Starting in Fes, finishing in Marrakech
A Fes to Marrakech desert tour is the mirror image of the trip everyone else is booking. You start in Fes, come down through the Middle Atlas to the dunes, and finish in Marrakech three days later. Exactly one listing on this site runs that direction: Fes to Marrakech: 3-Day Sahara Tour, Camel Ride & Camp at $107, rated 4.8 across 140 reviews. This page is what that listing is, how it compares with the same itinerary run the other way, and what does not exist in this direction at all.
Quick answer
The short answer. One listing here runs the Fes to Marrakech desert tour: three days, two nights, $107, 4.8 across 140 reviews, with 2 nights, 2 breakfasts and 2 dinners included. It is the same road as the Marrakech-first trip, driven backwards: Middle Atlas, Erg Chebbi with a camel ride and a camp, Todra Gorge, Ait Benhaddou, Marrakech. Everything else we compare on this site sets off from Marrakech instead.
Why anyone runs it backwards
Same road, reversed order, and a single listing to choose from.
Almost every desert trip in Morocco is sold from Marrakech, because that is where most visitors land. A Fes to Marrakech desert tour exists for the people whose week runs the other way: you flew into Fes, and Marrakech is where you want to finish rather than begin.
Geographically nothing changes. The same road, the same pass and the same dunes are on the itinerary whichever end you start from. What changes is the order. On a Fes to Marrakech desert tour the Middle Atlas comes on day one, and the High Atlas crossing with Ait Benhaddou comes on day three, as the run into Marrakech. On the Marrakech-first version, those two days swap places.
The practical argument has nothing to do with scenery. If your itinerary already had you moving north to south, a Fes to Marrakech desert tour turns a transfer you were going to pay for anyway into three days in the desert.
The catch is choice. On the Marrakech side we compare fourteen listings. In this direction there is one. That is not a judgement on the listing — at 4.8 across 140 reviews it is one of the better rated trips we track — but it does mean the decision is really about whether the direction suits you, not about which operator to pick.
Every trip, current fare
One listing runs this direction. The other three are the closest comparisons on this site: the same itinerary driven from Marrakech, the small-group version of it, and the two-day trip that can finish in either city.
| Tour | Length | Price | What is included | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fes to Marrakech: 3-Day Sahara Tour, Camel Ride & CampStarts in Fes, ends in Marrakech | 72 h | $107 | Starts in Fes, ends in Marrakech | $1.49 | 4.8 · 140 |
| Marrakech to Fes: 3-Day Sahara Tour, Camel Ride & CampTodra Gorge and Ait Benhaddou stops | 72 h | $110 | Todra Gorge and Ait Benhaddou stops | $1.53 | 4.8 · 3,675 |
| Marrakech to Fes: 3-Day Luxury Sahara Desert TourCamel trekking in Erg Chebbi dunes | 72 h | $150 | Camel trekking in Erg Chebbi dunes | $2.08 | 4.8 · 676 |
| From Marrakech: 2-Day Sahara Desert Trip to Fes or MarrakechMerzouga desert in two days | 48 h | $136 | Merzouga desert in two days | $2.83 | 4.5 · 47 |
The mirrored pair
Three dollars apart, same inclusions, both 4.8. The gap is in review counts, not quality.
The cleanest comparison on this page is between two listings that read almost identically. The Fes to Marrakech desert tour is $107 for three days, 4.8 across 140 reviews, with 2 nights, 2 breakfasts and 2 dinners. The shared Marrakech to Fes desert tour is $110 for three days, 4.8 across 3,675 reviews, with the same 2 nights, 2 breakfasts and 2 dinners. Both name Erg Chebbi, Todra Gorge and Ait Benhaddou. The price difference is three dollars.
So the money is not the decision. The evidence is: 3,675 reviews against 140. Both hold 4.8, which is the useful part — the reverse direction is not a worse product, it is a less bought one. If you need the reassurance of a very large sample, the Marrakech-first listing has it. If your week starts in Fes, 140 reviews at 4.8 is still a solid record, and the alternative is not a better tour but a worse fit.
The third column in the table is the small group listing, and it is there as the upgrade question rather than the direction question. A Marrakech to Fes desert tour luxury option exists at $150 with the Small group label and meals included; nothing equivalent is sold from the Fes end. If small-group travel is non-negotiable for you, that is an argument for reversing your itinerary rather than the tour.
The fourth column is the two-day trip, which is the only listing here that leaves the finishing city open: it can end in Fes or in Marrakech. It sets off from Marrakech, so it is not a Fes to Marrakech desert tour, but it is the shortest way to link the desert with both cities.
What does not exist
Worth saying plainly, because these are the four things people go looking for in this direction and none of them are on this site.
A Fes to Marrakech desert tour 2 days does not exist among the listings we compare. The only two-day route that touches both cities is From Marrakech: 2-Day Sahara Desert Trip to Fes or Marrakech at $136, and it leaves from Marrakech.
There is no 4 day tour from Marrakech to Fes here and no Fes to Marrakech desert tour 4 days either; a Fes to Marrakech desert tour 5 days is not sold on this site at all. The two four-day trips we list, at $435 and $550, are private routes through Ouarzazate, the kasbahs and Erg Chebbi, and both start in Marrakech and return there.
