5 Days Tour from Marrakech to Merzouga, Fez and Casablanca

It's a long driving day, but a spectacular one. You cross the High Atlas over the Tizi n'Tichka pass, 2,260 metres up, the road switching back through Berber villages with views that stretch across the range. The stop at Aït Ben Haddou brings you to Morocco's most famous UNESCO ksar, the earthen fortress recognisable from Gladiator and Game of Thrones.

From there the road continues through Ouarzazate, Morocco's film capital, then east via Tinghir toward Merzouga. You arrive in the late afternoon, and camels are waiting to take you into the golden dunes of Erg Chebbi as the sun goes down.

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, one of the most unforgettable sights in Morocco. A Berber breakfast at camp follows, then the drive west through Erfoud and Tinghir brings you to the dramatic Todra Gorges, where 300 metre cliffs rise straight up on either side.

The route continues along the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs through the Dades Valley before climbing back into the Middle Atlas. You overnight in Midelt, an apple growing town set on the high plateau.

The road heads north through the Middle Atlas, with a stop in Ifrane, known as the Switzerland of Morocco for its alpine architecture and pine scented air. From there you continue to the cedar forest at Azrou, where you may spot wild Barbary macaques in the branches.

You reach Fez by mid-afternoon and check into your traditional riad inside the ancient medina. Later, a walk through the Blue Gate area gives you a first taste of the medina's streets, and dinner is on a riad rooftop as evening settles over the city.

A licensed local guide leads you through Fez el-Bali for the full day, the largest car-free urban area in the world. You walk the labyrinthine alleys to the Bou Inania Madrasa and the Karaouine mosque, founded in 859 AD and still considered the oldest continuously operating university on earth.

The Chouara tanneries are the highlight, where leather has been dyed by hand using the same techniques for a thousand years. The afternoon is free for lunch and browsing the artisan souks.

After breakfast you drive west across the plains to Casablanca, about four hours on the modern highway. The Hassan II Mosque is the stop here, one of the largest mosques in the world, its walls rising straight out of the Atlantic.

From there you can walk the corniche before your driver drops you at your hotel or the Casablanca airport.