Marrakech: 3-Day Private Desert Tour Merzouga & Erg Chebbi

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Free cancellation

1/8

Duration3d

GroupPrivate

LanguagesEN · FR +1

PickupAt your hotel

Three Days in Morocco's Desert Without the Tourist Groups

You travel in a private vehicle with an experienced driver for three full days, crossing the High Atlas Mountains, visiting Ait Benhaddou Kasbah and Dades Gorge, then spending two nights in desert camps with a camel ride at sunset in Erg Chebbi. Hotel pickup and drop-off in Marrakech are included, as is all transport and meals at designated stops. An upgrade to a luxury desert camp costs an extra 75 euros per person.

Step-by-step itinerary

Day 1 — Marrakech to Skoura Oasis

Depart Marrakech at 8:30 am
Cross High Atlas Mountains via Tizin-Tichka
Stop for photos and tea break
Visit Ait Benhaddou Kasbah
Lunch with Kasbah view
Drive to Ouarzazate
Photo stop at Taourirt Kasbah
Visit Kasbah Amridil
Drive to Skoura Oasis guest house

Day 2 — Skoura to Merzouga Desert Camp

Breakfast at guest house
Drive along Valley of Roses
Stop to see local rose cosmetics
Visit Valley of the Thousand Kasbahs
Visit Tinghir palm
Visit Todra Gorges
Drive through Rissani, Erfoud, Tafilalte Oasis
Arrive Merzouga
1.5 hour camel ride to desert camp
Sunset over Erg Chebbi dunes
Overnight in traditional nomad tent

Day 3 — Merzouga to Marrakech via Draa Valley

Drive from Merzouga to Alnif
Stop for break
Stop for photos at largest valley in Morocco
Stop for lunch
Drive from Agdez through Ait Saouen Mountains
Break at High Atlas Mountains
Drive 1.5 hours to Marrakech

The Experience

What if you could spend two nights in the Sahara without sharing a tent with twenty other travelers? That's the pull of this private desert tour from Marrakech — you get the whole vehicle, the same driver for all three days, and the space to actually notice things. The tour leaves Marrakech at 8:30 am and heads south through the High Atlas Mountains, crossing the Tizin-Tichka pass at 2,260 meters where the landscape opens up into something that doesn't look like anywhere else. You stop for tea or coffee in a Berber village, then drive toward Ouarzazate, the gateway to the deep south. Before the city, there's Ait Benhaddou — a UNESCO-listed kasbah that's been used as a film set for decades — where you eat lunch with a view of the whole clay fortress. It's the kind of stop that feels unhurried because you're not on a schedule with thirty other people.

Day two is the desert itself. After breakfast in Skoura Oasis, you drive through the Valley of Roses (there's a stop to see how locals make cosmetics from the roses if that interests you), then past Dades Gorge and Todra Gorges — both narrow, dramatic cuts through red rock that you see from the vehicle and from the road. By afternoon you're in Merzouga, and that's when the camel ride happens. An hour and a half on a camel takes you into Erg Chebbi, the massive sand dunes, timed so you arrive as the sun drops. You spend the night in a traditional nomad tent in a desert camp — not luxury in the five-star sense, but solid and clean, with Berber music playing while the stars come up. The quiet out there is real. No cell signal, no traffic, just the sound of wind and maybe someone playing an oud.

The return on day three is a long drive but broken into pieces. You leave the desert heading north through Rissani and Erfoud, stop for a break, pass through the Draa Valley — Morocco's largest valley — and stop for lunch. Then it's three hours through the Ait Saouen rocky mountains and back into the High Atlas, with a final break before the last hour and a half into Marrakech. The whole private desert tour takes you through four different landscapes and two nights away from the city, but you're back by evening.

What’s included

Your three days include hotel pickup and drop-off in Marrakech, private vehicle with an experienced driver for the entire tour, camel rides at sunset and sunrise in Erg Chebbi, two nights in traditional desert camps (or a luxury camp upgrade for 75 euros per person), stops at Ait Benhaddou Kasbah, Dades Gorge, Todra Gorges, and the Draa Valley, tea or coffee breaks in Berber villages, and lunch at designated restaurants along the route. All transport between Marrakech and the desert is included.

Good to know

Easy physical levelStroller friendlyInfant seats available

Operated by Morocco Desert Trips

Is this one for you?Right for travelers who want the Sahara without a crowded group tour and don't mind long driving days — the private vehicle and fixed itinerary mean you move at your own pace and see the main desert landmarks without arranging transport or timing yourself.