5 Days in Morocco: Marrakech to Chefchaouen via the Sahara

Leave Marrakech early and climb into the High Atlas over the Tizi n Tichka pass, winding between rocky peaks with the valleys opening below. On the far side stands Ait Ben Haddou, the earthen kasbah listed by UNESCO, its towers glowing ochre in the afternoon sun. Lunch is in Ouarzazate, the gateway to the south, then the road runs east to the Dades Valley, arriving as the folded rock formations catch the last light.

The morning road threads out of the Dades Gorge between red cliffs, then reaches Todgha Gorge, where limestone walls rise more than three hundred metres above a narrow river. You pass through the oasis town of Tinghir before the landscape empties out toward the Sahara. At Merzouga camels carry you into the Erg Chebbi dunes for sunset, and the night is spent at a desert camp with music around the fire.

Rise for sunrise over the dunes, then turn north for the longest day of the trip. The road passes the fossil workshops of Erfoud and the town of Errachidia, follows the palm groves of the Ziz Valley between bare cliffs, and climbs through Midelt into the cedar forests of the Middle Atlas, where Barbary macaques often wait by the road near Azrou. After a stop in Ifrane with its stone chalets, you reach Fes in the evening.

The morning is free in Fes to walk the edges of the old medina, a maze of alleys and workshops that has changed little in centuries. After lunch the road runs north through rolling farmland toward the Rif mountains, and Chefchaouen appears in the late afternoon, its medina washed in blue. The evening is yours in its alleys and squares, and the night is spent in a riad inside the old town.

Take the early hours for the blue alleys before the day visitors arrive, then your driver takes you to whichever airport you are flying from - Fes, Tangier, Casablanca or Marrakech - with the transfer included.