Things to Do in Morocco & Places to See

Erfoud, the date capital

On a trip to the Moroccan desert, visit Erfoud

Things to Do in Morocco & Places to See: When traveling in the Moroccan desert, visit Erfoud. Right in the heart of the desert, this small village lies at the foot of the High Atlas, on the route of a thousand kasbahs. Erfoud is an ideal starting point for exploring the Moroccan desert and its extraordinary landscapes!

Erfoud was first settled by the French military, to keep an eye on the rebellious tribes of the Tafilalet region. The town later prospered thanks to the flourishing trade in dates and marble, renowned for its 360 million-year-old fossil inclusions.

What to see and do in Erfoud

Preparing for your Morocco tours also means knowing what to see and do in Erfoud: here’s our guide to excursions and sites to visit in Erfoud.

You can’t pass through Erfoud without visiting the marble factories that specialize in the extraction and polishing of fossilized stones. 15 km to the south-east are the quarries of black marble studded with fossils (goniatites, orthoceras, trilobites, etc.).

Excursion around Erfoud

Three km from the center of Erfoud, on the road linking Erfoud to Merzouga, go to Borj Est. On a hill overlooking the town and its vast palm grove, the Borj Est is an old fortress from which you can contemplate the magnificent scenery of the Ziz valley and the surrounding ksours.

Venture into the Marha plain and the Fezna oasis. You’ll see three gigantic sculptures by German artist Hannsjoerg Voth standing in the middle of the desert: the Celestial Staircase, the Golden Spiral and the City of Orion. It’s a surreal spectacle!

From Erfoud

From Erfoud, head north on the N13 towards ksar El Maadid, one of the most beautiful ksour in Tafilalet, around 25 km from Erfoud. With its high walls and majestic gates, it’s a visit you won’t regret.  Not far from there is the Aïn Al Ati spring on the right bank of the Oued Ziz, an unlikely fountain in the middle of the desert!

Then head south from Erfoud on the road to Rissani, through the reg countryside and palm groves of Tafilalet. Visit Sijillmassa, the ancient Berber capital of Tafilalet, founded in 757.

Fifty kilometers after Rissani, you can reach Merzouga, at the gateway to Erg Chebbi and its wide open Saharan spaces. Push on to the Zireg, the desert of the Ait Kebbach nomads. A 4X4 is required, but the wild landscapes are breathtaking, with black rock and orange sand.

Access & practical info

Things to Do in Morocco & Places to See: Erfoud is 20 km north of Rissani, 280 km from Ouarzazate, and around 320 km south of Meknes. You can opt for buses and shared cabs, or get there on your own.

We can also offer you a tailor-made tour of southern Morocco, including Erfoud.

Zagora, gateway to the desert

(ON A TRIP TO THE MOROCCAN DESERT, VISIT ZAGORA)

Zagora is located in the Draa Valley, 160 km south of Ouarzazate, at 700 m altitude. It was from the Zagora oasis in the 16th century that the Saadians conquered the Souss, and later all of Morocco. Zagora was also an important caravanning center. At the southern end of the town, built by the French military under the protectorate, stands the famous sign announcing the road to Timbuktu.

At the crossroads of Ouarzazate to the north, Tata and Tafraoute to the west, Erfoud and Merzouga to the east and M’Hamid and the great ergs to the south, Zagora is an ideal stop-off point for discovering the Moroccan desert.

What to see and do in Zagora

Things to Do in Morocco & Places to See: Preparing for your Morocco tours also means knowing what to see and do in Zagora: Here’s our guide to what to see and do in Zagora.

Apart from its magnificent palm grove, where you can make a pleasant stopover, Zagora’s main attraction is being the road to the desert.

From Zagora, there are numerous possibilities for excursions into the desert, on foot, on camelback or in a 4X4.

Excursions around Zagora

5 km to the south, on the left, is an isolated dune known as the Tinfou dune. You can spend the night in one of the many bivouacs around the dune to get a taste of the desert.

But if you have the time, we recommend continuing on towards M’Hamid and the dunes of Erg Lihoudi. There are pleasant campsites where you can spend the night in a bivouac in the first dunes of the Sahara.

Continue on to the Ouled Driss Ksar a few kilometers away. This authentic 17th-century Saharan village, founded by the nomadic tribes who made the great Sahara crossing, will charm you. You can even spend a night with our friend Hassan in a traditional house in the heart of the old village.

For a hike in the Draa Valley, our Berber guide will take you to the village of Zaouiat Sidi Salah. This is the starting point for an easy walk through the desert and the first dunes of the Sahara. For the younger ones, take a saddle dromedary; kids love animals!

