5-Day Marrakech to Merzouga Desert Tour

This is the complete southern loop from Marrakech, at a pace that leaves time to enjoy it. Over five days you travel out through the Dades Valley and the Todra Gorge, spend a night at our luxury camp in the Erg Chebbi dunes and a second at a riad by the sand, then return a different way through Rissani, the Draa Valley, Ouarzazate and the Glaoui kasbah of Telouet. No day involves more than about 6.5 hours of driving, and you never cover the same road twice until the final descent into Marrakech.

If you’ve looked at our 3-day and 4-day tours and thought, “that’s a lot of driving”, this is the answer.

The route at a glance

• Day 1: Marrakech → Tizi n’Tichka → Ait Ben Haddou → Ouarzazate → Skoura → Valley of Roses → Dades Valley (about 350 km)
• Day 2: Dades Gorge → Tinghir → Todra Gorge → Merzouga, then by camel to camp (about 290 km)
• Day 3: A 4x4 day around Erg Chebbi, with the night at a riad by the dunes (about 60 km)
• Day 4: Merzouga → Rissani → Alnif → N’Kob → Draa Valley → Agdz → Ouarzazate (about 370 km)
• Day 5: Ouarzazate → Ounila Valley → Telouet → Tizi n’Tichka → Marrakech (about 210 km)

How the driving compares

Day 1: the road of a thousand kasbahs

Pickup is at 8am. After the climb to the Tizi n’Tichka pass at 2,260 metres, you have time to walk up through Ait Ben Haddou, the UNESCO-listed ksar where caravans once rested before crossing the mountains. The afternoon follows the valley east past Ouarzazate to Skoura, a palm oasis dotted with family kasbahs, and on through Kelaat M’Gouna and the Valley of Roses. You spend the night at a kasbah hotel in the Dades Valley.

Day 2: two gorges and the dunes

The morning starts with a short excursion up the Dades Gorge. Beyond the rock formations known as the “monkey fingers”, the road climbs a wall of tight hairpin bends that has become one of the most photographed roads in Morocco. Then it’s on to Tinghir and the Todra Gorge, where a local guide walks with you along the canyon floor between cliffs about 300 metres high.

By late afternoon you’re in Merzouga. Camels carry you into the dunes of Erg Chebbi as the sun goes down, and the evening is spent at our luxury camp, with dinner, drumming and a sky full of stars.

Day 3: a whole day in the Sahara

Watch the sunrise from the dunes, have breakfast at camp, and then set out by 4x4. The loop around Erg Chebbi takes you to a nomad family’s tent for mint tea, to the abandoned lead-mining village of Mfis close to the Algerian border, and to Khamlia, where the Gnawa musicians play the hypnotic rhythms their West African ancestors brought across the Sahara. The afternoon is yours: relax at your riad by the dunes, try sandboarding, or climb a dune for a second sunset.

Day 4: Rissani and the Draa Valley

Heading west, your first stop is Rissani, the historic capital of the Tafilalet and the cradle of Morocco’s Alaouite dynasty. If it’s a market day (Sunday, Tuesday or Thursday), the souk is a highlight, with spices, dates, livestock and the famous “donkey parking”. The road then crosses the volcanic hills of Alnif, known for trilobite fossils, and passes the kasbah village of N’Kob before reaching the Draa Valley at Agdz. You end the day in Ouarzazate, where you can visit the Taourirt Kasbah or the film studios (optional) before dinner at your riad.

Day 5: Telouet and home

Instead of taking the main road straight back to Marrakech, you follow the old caravan route up the Ounila Valley, past earthen villages and terraced fields, to Telouet. Here the kasbah of the Glaoui family, once the most powerful clan in southern Morocco, is crumbling on the outside. Inside, its reception rooms are covered in carved plaster, painted cedar and zellige tilework. From Telouet you rejoin the Tizi n’Tichka and descend to Marrakech, arriving by mid-afternoon.

Food along the route

Lunches aren’t included, which means you can eat where the locals do. A few dishes to look out for:

• Tagine of every kind, slow-cooked in clay: chicken with preserved lemon and olives, beef with prunes, or vegetables.
• Madfouna, sometimes called “Berber pizza”: flatbread stuffed with spiced meat, onions and eggs, baked in a wood oven. It’s a speciality around Rissani and Merzouga.
• Kefta, grilled spiced meatballs, often cooked in a tagine with tomato and egg.
• Fresh dates from the Draa and Tafilalet oases, especially in autumn.
• Mint tea, poured from a height and offered everywhere, from nomad tents to roadside cafés.

Your driver knows the best local places on the route and can point you towards vegetarian options too.

Where you’ll sleep

• Dades Valley: a kasbah-style hotel with a private room and bathroom.
• Erg Chebbi: our luxury desert camp, with a private tent for your booking, en-suite hot shower and flushing toilet, comfortable beds and electricity for charging. Heavy blankets in winter, and family tents on request.
• Merzouga: a riad at the foot of the dunes.
• Ouarzazate: a riad with a private room and bathroom.

If you’d like both Merzouga nights at the camp, just ask.

Who this tour is for

Anyone who wants to see the Sahara and southern Morocco properly without long days in the car: families, older travellers, photographers and first-time visitors who’d rather spend time at each place than rush between them.

Good to know

• Best months: March to May and October to November. In winter (December to February), nights in the High Atlas and the desert can drop close to freezing, but the camp provides heavy blankets.
• Lunches are at local restaurants of your choice along the route and are paid on the spot.
• Want to end in Fes? The 5-day Marrakech to Fes tour follows a similar route before heading north.
• Only have four days? The 4-day Sahara loop keeps the two desert nights but has a longer final day.