3-Day Desert Tour from Errachidia with Todra and Dades

About This Tour

3 days - 2 nights · Errachidia

The two-day trip from Errachidia gets you the dunes. This one adds the two great canyons of southern Morocco on the way back, which is what turns a desert overnight into a proper look at the region.

Todra is the more dramatic of the pair: a gorge where cliffs three hundred metres high close to a gap of about ten. Dades is longer and more varied, with a switchback road climbing out of it that is worth the drive on its own. Between them lies the Valley of Roses, whose damask harvest supplies most of Morocco's rose water.

Tour Highlights

The best of this journey

Photo Gallery

3-Day Desert Tour from Errachidia with Todra and Dades

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Tour Itinerary

Day by day, 3 days

• Iti1

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

  Pickup from your hotel or Errachidia airport, then south along the Ziz with a stop at the viewpoint above the palm belt. Through Erfoud and Rissani, reaching Merzouga in the afternoon.

  Camels take you into Erg Chebbi for sunset — about ninety minutes' ride — followed by dinner, drumming around the fire and a night in a private tent at the camp.

  The afternoon belongs to the desert. Camels are met at the edge of the dunes and the ride out to camp is timed so the sun goes down while you are among the sand.

  Dinner is served at the camp, the drums come out after it, and the stars over Erg Chebbi are the reason most people remember this night above the rest.

  The camp is far enough from any town that the Milky Way is visible to the naked eye on a clear night.

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

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

  Day 2: Sunrise → Rissani → Todra Gorge → Dades

  Sunrise over the dunes and breakfast at the camp, then back to the vehicle and west through Rissani and Tinghir.

  We reach Todra around midday, with time to walk the floor of the gorge where the cliffs close overhead. In the afternoon we continue to the Dades gorge, arriving in time for the light on the rock. Dinner and overnight in a hotel in the gorge.

  Much of today is spent on the road, which is where a good deal of the country reveals itself. The route takes in Rissani, the old caravan capital of Sijilmassa and its covered souk and the Todra gorge, a 300 m canyon narrowing to a corridor barely wide enough for the river and the road.

  As paragens sao vossas: um miradouro, um cafe de estrada, uma aldeia que merece dez minutos a pe.

  Accommodation: Riad Paradise Dades, Dades Valley — or similar Meals: Breakfast & Dinner
• Iti3

  Day 3: Dades → Valley of Roses → Ziz → Errachidia

  A morning drive out of the Dades on the switchback road, then west through Kalaat M'Gouna and the Valley of Roses, where the damask harvest happens in May and the distilleries run year round.

  We turn back east and return to Errachidia in the late afternoon, dropping you at your hotel or at the airport.

  Today is a driving day in the best sense, with the country changing as you go, passing the Dades gorge, where the road folds back on itself between walls of red rock and the Valley of Roses, where the damask harvest scents the whole valley each May.

  The vehicle is private and the pace is yours, so the driver stops wherever the view, a mint tea or a photograph is worth it.

  Departure: Departure day — transfer to the airport

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

Dunes, gorges and the Valley of Roses in three days, without the two long transfer days a Marrakech departure would add.

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.
• Todra and Dades sit at altitude and are noticeably colder than the desert floor, particularly after dark between November and March.