The TRUTH about the 3 Day Tour from MARRAKECH to the SAHARA DESERT (Merzouga) - IS IT WORTH IT?

Are you thinking of taking the 3 day tour from Marrakech to Merzouga and the Erg Chebbi sand dunes in the Sahara Desert? If so, you've found the right video!

In this video I'll take you along and show you in detail what the tour is like. I'll show the truth, the good and the bad. The driving, the sights along the way, the food, the accommodation, the timings, the costs. Everything.

It’s a popular tour for anyone visiting Morocco, and it’s the real thing right to the edge of the Sahara proper, rather than the one day tours. Before I went I couldn’t find that much information online prior to going. There was no real detail about exactly what you see, where you stay and what you eat. Also, what you get for paying a little extra for the luxury option.
This is the video I wish I had been able to watch before going.

We’ll go from Marrakech and up into the Atlas Mountains via the Tizi n'Tichka Pass - The highest pass through the mountains. From there we come out the other side of the mountains and visit and amazing ancient town of Ait Ben Hadou, where many movies have been filmed. We’ll stop at the Rose valley and the Dadès Gorges before going to the hotel for the night.

On day 2, we’ll visit Tinghir and the Todgha Gorge before getting to Merzouga and riding a camel into the Erg Chebbi dunes to the camp for the night.

The final day is the long journey back to Marrakech. On this day I’ll give you my full summary of the tour - the good, the bad, advice and tips.

Here's a full breakdown of what the tour involved, allowing you to go straight to any part you're interested in. Be sure to watch to the end so that you can hear my summary and useful tips!

This was filmed on 24, 25, 26 May.
I stayed at Riad Al Amine and arranged the tour through the riad. I do not have a name of the tour company.

DAY 1:
00:32 - 7:30AM - Left riad in Marrackech medina
01:19 - 8:00AM - Left Marrakech - Drive 1 hour 30 mins
01:28 - 9:30AM - First stop - Café Restaurant Tagudalt (15 mins) - Drive 1 hour
03:15 - 10:30AM - Tizi n'Tichka Pass (Atlas Mountains) (15 mins) - Drive 1 hour 30 mins
04:18 - 12:15PM - Ait Ben Hadou (2 hours - Old city tour then lunch at Hotel Restaurant L'oasis D'or) - Drive 3 hours 15 mins
10:21 - 5:30PM - Rose valley - Cafe Restaurant Al Manadir (15 mins) - Drive 45 mins
11:13 - 6:30PM - Dadès Gorges (15 mins) - Drive 15 mins
11:47 - 7:00PM - Luxury Riad Dadès (Day 1 Hotel) - See the luxury hotel option and included dinner

DAY 2:
14:44 - 8:00AM - Pick up from the hotel - Drive 1 hour 45 mins
15:01 - 9:45AM - Service station / coffee break (15 mins) - Drive 15 mins
16:15 - 10:15AM - Tinghir tour (1 hour 50 mins) - Drive 15 mins
18:06 - 12:20PM - Todgha Gorge (25 mins) - Drive 1 hour
19:40 - 1:45PM - Lunch at Restaurant & Cafe Reda (1 hour 25 mins) - Drive 1 hour 40 mins
21:41 - 4:50PM - Final stop (10 mins) - Drive 45 mins
22:18 - 5:45PM - Arrive at Merzouga and wait for the sun to get lower
24:24 - 6:15PM - Camel ride to Erg Chebbi camp
25:20 - 7:15PM - Arrive at Erg Chebbi camp - See the luxury camp, food and Berber drumming around the fire

DAY 3:
27:47 - 7:00AM - Breakfast at Erg Chebbi camp
29:00 - 7:30AM - Leave Erg Chebbi camp in pick up
29:20 - 8:55AM - Leave Merzouga in mini bus - Drive 35 mins
29:35 - 9:30AM - Break - Touroug Cafe (25 mins) - Drive 2 hours 35 mins
*** 30:01 - My summary of the tour - The good, the bad, advice and tips ***
36:41 - 12:30PM - Lunch at Cafe Restauran Panorama (I went over the road instead as reviews were so bad!) (1 hour) - Drive 3 hours 30 mins
39:10 - 4:00PM - Break - Cafe Resto Targa (15 mins) - Drive 2 hours 45 mins
39:45 - 7:00PM - Arrive back at Jemaa el-Fnaa Square, Marrakech

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[suspicious-gnome]

He's not complaining, people... He's giving his honest opinion of his experience. I think he's genuinely lovely!

[romlein]

No BS. No sensationalism. This is perfect. Thank you for your genuine thoughts!

[stj]

A night in the Sahara, under the stars, hearing the wind blow past your tent, and then delicious breakfast in the morning is one of life's great experiences. I've done it twice and hope, Inshallah, to do it with my grandson in a few years.
Also, I do this experience on a southern loop from Fez, to the desert, and back around to Marrakech. There are wonderful places to stay the nights before and after the desert, and you're seeing new ground and places instead of backtracking.

