3 Days Desert Tour From Marrakech To Merzouga: Explore Kasbah and Unending Horizon
4.0
46 Ratings
Embark on a thrilling 3-day desert adventure from Marrakech to Merzouga. Explore ancient kasbahs, marvel at the endless horizon of the Sahara, and experience camel riding and camping among the stunning sand dunes.
Duration: 3 days
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights

From Marrakech To Dades Valley Via Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou and Ouarzazate

High Atlas Mountains - Day 1: Night and Half board (D)

Leave Marrakech, and follow a well-maintained road to the High Atlas Mountains. After about an hour, the road starts to wind its way along one of the most scenic roads in Morocco across a landscape of terraced wheat fields, cacti, waving palm trees and endless views. As the road begins to descend, the scenery changes drastically as suddenly as you enter a desert-like area. Soon, the imposing Kasbah Aït Benhaddou will loom up like a mirage.

Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou - Soon, the imposing Kasbah Aït Benhaddou will loom up like a mirage. A kasbah is a kind of citadel, composed of high-walled buildings of clay mixed with straw; historically used to shelter to entire village communities. At the top of the Kasbah, there is a fantastic view across the surrounding countryside and of the citadel itself giving you the sense of entering a medieval world with a warren of narrow lanes. the fortified city of Ait Ben Haddou is an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987 With many things to do along the way, great for people who don’t mind a little hike to see some exquisite views. Beautiful villages and towns scattered all around

Dades Gorges - After lunch, you’ll set off on your tour again and drive through the fertile valley to Dades Gorges . If you thought the road from Marrakech was beautiful, then wait till you see this. Bizarre rock formations, bright green palm valleys and rugged mountain peaks in all shapes and colours alternated by small traditional villages and breathtaking views. After 2 hour you’ll pass a restaurant (‘Panoramic’), with an outdoor terrace overlooking the valley and the colourful cliffs. It’s a nice place to stop off for a cup of coffee or mint tea. From here, it’s another 40 minutes drive past yet more weird but wonderful colourful rock formations. When the cliffs begin to get narrower and you enter a kind of gorge, you’ll know you’ve nearly reached your small mountain hotel. Moments later you’re greeted by the friendly owner night and dinner in hotel (Kasbah La Gazelle) or similar.

What's Included
  • Transport by air-conditioned minivan
  • Hotel/port pickup and drop-off
  • Driver/guide
  • Camel trekking in the desert
  • 2 nights Half-Board Accommodation including breakfast and dinner
Additional Information

Head to the famous dunes of Merzouga where the horizon has no limits! This small group tour start from Marrakech and continues to the south side of Morocco for 3 days and 2 nights with half board breakfast and dinner. You will visit some of the most interesting sites in Morocco, such as Ait Benhaddou Kasbah, including the magnificent Dades and Erg Chebbi sand dunes,a safe ride with camels is scheduled to join your camp among the dunes

