5 Day Desert Tour from Marrakech

Early departure from Marrakech through the spectacular pass of Tizi’n’Tichka (2260 m), arriving to the village of Telouet where we will visit an old Kasbah that belonged to the ancient Pacha of Marrakech who governed the South of Morocco.

After visiting this old residence, we will continue to Ait Ben Haddou to visit another Kasbah of this mythic lord, discretely nestled in the heart of Onila Valley. Ait Ben Haddou is a legendary Kasbah that has been listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site. Many great Hollywood movies have been shot in Ait Ben Haddou including Game of Thrones and Gladiator.

We will have lunch in Ait Ben Haddou, then we keep driving until we get to Ouarzazate, where we will visit to the amazing Kasbah of Taourirt, then dinner and overnight in the hotel.

After breakfast we will depart for the Draa Valley where you can see one of the longest rivers in Morocco. On the way we will make a few stops to take pictures and enjoy the view of the spectacular kasbahs and berber villages that dot the road, as well as the beauty of the Draa valley.

We will have lunch in Nkob or Alnif and then continue driving to reach the wonderful Merzouga dunes. Here, we will swap our motorized transportation for a 4-legged one (camel!) to enter inside the heart of the desert. Your camel ride will last around 1.5 hours, during which you will stop on top of a big dune to catch the sunset. Here you can also have a go at sandboarding (included).

When you reach the camp, you will find your luggage waiting for you and enjoy dinner before spending the night in the dunes, listening to traditional Amazigh music, or stargazing. Our luxury desert camp has cosy beds, hot water, showers and private bathrooms in each tent.

This is a complete ‘desert day.’ This morning you have a ‘date with the sunrise.’ When you are in the middle of the desert, waking up early is a must to watch the spectacular sunrise from the top of a dune close to the camp. After breakfast we will return to Merzouga by camel. Then, we will skirt Erg Chebbi, a great extension of sandy desert where we can find the Big Dune of Morocco, more than 250m high.

We will continue by the former ‘Paris-Dakar Rally Road,’ stopping at the Tissardmin oasis where we can find fossil quarries still present in the area. We will continue by road, passing nomad settlements, where we can stop and enjoy tea with the families living there to learn more about their way of life. The next stop will be a high viewpoint where you can see the whole of Erg Chebbi.

Next we will reach Kamilia Village. The inhabitants of Kamilia came to Morocco from Mali, and we will take a relaxing cup of tea whilst listening to some of their traditional Gnawa music. In the afternoon, we will head to your Merzouga desert hotel, where you have free time to enjoy the town or the dunes next to the hotel to see the sunset. Dinner and night in the hotel.

We will leave the desert after breakfast to head to Rissani, where we will visit the market (market days are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday).

We will then continue to Erfoud, where many fossils have been found, before making our way to the Touroug and Tinjdad palm groves. One hour later we will best the Todra Gorges. The course of the river has carved out a cliff-sided canyon. You will have some free time to walk through the gorge to better appreciate the beauty of the landscape, before having lunch.

In the afternoon we continue to the Dadès valley, also known as the fig valley. We will have dinner and spend the night in Dades.

After breakfast you can enjoy one of the best views of the Dadès valley from a strategic lookout point. From there you can see the amazing number of kasbahs. Then we will continue by a road known as the “one thousand kasbahs road,” through the Roses Valley and the giant Skoura palm until we reach Ouarzazate to visit the Kasbah of Taourirt, the old residence of the Glaoui the Pasha of Marrakech.

If you are interested, we can visit the cinema studios in Ouarzazate before enjoying lunch in town.

In the afternoon we start our way back to Marrakech going through the mountain pass of Tizi n’Tichka with some stops to take pictures. Here we leave back the moonlike landscape to reach another one full of colors. We will arrive to Marrakech around 6pm where you adventure ends.