3-day Trip to Merzouga desert from Marrakech
English 3 days
3-day Trip to Merzouga desert from Marrakech
Set out from Marrakech via the High Atlas Mountains towards the Kasbah of Ait Ben Haddou. Drive through valleys and oases, and explore canyons of the eastern part of the Atlas Mountains on your way to the Sahara desert.
Free cancellation
FREE! You can cancel your booking for free before 72 hours of your travel date.
Instant confirmation
All reservations are confirmed immediately, so you don't have to do anything else.
Covid-19 precautions
Special sanitary and safety measures are applied to avoid the spread of Covid-19.
Itinerary
Day 1: Marrakech – Ait Ben Haddou- Ouarzazate - Dades.
You will take the road from Marrakech towards the Southeast of Morocco and drive on one of the most twisted paths in the country, the Tichka pass in the High Atlas Mountains. The pass stands at an elevation of 2,260m.a.s.l and has wonderful views and mountain streams. Furthermore, the Berber villages and fields are terraced to slopes all along the way. In winter, the pass is likely to be covered with snow. afterwards, you will proceed down to the Kasbah of Ait Ben Haddou, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a distinctive location for moviemakers. Several foreign and local movies have been shot in the Kasbah, including Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, The Mummy etc. Once you get to Ait Ben Haddou, you will tour the Kasbah and have lunch before you continue driving to Ourzazate, the Hollywood of Africa, and then on to Boumalne Dades where the first day of the trip terminates. The road to the town is called the route of a thousand Kasbahs due to the tremendous number of fortresses and citadels spread in the region. Indeed, Dades (the main gateway to the Dades valley) is a marvelous, cool town.
Day 2: Dades – Toudra Gorges – Merzouga.
You will leave immediately after breakfast towards Toudra Gorges, about 14 kilometers inside the mountains from the town of Tenghir, where you will have enough time to walk in its 300-metre canyon walls. Next, you will follow the path further through the great southern oases into the Sahara desert (a place of tranquility and serenity). As you arrive to Merzouga, you will mount the camels across the great sand dunes into a desert camp. Indeed, this will be one of the most thrilling and inspiring experiences during your stay in Morocco. On your way there, you will stop (occasionally halfway) for the mesmerizing view of sunset. By or before dusk, you are going to be at the camp. After dinner, you will enjoy a drum show performed by the staff at the camp. Furthermore, you will be conveniently placed to observe the stars, shooting stars and the milky-way.
Day 3: Merzouga – Rissani – Marrakech.
Wake up early morning for a memorable sunrise the following day, then have breakfast and ride back the camels. On your return to Marrakech, you will go past Rissani (ancient name “Sijilmasa”), the largest oasis in the country, with its adobe Kasbahs and palm groves, it is worth a stop. Beyond Rissani, you will take a different road of mountains and "Acacia Trees" to the town of Tinghir and then the same road through Dades, Ouarzazate and the Hight Atlas Mountains. Ordinarily, you will arrive to Marrakech by sunset or early evening.
Accommodation
We offer two types of comfortable desert camps in Merzouga: Standard with shared bathroom and Superior with private bathroom inside the tent. The same thing in Dades Valley: we offer Standards and superior hotels.
Standard:
- Dades valley: Kasbah Tifawen, Hotel Babylon, Hotel Le Vieux Chateau, Dar Essyaha or similar.
- Merzouga: desert camp.
Superior:
- Dades Valley: Xaluca hotel, La Perle Du Dades, Dar Rihana, Auberge Chez Pierre or similar (private option only)
- Merzouga: Azawad Luxury Desert Camp
Luggage
We kindly recommend bringing small backpack for the trip and leave the rest of the luggage at your accommodation.
Single room supplement
An extra fee of EUR30 for standard accommodation and EUR60 for superior accommodation will be added for single room.
