Unforgettable Sahara: 3-Day Marrakech to Merzouga Adventure

Brahim was an amazing tour guide, highly recommend! He made sure we had everything we needed, we felt safe and comfortable.

Everyday was an adventure and I would highly recommend it to everyone! The accommodation was amazing in both the hotel and desert, and our driver Said along with our tour guide in Tinghir were super kind and made the experience so much better!🐪

This is a pretty long review because I feel like I got plenty to say about the tour but the summary is: I would highly recommend it. My tour was with Marrakech Travel Services and our driver / guide was Hamid. I should preface this with saying I almost missed my opportunity to attend this tour, while booking, pickup from 'Cafe de France' was an option, and I even received an email confirming that - but on the day I waited and twenty minutes pass the pick-up time finally a minibus labeled Marrakech Travel Services showed up, but it turns out this was for shorter excursions not the three day one. The driver, whose name I didn't catch unfortunately though I insisted he take some money for his effort was kind enough take me along until he could flag down my minibus and I transfered across. If it wasn't for him I would have missed this entirely and wasted my money so thank you mysterious driver. I do not believe this was an error on Marrakech Travel Services part, but rather Viator for allowing to choose seemingly a non-valid pick-up location. With that out of the way, the actual review: this tour is an incredible experience and a very hassle-free and accessible way to see the Sahara on a budget and if time is constrained. I have always wanted to visit Morocco and knew of this tour for a few years, I decided to come after discovering an old travel card with some money that was about to expire. But I was still very on the fence about doing this tour, I had researched it extensively and seen many glowing reviews but also some pretty damming ones. After one day in Marrakech though I knew I couldn't spend my entire five days there and booked the tour the first night I was there, for the next day. Thankfully one was available, though it seems due to being such short notice I was put on a tour with French-speakers when it certainly seems like they keep same-languages together for convenience. But this was not really an issue and was down to me booking almost literally last minute. Hamid got us promptly and safely to each location, sitting in the minibus does make up a large chunk of this tour, but the stops are numerous and the sight from the window was incredible the whole way there and back, the minibus was also well air conditioned, spacious and the drive was very comfortable. The appox nine hour drive back on day three seems daunting but is really nothing to worry about. While a lot of the stops are to give you a rest from the minibus and to stretch your legs a bit, these are however quite plainly avenues for you to spend your money and while you are never pressured I would say 'strongly encouraged' would be the more apt term. Our tour was in the height of summer, and every day it was over 40c / 104f so I feel like everyone on the tour atleast appreciated the chance to get more water and or ice cream. On the first day at the half way point of crossing the Atlas Mountains you make a stop with one of the most impressive views looking down a valley and across dozens of miles of mountains below. We are told, the stop is to take some photos but getting out you are greeted with many stalls and peddlers set up along the road trying to sell jewellery, gems and random trinkets. At the end of the day, the cost of this tour is so low, and the equivalent in dirhams you can end up spending at these various stops is such a trivial amount for almost any Western tourist while Im sure goes a long way to help the locals who have to stand by the side of a road day in day out all year round, that I really had no problem spending a little more here and there when I could spare it. The first 'major stop' is at Ait-Ben-Haddou, a remarkable 11th century village built around a mound. Do note there is both the 'old town' (the actual attraction), and the 'new town' where you arrive, which unfortunately appeared like a village-wide construction site and was not the most appealing- thankfully the historical old town more than made up for it and it is a fascinating place to walk around. There is a tour guide who welcomes you when you arrive - it is never explicity stated but you do not have to follow him, you could cross the bridge not the main gate to the old town and you wouldnt have to pay, but frankly I wouldnt really know how much someone would get out of it without a guide telling you about the history of the place, it is not set out like a museum and you would miss a lot of context. During the tour you are taken to a local painters house in the village where there is another opportunity to be parted with some money, they are all handmade and unique so I had no qualms paying for one. The tour ends with another visit to a local business, who sells clothing - most notably scarfs, "the passport to the desert" we are told which we will need in the Sahara. They were quite nice and fairly reasonably priced, but while half our tour group purchased one, I wouldn't know when I would ever have use for it again after this trip, and I certainly wouldnt be wearing it back in England, so I opted for copious sunscreen instead (which thankfully worked). The tour which lasts about an hour ends and you are taken to lunch (at L'Oasis D'or) which is another hour. None of the lunches are included in the price of the tour, and there is also nothing stopping you just going to any restaurant or cafes at any of the stops, I have seen in other reviews complaints about these 'pre-chosen' lunches being overpriced (by local Morrocon standards) and subpar quality sometimes even causing food poisoning, nothing of the sort occurred on our trip. You are paying for the convenience and the food is perfectly fine, what's more the lunch on the second and third day are buffets, you can help yourself to as much food as you desire if feel like you're being ripped off. Departing Ait-Ben-Haddou you make a pretty lengthy final leg on the first day to the first accommodation in Tinghir. We stayed at Hôtel Bougafer, which from the looks of it is the standard accommodation for these tours, as two other two groups were present who we seemed to be shadowing across the three days, always bumping in to each other at the stops. The hotel was very nice, the room was extremely nice and far beyond what I was expecting for how little I paid for the tour. I should say however I likely got very lucky as I was the only solo-traveller in a tour with a family and a group of two, which meant accomidation likely meant for more people was going to just me. After waking early the second day and having a quick breakfast you depart for the near by Todgha Gorge, which is awe-inspiring in its scale and the beauty of the lush greenery that spills out from the chasm in to the land around. Another guide accompanies you on your journey through the Gorge (this one we actually picked up en-route rather than be there to meet us) and this one is pre-paid as part of the tour. He was very knowledgeable and friendly and I do have to commend all the guides we had on this tour as they were having to give all of the information in French to the group, and then again in English just for my benefit. The tour ends with another visit to a local business, a carpet marker and you are given some tea and shown a demonstration of how they go about making the carpets before being shown the many -many- carpets on sale. They are very highly quality but also very highly priced, and Im not sure how many people of these tours are both willing to part with the sum needed and and also have the luagge space to fit one of these carpets. While I wasnt quite prepared to carry a carpet with me for the rest of my tour and part with what little spare budget I had remaining there was a tips box and I was more than happy to give them something for inviting us into their home, giving us the tea and providing the demonstration. Leaving Todgha you make a stop a few hours later for lunch, the first of the two aforementioned buffets, and again I feel like I have to reiterate the value of the tour and the amount you get for it, I feel like some people in their reviews were expecting something for more up-market, when the key take away from these tours seems to be accessibility. Again