Camel Ride Near Fez: A Day Trip, or a Night in the Sahara?

Why the Sahara is not a day trip from Fez

Guests often write to me with only one or two days in Fez, hoping to ride a camel in the desert. The dunes of Erg Chebbi near Merzouga are at least eight hours away by road, through Ifrane, the cedar forest, Midelt and the Ziz Valley. Going there and back in one day would mean sixteen hours in a car, so I never suggest it.

The camel ride near Fez

If your time is short, I arrange a relaxed camel ride in the olive groves in the countryside near Fez. It is calm and green, with views back over the hills, and it fits easily into a morning or an afternoon. You are back in the city in time for lunch or the rest of your day.

Ride length	Price per person
30 minutes	400 MAD
1 hour	600 MAD
2 hours	1,100 MAD

Return transport from your riad or hotel is 700 MAD for the whole group. For three people, a one hour ride comes to 2,500 MAD in total, including transport.

You can combine it with a guided morning in the medina, or with Sefrou and Bhalil, my home village, on the same day.

If you have two days or more

With two days you can sleep in the Sahara. We leave Fez around 7:00 or 8:00, stop in Ifrane and the cedar forest to see the Barbary macaques, and reach Merzouga in the late afternoon for a camel ride into the dunes at sunset, dinner and a night in a desert camp. The next morning you can ride again at sunrise, and we are back in Fez in the evening.

Three or four days is more comfortable, because you can add the Todra and Dades gorges and Ait Ben Haddou and finish in Marrakech instead of driving back. Read Fez to Merzouga and see our desert tours from Fez.

Which should you choose?

Your time in Fez	What I suggest
One or two days	The camel ride in the olive groves near Fez
Two days to spare	Fez to Merzouga with one night in a camp
Three or four days	The Sahara and the gorges, ending in Marrakech