Desert Tour from Marrakech

A four-day private round trip from Marrakech to the Merzouga desert and back, through the Dades and Todra gorges, Ouarzazate and the kasbah of Aït Ben Haddou. You ride a camel into the Erg Chebbi dunes for sunset, try sandboarding, spend a night in a luxury camp and watch the sunrise over the Sahara.

• Start: 8:00 am from your hotel or riad in Marrakech
• End: afternoon of day 4 at your hotel or riad in Marrakech
• Transport: private 4×4, minibus or minivan with air conditioning and a driver-guide who speaks English, Spanish, French and Italian
• Nights: 2 hotels and 1 luxury desert camp (tents with private bathrooms)

Day 1: Marrakech – Ouarzazate – Dades Valley

Your driver meets you at your hotel at 8:00 am. We cross the High Atlas Mountains by the Tizi n’Tichka pass (2,260 m), with colourful landscapes and Berber villages all the way to Ouarzazate.

In Ouarzazate you have free time to visit the Taourirt Kasbah and have lunch. We then drive southeast through the Skoura palm grove and Kelaa M’Gouna, the town of roses, to the green Dades Valley. Dinner and overnight at Hotel Ksar Sultan Dades or similar.

Day 2: Dades Valley – Todra Gorge – Merzouga

We leave at 8:00 am along the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs. After about 45 km we reach Tinghir, with its palm grove and old Jewish quarter, then the Todra Gorge, where you can walk between canyon walls about 300 m high – a favourite spot for rock climbers.

After lunch on the way, we drive via Erfoud until the dunes of Erg Chebbi rise out of the desert. At Merzouga you ride a camel into the dunes, try sandboarding and watch the sunset before dinner and a night in a luxury camp.

Day 3: Merzouga – Rissani – Tazzarine – Agdz – Ouarzazate

Wake before dawn to watch the sun rise over the dunes, then have breakfast and a shower at camp and ride back by camel. We drive to Rissani, a small Saharan market town, to visit a fossil workshop, then cross the volcanic Jbel Saghro mountains via Tazzarine and follow the Draa Valley from Agdz north to Ouarzazate. Dinner and overnight at Riad Dar Chamaa or similar.

Day 4: Ouarzazate – Aït Ben Haddou – Marrakech

After breakfast you can visit Ouarzazate’s film studios, known as the “Hollywood of Africa”. We then explore Aït Ben Haddou, the UNESCO-listed kasbah where Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia and Game of Thrones were filmed, and learn about traditional earth architecture.

We return over the Tizi n’Tichka pass, with a lunch stop in the mountains, and arrive in Marrakech in the afternoon.

Good to know: you can stay two nights in Merzouga instead of one, and we offer discounts for groups and families.