A Fes to Marrakech private desert tour is not among these listings. The two trips carrying the Private label — $435 and $550 — are four-day routes out of Marrakech.
The Sahara is far enough from both cities that all fifteen listings on this site are multi-day trips, and the shortest is two days.
The route, day by day
Middle Atlas, then the dunes, then the High Atlas — the standard itinerary, reversed.
The listing names its own stops, and those are the only ones worth quoting. Day one takes you out of Fes and over the Middle Atlas towards the desert. Day two is the Sahara: a camel ride across Erg Chebbi and a night in a camp, with the breakfasts and dinners the listing includes. Day three runs west through Todra Gorge and past Ait Benhaddou before the High Atlas crossing into Marrakech.
Set that against a 3-day desert tour from Marrakech to Fes and the content is identical: the same three components, reordered. Starting in Fes means your longest driving day is the first one; starting in Marrakech means you get the High Atlas and Ait Benhaddou on day one, which is the more photogenic opening.
Two nights is two nights either way. A Marrakech to Fes desert tour 3 days and its reverse both give you one night in the desert camp and one in accommodation on the road, and both put the camel ride at Erg Chebbi in the middle. Nobody can tell you in advance what the desert will be doing on the night you are there, and the listing does not try to.
The words the operator uses, rather than ours: ride camels across Erg Chebbi, sleep in a Sahara camp, explore Todra Gorge and Ait Benhaddou, travel from Fes to Marrakech with 2 nights, 2 breakfasts and 2 dinners included. That is the whole product.
The verdict
One listing, 4.8 across 140 reviews, and the right answer only if you start in Fes.
It is the only one here, and it earns the recommendation anyway. The best Marrakech to Fes desert tour question has six candidates; the reverse has one, and that one holds 4.8 across 140 reviews with its inclusions written out in the listing. At $107 for three days with two nights, two breakfasts and two dinners, the price is within three dollars of the most reviewed listing on the opposite route.
Book it if your week runs north to south. A Sahara desert tour from Fes only makes sense when Fes is where you already are. If you are starting in Marrakech, book the Marrakech to Fes Sahara tour instead and get the much larger review sample at $110, or the small-group listing at $150.
Do not book it to save money. It does not. The lowest price anywhere on this site is $71, and that is a two-day trip to Zagora that returns to Marrakech — a different product with a different destination, not a cheaper way to do this one.
Book direct
The reverse-direction listing first, then the three closest comparisons from the Marrakech end.
★ 4.8 · 140 reviews
★ 4.8 · 3,675 reviews
★ 4.8 · 676 reviews
★ 4.5 · 47 reviews
When to go
One listing means one set of departures, so availability is the thing that moves with the calendar here, not the product. Conditions in the Sahara are nobody’s to promise.
Mar – May
Peak demand across Morocco. With a single listing running this direction, spring is when it is most worth booking weeks rather than days ahead.
Jun – Aug
The long-daylight months, and the stretch when the first day out of Fes is at its longest. Availability is usually easier than in spring.
Sep – Nov
The second peak, and the busiest time in Fes itself. Book the tour before you book anything that depends on it.
Dec – Feb
Quietest for demand and shortest on daylight for the driving days. The easiest window to get the date you wanted.
Checklist
Short list, because there is one listing to choose from.
This listing collects you in Fes. Every other route on this site leaves from Marrakech.
You finish in Marrakech on day three. That is where the bed needs to be.
It states 2 nights, 2 breakfasts and 2 dinners. Other listings on this site state different things.
It is a one-way route. Nothing stays behind in Fes.
With one listing in this direction, the real choice is north-to-south or south-to-north.
Starting in Marrakech instead? Six routes run that way, from $108.
The Marrakech to Fes routes→Common questions
Yes, one on this site: Fes to Marrakech: 3-Day Sahara Tour, Camel Ride & Camp at $107, rated 4.8 across 140 reviews, with 2 nights, 2 breakfasts and 2 dinners included. Everything else we compare leaves from Marrakech.
Three days and two nights. There is no two-day and no four-day version of this direction among the listings here, and the shortest desert trip on the whole site is two days.
Practically the same. The Fes to Marrakech desert tour is $107 and the most reviewed listing on the reverse route is $110 — a three-dollar difference on a three-day trip. Choose on direction, not on price.
The listing states 2 nights, 2 breakfasts and 2 dinners, a camel ride across Erg Chebbi, a night in a Sahara camp, and stops at Todra Gorge and Ait Benhaddou. We do not add anything to that, because the listing is the only source for it.
Not from the listings on this site. The two trips with the Private label are four-day routes that start in Marrakech, at $435 and $550.
The road is the same and both hold 4.8. Start in Fes if Fes is where your week begins and Marrakech is where you fly out of; start in Marrakech if you want a much larger review sample to book against, or if you want the one small-group listing, which only runs that way.
Go deeper
Every desert tour leaving Marrakech, sorted by how many days it takes and where it drops you.
Sahara desertWhat the drive across the Atlas and the night at the dunes actually look like, day by day.
Marrakech → FesSeven listings cross the desert and end in Fes instead of bringing you back.
3-day toursThe three-day run to the Erg Chebbi dunes, and what the second night buys you.
Luxury toursWhat operators mean by a luxury camp here, and which listings actually say it.
Marrakech to Fes: 3-Day Luxury Sahara Desert Tour
★ 4.8 · 676 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h