the food is perfectly fine. After lunch you make the final leg of the journey to the Sahara which takes about the same amount of time as Todgha to the lunch venue did. We arrived in Hassilabied just north of Mezouga at a hotel / outdoor-activies provider called La Source which acts as your sort of base going in and out of the desert. We stepped off the minibus in sweltering 44C / 111F heat, every breath in singed your nostrils, a constand wind blowing in from the dunes felt like a wall of fire hitting you and it was practically impossible to see without some kind of protective eyewear on from the blinding sunlight. It could not have been a more appropriate entrance to the Sahara and I loved it. Hurrying inside La Source you then have four hours to wait until you depart again for your camp in the desert. However at the three hour mark you are offered the opportunity to go quad-biking in the dunes this is not included in the price of the tour and costs an additional 500 dirham. I have never had much interest in doing something like this before, but everyone else on the tour had opted to do it, and I didn't want to miss out so ended up spending a considerable amount of my spending money on this extra activity. And you know what? It was probably one of the most fun things Ive ever done and absolutely worth every penny. Storming up and down dunes as the hot wind blasts you, and seeing the town gradually disappear behind you as you venture further in to the desert along the trails is an incredible experience and one I will likely not forgot anytime soon. You stop 30 minutes in for a break and everyone swaps driver - passenger for the return journey, again I lucked out by being the only solo traveller that I was alone on my quad-bike and therefore had a full hour of riding. Returning to La Source and your camels are ready to take you in to the desert, you have a short window of rest and then you are ushered back outside where a line of camels and their guide await you. This was part of the tour I was perhaps most hesitant about tour, through a mix of well - fear of falling off - but also not wanting to participate in something that may be cruel to animals. Unfortunately it does seem animal welfare is not held in the highest regard in Morroco, (the condition of some of the horses pulling carriages in Marrakech is quite shocking.), and while it is probably quite niave of me to say from what I could see from my time there- of our own camels, those visible on other tour groups and of those just being kept nearby I could see no mistreatment. Our guide was very patient and mild-mannered with our camels and they never seemed to act out or show any signs of distress. With that said on to the actual ride itself - it is a truly unique and bizarre sensation, fun and terrifying all at the same time. While Im glad to have tried it, Im certainly in no rush to hop back on any camels any time soon. It does also last quite a while, and they are some pretty wide creatures so your legs may get pretty sore, and make sure to wear loose and long trousers. You are taken out some distance, undulating up and around many dunes until once again Mergouza disappears from sight and you are alone in the dunes. It is pretty sad to see signs of rubbish left in the sand along the way. After maybe forty minutes, as the sun begins to get low you stop at presumably the same spot for many tours as another group was already there with their camels and there is sandboard there for any whom wish to try it. After a twenty minute break you remount the camels and in our case double-back on ourselves as our camp was relatively close to the town (visible from it and vice-versa in fact) this did spoil the allure a little of supposedly being in a desert camp, when the town was practically right there, perhaps a forty minute walk away. But by time you arrive there is is near pitch-black as the sun has gone down and everyone is hungry from the days journey that it is hardly much of a concern really. Looking on Google maps you can see some camps perhaps 10km out from Merzouga, I cannot imagine the camel ride out to those is all that pleasant so in that regard the closer proximity to 'civilisation' is probably appreciated. Our camp was a fairly basic affair, a large open central campfire / dining area ringed with tents and canvas with one way in / out and the adjoining sleeping quarters separated again for the various groups within the tour. We had no campfire probably because it was still 36C / 96F despite it now being past 9pm so that wasnt an issue as the last thing anyone wanted was more heat. Dinner arrives via quad-bike, it is quite funny being sat in the central area of the camp with the group, hearing an approaching engine and then a server hurriedly bringing in plates of the starter only to disappear and return with the sound of his quad-bike for each following course. With dinner concluded we are treated to some music by the man who had taken responsibility for our tour upon us arriving at La Source along with an compliance as they played the drums and guitar. After that at around 11pm we are shown to our sleeping quarters - once again, I had a tent to myself, inside was four beds, seemingly all for me. Unfortunately these beds were not that comfortable, this mixed with the excruciating heat and humity meant I did not sleep that night and instead spent much of the night outside looking at the stars. The wind does pick up at night and the tents can take quite a battering and it is quite noisy which wouldnt aid much with sleeping. Another concern of mine was security, as far as I was aware there really was nothing to stop anyone from entering the camp at night - not so much a concern, for others in tbe group who had others in their tent, but me being alone in mine, if I had actually managed to do any sleeping it could have been easy enough for someone to get in my tent and take my belongings, the door to my tent was locked with a bolt - that you could easily reach in to unlock from the outside. One would have to imagine (or at the very least hope) that the camp, and all the others like it in the area are being monitored in some way to stop anything untoward happening. The final day arrives, and due to not sleeping and becoming quite dehydrated (again not exactly the tour's fault, be mindful if you plan to do this in summer) I was not exactly feeling up to riding the camels again at 6am, but by time I had my things packed back up the rest of the group was outside mounting up and I didnt want to hold them up, so just bite my tongue and get to it. We ride the camels for approximately 20 minutes not too far from camp to a collosal sand-dune that we (with some effort) climb to have a perfect vantage point to see the sunrise. And it was quite a majestic sight to see it rise above the dunes as the sky fades from light grey to yellow to blue as it ascends and casts long shadows across the desert. Getting down a sand-dune is trival compared to climbing one evidently, and we mount up the camels one final time to return to La Source where breakfast awaits. Not long after and you are back in the minibus once more to begin the long drive back to Marrakech. There was a stop in the morning and afternoon to stretch your legs / go to the toilet / buy ice cream in our group's case, and there is the final major stop for lunch at another large buffet place frequented by the many tours who operate this route. Our driver Hamid made sure to check with everyone in the group to find the most convenient drop-off points for each of us which made things very easy to do with. I was worried I was going to be dropped off somewhere unfamiliar - the place I should have initially went to be picked up if there had not been the mix-up. But he made sure to get us as close to Cafe De France as possible, and thus ended a pretty unforgettable and incredible three days. It was an extremely unique, exhilarating and fascinating experience. After seeing so many reviews I had severely lowered my expectations going in, hoping to just see some nice sights and experience the desert, this far exceeded how I predicted it may go. Yes, it is certainly possible to do this all your self, to find your own accommodation and rent a car or take a coach out to Merzouga from Marrakech, and it maybe could be cheaper (which I had contemplated). But if you want all of the difficult leg-work taken care for you, to not have to worry about where you're going to eat or sleep - all at any extremely agreeable price then you really cannot go wrong with this tour.

