Most travellers come to the Moroccan Sahara for one picture: a line of camels on an orange dune. The picture is real, but the desert offers much more than that, and some popular "experiences" give you very little for a long drive. This guide lists what is worth your time, what is already included in our own trips, and what we suggest you skip.
1. Watch the sunrise from a high dune
If you do only one thing, do this. Get up in the blue light before dawn, climb the nearest tall dune slowly and wait. In twenty minutes the sand turns from grey to pink to gold, and the shadows of the ridges stretch for hundreds of metres. It costs nothing but an alarm clock. The tall dunes of Erg Chebbi near Merzouga, which reach about 150 m, and the long ridges of Erg Chigaga west of M'Hamid are the best stages for it. On every trip of ours with a night in the dunes, you wake up close enough to climb one.
2. Spend a night far from the lights
A camp in the dunes, away from towns and generators, gives you a night sky most people have never seen: the Milky Way from one horizon to the other, shooting stars, and a silence you can almost hear. The further the camp is from the road, the darker the sky. Erg Chigaga, reached by about 60 km of piste, is one of the darkest places on our trips. Winter, from December to February, has the clearest air but cold nights, so bring a warm layer.
3. Ride a camel, the right way
A camel ride is the classic desert moment, and done well it is a gentle, quiet way into the dunes. A cameleer leads each animal on foot, so you need no experience. In Merzouga our sunset ride lasts about two hours and starts from €65 per person; the overnight trek, with dinner and a night in camp, starts from €120 per person. On the 3-day 4x4 tour from Marrakech a one-hour ride at sunset is included. What makes the difference is time: a ride at sunset or sunrise with rests for the animals, not a five-minute photo stop. Our guide to ethical camel trekking explains what to look for.
4. Walk in the desert for a few days
From a 4x4 you see the desert; on foot you feel it. On a trek you walk in the cool hours of the morning and late afternoon, rest in the shade at midday, and camels carry the luggage. Our shortest trek leaves M'Hamid for two days and one night, with about ten hours of easy walking in total. The 4-day trek reaches Erg Zahar, the "Howling Dune", which you can reach only on foot or by camel. The long treks of 10, 11 and 13 days from Marrakech cross several dune fields, from Erg Zahar to Erg Chigaga.
5. Slide down a dune
Sandboarding is the simplest fun in the desert: a board, a steep face of soft sand and a long walk back up. Children love it, and adults are usually surprised by how fast it goes. It is included on our 3-day Erg Chigaga tour. Choose a slope with no rocks at the bottom, go in the late afternoon when the sand has cooled, and keep your phone in a zipped pocket.
6. Share tea and a meal by the fire
Evenings in camp are the human heart of a desert trip. Mint tea is poured from high so that it foams, a tagine cooks slowly over the embers, and on many nights the camp team plays music with drums. On the Erg Chebbi camel trek the evening includes a campfire with Gnawa music, and on several of our trips local guides cook the meals over an open fire. Our article on Berber culture in the Sahara explains the customs behind these evenings.
7. Treat the road south as part of the trip
Most desert trips start in Marrakech, about 600 km by road from Erg Chigaga and 550 km from Merzouga. The drive is long, but it is full of stops worth making: the Tizi n'Tichka pass over the High Atlas at 2,260 m, the earthen ksar of Ait Ben Haddou, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the palm groves of the Draa Valley and, near Zagora, the village of Tamegroute with its green pottery and old Koranic library. A good itinerary gives these places time instead of rushing past them.
8. Explore an oasis and a gorge
The desert is not only sand. Around Ouarzazate our day trips visit the Skoura oasis and its Kasbah Amridil, the Dades and Todra gorges and the Draa Valley. They fit well on the day before or after your nights in the dunes, and the shade of a gorge is a welcome change from the heat of the sand. In April and May, Skoura is also known for its roses.
Two things we suggest you skip
- The five-minute camel photo stop. A quick ride in a long line of tourists, then straight back on the bus, is neither enjoyable nor kind to the animals. If the time in the dunes is counted in minutes, ask questions before you book.
- The Sahara as a day trip from Marrakech. The nearest big dunes, near Zagora, are about 365 km and some six and a half hours away by road. A same-day return means twelve or more hours in a vehicle for a short stop at the wrong time of day. Our guide to the Sahara day trip from Marrakech explains the alternatives. Give the desert at least one night.
How to fit it all in
Two nights in the desert are enough for most of this list: a sunset ride, a night of stars, a sunrise, sandboarding and a meal by the fire. With only two days you still get the sunset and the sunrise on the 2-day Zagora tour. With five days or more you can add a gorge, an oasis or a second desert. Tell us how many days you have and what matters most to you, and the team will build the trip around those moments. The trips below are a good place to start.
Places in this articleErg ChigagaErg ChebbiErg ZaharSkoura Oasis
