The Best 3-Day Marrakech To Merzouga Desert

Day 1: Marrakech ⇒ Ait Ben Haddou ⇒ Dades Valley

Your driver collects you from your Marrakech riad or hotel early in the morning. The drive heads south-east on the N9, climbing into the High Atlas as the city gives way to cedar scrub, Berber villages, and the switchbacks of the Tizi n'Tichka Pass at 2,260 metres. This is the highest paved road in Morocco, and on a clear day the views north and south are extraordinary.

The first major stop is Ait Ben Haddou, reached by crossing the Ounila River on foot. The ksar rises in layers of tawny red earth above the riverbank, its towers and granaries forming one of the most recognisable silhouettes in Morocco. Walk up through the successive levels to the top granary for views over the valley and the semi-desert beyond. Allow at least 90 minutes here.

After Ait Ben Haddou the road continues east through Ouarzazate and along the Dades Valley corridor. Ancient kasbah towers and ksar walls in red earth rise against the canyon cliffs on both sides. You arrive at your Dades Valley accommodation in time for a walk along the gorge and dinner on a terrace overlooking the canyon. Overnight in the Dades Valley.

Day 2: Dades Valley ⇒ Todra Gorge ⇒ Merzouga Desert

Breakfast on the terrace with the canyon walls catching the early light, then a short walk into the Dades Gorge before departure. The gorge road climbs tight hairpin bends between red-rock canyon walls before the plain opens out heading east towards Tinghir.

Todra Gorge is the first significant stop, approximately one hour from the Dades Valley. The gorge is a narrow canyon cut by the Todra River through the eastern High Atlas, with sheer limestone walls rising around 300 metres on either side. In the narrowest section the walls press to within 10 metres of each other and the river runs cold between them. Allow at least 45 minutes for a proper walk into the canyon.

From Tinghir the road continues south-east through the Draa-Tafilalet region, the landscape becoming more arid as the mountains recede. You arrive in Merzouga in the late afternoon, in time to mount your camel for the trek into the Erg Chebbi dunes at sunset. Erg Chebbi rises to 150 metres at its highest point, and moving through the dunes on camelback as the sky shifts through orange and deep red and violet is one of those things that no photograph adequately captures. Dinner at the desert camp is followed by Gnawa music around the fire and, on clear nights, a Milky Way that simply cannot be seen from anywhere near a city. Overnight in the desert camp at Erg Chebbi.

Day 3: Merzouga ⇒ Rissani ⇒ Alnif ⇒ N'Kob ⇒ Draa Valley ⇒ Agdz ⇒ Ouarzazate ⇒ Marrakech

A very early start is essential on Day 3. Wake before dawn to catch the desert sunrise from the dunes, then breakfast at camp and on the road by 6.30am at the latest. The return to Marrakech via the southern route covers approximately 560 kilometres and takes between nine and ten hours including stops, arriving in Marrakech in the early evening.

The first stop is Rissani, 35 kilometres from Merzouga. This small desert town was the caravan capital of the Tafilalet for centuries and the birthplace of the Alaouite dynasty, which has ruled Morocco since the 17th century. The ruins of Sijilmassa and the old medina are a brief but telling window into how important this remote corner of Morocco once was to the wider world.

From Rissani the road heads west towards Alnif through landscapes of volcanic black rock and pale hammada entirely different from the red dunes of Erg Chebbi. Alnif sits in fossil country at the foot of the Jbel Saghro, the dramatic dark Anti-Atlas range. The town is known for its trilobite and orthoceras fossils, and a brief stop at the roadside stalls is worthwhile. Continuing west through Tazzarine, the road reaches N'Kob, the village of 45 kasbahs. Ksar towers and fortified granaries dot the hillsides above the village in extraordinary density, and the views over the Anti-Atlas from here are outstanding.

From N'Kob the road descends north to Agdz, where the Draa Valley begins in earnest. Morocco's longest valley unfolds ahead: a continuous corridor of date palms, rose-coloured kasbahs, and mud-brick villages lining the ancient caravan road that once connected Marrakech to Timbuktu. The quality of the afternoon light in the Draa Valley is exceptional, and the long drive through it is one of the finest stretches of road in the country. The valley corridor leads north to Ouarzazate, where the road west climbs back over the High Atlas via the Tizi n'Tichka Pass. Arriving in Marrakech in the early evening, your driver drops you at your riad or at Marrakech Menara Airport.