This trip is great if you are pressed for time but be prepared for the final afternoon and night to be jam packed if you go quad biking followed by a full day bus trip back to Marrakesh. We had a great group of mixed ages and plenty of nationalities which made for great conversation over lunch and dinner. All the tour guides we had were passionate and great at explaining what we were seeing in depth. The bus driver Mustapha was great and even organised my friend and I another night to stay in Merzouga and another bus ride home as soon as we asked which was incredible. My friend and I staying another night was purely for a better quad bike tour at sunset with sandboarding as the views are just amazing. 2 Australian lads 22yrs and 27yrs

The tour was very smooth and well organised! It didn't feel tiring at all as there were a lot of stops and it was very comfortable! There are some extra fees during the trip such as entrance fees and meals but other than that, I had an amazing experience! I met a lot of new people from the group too!

This trip was a fabulous opportunity to see more of Morocco and experience riding a camel in the Sahara Desert! Laarbi was a great driver—very friendly and helpful. Lots of driving, but it was worth it for the experiences.

Mohamed Benhadou was the best tour guide. i would recommend every one to book from this company. It was 100% safe, funny and excellent! When I come back to morocco only with Marrakech Travel Services and Mohamed! :)

It was a smooth and enjoyable 3 days tour. The camel ride by the sunset was the highlight of the trip, and the stay at the Merzouga camp was smooth and comfortable.

Great trip to sand dunes, but it is a long way to go. Thank you driver and guide Aziz, he work hard n drive all day in last day.

Fantastic experience. Jamal and friends were excellent guides and hosts. Be prepared for long drives, but it was worth it.