5 Days Marrakech desert adventure

Overview

You will be able to take in the spectacular scenery of Morocco, especially the southern regions, which includes the Atlas Mountains, beautiful valleys and gorges, old Kasbahs, Oasis, and sand dunes. This Morocco Desert Adventure Tour will take you to Merzouga Sahara Desert.

Explore Morocco’s rural areas to learn more about the Berber people and their way of life. You will experience the best-known desert of Merzouga during this 5-day tour.

Day1: Marrakech – the High Atlas Mountains – Ait Ben Haddou Kasbah – Ouarzazate – Boumalne Dades

Early in the morning meet our driver and travel through the High Atlas, a chain of the Moroccan Atlas Mountains.

On route, you will pause for panoramic views and to take pictures of the Berber tiny settlements that are dotted in the mountains.

After that, we travel farther south to the famed Kasbah (fortified village) of At Ben Haddou (declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986).

This magnificent set has been used to film well-known movies like Gladiator, Obelix, The Mummy, The Jewel of the Nile, and Sahara with Penelope Cruz, among others.

Lunchtime in the town at your own expense.

Continue to Ouarzazate, known as “The Gate of the Desert”, here you can find Taourirt Kasbah, one of Morocco’s most spectacular ksars. The Rose Valley, which passes through the expansive Skoura palm grove, is the next destination to see. It’s a lovely place to admire more than 700.000 palm trees there as well as the numerous kasbahs that have been constructed nearby.

Roses grow in this valley and they are used in beauty products like the highly recommended rosewater.

Every year in May, this city hosts the Rose Festival, a significant event in Moroccan culture.

Our destination for the night is the Dades valley, where we finally arrive to check in at the hotel for dinner and night.

Day 2: Boumalne Dades – Todra Gorges – Merzouga

Drive into the valley again after breakfast to view “the monkey toes,” an incredible rock formation, and the 19th-century Kasbah of Ait Yul, which is still standing.

We will arrive in the Todra Gorges after leaving the Dades valley and traveling toward Tinghir.

The views are breathtaking along this road. You will pass by the 300-meter-high red cliff at the Gorge, where many rock climbers come to practice their favorite sport.

Local residents can be observed in their adobe villages, where they reside. After a brief stroll through the Todra gorges, we’ll continue on to Erfoud and Rissani, where we’ll stop for lunch before heading to Merzouga.

After a while of relaxation, we will continue our journey through the massive Ziz Tafilalt and Black Hamada palm trees until we reach the Merzouga Desert. Just a few feet away from the endless dunes, you will check in at your riad, take a warm bath and a sumptuous dinner.

Day 3: 4*4 Desert Tour Erg Chebbi

Our amazing day will begin with a delicious breakfast, after that we will go to a Berber house to listen to Gnawa’s music, these nomads have roots in Ghana and Sudan. We’re going to some abandoned mines and explore more of the region of the desert.

Following lunch you will go back to your accommodation to prepare for a camel ride in the afternoon under the guidance of a knowledgeable camel man to discover the mystical Erg-Chebbi sand sea. Here, you’ll spend your first night sleeping beneath the stars.

Dinner will be provided in the tent.

Also before heading to bed you will sit around the campfire and the nomads will play their favourite music with the drums, it is going to be an unforgettable experience.

Day 4: Merzouga – Ouarzazate

You will awaken in the early morning to watch the dawn over Erg Chebbi’s sand dunes, followed by breakfast in the tent or at the hotel of Merzouga when you get back riding your camel.

We will travel to Arfoud, a Saharan village in the southeast of Morocco, where we can stop to see a fossil workshop, before continuing on to the intersection of the Agdez and Draa valleys, from whence we cross the tiny volcanic Atlas Mountains and go to Ouarzazate. Overnight in Ouarzazate after dinner.

Day 5: Ouarzazate – Ait Ben Haddou – Marrakech

After breakfast, we can take advantage of a journey in Ouarzazate, the “Hollywood of Africa,” to see movie sets and studios.

After that, we’ll go to Ait Ben Hadou Kasbah, which was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987.

The setting for more than 20 movies, including “Gladiator,” “Indiana Jones,” and “Lawrence of Arabia”.

Enjoy a stroll to discover the Kasbahs’ typical Moroccan architectural design.

Through the Tizi n’Tichka pass and the High Atlas Mountains, we continue on our journey to Marrakech.

In the middle of the Atlas Mountains, take a lunch break. The end of our services is when the vehicle drops you off at your hotel or riad in Marrakech in the late afternoon.