  • Children must be accompanied by an adult
  • Vegetarian option is available, please advise at time of booking if required
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.0
(46 Ratings)
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L7213ucmariad
Apr 25, 2024
Nice experience - Tours we recommend. You travel a lot of kilometres, but it's worth it. We make stops that make the long journey less tiring. We traveled in a minibus with 15 tourists, the driver and the guide Mohammed who was always careful to satisfy every request of the tourists. We also recommend taking the "extra tour" guide in Aıt Ben Haddou, who is friendly and knowledgeable. Unique desert experience, simple but well organized camp. In short, we recommend both the trip itself and the organization we entrusted.
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Tagartech
Jun 18, 2022
So happy 👍🏻 - 3 days from Marrakech to the desert of merzouga, this 3 days tour give us the opportunity to explore the real Morocco …. mountains and desert which constitute 2/3 of Morocco, Marrakech is certainly a beautiful city but southern morocco hides so many beautiful things too
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Jonsim2021
Jul 10, 2021
Excellent value for money!! - The manager is very kind and helpful, l He treated us royally and he satisfied all our request, also organised a super and experience with a unforgettable night in the Merzouga desert ( we visited Ait ben Haddou Village, Ouarzazat, Dades And Todgha Gorges, Taourirt kasbah and many other beautiful places…) Accommodations were very big and clean, also the common area. Excellent value for money!! We absolutely recommended this agency !
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572aimeen
Jul 6, 2021
Very calm and friendly staff, - Very calm and friendly staff, always want to help you, on our trip through Morocco we stayed 2 nights in the desert. Our driver speaks English and is super friendly and helpful! They organised for us the tour through the desert and it was breathtaking. Accommodations were warm and clean, and you can see the milkyway from the balcony. The breakfast was plenty and good, and dinners were the best morrocan home made food we had on the trip (no menu, but rather a different set of dishes on each day). Overall it was a great experience which we can only recommend.
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Mouros2021
May 7, 2021
Amazing Sahara - We had an amazing time with Adil Jawad and Brahim, wonderful experience in Merzouga Sahara desert...not to be missed
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Sandraggpp
Mar 24, 2020
Highlight of my trip to Morocco! - After reading reviews of different tour companies, I decided to book the 2 nights Sahara tour with Audax Events, and I'm so glad I did it! The first day Jawad, who was the man of the company in charge of organising the trip, picked me up very punctually from the hostel. Jawad is a super friendly and kind man. He texted me often during my trip just to check if everything was fine. He really cares about his customers' happiness and I felt he was like a friend. Our van was comfortable and the drivers were good and drove very carefully. The first day we visited Ben Ait Haddou with a great guide. The first night a part of the group slept in Auberge Atlas Dades, a beautiful place with very kind staff and amazing food. The second day we visited Tinghir and Gorges Dades with Ahmad, the funniest guide I've ever come across and who can speak several languages fluently. We arrived at the riad Dar Tafouyte in Merzouga to leave our bags. We (just 4 tourists, it was amazing!) rode a camel to the camp. There we were just 9 tourists along with the Berber guys from Dar Tafouyte and the camp, who played drums for us. The group was so small I felt it like a family and I made friends with the Berbers really quickly. I had an awesome night chilling in the dunes with them. Our tent in the camp was really nice and cozy, and the beds had a lot of blankets to keep you warm. The third day, we got back on the camel to the riad Dar Tafouyte to pick up our bags and go back to Marrakesh. I was loving my time there so much that I made a last-minute decision. I decided to spend one day and night at Dar Tafouyte, which is a stunning riad, with the friendliest and most helpful staff ever and amazing food. This meant that I had to tell Jawad that I wouldn't be taking the van that day, but the next day. I know maybe this made things difficult for him, as I was trying to change the plan I had paid for. In the end, I agreed to pay a bit more to change my date of return, which I think is fair. All in all, this tour was my best trip of Morocco! I don't usually write really long reviews, but I think that when people do their job well it has to be praised and recognised! I can't thank enough Jawad and his team, and all the friendly staff and guides we met! I wanna go back to Morocco and if I do, I'll book my trip with them again!
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Rabiaa0
Feb 10, 2020
3 days desert tour - I loved the trip! Was cool and very professional,They make sure that everything is going well. Food was good and the hotels too!
