3 days3 daysMarrakech → Marrakech
3 Days Marrakech to Merzouga Desert
Cross the High Atlas and Road of a Thousand Kasbahs before reaching the dunes of Merzouga.
- High Atlas
- Dades Valley
- Erg Chebbi
Erg Chebbi, southeastern Morocco
Merzouga & the Erg Chebbi Dunes
Merzouga is the village at the edge of Erg Chebbi, the tall sand sea most travellers picture when they imagine the Moroccan Sahara. It is the destination almost every one of our desert routes is built around.
About Merzouga
What to Expect in Merzouga
Erg Chebbi rises straight out of the stony plain, and the change in landscape is sudden: one moment you are driving through desert scrub, the next the dunes fill the windscreen. Most trips arrive in the late afternoon, when the light is soft and the ridgelines are at their most dramatic.
From Merzouga you can walk or ride into the dunes, spend the night in a camp among them and be back on the sand before sunrise. Around the village there are oasis gardens, small Berber settlements and a wide open desert that is easiest to reach with a local driver.
- Getting there
- Merzouga is reached by road from Marrakech, Fes, Errachidia or Ouarzazate. Journeys from Marrakech and Fes are usually split over two days.
- Best time to go
- Spring and autumn are the most comfortable. Summer days are very hot; winter nights in the dunes are cold.
- What to bring
- A warm layer for the evening, a scarf for wind-blown sand, sunscreen, and shoes you can empty easily.
- How long to stay
- One night in the dunes works well. Two gives you time for a 4x4 excursion or a slower morning.
Things to see and do
Highlights of Merzouga
Camel trekking into the dunes
A short caravan ride from the edge of the erg towards the camp, usually timed for sunset.
A night in a desert camp
Tented camps among the dunes, with dinner, breakfast and quiet skies once the generators go off.
Sunrise on the ridge
Climb the dune above camp before breakfast and watch the desert change colour.
4x4 desert excursions
Drive out to the dry lake bed, nomadic families and the old mining village of Khamlia.
On the map
Where Merzouga Sits
Private routes
Tours That Include Merzouga
Every tour is private, so the days spent here can be lengthened, shortened or rearranged to suit your plans.
3 days
3 days3 daysMarrakech → Fes
3 Days Marrakech to Fes via Merzouga
A rewarding one-way route linking two imperial cities through valleys, kasbahs and the Sahara.
- Ait Ben Haddou
- Camel trek
- Ziz Valley
4 days4 daysMarrakech → Marrakech
4 Days Marrakech to Merzouga
Travel at a more relaxed pace with extra time for the landscapes and communities of southern Morocco.
- Kasbahs
- Desert camp
- Todra Gorge
Made for your journey
Add Merzouga to a Custom Itinerary
Tell us how long you have and where you would like to start, and we’ll shape a private route that includes it.