On the way to the desert, visit Tamgroute, some 20 km from Zagora, on the ancient caravan route through the Drâa Valley. Tamegroute, whose name means “the last”, is one of the most prestigious zaouïas in North Africa. It boasts a unique library of nine-century-old manuscripts, precious scientific treatises, religious works from the Andalusian Golden Age and illuminated Korans. Tamgroute is also renowned throughout the country for the skills of its potters.

Access & practical information

Zagora has a small airport linking the region to Casablanca twice a week.

The town can also be reached by road from Ouarzazate (95km), taking around 3 hours. Zagora is well served by public transport, with daily connections to Ouarzazate, Marrakech and Casablanca.

Winner of the Responsible Tourism Trophy, Sahara Morocco Tours offers a wide range of excursions in the Moroccan desert. The recipe for our trips to Morocco: authentic itineraries, discoveries of unusual places and encounters with local people.

On a trip to the Moroccan desert, visit Zagora

Zagora is located in the Draa Valley, at an altitude of 700 m, at the foot of the Zagora Mountain, 160 km south of Ouarzazate. It was from the Zagora oasis in the 16th century that the Saadians conquered the Souss, and later all of Morocco. Zagora was also an important caravanning center. At the southern end of the town, built by the French military under the protectorate, stands the famous sign announcing the road to Timbuktu.

At the crossroads of Ouarzazate to the north, Tata and Tafraoute to the west, Erfoud and Merzouga to the east and M’Hamid and the great ergs to the south, Zagora is an ideal stopover for discovering the Moroccan desert.

What to see/do in Zagora

Things to Do in Morocco & Places to See: Preparing for your trip to Morocco also means knowing what to see and do in Zagora: here’s our guide to what to see and do in Zagora.

Apart from its magnificent palm grove, where you can make a pleasant stopover, the main attraction of Agdz is that it’s the road to the desert.

From Zagora, there are numerous possibilities for excursions into the desert, on foot, on camelback or in a 4X4.

Excursions around Zagora

5 km to the south, on the left, is an isolated dune known as the Tinfou dune. You can spend the night in one of the many bivouacs around the dune to get a taste of the desert.

But if you have time, continue on towards M’Hamid and the dunes of Erg Lihoudi, where you can spend the night in a bivouac in the first dunes of the Sahara.

Continue on to the Ouled Driss ksar a few kilometers away. This authentic 17th-century ksar, founded by the nomadic tribes who made the great Sahara crossing, will charm you. You can even spend a night with our friend Hassan in a traditional house in the heart of the old village.

For a hike in the Draa Valley, our Berber guide will take you to the village of Zaouiat Sidi Salah. This is the starting point for an easy hike through the desert and the first dunes of the Sahara. For the younger ones, take a saddle dromedary; kids love animals!

On the way to the desert, visit Tamgroute, some 20 km from Zagora, on the ancient caravan route through the Drâa Valley. Tamegroute, whose name means “the last”, is one of the most prestigious zaouïas in North Africa. It boasts a unique library of nine-century-old manuscripts, precious scientific treatises, religious works from the Andalusian Golden Age and illuminated Korans. Tamgroute is also renowned throughout the country for the skills of its potters.

Access & practical info

Zagora has a small airport linking the region to Casablanca twice a week.

The town can also be reached by road from Ouarzazate (95km), taking around 3 hours. Zagora is well served by public transport, with daily connections to Ouarzazate, Marrakech and Casablanca.

Tazzarine, the Henna capital

Things to Do in Morocco & Places to See: On a trip to the Moroccan desert, visit Tazzarine

Between the Draa Valley and Jebel Saghro, Tazzarine was on the main caravan routes across the Moroccan desert to the salt mines of Mauritania and the gold reserves of Sudan.

Behind the gates of its ksour, Tazzarine shelters pleasant gardens where henna, palm trees and aromatic plants grow. You’ll discover the mysteries of its kasbah (ksour) villages, which enjoyed a prosperous past for centuries during the era of the trans-Saharan caravans. Inhabited since prehistoric times, the Tazzarine region protects a rich heritage.

The area around Tazzarine offers a wide variety of excursions!

What to see and do in Tazzarine?

Preparing for your Morocco tours also means knowing what to see and do in Tazzarine.

Here’s our guide to what to see and do in Tazzarine, at the gateway to the desert.

Tazzarine is a village of kasbahs between Nkob and Alnif, located in the Guir Hamada not far from the peaks of Jbel Saghro. Its magnificent palm grove is home to the famous Tazzarine henna. It is also home to ancient douars with traditional earthen architecture. This pleasant oasis contrasts with the aridity of the surrounding rocky plains. There are many excursions to be made, on foot or by donkey, to discover this oasis with its many henna gardens, its marabouts and the old mellah (Jewish quarter). The souk takes place every Wednesday

Tazzarine is the starting point for hikes and 4×4 excursions to Jebel Saghro.