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Lorenzo
May 11, 2024
From Marrakech to Merzouga - Great experience, the Kasbah of ait ben haddou (bring at least a liter of water with you if you go during a hot period), the Todgha gourges a pleasure for the eyes, finally the magnificent Sahara! In my opinion, the guides could have given more information, especially on the first day. For lunch don't stop where the tour bus takes you but look for a better place nearby (there is always at least one)
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Angelo
Nov 22, 2023
Desert experience to do at least once in a lifetime - Fantastic desert experience. I chose the luxory tent and I must say it was beautiful with all the comforts, dinner and music in the pleasant camp. The itinerary of the trip is beautiful even if the guides you meet always try to take you to some shops to try to get you to buy the goods at a higher price. Instead, they should focus more on explaining monuments and the history of places they spend little time on. The restaurants selected for lunch are almost all terrible. The journey to get there was long, fortunately our driver was very good and made the journey less difficult for us.
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Rkramadh
May 7, 2023
Could've been great tour with a different company, different vehicle with working AC etc. - This tour could have been much better but with a different company than AUDAX who was the local tour operator for our 3 day Marrakech to Merzouga and UNESCO site etc. 1. We were told we'd be picked up at 9am but the night before, we got a text that we'd need to be ready at 7am! The hotel breakfast wasn't even open and we managed to get some coffee and toast luckily by rushing the staff. 2. We got picked up a bit later anyway (thanks to that, no breakfast for us although we had paid for it at our hotel) and got dropped off near the souks in marrakech. 3. we boarded a black mini van and the only two spots left for us was one next to the driver and the window seat. There were 17 people in that vehicle, packed like sardines. I am short but my legs were cramped as the dashboard of the vehicle stuck out. The WORST THING IS THAT THAT THE AC WAS NOT WORKING IN THIS VEHICLE. The driver lied to us multiple times that it was working. All the people in the back complained and nothing was done. The driver left his side of the window open at all times. On the passenger end of that row, the window button was taped up!! We had to ask the driver to open/close it every time and we couldn't control how much was open/closed. We heard complaints that people in the back were boiling. At least we had windows open we thought but when we heard that closing our windows might help, we gladly told the driver to close our window so they could get a bit of AC. Turns out that they didn't get much AC, we got nothing at all in the front row because the driver told us there are no vents for the front row!!! The dashboard had several vents but opening them did NOTHING for us. Not even hot air, let alone cold air! So we were baking with the sun hitting us from the front windshield, with no AC! Even when our side of the window was closed, the driver never closed his side. If the AC was working like he claimed, he'd have to be crazy to keep the window open and run the AC and use up more gas! The van had a slope and the people in the rows behind the driver couldn't see any scenery! At one point, one couple asked the driver to people around. we were willing to swap but no one asked us or said anything. One couple that needed to swap with us in the second row (bcoz my husband has knee issues and needed room to stretch) didn't seem to want to swap. So I sat cramped so that my husband could at least have some room in the front row. The drive through the desert was hot, sandy but we chugged along without AC. The driver was NOT a guide. He did NOT speak English. I spoke French and once he found out, he basically ignored my husband asking him anything. After the intitial few times, the driver stopped even responding to anyone's complaints about the AC!! HE KNEW VERY WELL HE WAS LYING ABOUT THE AC WORKING IN THAT VEHICLE!! It was a long painful drive in a vehicle that HAD 200KM mileage!! WE were grateful that at least we had the view from the window while others had nothing due to the slope in the vehicle roof. It blocked their view (unless they were like kids' height which none of them were!). The hotel we stayed at the first night was OK. No hot water for shower, then no water at all to brush/wash our face etc. I managed to get a shower while my husband got cold water trickling. It was a very rustic bathroom. WE didn't mind provided it had hot water but the shower sprayed water all over the bathroom IF/WHEN it decided to work. de The room had no AC. When we asked, instead of switching us to a room, they said they couldn't find a tech to come to fix it at that hour. THEY KNEW IT WAS NOT WORKING BEFORE WE WERE PUT IN THERE AND WE LOST ANOTHER NIGHT OF SLEEP ON TOP OF ALL THE PREVIOUS NIGHTS BECAUSE