7 Nights (8 days) Trip: Marrakech – Atlas Mountains – Sahara

Arrive in Marrakech and meet your driver outside the airport. Transfer to downtown Marrakech.  Drive time: 20 minutes. Enjoy the afternoon at your leisure, taking time to relax from your travels. Overnight in Marrakech.

• Depart Marrakech in the morning and cross the Atlas Mountains via the winding Tichka Pass. Stop by Telouet, a traditional Amazigh “Berber” village. 
• Continue to Ait Ben-Haddou, an ancient Ksar that has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located along the former trade caravan route between the Sahara Desert and Marrakech, the Ksar is now often used as a filming location for movies including The Jewel of the Nile, The Mummy, and Kingdom of Heaven.
• Continue on through the Valley of 1000 Kasbahs to reach Boumalne Dades and check into your riad.
• Dinner included in Boumalne Dades.
• Overnight in Boumalne Dades.

• As you continue your journey, stop in Tinghir to visit the Todra Gorge, cut through the red rock through a winding river. We pass through Tinjdad, Jorf and Erfoud where we will notice the air of the Sahara oasis in Tafilalet.
• Arrive in the Sahara Desert in the afternoon and meet your camels for your trek into your desert camp. You will journey through the dunes, and your camel guide will be able to get some great pictures for you as well! 
• Arrive at your camp and enjoy a welcome glass of Moroccan mint tea and take some time to relax before dinner. Dinner included.
• After dinner, enjoy live music around the bonfire, or perhaps head to the top of the dune for some star gazing. Just watch out for the camels that roam the desert at night!
• Overnight in the Sahara Desert.

• After breakfast, spend the day exploring the region. Far from the most populated cities, the Sahara region is unique, in some ways feeling like a step back in time. 
• Take an SUV excursion over the dunes, stopping to listen to the hypnotic rhythms of the Gnawa musicians, hunt for fossils in the desert, and stop for tea with a nomadic family.
• Stop for lunch in the village of Merzouga.
• Enjoy some time relaxing by the pool of one of the riads.
• Return to the camp at your leisure.
• Dinner included at your camp.
• After dinner, enjoy live music around the bonfire.
• Overnight in the Sahara Desert.
• OPTIONAL: Begin your day with a one-hour ATV or dune buggy excursion through the Sahara Desert. Enjoy the exhilaration of speeding through the sands and up the dunes, where you will stop to enjoy a peaceful moment with just sky and sand for as far as you can see. You will have a professional guide to ensure you don’t get lost! (Extra fee required)

• OPTIONAL: Wake up early to watch the sunrise over the dunes.  Remember it gets cold in the desert overnight, so don’t forget your jacket!
• Enjoy a traditional Moroccan breakfast at the camp.
• Depart camp via SUV.
• Early morning departure through Rissani (cradle of the Alaouite dynasty) and the immense mountain of Bougafer. We will pass through several old Berber villages and have Lunch in one of them like N’Kob (3^rd town on the way).
• Dinner included at your riad.
• Overnight in Ouarzazate.

• After breakfast we will start the day by visiting the Atlas Film Studio and other local spots used in filming.
• Continue across the Atlas Mountains via the winding Tichka Pass to arrive in Marrakech in the late afternoon. Drive time: 4 hours
• Check into your riad in the medina.
• OPTIONAL: Explore Jemaa el Fna, which comes to life with street performers as the sun goes down.
• Overnight in Marrakech.

• Tour Marrakech with a private guide.
• Visit the Koutoubia minaret, the tallest in Marrakech. Within the city walls, no building is allowed to be taller than the Koutoubia’s 253 feet. The minaret is part of the largest mosque in Marrakech, which was completed in 1199.
• Stop at one of the iconic spice markets, learning of the medicinal uses of many of the common spices and herbs that are still used across Morocco to treat common illnesses.
• Visit Dar Bacha, which houses the Museum of Confluences, offering a mixture of Berber, Arab, and Jewish artifacts from throughout Morocco’s history. While you are there, be sure to enjoy coffee in their coffee room, offering over 200 varieties of coffee from the world over, housed in a historic palace in Marrakech.
• Explore Jemaa el Fna, the primary square in the medina and a UNESCO world heritage site. Though now filled with street performers, snake charmers, merchants, and orange juice stalls, when it was created in 1050, it was used for public executions, perhaps leading to its name which can be translated as “assembly of death”. 
• Head into the souks surrounding Jemaa el Fna to several workshops, including shoemakers and bakers.
• Enjoy the afternoon at your leisure.
• Overnight in Marrakech.

• After breakfast, check out of your hotel and transfer to the Marrakech airport for your departure flight. Drive time: 20 minutes