Morocco Desert Tours: How to Choose the Right Luxury Desert Camp for Your Travel Style

The Sahara Desert is one of the most incredible places on Earth. The golden hues of the immense sand dunes and the hardened yet vibrant humans that call it home will stick with me forever in my memory. It’s an experience that I think everyone should have at some point in life! So, how do you choose which experience is right for you when there are so many Morocco desert tours out there? Let me tell you, I spent hours trying to figure that out. And I’ll share so you don’t have to go down the same rabbit hole that I did.

5 Things to Consider When Choosing Morocco Desert Tours

Now, in this post, we’re specifically speaking about Southern Morocco desert tours. If you want something that’s slightly more accessible and will take less time out of your itinerary, you can do a quick trip to the stone desert, the Afgay Desert, right outside Marrakech.

When planning our itinerary for Morocco, I did a lot of research on whether the time it took to travel to the Sahara Desert was worth it. And honestly, I shouldn’t have even given it a second thought. It was absolutely worthwhile. While it is a lot of travel no matter which way ya slice it, you’ll see and experience things that are worth their weight in gold.

So, I think time is better spent choosing which desert tour option is right for you, rather than whether or not you should go at all. Here are the factors to focus on when browsing Morocco desert tours to determine which is right for you:

Location: Erg Chebbi vs. Erg Chigaga

There are two dune areas in the Moroccan Sahara where you can stay: Erg Chebbi and Erg Chigaga. The main differences are:

• Access: Erg Chebbi is slightly easier to reach than Erg Chigaga. Erg Chigaga is only reachable by 4×4 no matter what camp you stay in. Whereas Erg Chebbi is a little more touristic due to ease of travel. A lot of the camps are along the road on the outskirts of the dunes making it just generally easier to access.
• Dunes: The dunes in Erg Chebbi are much taller than Erg Chigaga, which provides pretty dramatic scenery! Erg Chebbi dunes can reach 525 feet tall, whereas the tallest in Erg Chigaga is just under 400 feet. Either way, you’ll have dune views for days!
• Tourism: As I mentioned before, due to the access and infrastructure, Erg Chebbi is a bit more popular and has more tourism. But, I’ll be honest, at the camp we chose we felt like we were the only people in the desert. There is an area of Erg Chebbi where all the camps are lined up one by one, so I think that is the more “traditional” Erg Chebbi experience and I can see where that wouldn’t be as appealing. Essentially, Erg Chigaga is more remote and off the beaten path.

If you’re insanely adventurous and have no fear of being in an isolated locale, Erg Chigaga would be a great option. But, if you’re like me and you’re a bit anxious but don’t want that to hold you back from experiencing an insanely beautiful place, go for Erg Chebbi!

Travel-Style: Tour Group vs. Private Tour vs. Solo

I’m going to be honest, even the most confident traveler may have difficulty navigating some of the roads we drove on our drive from Marrakech to the Sahara. I wouldn’t recommend driving it alone. I’d choose between a group tour or private tour before I did it solo. It’s such a foreign place, the service is not great or non-existent in many spots, which I think would be difficult and uncomfortable to navigate alone. Having a guide that is from the area made our experience so much better!

Duration: 2-Day, 3-Day, or 4-Day

The most popular durations for desert tours in Morocco are 2-day, 3-day, or 4-day. What you choose depends on the pace of travel you desire, how many days you have to spare in your itinerary (we’ll talk about that next), and how long you want to spend in a car in one fell swoop. A 2-day trip is too quick in my opinion unless you’re already in Southern Morocco. Our drive from Marrakech on the first day of our tour was 12 hours with stops included. While I welcomed that after a few days of go-go-go travel, if we had to turn around and do it the next day, I may not be as thrilled. I will say, two nights in the desert heat was a lot so I think a 3-day tour would be great too for a quick but immersive experience.

Itinerary: Where’s Next?

A lot of the tours can serve as part of your travel experience between big cities like Marrakech and Fez. You can opt to be picked up in one city and travel to the desert, then continue your adventure in the next Imperial City. We didn’t want to travel too much, so we chose to do from Marrakech-Marrakech because we didn’t have enough time to really soak up Fez, and we’d have to get back to Casablanca to fly home. You can see our whole itinerary here to visualize how we fit it into our bigger Moroccan adventure!

Comfort: Level of Luxury

Last, how comfortable do you want to be? A lot of the camps (from what our guide told us) can be pretty bare bones. The camp we stayed at features platform tents with running hot water, air conditioning at night, and locking doors. Plus, every meal was cooked fresh to order and so delicious.

