The Long South

About This Tour

The Long South is twelve nights of deep-south Morocco — a tour for travellers who have already done the imperial cities once and want the country that comes after that. Taroudannt inside its Saadian walls. The Anti-Atlas with its pink granite, the Aït Mansour palmery, the painted rocks of Tafraoute. The road east through Tata is the route across the hammada that Morocco's caravan tradition used for centuries — the road is part of the experience, not a transit to be hurried. The Sahara is reached from M'Hamid by 4×4, with a mobile camp set up by our long-standing local network. The return is via the Drâa Valley with a quiet night in Taliouine — the saffron capital of Morocco — and back to Marrakech by the coast, via Tiznit's silver souk and the Agadir A7 motorway.

• Day 1

  Arrive Marrakech

  Met at Marrakech Menara airport (RAK) and transferred to a riad in the medina (about 20 minutes). Welcome dinner with the lead guide; the trip briefed over a long evening.

  HotelDinner
• Day 2

  Marrakech to Taroudannt — over the Tizi n'Tichka

  Morning departure over the Tizi n'Tichka (about 4 hours 30 minutes to Ouarzazate), the High Atlas pass at 2,260 metres. Continue west via Taliouine and the Souss plains to Taroudannt (about 3 hours from Ouarzazate). Late-afternoon arrival at a riad inside the Saadian walls. Light walk on the ramparts before dinner.

  HotelBreakfastDinner
• Day 3

  Taroudannt to Tafraoute

  Morning walk in the Taroudannt medina with a local guide — the souk, the kasbah, the ramparts at the speed of the slowest. Drive south into the Anti-Atlas (about 3 hours 30 minutes) to Tafraoute, set among the pink granite of the Ameln Valley. Late afternoon at the painted rocks of Tafraoute — the 1984 work of the Belgian artist Jean Vérame, the boulders still pink and blue thirty years on. Dinner at the riad.

  HotelBreakfastDinner
• Day 4

  Tafraoute — Aït Mansour palmery

  Drive into the Aït Mansour palmery (about 1 hour). Walking tour among the date palms and almond groves with a regional guide — the path passes Berber villages, a small mosque, abandoned grain silos. Hosted lunch with a host family in the palmery — the signature lunch of the trip, cooked over the fire. Return to Tafraoute in the late afternoon.

  HotelBreakfastLunchDinner
• Day 5

  Tafraoute to Tata — the road is the trip

  Long drive day east via Igherm and Foum Zguid (about 5 hours 30 minutes). The road is the experience — the landscape changes from the Ameln granite to flat hammada to the green of Tata's palmery. Settle in at Tata. Dinner at the hotel.

  HotelBreakfastDinner
• Day 6

  Tata to M'Hamid

  Drive north and east via Foum Zguid and Zagora to M'Hamid (about 5 hours 30 minutes), the last town before the deep Sahara. Settle in at a kasbah-hotel in the palmery. Late-afternoon walk through the M'Hamid palmery with the host — Saharawi families, working date groves, the old ksar of the caravan era. Dinner at the kasbah.

  HotelBreakfastDinner
• Day 7

  M'Hamid to Erg Chigaga

  Morning at the kasbah — a slow breakfast, time to read on the terrace. Late-morning transfer to 4×4 for the run into the open Sahara (about 2 hours 30 minutes off-road). Arrive Erg Chigaga in the early afternoon. Camel walk into the dunes for sunset. Camp dinner under the stars, the silence the kind that takes a few minutes to adjust to.

  HotelBreakfastDinner
• Day 8

  Erg Chigaga — full day

  Sunrise on the highest dune, the light coming up across the whole erg. Morning walk with a nomad guide to a Saharawi encampment if a family is in the area — tea, conversation through translation. Afternoon at the camp at the guests' own pace — time on the sand, a book in the shade of the dining tent. Music and food in the evening with the camp's musicians.

  HotelBreakfastDinner
• Day 9

  Erg Chigaga to Zagora

  Camp dismantled in the morning. 4×4 return to M'Hamid (about 2 hours 30 minutes). Drive up the Drâa Valley to Zagora (about 1 hour 30 minutes). Afternoon at leisure — the Wednesday or Sunday souk if the day falls right, a walk on the riad terrace, time at the pool. Dinner at the riad.

  HotelBreakfastDinner
• Day 10

  Drâa Valley — Zagora to Agdz

  Slow drive up the Drâa Valley to Agdz (about 2 hours 30 minutes), the road of a thousand kasbahs. Stops at the Tamnougalt kasbah and the Jewish quarter at the lower end of the valley — the old caravan traces still visible. Settle in at a riad in the palmery. Dinner with the host.

  HotelBreakfastDinner
• Day 11

  Agdz to Taliouine — saffron country

  Drive west via Ouarzazate to Taliouine (about 3 hours 30 minutes), the saffron capital of Morocco — the harvest in late October and November pulled from the crocus fields by hand, the threads worth more by weight than gold. Afternoon at a saffron-producer's kasbah-hotel (in season, a visit to the cooperative; out of season, a tasting). Dinner at the kasbah.

  HotelBreakfastDinner
• Day 12

  Taliouine to Marrakech — by the coast

  Morning drive west from Taliouine to Tiznit (about 2 hours 30 minutes), the old Berber silver capital walled by Sultan Hassan I in 1881. Stop for a walking tour of the medina and the working silversmiths' quarter. Continue to Agadir (about 1 hour 30 minutes) for a coffee at the marina and a look at the Atlantic from the corniche. From Agadir, the A7 motorway runs straight to Marrakech (about 2 hours 30 minutes). Late-afternoon arrival; settle in at a riad in the medina. Final dinner at a rooftop overlooking Djemaa el-Fna.

  HotelBreakfastDinner
• Day 13

  Until you leave Marrakech

  A morning in your own hand — a last walk through the medina or a quiet morning at the riad, perhaps the hammam before checkout. The driver makes the airport transfer at a time chosen by the guests — to Marrakech Menara airport (RAK, about 30 minutes) for the international flight.

  Breakfast
• Day 14

  Departure

  Transfer to Marrakech Menara (RAK) for the international flight.