5-Day Merzouga Desert Tour from Marrakech via Zagora

Day 1: Marrakech – Telouet – Ait Ben Haddou – Ouarzazate – Dades Valley

Leave Marrakech for the Dades Gorge via the Tizi n’Tichka pass. Visit the Telouet kasbah in the Ounila Valley and the famous village of Ait Ben Haddou, a UNESCO World Heritage site, with a lunch break. In the afternoon, photo stops at the film studios and the Taourirt kasbah in Ouarzazate, then follow the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs through the Valley of Roses at Kelaat M’Gouna to the Dades Valley.

Overnight: Dades Valley – kasbah hotel

Day 2: Dades Valley – Tinghir – Todra Gorge – Erfoud – Merzouga

After breakfast, leave for the Erg Chebbi desert, visiting the Todra Valley and its impressive gorge. Photo stop at the old foggara irrigation channels of Jorf and visit to the marble and fossil workshops of Erfoud. Lunch on the road, then visit the Mausoleum of Moulay Ali Cherif in Rissani. Arrival at the Merzouga dunes in time for a wonderful sunset.

Overnight: Merzouga – kasbah hotel

Day 3: Merzouga – Grand tour of Erg Chebbi – Camel trek

After breakfast, set out on a grand tour of the Merzouga area: seasonal salt lakes, the black desert of volcanic rock, hamada plateaus, sand dunes, dry riverbeds, old Paris-Dakar tracks, nomad families, the Mifis mines and small oasis villages such as Khamlia, home of Gnawa music. Lunch on the way, then back to the hotel to begin your camel trek to a bivouac in the dunes. Dinner at camp.

Overnight: Merzouga – desert bivouac

Day 4: Merzouga – Rissani – Alnif – Tazzarine – N’Kob – Zagora

After breakfast, an early start for the Draa Valley and Zagora by way of the small towns of Rissani, Alnif, Tazzarine and N’Kob, where you have lunch. You then descend along the Draa River to arrive in Zagora in the evening.

Overnight: Zagora

Day 5: Zagora – Agdz – Ouarzazate – Marrakech

After breakfast, return towards Marrakech along the Draa Valley, Morocco’s longest river, with its vast pre-Saharan oases and ksour. You cross the Anti-Atlas via the old fort of Agdz and the Tizi n’Tinifift pass to Ouarzazate for lunch. In the afternoon, continue through the Berber villages of Amerzgane, Agouim and Igherm and over the Tichka pass to Marrakech, arriving at the end of the day.