4-Day Sahara Desert Tour from Marrakech to Merzouga

This four-day Sahara desert tour from Marrakech is the classic loop south of the High Atlas: over the Tizi n'Tichka pass to the film-set ksar of Ait Ben Haddou, down the palm-lined Draa Valley to the Erg Chebbi dunes at Merzouga for a sunset camel trek and a night in a Berber camp, then back west through Todra Gorge, the Dades Valley and the Skoura oasis to Marrakech. It is a relaxed, mostly cultural road journey with one unforgettable night in the sand, and every walk along the way is optional.

Highlights

• Cross the High Atlas by the Tizi n'Tichka pass, with stops at a 17th-century kasbah and an oasis for lunch and a little Berber folklore
• Sunset and dinner in Ait Ben Haddou, the red-earth ksar where Gladiator and Game of Thrones were filmed
• The kasbahs and oases of the Draa Valley, its calm water backed by the snow-capped Atlas
• A 1.5-hour sunset camel trek into the Erg Chebbi dunes and a night under the stars in a traditional Berber camp at Merzouga
• Todra Gorge, a canyon with sheer 160-metre walls, and the Dades Valley, the Valley of a Thousand Kasbahs
• The Rose Valley, Skoura oasis and Ouarzazate on the way back over the mountains to Marrakech

Day one leaves the city behind within the hour. Your driver collects you in a modern 4x4 or minibus and the road climbs over the High Atlas, pausing at the high mountain pass for the view back over the ridgelines, at a 17th-century kasbah, and at an oasis where lunch comes with stories from Berber folklore. The descent on the far side is into another Morocco altogether: dry, red and enormous. Ait Ben Haddou, the fortified clay village that has stood in for half the ancient world on screen, is where the day ends, with dinner and the sunset from its walls.

Day two is the long drive to the desert, and the Draa Valley makes it worth every kilometre: a chain of oases, palm groves and kasbahs strung along a river with the Atlas snow behind it. Merzouga waits at the end of the afternoon. Here you meet your camels and ride for an hour and a half into the Erg Chebbi dunes as the sun goes down, to a Berber camp hidden in the sand. Hot mint tea, a fresh dinner cooked by the fire, and then the choice of a comfortable Berber tent or a mattress under a sky full of stars.

Day three starts early for anyone who wants to climb a dune for the sunrise, then breakfast at the camp before your driver takes you to Todra Gorge, where the canyon narrows between 160-metre cliffs and a walk along the river floor is the best way to feel the scale of it. The afternoon follows the Dades Valley, the rose-red landscape known as the Valley of a Thousand Kasbahs, to your hotel for dinner.

Day four turns for home along the Rose Valley to the Skoura oasis, an unexpectedly green village in the desert, then Ouarzazate, where you can stop for lunch at a kasbah before the final climb back over the Atlas. You arrive in Marrakech in the early evening, dropped at your hotel or riad in the old town.

Who is this tour for?

Graded Easy. This is mostly cultural exploration with a dash of activity: the camel trek is a little bumpy but easy and fun for most travellers, and any other walking is entirely up to you. It suits couples, friends and families whose children are happy with long drives broken by plenty of stops. Departures are private to your group, on any date, from Marrakech.