4 Days
From Marrakech
4-Day Marrakech Two-Desert Loop: Merzouga & Zagora
A circular route taking in both the Erg Chebbi and Draa Valley dunes.
from€369 /person
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More time in the dunes on the classic round trip from Marrakech.
More time in the dunes on the classic round trip from Marrakech. This 4-day private journey begins in Marrakech and is designed to give you the best of the route without the rush — with hand-picked accommodation, an English-speaking driver-guide and plenty of freedom to stop wherever catches your eye.
Highlights include two nights in the sahara, sunrise 4x4 nomad trail, todra & dades gorges. Like every Edita itinerary it is fully flexible: we can lengthen or shorten it, upgrade your riads and desert camp, or change the start and finish cities to fit your flights.
Keep exploring: Morocco Tours from Marrakech · all 39 Morocco tours · Marrakech to Merzouga: The Complete Route
We leave Marrakech and head straight for the mountains, climbing the celebrated Tizi n'Tichka pass over the High Atlas — a thrilling road of hairpin bends, Berber villages clinging to the slopes and viewpoints across range after range. Descending the southern side, we reach the crown jewel of the journey: Ait Ben Haddou, a UNESCO World Heritage ksar of fortified earthen towers famous from Gladiator, Game of Thrones and many more. We take time to explore its steep lanes and climb for the view. Continuing to Ouarzazate, the desert's film capital, we then turn east along the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs, past the Skoura oasis and its old fortresses, to the dramatic Dades Valley. We check in near the gorge, with its striking folded rock formations and famous switchback road, for the night.
Today we complete the drive from the valleys to the great dunes, through some of the south's finest scenery. We begin at the Todra Gorge, where we walk beneath sheer limestone cliffs that rise 300 metres and narrow to a few metres apart above a cold, clear river — a favourite of rock climbers and an unforgettable place to stand. Continuing through the palm oasis of Tinghir and the date-trading town of Erfoud, the landscape opens into flat, stony hammada and the first ridges of orange sand appear ahead. Reaching Merzouga in the afternoon, we pause at your kasbah before the day's highlight: as the sun lowers, we ride camels in caravan out over the crest of Erg Chebbi to a desert camp, arriving for dinner, Berber music and a night under the stars.
We wake early, while the air is still cool, to climb a dune and watch the sun rise over the Erg Chebbi — a slow, silent spectacle as the sand ignites from grey to rose to burning gold and long blue shadows stretch across the ridges. After breakfast at camp we explore the desert more deeply by 4x4, discovering the corners most visitors never see: hidden wells and oasis pockets, black volcanic outcrops and beds of marine fossils that prove this was once an ocean floor, and the little village of Khamlia with its Gnawa musicians. We meet nomad families at their tents over mint tea and learn how life is lived out here. There is time for sandboarding down the slopes before we return to camp or continue on toward the kasbahs.
A long but truly spectacular day carrying us all the way from the Sahara back to Marrakech, unspooling the finest scenery of the south in reverse. We rise for a last sunrise over the Erg Chebbi dunes, then set off west along the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs, pausing at the towering Todra Gorge for a walk beneath its cliffs and passing the folded rock of the Dades Valley. The route runs on through the Skoura oasis to Ouarzazate and the great UNESCO ksar of Ait Ben Haddou, where there is time to admire the earthen fortress before the final ascent. We then cross the High Atlas over the Tizi n'Tichka pass, with its Berber villages and endless mountain views, descending to Marrakech by evening. It is a full day, but every hour rewards you.
“Impeccably organised and completely private. We changed the plan twice and Edita made it effortless. The Sahara sunrise was unforgettable.”
“From Fez to Marrakech we saw a side of Morocco most tourists miss. Comfortable 4x4, wonderful riads and a driver who knew every hidden spot.”
4 Days
A circular route taking in both the Erg Chebbi and Draa Valley dunes.
4 Days
The most popular one-way desert route across Morocco.
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