Road trip Fez → Merzouga: 3 days to the Erg Chebbi dunes

The Merzouga desert and the golden dunes of Erg Chebbi rank among the finest escapes you can make from Fez. Allow roughly 460 to 470 km and 7 to 8 hours of driving, according to route calculations: this is not a journey to swallow in one go, but a proper road trip that crosses the Middle and then the High Atlas. Here is how to plan it over three days, without stress.

Day 1: Fez → Midelt through the Middle Atlas

Hit the road early in the morning. First stop: Ifrane (about 1 hour from Fez), Morocco's "little Switzerland", for a coffee in the crisp air of the cedar country. Continue to Azrou and its cedar forest, home to free-roaming Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) — Africa's only macaque, with the Middle Atlas hosting roughly two thirds of the world population, according to the Barbary macaque reference page. Then drop down to Midelt, at the halfway point, the ideal place for your first night. The road is paved and in good condition, but winding in the mountains: don't aim for speed, aim for scenery.

Day 2: Midelt → Merzouga through the gorges

This day crosses the most spectacular landscapes of the trip: the mineral scenery of the High Atlas, the Ziz Valley and its palm groves, then Errachidia and Erfoud (the fossil town). You reach Merzouga in the late afternoon, just in time to watch the dunes turn red at sunset. Many travellers follow up with a night at a desert camp at the foot of Erg Chebbi.

Day 3: sunrise and the drive back

Sunrise over the dunes is the highlight of the whole trip. Then allow a full day for the return to Fez, or break the journey again with a night in Midelt or Ifrane if you prefer to take it easy behind the wheel.

Which car for this trip?

Good news: a standard road car is perfectly adequate, as the road is tarmacked all the way to Merzouga. A 4×4 is only needed to venture into the dunes — an excursion the local guesthouses usually organise. For comfort over these long distances, a compact or an SUV with air conditioning and an automatic gearbox makes the drive noticeably more pleasant.

Our practical tips

• Fill up before the remote stretches: petrol stations become scarce after Errachidia.
• Bring water, sunglasses and a jumper: it gets chilly at altitude and in the desert after dark.
• Drive in daylight: the mountain road is stress-free when you can see it.
• Check tyre pressures and the air conditioning before setting off (see our pre-departure checklist).
• Brush up on the local rules (speed limits, tolls) in our guide Driving in Morocco.

Want to dive deeper into the desert itself (camps, camel treks, sandboarding, best season)? It's all in our big guide to the Merzouga Sahara. And for more itinerary ideas, see our big guide to road trips from Fez.