Price
Adults (+12) 150€
Child (-11) 98€
Enfant (-3) -€
Adults (+12) 200€
Child (-11) 130€
Enfant (-3) -€
1 persons 660€
2 persons 720€
3 persons 790€
4 persons 880€
5 persons 950€
6 persons 1080€
7 persons 1225€
8 persons 1360€
9 persons 1460€
10 persons 1550€
up to 14 persons 1950€
15 persons 2025€
1 persons 820€
2 persons 890€
3 persons 1020€
4 persons 1220€
5 persons 1400€
6 persons 1560€
7 persons 1700€
8 persons 1920€
9 persons 2140€
10 persons 2250€
up to 14 persons 2870€
15 persons 3000€
Shared Tour
| Adults (+12) | Child (-11) | Child (-3) | |
| Standard | 150 € | 98 € | Not permitted |
| Superior | 200 € | 130 € | Not permitted |
Private Tour
| 1 persons | 2 persons | 3 persons | 4 persons | 5 persons | 6 persons | 7 persons | 8 persons | 9 persons | 10 persons | 14 persons | 15 persons | |
| Standard | 660€ | 720€ | 790€ | 880€ | 950€ | 1080€ | 1225€ | 1360€ | 1460€ | 1550€ | 1950€ | 2025€ |
| Superior | 820€ | 890€ | 1020€ | 1220€ | 1400€ | 1560€ | 1700€ | 1920€ | 2140€ | 2250€ | 2870€ | 3000€ |
Details
Included
- Transportation in comfortable 4wd car or minibus.
- Fuel, tolls and car insurance.
- English Speaking driver.
- Night with half board (diner, bed and breakfast) in Dades valley.
- Night with half board (diner, bed and breakfast) in desert camp.
- Camel riding in Erg Chebbi dunes (camel each).
- Pick-up from hotel, Riad or Airport.
Not included
- Lunches and drinks
- Gratuities (optional)
Duration
3 days / 2 nights
When to book?
As soon as you know your travel date especially in busiest periods.
Payment methods
We require a deposit of 30% at the time of booking and the balance on the day of the activity.
Free cancellation
FREE! You can cancel your booking for free before 72 hours of your travel date.
Our customers' reviews
Alberto Be
Roma, ItalyThank you very much for the wonderful experience especially in the desert camp. The people are very nice with us and made our trip unforgettable.
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BARBARA LI
New York, United States
Heather Ow
Manchester, United Kingdom5 star experience! My mum and I (2 female travellers) had an unforgettable and tremendous trip with Maroc Expedition Travel. Karim N'Kob was our driver and guide for the 3 day desert adventure from Marrakech to Merzouga. He truly made the experience one of the most comfortable and memorable we've ever had. He was a very good driver who was knowledge and had a fantastic sense of humour. He made a long journey pass quickly with excellent conversation and lots of fascinating stops. We saw incredible landscapes and Karim made sure we were able to see and have a taste of authentic Morocco. When we reached the desert we had a beautiful and luxurious tent with all the amenities and excellent food. Despite being cloudy - which is very rare - we enjoyed a exciting camel ride and some traditional Beber music around a fire. The accommodation and transport to the desert was also to a very high standard. We would highly recommend this trip and our guide/driver to any travellers looking for a unique, exciting, and unforgettable experience! Can't say enough good things about it! If you have the time it's definitely worth doing.
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Anonyme
Porto,
Our experience was very good! The guide and the drive were very nice and helpful.
The hotel of the first night, in the Gorges de Dades, wasn’t great, it’s an old hotel and not a lot of conditions. But the night in the desert was amazing!
Andrea Datkova
Marrakesh,
We’ve really enjoyed our trip and experience. Just few things you could maybe note is that driver could explain daily itinerary before heading off each morning including number of stops and how frequents stops will be and what time is lunch/dinner. We had to keep asking our driver for this info and it would have made our travel a bit more enjoyable.
However, I would still recommend Maroc Expedition to my friends. Thank you
Navez Marc
Andenne, Warm welcome, dedicated hotel staff, landscapes to discover, colorful sunsets and sunrises, exceptional silence in the desert. In short, I'll be back as soon as I get the chance.
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Anonyme
Madrid , The experience in the desert is amazing, taking quad is highly recommended, and our guide Said was really kind and caring.