[Boug]

I’m Moroccan living in the US and I have done a tour driving from Casa to Merzouga then ouarzazat then Marrakech then back to Casablanca. I did the full trip in 5/6 days. I think seeing the other side of the Atlas mountain is worth it and I think it’s the best part of Morocco. The roads are excellent with really good cellular coverage. Food in Morocco outside of large cities and especially along the roads in villages could be hit and miss but I don’t think $10 at a restaurant is abnormal (knowing that a sandwich in Marrakech or Casablanca could cost you between $4 to $6). But for people worrying about it, get some sandwiches with you from Marrakech to eat for lunch. The trip you did is indeed long for 3 days. That’s 560km one way with stops probably most of the day you would be driving. I think that region is so beautiful with some spectacular landscapes (especially the spring with snow on the mountains as a background) to rush through it in 3 days. I do not believe it’s a desert trap but the area is famous along tourists and if you showed up in the high season, you will encounter many tourists as the country does host close to 10 million tourists a year. Advise for some of your viewers: The desert is warm during the day but also could be very cold at night (especially during fall, winter and spring). I would not advise doing this trip in the summer as these areas could be extremely hot.

[PG.]

I think for €12 a 3 course meal in the middle of nowhere is a deal no matter how you look at it. It is pretty annoying to see tourists that make 25 times the average salary of a Moroccan complain about the price of a tour meal. Other than that comment pretty informative video and great captures. Straight to the point.

[elvinimali]

Thank you so much for this video. Based on your experiences, and my difficulty with long distance road travel, my girlfriend and I decided to fly to Errachidia from Marrakech, before getting a taxi to our hotel in Merzouga. Saved a lot of time, we got an extra day in the desert.

[megametification]

Flying to morocco tomorrow and visiting merzouga around next week, really hyped about it. Happy to have found a realistic blog about the tour with some actual advice, thanks for that!

[khalidhakeem]

I was planning to do something like that in Morocco and I found this video very helpful. Chris gave a very detailed information about everything a new tourist may need about this tour. Thank you Chris.

[georgemirowski]

So much money you say and being ripped off for around £10 for an extensive salad and chicken tagine...really? You might consider the distance a food supplier has to deliver his wares to this location and the associated costs. People still think Morocco is immune to rising world wide costs. Making a fortune??? well this may come as a shock to you but a business relies on making a profit to survive and Morocco's travel industry is seasonal.

[monizdm]

Less than a month ago I did the camel trek (each way, about an hour each) and overnight in the tent camp. As it was part of a larger, comprehensive tour of the country it felt more integrated with the overall country experience. It was well worth it.

[nickoutram]

I recently went to Morocco and hired a car at the airport for the duration of my stay [5 weeks]. Although it was a smaller Fiat 500 I had much fun taking it through the Atlas Mountains and often on dirt track roads and some roads still being constructed. Many times I didn't see another car or person for an hour at a time so some level of mental preparedness for these 'solo' adventures is required, staying at Riads and your back with real people again (4G mini-router helps keep you connected in the wilderness, buy the data-SIM in the airport arrival hall.) It was a great and relatively cheap way to see this amazing country and I had total freedom to stop and eat wherever I wanted.

[tomasbitocchi]

Hello Chris I love your style! We're going to Morocco on february and we are using your videos as a guide, greetings from Argentina!

[renstheunissen]

Enjoyable video! And refreshing that it's honest instead of going overboard on the positivity like a lot of travel videos do.

[Soufiane-sf]

Thank you for your honesty
I am from Marrakech, and everything you say is accurately, we hope that everyone who came to us will enjoy with a beautiful heart.
Just have fun. ❤

[wez]

Thank you for this was so comprehensive and helpful. I was worried about what to expect from this tour but it looks well travelled and busy. We need more informative travel vlogs like this

[foodandfashionmag]

This is literally the best video i ve ever watched. clear, totally helpful. Thanks billlionsss

[MikelMovies]

Great video!! Like you said, there is not an abundance of information about this desert trip online and I will be undertaking it in November (albeit with a rental car) so I am happy to find a recent video not long before I leave myself and to see see it's worth the long distance.

[madmags]

Going to Morocco 🇲🇦 in August 2024 ( family of 4 )
We watch all your videos! Thank you 😊

[matthewmorris]

Nice video Chris, it's a beautiful country Morocco, probably the most different place you can visit that is closest to home.

[TimCullis]

Excellent video, Chris, with some great insights into these tours. It helped that you had a degree of awareness about the kickbacks earned by the tour companies for bringing their customers to the various sales outlets. And of course they get kickbacks from the restaurants as well so you did well to eat solo on the way back. Once you get over the Atlas mountain ranges, the whole massive area to the south and east is semi-arid desert which the Moroccans refer to as 'sahara' as that's Arabic for desert/wilderness.
But it's not 'The Great Sahara Desert' which is hundreds of kilometres to the south. Much of this Moroccan desert area is 'hamada' which is a stony/beaten earth surface, a few bits are 'ergs' which are sand seas, but geographically they are all part of the same semi-arid region. Some people think only Erg Chebbi (measuring 16 miles by 5 miles) is desert, but no, that's just a sand dune within the same climatic region. Anyway, great video which I will point people to.