Excursions around Tazzarine

While traveling in the Tazzarine area, don’t miss a superb hike to the Foum Tizza dunes. Head for the Taghbalte gorges, cross the Oum el-Ghizlane and Houda palm groves and end up at Sedrar, the fossil mountain. A landscape of plateaus and gorges, oases and dunes for a “different kind of desert break”. A Saharan itinerary between erg and reg that our guides know inside out.

Take a 4X4 excursion to Serdrar, the mountain of fossils… you’ll discover an immense desert plateau in the middle of which stretches the Zagora cliff overlooking the Draa valley!

Go as far as the village of Aït Ouazick, home to rock engravings that bear witness to a time when the Sahara was a vast savannah populated by gazelles, ostriches and elephants.

Access and practical information

Tazzarine is 85 km from Zagora and 158 km from Rissani,

From Tazzarine, the N12 road heads south, passing through the Taghbalt oasis, and after crossing the Saghro mountains via the Tizi N’Tafilalet, you arrive in the center of Zagora. To the west, there’s a road that takes you to the Nkob oasis (30 km) and Agdz (98 km). Following this road north on the N12, you pass the Aït Saadane Oasis and Alnif, 61 km away.

Tinghir

Things to Do in Morocco & Places to See: on a trip to the Moroccan desert, visit Tinghir (Tinerhir))

Between the High Atlas and Jebel Saghro lies the magnificent palm grove of Tinghir. On a trip to the Todra region, stop off in Tinghir for a stroll through the gardens of the palm grove and enjoy a picnic in the shade of the date palms. Tinghir is also famous for the Todra Gorge.

What to see and do in Tinghir?

Preparing for your travet to Morocco also means knowing what to see and do in Tinghir. Here’s our guide to excursions and places to see in and around Tinghir.

In Tinghir, the Aït el Haj Ali district is the old mellah, the Jewish quarter. It has retained the authentic atmosphere of southern Moroccan villages. Take a stroll through the narrow streets lined with tall mud houses, and meet the locals. This district is located south of Place Ziad Ouhmad, near Souk Fokani. The weekly souk, an essential meeting place for the locals, is held every Monday on the road to Ouarzazate, 2kms from Tinghir.

South of town, on the avenue Bir Anzarane, the kasbah of Sheikh Basou Ou-Ali houses a small museum with superb photographs of the region, showing the most beautiful ksour of southern Morocco along the caravan routes. It’s also a lovely guesthouse where we recommend a stopover.

Take an excursion to the Kasbah du Glaoui, perched on a rocky promontory; although the Kasbah is in ruins, the panorama over the Tinghir palm grove and the Todra gorges is breathtaking. The Kasbah is located 500m north of the town center on the road to Erfoud and Errachidia.

Excursions around Tinghir

Visit the village of El Hart to the east of Tinghir, on the left bank of the Oued Todra. It is renowned for the skills of its potters, who work the valley’s ochre earth. From Tinghir, take the Er-Rachidia road, then follow the palm grove trail. After passing through a succession of kasbah villages, you’ll reach the village of El Hart (15 km).

A trip to Tinghir includes a visit to the palm grove, which winds along the wadi for 12 km to the source of the sacred fish at the entrance to the Todra Gorge. The walk can be made by car, but walkers can also set off on foot through the gardens. In the bed of the wadi, the landscape takes the form of a colorful chessboard, between fields of cereals, vegetable gardens, palm trees and olive groves.

Things to Do in Morocco & Places to See

Walk from the ancient ksar of Tinghir to the Ikelane mosque, which can be visited by non-Muslims, and explore the small villages of the valley. The walk takes around 3 hours. We recommend taking a local guide.

From the source of the Sacred Fish, you enter the Todra Gorge, where numerous excursions await you.

Further south, on the road to Merzouga, stop off at Ksar El Khorbat, an ancient fortified mud village built in the 19th century, where you can spend the night in one of the restored houses.

Visit the Musée des Sources de Lalla Mimouna. It’s the most unusual of all water museums, with a real understanding of Berber cultural heritage.

Access & practical information

Things to Do in Morocco & Places to See: Located 50 km from Boumalne Dadès, Tinghir is a not-to-be-missed stopover during your stay in Morocco. The town is a two-hour drive from Ouarzazate and Errachidia airports.

You can rent a tourist car. We can also put one of our driver-guides at your disposal, so you can discover the Moroccan south without missing out on the must-sees!