Merzouga Desert Tour from Marrakech

Merzouga is 553 km by road from Marrakech, so the desert trips from Marrakech take three days: most of two on the road, one night in a hotel on the way, one night in a camp among the Erg Chebbi dune field. Ando Travel Ltd’s From Marrakech: Merzouga 3-Day Desert Safari with Food, in the calendar below, picks you up at your hotel or riad and brings you back on the evening of day 3. Its Option 1, the shared tour with a standard camp, was $117 on promotion, usually $134 (checked November 2026), the same for one, two or four adults.

The calendar above is the Ando Travel Ltd trip, with 15,541 reviews (checked November 2026). Pick the option before the date: Option 1 is the shared tour with a standard camp, Option 3 the luxury camp (US$196 on the same November dates), Option 2 the standard camp with three lunches added (US$202).

The road, day by day

Day 1, Marrakech to Kelaat M’Gouna, 292 km. Pickup at 7:00; the exact time and place come by WhatsApp and GetYourGuide chat the evening before, between 5 and 6 pm. The road climbs over the High Atlas by the Tizi n’Tichka pass and comes down to Ait Benhaddou, whose earthen ksar has been on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1987, for lunch. A local guide inside Ait Benhaddou is not included. Past Ouarzazate there is a photo stop outside the Atlas Studios film studio, without going in, then the valley of the roses and dinner and the night at a hotel in Kelaat M’Gouna, in a room with its own bathroom.

Day 2, Kelaat M’Gouna to Merzouga, 265 km. A walk in the Todgha Gorges at Tinghir, with time to look round and lunch, then east to Merzouga. There you ride a camel into the Erg Chebbi dune field for the sunset, sandboard when conditions allow, and reach the camp for dinner under the stars and Berber drumming. If you would rather not ride, a 4x4 can take you to the camp instead, asked for at least a day ahead.

Day 3, Merzouga to Marrakech, 553 km. A camel ride at sunrise, breakfast, and the long drive back by Ouarzazate, with a lunch stop, arriving in Marrakech at about 8 pm at your first pickup point or another address in the city. Leave a margin before a flight: the arrival time moves with the traffic and the roads.

What each option buys

Option prices for one adult (GetYourGuide checked November 2026); two or four adults paid the same each. Treat them as the shape of the market, not a quote.

Every option includes the air-conditioned van with a driver-guide, the hotel night, the camp night, the camel rides and sandboarding; none includes drinks or tips. Lunches outside Option 2 cost about 10 to 13 EUR a meal, paid in cash on the way, and there are no cash machines in the desert. Three lunches bought on the road cost far less than the US$85 Option 2 adds, so pick Option 1 unless you want every meal settled in advance. The luxury camp is the upgrade worth weighing, for a bathroom and a hot shower of your own in the desert.

The other 3-day trips from Marrakech

Many companies run the same route. Two others with live options on GetYourGuide:

One adult (GetYourGuide checked November 2026). Operators price by date and season, so treat the figures as the shape of the market, not a quote.

The quad is the one real difference in content: on sahara for you’s trip it is included only in the dearest shared option, so the cheaper options are camel-only like the others, though quad biking may be arranged on site as an optional extra. If you travel alone, check the sleeping arrangement before you pick the cheapest option: sahara for you pairs a solo traveller with another of the same gender in the shared standard option, in the hotel room and in the tent, and Fez to Anywhere may share accommodation with a solo traveller unless a private room is booked. On a quad bike, always wear a crash helmet (UK government travel advice for Morocco).

If three days is too long

A 2-day trip from Marrakech to Merzouga drives the same 553 km each way, with the camp as its only night and no hotel to break the road. If two days is all you have, marrakech-sahara-desert-tour.com sets Merzouga against Zagora, the nearer desert, in depth. If you are going on to Fes rather than back to Marrakech, the one-way trips spend the same three days without the drive back: round trip or Marrakech to Fes.