Our experience was definitely glamping! But you can choose your camp based upon how comfortable you’d like to be, at a price point that feels good to you.

The Sahara Desert Camp We Chose: Desert Luxury Camp

We ended up choosing Desert Luxury Camp, one of the only camps farther into the dunes in Merzouga. You do have to access by 4×4 similar to the Erg Chigaga camps, as we went off-roading for a few miles, probably before we reached the camp in the dunes. Plus, it’s the only camp in Merzouga with a pool! I don’t do well with heat, which made me a little bit nervous about going to the Sahara in general. So, having access to an ice-cold pool during the day when the AC wasn’t running made me so much more comfortable with the trip as a whole.

The camp was magical. Their team of local staff took such good care of us, was always asking if we were comfortable and if we needed anything, and the food was amazing. Literally every meal we were served enough food for five people and struggled to make a dent.

Our Itinerary with Desert Luxury Camp

Morocco desert tours vary so much that many don’t post the tours on their websites because they customize them for you. We cultivated this tour in partnership with the desert camp, and we were so pleased with it!

Day One: Pick Up in Marrakech – Tizi n’Tichka – Ouarzazate – Todra Gorge – Erg Chebbi

At 8:00 a.m. on the dot our private driver, Mohammed met us at our riad, grabbed our bags, and walked us to the car. Since we had so many miles to cover this day, we didn’t have time to meet a Berber family which was on another slower itinerary. So, if that’s of interest to you, ask to split up this travel day into two, and do the long drive on the way back. We didn’t want to do that since we had to travel to Casablanca the next day for our flight home.

12-Hour Drive Through the “Real” Morocco

We drove through the winding, zigging and zagging roads of the Tizi n’Tichka, a mountain pass in the High Atlas that connects Marrakech with the fairly large city of Ouarzazate. It’s the only road that connects the two so you cross your fingers that there is no flooding or construction that day. We ran into a little construction, but nothing too crazy!

The views were incredible. And we got a peek into the life of local rural people that we wouldn’t have seen in Marrakech. We passed people riding donkeys and using them to transport building materials, food, water, and more. There were children walking miles to school, smiles on their faces, laughing with their peers, not realizing that this was an entirely different way of life than children in other parts of the world. Men sipping mint tea at local cafes, watching the cars drive by. Families herding sheep and goats. It was eye-opening in the most beautiful way.

We made a stop in Ouarzazate, which is referred to as the Hollywood of Morocco. They have expansive sets where they filmed movies like The Mummy and James Bond, as well as shows like Game of Thrones.

Exploring Todra Gorge

Before we reached the desert, we stopped at Todra Gorge. These natural limestone river canyons span 15 miles and sit at over 1,300 feet tall at their highest point. I’ve honestly never seen a landscape like it before!

It was a playground for locals in every sense of the word. Children splashed in streams; men played chess in the cool shade of the dramatic cliffs; Berber families sold rugs and traditional clothing; donkeys, dogs, and families all delighted in sipping the natural spring water. It was a beautiful way to experience a little bit of local life.

Now, there’s a lot of trash and not much to do other than meander around, so I’d recommend just a quick stop to stretch and soak up a little local life.

Arrival at Camp

Then, we continued on to the desert! We arrived just before sundown and since they hadn’t had rain in about a month everything was hazy and dusty. So, while we didn’t get to see the sunset, seeing the dunes emerge on the skyline, towering above the ground below was pretty spectacular.

To get to the camp, you really off-road. While there are a lot of camps on the outskirts of the dunes, Desert Luxury Camp is secluded with no one around. It’s peaceful, exotic, and isolated in the best way.

When we arrived we were greeted with smiles, lemon juice (aka lemonade), and a variety of snacks to nibble on at the main tent. After that, we were showed to our glamping spot and we rested for a bit before dinner.

Dinner was served under the stars and was absolutely phenomenal. They started with a local soup which was followed by a beef and prune tagine dish, plenty of fresh bread, an eggplant, tomato, and cheese tagine, and so many more small dishes to share. We went to bed with happy bellies, that is for sure!

Day Two: Sunrise in the Desert, Camel Rides, Look at Local Life, and a Night Under the Sahara Stars

We went to bed early and hopeful that in the morning the dust would clear and we’d be able to see the sunrise. After waking up at 5:45 a.m. and hiking through the dunes to get to the perfect vantage point… the haze didn’t lift. Such is life, right? We at least got to enjoy the cool morning air sitting atop hundred-plus-foot dunes which in itself is pretty freaking cool.

