Morocco desert tour 5 days from Marrakech

Day 1: Marrakech to Dades via Ait Benhaddou.

Following breakfast, our local driver will pick you up from your Marrakech hotel/riad at 8:30 a.m. and your 5 Days Marrakech to Merzouga desert trip will begin in the direction of Dades valley, through the Tizi-N-Tichka pass at 2260 m above sea level in the High Atlas highlands.

We will enjoy the magnificent mountain route, appreciate gorgeous scenery with varied hues, and travel through numerous real Berber towns on our journey to Ouarzazate to see Taourirt Kasbah, one of Morocco’s most outstanding ksars, and Oscar film studios, where we will have lunch.

The Rose Valley, which runs through the large Skoura palm grove and is a beautiful spot to ponder the nature and several kasbahs erected in the surrounding region, is the next stop. Roses are grown in these Valley damascenes for aesthetic purposes, such as the valuable rosewater.

The Rose Festival is held here every May, and it is an important museum for Moroccan culture. We then travel to Dades Valley, where we will spend the night at a hotel with a view of the valley.

Day 2: Dades to Merzouga desert.

Following breakfast at the hotel, our 5 days Marrakech desert tours travel for Todra Gorge, passing via Tinghir and stopping to enjoy the lovely Todra valley full of palm trees before arriving at Todra Gorges, which are presently one of Morocco’s most popular rock climbing sites.

After a brief walk through its grey and pink high gorges that may reach 300 m, we’ll proceed to Tinjdad and Touroug for lunch, then to Erfoud to see the beautiful Desert oasis of Tafilalet, and finally to Merzouga and the famous Erg Chebbi dunes.

From here, you will take a one-and-a-half-hour camel ride to your Nomadic berber tents. On the trip, you will stop in the center of the dunes to watch the sunset, try sandboarding if that’s a sport you’re interested in, snap photographs, and enjoy the view…

Once the sun sets, you will go to the camp, where you will be greeted with a drink of mint tea, food, a camp fire, a music party, and an overnight stay at Berber camp Merzouga.

Day 3: Merzouga desert tour.

Following breakfast at your accommodation, we’ll begin our Merzouga journey to discover the many and intriguing locations around the Erg Chebbi dunes. We’ll visit the Hassi Labied oasis to view its irrigation canal and land cultivation.

We’ll go south to the seasonal Sriji lake (if there’s water in it), then to Khamlia hamlet if you want to listen to the Gnawa music of the dark complexion people who were taken to Morocco as slaves over a hundred years ago…

After that, we’ll continue to M’ifis mines, which are famous for minerals and fossils. During our Merzouga 4 desert tour, we’ll have the opportunity to visit a nomad Berber family who is still living in their tent in the middle of the Sahara, and we’ll have a glass of mint tea with them and learn about life in the desert…

We’ll stop at many panoramic viewpoints to snap photographs and enjoy the landscape…

We’ll return to the village after lunch at a local eatery. Afternoon at leisure, supper, and stay at a Merzouga hotel/riad.

Day 4: Merzouga to Ouarzazate.

The following day, after a nutritious breakfast at the hotel, you will meet your driver and proceed to Ouarzazate via Rissani to see its Weekly traditional market if we are fortunate enough to be here on one of the market days ( Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday ).

After that, we’ll travel through an arid pre-desert area, where we’ll witness acacia trees, which are common in this region. We’ll stop along the trip to the Draa valley to observe the wonderful vistas of the river that gives the valley its name. It is Morocco’s longest river. Our 5-day Marrakech desert adventure continues via the Anti Atlas Mountains to Ouarzazate.

We’ll have some free time in the city for lunch before continuing our drive to Ouarzazate, where we’ll arrive in the late afternoon/evening for supper and stay at the hotel.

Day 5: Ouarzazate to Marrakech.

After breakfast at your hotel in Ouarzazate, we will drive to the famous Kasbah of Ait ben Haddou, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. Many films have been shot in this spectacular location, including Gladiator, Obelix, The Mummy, The Jewel of the Nile, Sahara with Penélope Cruz…

Lunch at a restaurant in the midst of the Atlas before heading to Tizi n’Tichka and stopping along the route to experience the spectacular vistas of these mountains and true Berber communities. Afterwards we’ll continue on to Marrakech, arriving in the afternoon, to conclude our 5-day Marrakech desert trip.