4 Days Tour from Marrakech to Fez via Ouarzazate and Merzouga

It's a long driving day, and a spectacular one. The road climbs the High Atlas over the Tizi n'Tichka pass at 2,260 metres, switchback after switchback through Berber villages with panoramic views. You stop at Aït Ben Haddou, Morocco's most famous UNESCO ksar.

From there the route continues through Ouarzazate, Morocco's cinematic city, then along the palm-lined Draa Valley to Merzouga. You arrive in the late afternoon, meet your camels, and trek into the golden dunes of Erg Chebbi for sunset.

Dinner is Berber-style around the fire, with drums and a sky thick with stars overhead. You spend the night in a luxury desert camp.

You wake before dawn to climb the highest dune crest for sunrise. After a Berber breakfast at camp, the drive continues west via Erfoud and Tinghir to the Todra Gorges, where 300-metre cliffs frame a clear river below.

From the gorges, the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs leads to the Dades Valley, where wind and water have carved the rock into the shapes known as the Monkey Fingers. You spend the night in a kasbah hotel overlooking the valley.

The road heads north through Kalaat Mgouna, the Valley of Roses, most fragrant in May during the rose festival, then climbs back over the Middle Atlas by way of Midelt. You stop in Ifrane, the Switzerland of Morocco, and the cedar forest at Azrou, home to wild Barbary macaques.

You reach Fez in the late afternoon and check into your riad inside the ancient medina.

A licensed local guide leads you through Fez el-Bali, the world's largest car-free urban area, for the full day. The route winds through narrow alleys to the Bou Inania Madrasa, the Karaouine mosque, and the Chouara tanneries, where leather is still dyed by hand using methods unchanged in a thousand years.

You pass through the Blue Gate, Bab Boujloud, and the souks of artisans, with free time for lunch and shopping. Your driver drops you at your hotel, riad, or Fez airport at the agreed time.