How many days do you need for a Sahara desert tour?

Why the Sahara takes time from Marrakech

Marrakech sits on the wrong side of the High Atlas. To reach the Sahara you have to cross the mountains by the Tizi n'Tichka pass at 2,260 metres, then follow the valleys east. Merzouga, at the edge of the Erg Chebbi dunes, is about 560 km from Marrakech: 9 to 10 hours of pure driving on good roads with many bends.

Nobody sensible drives that in one go. Tours split the road over two days, stopping at Aït Ben Haddou, the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs and the Todra Gorge, and sleeping between Kelaat M'Gouna and Tinghir. You reach the dunes on the afternoon of day two, rested, just in time for the sunset camel ride. Day three is the way back.

Two days: Zagora, a real night with small dunes

Two days is the right answer when your time is short and what you want most is a night in the desert: the fire, the tea, the silence and the stars. The road to Zagora crosses the High Atlas, passes Aït Ben Haddou and follows the Draa Valley, one of the longest palm valleys in Morocco. A short camel ride takes you to a camp at the edge of the Tinfou dunes.

Be honest with yourself about one thing: these dunes are a few metres high. If the picture in your head is a sea of orange sand to the horizon, Zagora will not give it to you. If the picture is a quiet night in the desert after a beautiful drive, it will.

Three days: Merzouga, the classic

This is the trip most travellers take first, and the one we recommend first. Day one crosses the Atlas, walks through Aït Ben Haddou and ends in the Valley of Roses. Day two walks the Todra Gorge and reaches the dunes of Erg Chebbi, the highest in Morocco, for a camel ride at sunset and a night in a camp. Day three starts with sunrise from the top of a dune, then the long road home.

Day three is the price you pay: 9 to 10 hours back to Marrakech, with lunch and regular stops. Most people say it is worth it. The sunrise over the Sahara tends to stay with you longer than the drive.

Four days: the same desert, lived slowly

Four days gives you what three days cannot: time in the desert when you are not arriving or leaving. A full day around the dunes can include the village of Khamlia and its Gnaoua musicians, the old market town of Rissani, lunch with a nomad family and a long afternoon on the sand. You either sleep a second night under the stars, or you split the drive back with a night in Ouarzazate so the last day is only four or five hours.

If you can spare it, the fourth day is the one most travellers wish they had added.

From Fes

Merzouga is about 470 km from Fes, a long but beautiful day through the Middle Atlas, the cedar forests of Azrou and the Ziz Valley. Two days from Fes gets you to the dunes and back; three days lets you continue to Marrakech through the gorges and Aït Ben Haddou, which is the most complete way to cross the country.

Shared or private, and does it change the number of days?

The route and the number of days are the same. A shared tour leaves at fixed times in a small group; a private tour gives you your own driver-guide, any date, and stops wherever you like. On a private tour it is easier to adjust the pace: an extra hour in Aït Ben Haddou, a longer lunch, a detour to the Dades gorge road.

What we would choose

First time in Morocco, three days to Merzouga, shared or private. If you can, four. Only a weekend: Zagora in two days, knowing the dunes are small. Already seen Merzouga, or you want the desert to yourselves: Erg Chigaga in three or four days. An evening only: Agafay, and do not call it the Sahara.