The idea
Berber villages, mountain passes and the quiet side of the Sahara
The Atlas is not scenery you drive past. It is a working landscape of terraced barley, walnut groves and villages that still run on the irrigation rules their great-grandparents agreed on. This journey spends three days inside it before dropping to the desert at Erg Chigaga, which takes effort to reach and rewards it.
Journey highlights
Two nights in the Ait Bouguemez, the valley Moroccans call the happy valley
Walking between villages with a mountain guide from Tabant
The Tizi n Tichka pass and the kasbah at Ait Benhaddou, timed for late light
Erg Chigaga – bigger, wilder and far emptier than the dunes most people see
Day by day
The route
Scroll the days and the route draws itself. Every element here is movable – this is how the journey runs if you change nothing.
Route
Day 01
Marrakech to the Ait Bouguemez
Out of the city early and into the mountains by mid-morning. The last hour is a track rather than a road, and then the valley opens out in front of you and makes the whole drive make sense.
Night 1: Family-run gite, Ait Bouguemez
Day 02
Walking the valley floor
Five hours of easy walking between villages, mostly flat, entirely at the pace of whoever is slowest. Lunch is wherever we happen to be at one o clock, which is usually someone courtyard.
Night 2: Family-run gite, Ait Bouguemez
Day 03
Up to the collective granary
A steeper morning to the agadir at Sidi Moussa, a fortified granary on a hilltop that has been keeping the valley grain safe for six hundred years. The view from the top covers the entire valley. Afternoon at rest.
Night 3: Family-run gite, Ait Bouguemez
Day 04
Over the Tichka, down to Ait Benhaddou
A full day of mountain road over the Tizi n Tichka, stopping where the view earns it. Arrive at Ait Benhaddou late enough that the coach parties have gone and the kasbah is the colour it is supposed to be.
Night 4: Kasbah guesthouse, Ait Benhaddou
Day 05
The Draa and the road to Chigaga
South through the Draa valley and its unbroken palmeraie, then west from M Hamid on two hours of piste. There is no road to Erg Chigaga and that is precisely the point.
Night 5: Private camp, Erg Chigaga
Day 06
Erg Chigaga
A whole day in the largest dune field in Morocco, with perhaps two other camps within an hour of you. Walk, sandboard, sleep, or sit with the camp team and let the day pass. Dinner around a fire, and a sky with nothing competing with it.
Night 6: Private camp, Erg Chigaga
Day 07
Return to Marrakech
Out across the piste at dawn and back over the Tichka, arriving in Marrakech by late afternoon. A day room is held for you if your flight is a late one.
Where you stay
Rooms we have slept in ourselves
We inspect every property we book and re-inspect it each year. When a place slips, we stop using it – which is why this list is shorter than our competitors.
The detail
What is included, and what is not
We would rather be clear about this up front than surprise you later. If something here does not suit, say so – nearly all of it can be changed.
What is included
Six nights accommodation, from mountain gite to private desert camp
Private 4×4 and driver throughout, including all piste sections
A qualified mountain guide for all three walking days
All breakfasts and dinners, and lunch on walking days
Camp on a private-use basis at Erg Chigaga
Day room in Marrakech on departure
What is not included
International flights and visa costs where applicable
Travel insurance, which must cover walking to 2,800m
Lunches on driving days, and anything from the bar
Gratuities for guides and camp teams
Pace and fitness
Three walking days: five, four and three hours, on paths rather than trails
Highest point is roughly 2,800m at the Sidi Moussa granary
Gite accommodation is simple and warm, with shared bathrooms on one night
The piste to Chigaga is bumpy for two hours; we can shorten it on request
Also consider
Other journeys
Marrakech
Imperial Cities & the Sahara
The journey most people picture when they imagine Morocco, slowed down until it becomes something else entirely. Two imperial cities, a cedar forest, a gorge, and three nights where the road simply ends.
9 days / 8 nights · 2-8 travellers · From 4,850 EUR per person
Essaouira
Coast & Medina
Morocco at sea level. Three nights in Essaouira where the wind never stops and nothing is in a hurry, two in Marrakech, and an argan cooperative in between. The journey we send people on when they want to come back rested.
6 days / 5 nights · 2-8 travellers · From 2,980 EUR per person
Start a conversation
Tell us what you want from Morocco
Every journey we arrange begins with a conversation rather than a brochure. Tell us when you can travel, how you like to move, and what you would rather avoid – we will come back with a route, not a quote.