4-Day Tour from Ouarzazate to the Merzouga Desert

Known as the “gateway to the desert”, Ouarzazate is the great crossroads of southern Morocco. Its film studios, such as Atlas Studios, have hosted Hollywood productions, and the Taourirt Kasbah, once a residence of the Glaoui family, is one of the most beautiful in the region.

This fortified mud-brick ksar, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987, was a stop on the old caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech. Its houses stacked up the hillside have been the setting for films and series such as Gladiator and Game of Thrones.

Skoura is a palm-grove oasis dotted with mud-brick kasbahs, a few kilometres from Ouarzazate. Its jewel is the 17th-century Kasbah Amridil, one of the best preserved in Morocco and so iconic that it appeared on the old 50-dirham banknote.

The Dades Valley, known for its kasbahs, narrows into gorges of reddish rock with curious formations such as the “monkey fingers”. The road that climbs the canyon, with its famous hairpin bends, is one of the most photographed in Morocco.

Around Kelaat M'Gouna, the Valley of Roses fills every spring with Damask roses, used to make rose water and rose oil. The famous Rose Festival is held in May, and rose products can be bought from its cooperatives all year round.

Near Tinghir, the Todra River has carved a spectacular canyon whose rock walls reach about 300 metres high and, at the narrowest point, leave just a few metres between them. It is a perfect place to walk along the river and one of the best-known climbing spots in the country.

The Erg Chebbi dunes, next to the village of Merzouga, rise to around 150 metres and change colour with the light of day. It is the perfect place for a sunset camel ride, a night in a tented camp under a sky full of stars and a sunrise over the Sahara.

Next to the ruins of ancient Sijilmasa, a great caravan city of the Sahara, Rissani is the cradle of the Alaouite dynasty that rules Morocco today. Its lively souk, especially on market days, is one of the most authentic in the south.

Alnif is a small village in the south-east famous among fossil lovers: its surroundings are one of the richest places in the world for trilobites and other fossils. It makes an interesting stop on the route linking the Merzouga desert with the Draa Valley.