Sahara Desert Erg Chebbi Merzouga Morocco

No trip to Morocco would be complete without a camel trek out into the vast Sahara Desert – and we mean it! Ride saddleback across the towering Erg Chebbi sand dunes to a traditional Berber camp and enjoy an evening eating local food, listening to music and dancing around a camp fire before retiring for a night under the stars. If you only do one thing in Morocco, this is it!

Sahara Desert Erg Chebbi

Rising to heights of up to 150 metres, the wind-blown sand dunes of Erg Chebbi are the classic image you would expect of the Sahara desert - an endless sea of rose gold mounds snaking their way across an area that spans 50km from north to south, changing hue as the sun rises and falls from warm pinks to brilliant orange. The dunes rise almost immediately from the edge of Merzouga village, one of the most accessible desert towns in the region reached by paved roads with a choice of traditional hotel accommodation offering spectacular views of the dunes. It's for this reason that the dunes of Erg Chebbi are the most visited part of the Moroccan Sahara and get busy with people during peak tourist seasons. The dunes around Merzouga peak with the Grand Dune de Merzouga, distinguishable from the others by dense thicket of tamarisk trees at its base.
Visit Erg Chebbi from Marrakech

The dunes of Erg Chebbi can be comfortably reached from Marrakech in a 4 day return journey with one night spent out in the desert and interesting stops made along the way. Here's a popular route we recommend:

Day 1 - Drive from Marrakech to Ouarzazate, a small trader town with its own Kasbah (5hr drive). Overnight Ouarzazate.
Day 2 - Drive from Ouarzazate to Merzouga with a stop made en route at Dades and Todra Gorge (5-6hr drive). Overnight desert camp.
Day 3 - Return the same way with a stop at Ait Benhaddou to return via the Berber village of Nkob that's surrounded by attractive palm groves with a night spent in Agdz, a classic caravanserai oasis (5-6hr drive). Overnight Agdz.
Day 4 - Return to Marrakech via High Atlas (4-5hr drive).