra Gorge > Tinghir > Erfoud > Merzouga > desert camp:

After breakfast a short walk takes you to the "monkey fingers" rock formations and the Dades hairpins, then you set off eastwards. The first stop is the Todra Gorge, where limestone walls 300 metres high close in until there is room only for the river and the road: you walk for half an hour inside the canyon, a destination for climbers from all over the world.

The journey continues through the palm groves of Tinghir and the villages of the Tafilalet, with a stop at Erfoud, known for its marble full of 400-million-year-old fossils. In the afternoon you arrive in Merzouga, at the foot of the Erg Chebbi dunes.

Once the suitcases are left safely in the minibus, the group climbs onto the camels for the sunset trek: about an hour across the dunes to the camp, our own Camel Trips Camp, with a pause on a high dune to watch the sun drop behind the desert. At the camp you are welcomed with Berber tea, followed by dinner under the stars and an evening around the fire with the drums of local musicians. First night in the desert camp.

Day 5

Merzouga > full day in the Erg Chebbi desert:

This is the day that sets our itinerary apart: instead of leaving straight away, you stay a whole day in the Sahara. Anyone who wishes can get up early for sunrise over the dunes, then breakfast is served at the camp. The camp stays yours for the following night as well, so you can leave your things there and set off light for the day.

The morning is given over to a 4×4 excursion in the desert: the seasonal lake of Merzouga with its flamingos when there is water, the old mines of Mifis, the black desert of volcanic rock and a visit to the nomad families living under their tents, where you share a tea and learn how a herd is raised among the stones. You then reach Khamlia, the village of the descendants of Sudanese and Malian peoples, for a live performance of gnawa music.

In the afternoon the choice is yours: rest in the shade of the camp tents, sandboarding on the dunes, or one of the desert excursions by quad or buggy, payable locally. At sunset you go back to the dunes for the last light over Erg Chebbi. You then return to the camp for dinner and a second night in the desert.

Day 6

Merzouga > Rissani > Alnif > Draa Valley > Agdz > Ouarzazate:

After breakfast at the camp you leave the desert and take the road west. The first stop is Rissani, the old capital of the Alaouite dynasty and heir to the caravan city of Sijilmassa: its souk, one of the most authentic in the south, comes alive on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays with dates, spices and donkeys.

The route continues across the rocky tablelands of the Anti-Atlas, with a stop at Alnif, home of fossil hunters and trilobites, and goes on to Tazzarine and Nkob, a village with dozens of kasbahs overlooking the palm groves.

In the afternoon you drop into the Draa Valley, the longest palm grove in Morocco, where the river feeds kilometres of date palms and earthen villages such as Agdz, at the foot of Mount Kissane. Arrival in Ouarzazate in the late afternoon: anyone with energy left can see the Taourirt Kasbah or the Atlas Studios. Overnight at a hotel in Ouarzazate.

Day 7

Ouarzazate > High Atlas > Tizi n’Tichka > Marrakech:

A quiet morning in Ouarzazate: the capital of African cinema keeps the great Taourirt Kasbah, once the residence of the Glaoui pashas, and is home to the film studios where Gladiator and Game of Thrones were shot. If you prefer, you can stroll through the Tabounte district or buy rugs and pottery in the small souk.

After the stop you head north and climb back into the High Atlas, this time in the opposite direction: the Tizi n’Tichka road offers quite different views in the afternoon, with the peaks changing colour and Berber villages clinging to the slopes. We stop at a women’s argan oil cooperative, where you can see how the nuts are cracked by hand.

Arrival in Marrakech in the afternoon and check-in at your hotel or riad. The evening is free: this is the moment for last purchases in the medina or for dinner on a terrace overlooking Jemaa el-Fna. Last night in Marrakech.

Day 8

Marrakech > airport > departure:

Breakfast at the hotel and a free day until your flight. If you leave in the afternoon or the evening you can store your luggage at reception and spend the last hours in the souks, at the Dar Si Saïd museum or simply over a coffee on the square. It is also the right time to buy the spices, argan oil or dates you saw along the southern road.

Before we say goodbye, the driver helps the group sort out the transfer times, which are arranged around the flights: those leaving early are taken first, the others gain a few extra hours in town.

At the agreed time we drive you to Marrakech Menara airport, about twenty minutes from the centre, where your 8-day group tour of Marrakech, southern Morocco and the Merzouga desert comes to an end. If you would like to extend your trip with a few days on the coast at Essaouira or Agadir, we can arrange the transfer for you.