Breakfast & Camel Ride

After breakfast, we met Amlal and Bakhta, the camels that would be taking us into the dunes! Our guide Mustapha was from a nomad family in the Sahara who decided to work caring for the camels. He said that they have really been struggling since the pandemic and was so happy to be working again.

We rode about an hour into the dunes where we found some shade and let the camels graze. Mustapha started a fire from the desert brush so we could make our own mint tea! After a while enjoying the tea, snacking, exploring the dunes, and chatting with Mustapha about life in the Sahara, we headed back to camp.

Pool Time

It gets REALLY hot during the day. Not surprising, seeing as how it is a desert. But we didn’t want to do much of anything but lounge in the pool. Again, the #1 reason I’d book Desert Luxury Camp over other camps!

Local Sahara Excursions

After lunch and wading in the water for a few hours, our driver came and asked us if we wanted to go exploring. When someone asks you if you want to explore, the answer is always yes!

Our first stop was a local nomad camp. Families live in tents made with camel wool and make a living selling rugs, livestock, and from the money tourists give them to explore their homes. The children don’t go to school unless they have family in a nearby city who will take them in, so most end up living this way for their entire lives. It’s a hard life, that is for sure.

After that, we went to the Sub-Saharan African community of El Khamila where they played traditional ganawa music for us.

Check out our Morocco itinerary post for more details on these experiences!

Dune Buggy Ride in the Sahara

After this, we went off the beaten path in a sand buggy. While it was my husband’s favorite activity of the week, it was not mine. Put someone with vertigo, motion sickness, and anxiety in an open metal container with a flimsy helmet and no traffic rules, and they’re not going to have a good time. If that sounds like you, I’d skip this and hop back in the pool. But if you like a little adrenaline, definitely try this. I will say the views were insanely epic!

Dinner & Dancing Under the Stars

Finally, we ate dinner and danced under the stars to the beats of local music played by the camp attendants. A magical way to end a fun-filled day!

Day Three: Travel to Draa Valley & Night in a Luxury Villa

We attempted to see the sunrise to no avail again, and we hit the dunes for a little sandboarding. I did it my way after bruising myself a few times… it’s harder than it looks! After breakfast, we hit the road.

I’ll be honest we were so tired that we just hung out in our room the rest of the day. Which was easy because the villa at Dar Hnini, where we stayed, was seriously insane. A must-stay spot for sure!

And the meals were so beautiful and set up like a Bachelor date, so apparently, that’s the only thing I took photos of. Typical!

Day Four: Ait Benhaddou & Back to Marrakech

On the last day of our Moroccan Sahara expedition, we made one major stop on our way back to Marrakech: Ait Benhaddou.

This iconic ksar is an UNESCO World Heritage Site as of 1987, they do a really great job of explaining the architecture and history if you want to learn more. And you can read our Moroccan itinerary overview for all the details.

And, that’s all folks! All in all, I would 110% recommend that you browse Morocco desert tours so you can explore this majestic corner of the world comfortably, yet authentically.

What to Pack for Morocco Desert Tours

When packing for Morocco, we considered the culture. But I asked the tour operator what we could wear while still being respectful as it is so very hot there. Essentially, summer clothes that are sort of modest are a-okay. While I wouldn’t wear shorts in other areas of Morocco, it felt fine here in the camp.

At night and in the early morning around sunrise, it does get a little chilly, so layer up!

This is also a trip where a drugstore isn’t going to be just around the corner, especially if you stay in a camp like Desert Luxury Camp. So, come prepared with the essentials like a first aid kit and any medications you may need or want for a little extra security.

Plus, make sure you have cash! You can only take out $200 at a time at Moroccan ATMs, so we stopped in Ouarzazate to make sure we had enough for tips, dune buggy riding (cash only), and other miscellaneous shopping things. Nowhere around here will take cards, so prepare in advance!

So, to sum it up:

• Light clothing you can layer (including linen pants or a light cotton romper for camel riding)
• A scarf (unless you want to buy a local one!)
• Cash
• Sunscreen
• Hat
• Meds & first aid supplies

Alright, that sums up my tips for what to look for when searching for Morocco desert tours that suit your travel style. Any questions? DM me on Instagram and follow for more Morocco tips!