6-Day Imlil, Atlas Mountains & Sahara Desert Expedition

The Atlas Mountains start here. Leave Marrakech in the morning and climb to Imlil (1,740m), where your local mountain guide is waiting.

Walk village paths between walnut trees and terraced fields, up to Aremd (1,900m), for a view of Mount Toubkal that's worth the climb. Lunch is a homemade Berber meal.

Today you cross the High Atlas on the winding Tizi n'Tichka pass (2,260m).

On the other side, Ait Ben Haddou is waiting: the UNESCO mud-brick fortress seen in Gladiator and Game of Thrones. Then Ouarzazate, the Skoura palm groves, the Valley of Roses, and the Dades Valley before sunset.

Travel east along the Road of 1000 Kasbahs and stop at Todra Gorge near Tinghir, where the canyon walls rise 300 meters on either side.

Then on through Erfoud, famous for prehistoric fossils, until the golden dunes of Erg Chebbi rise on the horizon. Merzouga. The Sahara. You made it.

Today belongs to the desert.

Head out in a 4x4. Visit Khamlia and its soul-stirring Gnawa music, meet nomadic families living in desert tents, and see the old desert mines. In the late afternoon, climb onto your camel and ride across Erg Chebbi as the sun sets over the golden sand.

Then comes the night: dinner, campfire drumming, and sleep in a Sahara desert camp.

Wake early. Sunrise over the dunes is the reason you came.

Then take the road most visitors skip. Stop in Rissani for its traditional souks and donkey park, cross pre-Saharan landscapes through N'Kob and Agdez, and follow the Draa Valley, Morocco's longest palm oasis, all the way to Ouarzazate.

One last morning in the south. Explore Kasbah Taourirt in Ouarzazate, or tour the Atlas Film Studios.

Then the mountain highway carries you back across the High Atlas, with panorama stops along the way, and into Marrakech by late afternoon (around 17:00 to 18:00).