4 Day Desert Tour from Marrakech to Merzouga
The Sahara loop from Marrakech with room to breathe. Adding a fourth day turns the classic desert route into a relaxed journey: shorter drives, time to walk in the gorges and palm groves, and a full afternoon at the dunes before your night in camp. You return via the Draa Valley, so you never drive the same road twice.
- Duration: 4 days, 3 nights
- Starts and ends: Marrakech
- Route: Marrakech → Ait Ben Haddou → Skoura → Dades → Todra → Merzouga → Nkob → Draa Valley → Marrakech
- Driving: 4 to 6 hours a day
- Price: on request, depends on group size and hotel level
Highlights
- Ait Ben Haddou and the kasbah of Amridil in the Skoura palm grove
- Rose fields of the Kelaat M'Gouna valley (rose harvest in May)
- Hike through the Todra Gorge and the villages of the Dades Valley
- A free afternoon in Merzouga: Gnawa music in Khamlia, sandboarding or simply the pool
- Camel trek and night in an Erg Chebbi desert camp
- The return through the Draa Valley, Morocco's longest palm oasis
Day by Day
Day 1: Marrakech → Tizi n'Tichka → Ait Ben Haddou → Ouarzazate
An easy first day across the High Atlas. Guided walk through Ait Ben Haddou in the afternoon light, then a night in a kasbah hotel near Ouarzazate.
Day 2: Ouarzazate → Skoura → Dades Valley
Visit the 17th-century Kasbah Amridil in the Skoura oasis, drive through the Valley of Roses and spend the afternoon walking among the red rock formations of the Dades Valley. Night in a guesthouse above the gorge.
Day 3: Dades → Todra Gorge → Merzouga desert camp
Morning walk in the Todra Gorge, then on to Merzouga with a stop at Rissani. After a relaxed afternoon by the dunes, ride camels to your camp for sunset, dinner and music.
Day 4: Merzouga → Nkob → Draa Valley → Marrakech
Sunrise from the dunes, breakfast, then the scenic southern road through Alnif and the kasbah village of Nkob into the Draa Valley, before crossing the Atlas back to Marrakech for the evening.
Included
- Private air-conditioned 4x4 or minivan with professional driver
- 2 nights in kasbah hotels or guesthouses, with dinner and breakfast
- 1 night in a desert camp in Erg Chebbi, with dinner and breakfast
- Camel ride to and from the camp
- Local guides in Ait Ben Haddou and Todra Gorge
- Fuel, tolls and bottled water
Not included: lunches, entrance fees, luxury camp upgrade, tips.
Good to Know
- Upgrade the camp: our luxury camps have private tents with en-suite bathrooms, proper beds and electricity.
- Best time: October to May; the rose festival in Kelaat M'Gouna takes place in May.
- Shorter version: see the 3 day Marrakech to Merzouga desert tour.
- End in Fes instead: see the 3 day desert tour from Marrakech to Fes.