2-Day Merzouga Desert Tour from Errachidia

About This Tour

2 days - 1 night · Errachidia

Errachidia is the closest town of any size to the Erg Chebbi dunes, and it has an airport. That combination makes this the shortest real Sahara trip available anywhere in Morocco: you can land in the morning and be riding a camel into the sand the same evening.

The route runs south down the Ziz valley, where a continuous belt of date palms follows the river between bare red cliffs, through Erfoud and Rissani to Merzouga. Two hours of driving, and the dunes are in front of you.

Tour Highlights

The best of this journey

Photo Gallery

2-Day Merzouga Desert Tour from Errachidia

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Tour Itinerary

Day by day, 2 days

• Iti1

  Day 1: Errachidia → Ziz Valley → Erfoud → Merzouga → desert camp

  We collect you from your hotel or from Errachidia airport and drive south along the Ziz. The viewpoint above the valley is the first stop, looking down on kilometres of unbroken date palms hemmed in by red cliffs — one of the great roadside views in Morocco.

  Continuing through Erfoud and Rissani we reach Merzouga in the afternoon. Camels are waiting at the edge of the erg, and the trek into the dunes takes about ninety minutes, timed for sunset among the high sand. Dinner at the camp, drums around the fire, and a night in a private tent.

  The desert takes the second half of the day: a camel ride into the dunes timed for the light, with the sand turning from gold to deep orange as the sun drops.

  Dinner is at camp under a sky with no light pollution at all, usually with drums around the fire, and the night is spent in a tent before the sunrise back over the dunes.

  Sunrise over the dunes comes early but nobody regrets it: the light arrives before the heat, and the sand is still cold underfoot.

  The tents have proper beds and rugs rather than sleeping mats, and the larger camps have private bathrooms.

  Accommodation: Tawada Desert Camp, Erg Chebbi — or similar Meals: Breakfast & Dinner
• Iti2

  Day 2: Sunrise over Erg Chebbi → Rissani → Errachidia

  Wake for sunrise over the dunes, then ride or take a 4x4 back to the village for breakfast and a shower.

  On the way north we stop at Rissani market and, if you would like, at Khamlia to hear the Gnawa musicians whose families came north across the Sahara. You are back in Errachidia by early afternoon, in time for an afternoon flight.

  A full day out in the Sahara: the nomad families who still live in the black tents around the erg, the old Mascara galleries where kohl was mined, the village of Khamlia and its Gnawa musicians, whose sung history came north with the caravans from Mali.

  The nomad families around the erg still move with their herds and still take visitors in for tea, which is a real household rather than a display.

  A 4x4 run over the flat hammada beyond the dunes reaches ground no ordinary car gets to, including the dry lake bed that floods in a wet spring.

  The nomad families around the erg still move with their herds and still take visitors in for tea, which is a real household rather than a display.

  Departure: End of the tour

What the Price Includes

Everything covered in the price

If this itinerary does not quite match what you had in mind, tell us your ideas and we will rebuild it around them.

Tour Map

Errachidia

Why Book This Tour

What makes it worth the time

One night, no wasted days: the tall dunes of Erg Chebbi are two hours from Errachidia, not nine from Marrakech.

Know Before You Go

Practical travel notes

• Pricing is per group rather than per person, so the cost per head falls as your party grows — tell us how many you are and we will quote.
• Every tour is private. The itinerary below is the shape of the trip, not a fixed timetable, and your driver will adapt it to how your day is going.
• Bring layers. Days are warm and desert nights are cold in every season, and mountain passes are colder again.
• Comfortable closed shoes matter more than anything else you pack, especially for the dunes and the gorges.
• Tell us at the time of booking about dietary needs, allergies, mobility limits or anything medical, so we can plan around it properly.
• If you are flying, morning arrivals into Errachidia work best — they leave time for the sunset camel trek on the same day.