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Marinella Caporali
Cremona, Wonderful experience, two competent, friendly and helpful drivers. Brilliantly solved two problems, one for a single room unspecified times, one for a minivan breakdown immediately replaced. Super reliable agency!
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Anonyme
Alaior,
Thomas DU
La Teste de Buch, France
We thank "Maroc Expedition Travel" for this great stay !!! The driver "Hassan" was on time, very friendly and very available as well as listening to us. The travel conditions and the organization were perfect as well as the meals and the accommodation, the guides took great care of us.
The visits to the "Ait Ben Addou" kasbah and the "Dadès" valley were magnificent and, our experience in the "Merzouga" desert, simply magical thanks to our guide "Mohamed" and his dromedary "Assou".
We will definitely come back for another unforgettable excursion with “Morocco Expedition Travel”.
Felipe Va
Valencia, espagne
Francisco To
Bogotá , ColombiaI loved the tour, the wonderful skinny hamid guide, his knowledge of culture and history are a plus for this tour to Maroc Expedition travel I choose them a thousand times more
Joshua Mo
Santiago,
Hi! Our experience with Caterina Hamwi was really wonderful. Our guide, Hamid el Flaco, made the excursion truly unforgettable. By way of context, as soon as we met Hamid, I told him of my intentions to propose to Caterina and I have no words to describe the outcome... it was like a Disney movie! He helped me with the logistics of having a romantic setting in the middle of the Sahara!!!! So I confess that Hamid will always have a special place in our hearts.
Regarding the excursion as such, it was comfortable to travel in a spacious car with Spanish speaking people as the company is important to the experience. Likewise, the guide and driver play a key role and in this opportunity, in a successful way.
Regarding the places visited, we really liked the diversity of scenery we visited... mountains, desert, river, valley, among others. As for the meals, I would say that in general they were quite good and adequate for western tourists.
Overall I would 100% recommend this tour but I would look for the option of softening the return trip as 8hrs by car is a heavy journey.
Maybe changing the stops a bit or doing it in 4 days? I still recommend it blindly and especially to Hamid el Flaco.
Thank you very much for everything!
Amelie Da
Nice,
Great experience, the road to experience it is well worth it.
Our driver Said was very nice, very good communication and all along the road explained things to us about the history of Morocco and its people.
What I liked best were the Toughdra gorges and the night in the Merzouga desert with the camel ride.
FRANCESC GIRBAU RODRIGUEZ
Barcelona,
anónimo
Barcelona,
We want to emphasize that the experience was excellent in relation to the guide/driver Mohamed, he was very attentive, fun and enjoyable. The adventure into the desert was very good, many stops and we learned Berber culture. It is true that the menus were expensive for what you can find in the country (120DH per person), but you don't have too many options to eat.
As for the night in the desert, it was a good decision to book the upper camp, it was very cold and having heating and a bathroom inside the Haima allowed us to rest well after a day of adventure.
As a point to improve, it would be the treatment received by the guide of the camels. One of the animals was very nervous and even so he made a companion ride him. Later this companion ended up on the ground, as the camel knocked her down. The guide ignored our warnings and the next day, when we had to ride the camels again, we asked if they were different, as we did not want to repeat the bad experience, taking advantage of the fact that it was night, he lied to us and told us that they were different. At sunrise we could check that they were the same and there was still the unruly dromedary, although luckily that dromedary was not offered to ride.
The return to Marrakech is long but we are making stops to rest and eat.
Geraldine Corzo
Milano,
It was a wonderful experience, the guide spoke good Spanish and was able to tell us all the history of the places he took us to visit, always very kind and available to every question we had. The hotels were always very good and very clean. The food was exquisite, but above all the cordiality of the people was always very attentive and cordial.
It is an experience that I highly recommend to do, I was delighted with everything and I will surely return to continue to know other places that this beautiful country offers.
anónimo
Buenos Aires,
Excellent experience. The guide, Mohamed, super nice and the people of the tour and the camp very friendly and nice.
Highly recommended.