Marrakech Five Days Desert Tour

A relaxed five-day private trip from Marrakech to the Sahara: the High Atlas, the Dades Valley and Todra Gorge, two days around the Erg Chebbi dunes with a night in a luxury desert camp, and a night in Ouarzazate before returning via Aït Ben Haddou.

Day 1: Marrakech – Ouarzazate – Dades Valley

Your driver meets you at your Marrakech hotel or riad at 8:00 am. We cross the High Atlas Mountains over the Tizi n’Tichka pass (2,260 m), with colourful landscapes and Berber villages all along the road.

In Ouarzazate you have free time to visit the Taourirt Kasbah and have lunch. We then continue southeast through the Skoura palm grove and Kelaa M’Gouna, the town of roses, to the green Dades Valley. Overnight in a hotel with dinner.

Day 2: Dades Valley – Todra Gorge – Merzouga

After breakfast we leave at 8:00 am along the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs. After about 45 km we reach Tinghir, with its large 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 to the Erg Chebbi dunes and the village of Merzouga. Overnight in a hotel with dinner.

Day 3: Gnawa Music – Nomads – Night in a Luxury Camp

After breakfast we drive to Khamlia, a village famous for Gnawa music, a tradition its families brought from West Africa. After listening (and maybe dancing), we follow part of the old Paris–Dakar rally route across the stony desert towards the old Mifis mines.

At midday we stop with a nomad family for tea and a lunch of Berber pizza, and learn how people live in the desert through sandstorms and summer heat. In the afternoon you return to the hotel to relax.

Later you ride a camel for about an hour into the dunes, with sandboarding and sunset on the way, to spend the night in a luxury camp in a tent with its own bathroom. Dinner is followed by Berber music around the fire. Your luggage is taken to the camp for you.

Day 4: Merzouga – Rissani – Ouarzazate

Wake before dawn to watch the sun rise over Erg Chebbi, then have breakfast and a shower at camp before returning to the hotel. We drive to Rissani, a small Saharan market town, and visit a fossil workshop. We then cross the volcanic Jbel Saghro mountains and follow the Draa Valley via Agdz to Ouarzazate. Overnight in Ouarzazate with dinner.

Day 5: 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.

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