AC SEEMS LIKE REAL LUXURY EVEN IN GOOD HOTELS IN MOROCCO!! Dinner was fine but not adequate quantity. Chopped tomatoes with salt/pepper is NOT a salad. They didn't seem to have enough food for us tbh. The views were wonderful but the stay could have been more enjoyable if the AC was working. They told us to open the small window and it was nothing but noise from the road below, despite it being in a remote location. We met well spoken guides that walked us through Ait Benhaddou etc. The disappointing part is they told us we really needed head scarves to go through the desert that evening. We fell for their lies and spent the money! They lied to us that someone would show us how to tie them but no one did!! When we got to the desert, we got strange looks as we had brought all our luggage with us since it made no sense to pay for 3 day tour (2 night stay) and also pay for a hotel in Marrakech to keep our luggage. Until we asked if anyone would show us how to tie those scarves on our head, there was no attempts from them. The driver dumped us where the camels were lying and took off. Luckily someone tied those scarves on our heads BUT SUNSET HAD ALMOST HAPPENED ALREADY BY THEN AND THERE WAS NO NEED FOR THEM WHATSOEVER!! THE CAMEL RIDE WAS BARELY AN HOUR, NO SUNSET TO LOOK AT!! By the time we got on the camels and rode and reached our camp, it was fully dark!! The camps were beautiful (all white and one next to the other however) with large lanterns lit up. Food was good that night and the dinner camp had AC blasting when we didn't need it lol. The music/drums were played but again, nothing exotic to be fair. My spouse played a lot too and many told him he played better than the people who were in charge of entertainment LOL. We went to bed around midnight and the camps nearby were playing much better music till much later. The camps had private bathroom, sink etc and it was worth paying the extra for luxe camp. No complaints there for sure. After no sleep for 3 nights by then, we were told we had to be ready at 7 am to get out! We got at 6am, had quick breakfast and put out our luggage for the 4x4 to take it where our original van/driver had dropped us off. A lot of people had walked up the dunes to watch sunrise. We had no idea, we could've done the same. Having no guide but just a driver that spoke no english meant we were left to fend for ourselves. In the camp, the guides from other groups were looking out for their visitors but we had NONE!! The sunrise camel ride was nicer than the dark, so called sunset ride although we enjoyed the camel rides a lot. While we disembarked, the front two camels took off!! The camel that my husband was on saw that and it wanted to follow the other two. So while my husband was getting off the camel (sitting down), it got up!! That left my husband dangling with one leg on the camel high up and the other dangling. This for a guy with genetic condition of arthritis! He was doing a split without intentending to do so. Fortunately the camel guide got him down safe without anything broken/hurt bcoz my husband stayed calm the whole time. The local camel guys are wonderful and we paid them generous tips but AUDAX events failed us by sending a driver who spoke no english, didn't give us one bit of information on our long drive (unless I prodded him in french). He was also a heavy smoker and after every stop, when he got back into the vehicle, he was wreaking of cigarette smoke which I absolutely hated! I was stuck sitting next to him. He sometimes talked so loud with his head towards me that he was spraying me!! The so called guide or whoever that I even forgot was in our vehicle didn't say a peep the whole ride!! No information being shared, no telling us about the country side, no guiding of any kind!! The most disappointing part is that we looked forward to this part of the trip the most but the camel ride, camp stay and ride back all lasted barely a few hours!!The drive back was a very long one in the hot sun without the AC. When we took other tours using a diff company than viator, they brought luxurious Mercedes vans with seats facing each other! That kind of vehicle should've been used by audax for the 3 day tour. NOT AN OLD 200km mileage vehicle with no AC! The fact that the window up/down button was taped up speaks volumes about that vehicle! I wish this tour was what we had envisioned it to be but the most important aspects were way too short. The stay on the first night should've been better with AC in the room. Overall, do this tour but not with viator/audax! The driver's name was Abdel. He was a nice guy I think and we tipped him generously but honestly, he needs to learn English in this business a little bit at least. I WANT SOME OF MY MONEY BACK SINCE WE PAID SEVERAL HUNDRED DOLLARS for two of us! We also found out that 5 women in our vehicle paid less than half of what we paid through some agent on the street! We feel like fools for paying so much for the same crappy experience they got but at least they didn't pay as much. They should never have cramped so many people in that vehicle!
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