Tangier · Chefchaouen · Fès · Marrakech · Erg Chigaga

The Long Crossing

From the strait to the last dune, the whole country in ten days.

10 days · 9 nights8-14 guests · fully private

Most people see one Morocco. This is all of them.

A week in Marrakech is a city. A week in the desert is a desert. Neither tells you that this country runs from a strait you can see Spain across to an erg where the nearest town is sixty kilometres of piste away, and that everything in between changes every two hours: Rif, Roman ruins, the oldest working medina on earth, cedar forest, a pass at 2,260 metres, a valley of palms, and then sand.

About 1,300 kilometres of road, and the last sixty are not a road at all. We drive it in our own vehicles with our own drivers, and the itinerary is built around where you sleep rather than how far you get, which is why there is a day in the middle with nothing in it.

It ends at our own camp in Erg Chigaga. Not a camp we book: one we own, sixty kilometres past the last tarmac at M'Hamid, with no other group on it. That is the difference between arriving somewhere and being taken somewhere.

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What you'll experience

Cap Spartel, where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean
Chefchaouen and a walk in the Rif above the blue town
Roman Volubilis and Moulay Idriss on the way south
The Fès medina with the artisans who work in it
Middle Atlas cedar forest and the Barbary macaques
Tizi n'Tichka, the High Atlas pass at 2,260 metres
Aït Ben Haddou and the Draa, the longest river in Morocco
Sixty kilometres of piste past the last tarmac at M'Hamid
Two nights at our own camp in Erg Chigaga, no other guests
Stargazing with no town for sixty kilometres in any direction

The programme

Day 1

Tangier, two seas

Arrival and private transfer. Cap Spartel in the late afternoon, where the Atlantic and the Mediterranean meet and you can see both at once. The Kasbah, then dinner above the strait with Spain on the other side of it.

Day 2

Into the Rif

One hundred and twelve kilometres south to Chefchaouen. The blue medina in the afternoon, when the tour buses have gone, and a walk up to the Spanish Mosque for the light on the way down.

Day 3

Rome, then Fès

South through the Rif to Volubilis, the Roman city that was the western edge of an empire, and Moulay Idriss on its hill above it. Into Fès by evening.

Day 4

The oldest medina in the world

A full day in Fès with the people who work there: a tannery, a brass beater, a weaver, a bakery where the neighbourhood brings its own dough. Nine thousand alleys and no cars in any of them.

Day 5

Cedars, and the long road down

Out through Ifrane and the Middle Atlas cedar forest, where the Barbary macaques are, and then the long transfer south to Marrakech. The one day of the ten that is genuinely a driving day, and we say so rather than hide it.

Day 6

Marrakech, and nothing asked of anyone

A slow day on purpose, halfway through. Hammam in the morning, the medina at your own pace, an afternoon with nothing in it. The week works because this day exists.

Day 7

Over the High Atlas

The Tizi n'Tichka pass at 2,260 metres, then down the far side to Aït Ben Haddou, the ksar every film crew in the world has used, and on to Ouarzazate.

Day 8

The Draa, and the end of the tarmac

Down the Draa valley through Agdz and Zagora, palm groves and ksour the whole way, to M'Hamid where the paved road stops. Sixty kilometres of piste after that, and our camp.

Day 9

Erg Chigaga

The largest erg in Morocco, and no other group on it. Dunes at sunrise, walking with a nomad guide, the long lunch, hammam and fire, and a sky with no town in it for sixty kilometres in any direction.

Day 10

Out

Breakfast on the sand, then 4x4 to Ouarzazate for the flight, or on to Marrakech. Helicopter from the camp's own helipad on request.

The retreat

Capacity
8-14 guests · full buyout available
Base
Riads and small houses the whole way, then our own camp at Erg Chigaga
Transfer
Private vehicles and drivers throughout · 4x4 convoy for the final piste · Helicopter from the camp on request
Season
Late September to early June. Not July or August: the Sahara is unusable in that heat.
Investment
On request

These weeks run with a partner

This retreat is not on open sale. We build it with a studio, a club or a clinic that brings its own group, and we open a date around their season rather than ours. Tell us who you would bring and when, and we will come back with a week.

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Where you stay

Superior accommodation, chosen on the ground by our own experts.

Nothing on this site was booked from a catalogue. Every riad, camp, kasbah and guesthouse was found, visited and slept in by one of our experts before it was ever offered to a guest. The standard is superior throughout, and the reason is practical: after a day of walking, surfing or altitude, comfort is not a luxury, it is what makes the next day possible.

Visited before it is offered

Our team travels the country year-round. If one of us has not slept there, it does not go into a programme.

Original, never generic

Private riads, our own exclusive-use camp in the dunes, restored family kasbahs, guesthouses in Berber villages. Places you cannot book from a screen.

Comfort as a working tool

Real beds, hot water, quiet rooms, proper food. Recovery is part of the programme, not an afterthought.

Groups & circles

Coming as a group?

Six of you or more, and the whole retreat can be arranged around your circle. Tell us the size and the dates, and we prepare a proposal for you.

Request a group proposal

A departure for your circle alone

A private date set aside for your group, at the pace and in the season that suit you.

One group at a time, never mixed

You are never placed among strangers. The camp, the table and the guides are yours.

Group rate and privatisation on request

For six guests or more we prepare a tailored proposal. Simply ask.

Reserve this retreat

Ten days, 8 to 14 guests, north to south. Dates are built around your group, and the two published departures are a starting point rather than the only option.

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