Journey Overview: Experience the highlights of southern Morocco on this private 4 days desert tour from Ouarzazate to Marrakech via Merzouga. Over 4 days, you’ll explore the ancient Kasbah of Ait Ben Haddou, walk through the spectacular Todra Gorges, ride a camel into the dunes of Merzouga for a night under the stars, and spend a full day discovering the desert by 4×4, including a visit to a nomadic family and the Gnawa village of Khamlia. Accommodations can be standard or luxury, and the price depends on the number of travelers. The tour starts in Ouarzazate and ends in Marrakech, but if the itinerary below doesn’t quite match your plans, we’ll gladly customize it and finish wherever suits you best; just get in touch.
Tour Highlights:
Your tour begins with a pick-up in Ouarzazate. We drive to the famous Kasbah of Ait Ben Haddou, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has served as a location for many films, including Lawrence of Arabia and Gladiator, and most famously the series Game of Thrones. After lunch in Ait Ben Haddou village, we head back through Ouarzazate and continue along the “Road of the Thousand Kasbahs” to the Dades Gorges. We arrive in the evening, and you’ll spend the night at a hotel or riad in the gorges.
After a good breakfast, we set off for the Todra Gorges, where you’ll walk beneath cliffs rising 300 meters high. We then continue to Merzouga, where an experienced camel guide and his camels will be waiting to take you across the magnificent dunes on a ride of about half an hour to your camp. Spend the night with local people under a sky full of stars.
After breakfast at the camp, ride your camel back to Merzouga village to begin a full day of desert exploration by 4×4. We’ll visit a nomadic family living near the border between Morocco and Algeria, then head to the village of Khamlia, home to a Gnawa community whose ancestors came from sub-Saharan Africa, to listen to their music and learn about their way of life. In the evening, you’ll check into your hotel for the night.
After breakfast at your hotel, we begin the journey to Marrakech, making several stops along the way. We arrive in Marrakech in the evening, around 7 pm, where your 4 days desert tour from Ouarzazate to Marrakech via Merzouga ends with a drop-off at your accommodation.
