#saharadesert #saharadeserttour #saharatour #merzouga #merzougatour #camelride #ergchebbidunes #saharasunset #saharasunrise
The dreamy idea of riding into the Sahara sunset on a majestic camel, with miles and miles of mesmerizing, golden sand dunes as far as the eye can see is no doubt on most travellers' bucket list.
In actual fact, the knobbly stature of the camels makes it the most uncomfortable ride you will ever do, your backside will still be aching days later; meanwhile spit froths from the camels’ mouths, tyre tracks line the sand and if you look behind, you are about 100m from the road, town and hotels (you can still hear the cars).
Despite the harsh reality of the actual Sahara desert experience, it is still a load of fun and definitely worth doing!
Keep reading to discover the ins and outs of the true Sahara experience, create realistic expectations and give yourself the best chances of making your Sahara experience an unforgettable one!
Contents
Purchasing your tour ticket
Top tip 1: Purchase your tickets in Morocco, whether you begin the tour from Marrakech or Fes, it will always be cheaper than buying in advance online. As Morocco has become an increasingly popular tourist destination, online prices for the Sahara desert tour have dropped significantly as all the tour companies compete for your money! However, online prices still sit around 200 euros (for 3 days, 2 nights).
If you wait until you arrive in the country, you will pay between 60-120 euros, depending on the level of luxury you choose. Plus, put your haggling skills into practice and you’ve got yourself a bargain!
If you’re worried about finding a tour company in time, worry not. Morocco’s main income is derived from tourism and no one wants to visit Morocco and miss out on the romantic Sahara experience! If you’re really pushed for time, your riad, hotel or hostel will have a bunch of tours to sell to you. To get the best price, head into the medina and find a tour company there.
We ventured out into the streets of Marrakech, found a couple of tour shops within the souk, haggled the best price and were picked up 2 days later!
Top tips for purchasing your tour ticket
1. Know what you want – there are 2 main options: 3 days, 2 nights (most popular choice) or 2 days, 1 night. You can’t reach the Sahara desert and return in a day so if you’re limited to just a day, don’t bother!
2. Decide whether you want luxury, medium or basic accommodation on the tour. These are outlined in the following section. Sometimes they will show you a video to help you decide.
3. Never accept the first price, know that others have bought this tour for 90 euros per person and probably even less so don’t accept anything more (for the medium tour – most popular).
4. Pay a small deposit but not the full amount on the spot! You want to make sure they'll actually come to pick you up on the day of the tour. And don’t lose your ticket / receipt! Bring it with you on the day as the driver will ask for it when he picks you up. Your receipt outlines how much you have already paid, how much you still owe, your names, pick-up location & time and where you'd like to finish the tour.
5. Organise with the tour operator whether you would like to be dropped back to Marrakech or Fes. If you decide to go onto Fes, they will organise a taxi to meet you at the desert on the final morning to drive you there. It is cheaper to pay the taxi fare in advance when purchasing the tour, it will only be an extra 15 euros, which is pretty good for a 10 hour taxi ride! And you won’t be expected to tip the driver later on. Make sure they write this on your ticket as there have been countless stories of travellers paying the taxi fare in advance and asked to pay again on the day!
The 3 day, 2 night tour: Marrakech > Fes
No matter what tour company you book with, the tours all pretty much have the same agenda and visit the same stops. The only difference is your level of luxury, as outlined in the following section. Most tours cover everything (including meals), except for 2 lunches.
Day 1
Pick-up from riad / hostel / hotel in Marrakech around 7:15-30am
Travel through Tizi Ntichka pass and Atlas mountains (photo stops along the way)
Visit UNESCO World Heritage Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou (film location for Game of Thrones, Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia, Queen of the desert and more!).
Stop at Ouazazate (Moroccan ‘Hollywood’)
Travel to the Dades Valley/gorge and stay at Dades town
Day 2
Enjoy breakfast at accommodation in Dades town
Bus will pick you up (same driver) around 8-8:30am to take you to Tinghir and Todra gorge
Stop at a Berber village and traditional rug shop where you will enjoy mint tea while a Berber man shows you all his rugs (and will be super persuasive and convincing in selling you one!)
Scarf shop to for camel riding (you don’t need one!)
Lunch in Berber village
Drive to Merzouga (gateway to Sahara)
Arrive at the desert just before sunset
Camel ride at sunset to Erg Chebbi dunes
Traditional Berber drum circle, fire, song and dance
Sleep in Berber tents in Sahara desert
Day 3
Wake up and enjoy sunrise in Sahara desert
Eat breakfast and leave just after sunset in taxi to Fes or Marrakech
Taxi to Fes will stop along the way for lunch in a town called Midelt, pass through Ziz valley, Monkey Cedar forest and dropped at your accommodation in Fes. Drive is approx. 10 hours.
If you start the tour from Fes, your itinerary is the same, just in reverse.
Now, the tours all go to the same sites, perhaps in a different order or on different days but the main difference between the tours is whether you select Basic, Medium or Luxury.
Accommodation packages
Basic: You will arrive at a riad at the edge of the Sahara desert, ride a camel for an hour out to the dunes and back; eat dinner, use a shower and bathrooms in the riad then you will sleep in tents that are set up for you about 100m from the riad. You will still enjoy the Berber drum circle, fire song & dance. Some ‘basic’ packages won’t include the shower option.
Medium: This is where you will be dropped off at the edge of the desert, ride a camel for 2 hours into the desert dunes, camp there, enjoy a Moroccan meal, sleep in tents under the stars then wake up at sunrise to ride camels for 2 hours back to the road. The first night’s accommodation includes a cabin per couple, which is pretty much a small room with a bed, bathroom and shower. All you really need!
Luxury: This is where your tent is so fancy it actually includes a shower. You will enjoy a luxurious meal under the stars and big traditional breakfast in the desert while watching the sun rise. Your hotel on the first night will be more ‘luxurious’, I guess…probably bigger meals, squishier beds…and some shampoo?
The tour: what to expect
There is a LOT of driving on the tour so don’t expect to be spending the whole time at the desert. Merzouga, the gateway to the Sahara, is a solid 560km from Marrakech so there is no way you will reach it in a day. You actually arrive at the famous Erg Chebbi dunes just before sunset on the 2nd day. If you’ve selected to get a taxi back to Fes, that’s a 10 hour drive and if you chose Marrakech, it's even longer! Although it’s a lot of sitting, the winding mountain passes, charming towns and red-tinted gorges you pass along the way are super scenic and you stop many times to stretch your legs.
Avoid car sickness: I’d suggest bringing some anti-nausea pills if you’re prone to car sickness. I never get car sick but the numerous hairpin turns through the Atlas mountains made my stomach lurch more than a few times! Don’t be too scared to sit at the front with the driver, you can enjoy a nice chat with a less bumpy ride and the best views. Get in quick before someone else does!
Bring stomach tablets too: Although the tagines have the most tender meat I have ever tasted, the hygiene related to the dishes are questionable and my boyfriend and I both experienced food poisoning, which is NOT ideal when you’re camping in the desert…
If you’ve only got one day, you will not see the Erg Chebbi dunes of the Sahara. Instead, you could think about a camel ride just outside Marrakech in the Rocky desert.
Riding a camel is NOT like riding a horse: Let me demystify this for you, it is not as romantic as you probably imagine. Let’s just say my backside was still aching 3 days later. I mean you can’t really expect a creature with the height of an elephant but the legs of a flamingo, not to mention the whopping water-carrying bulge on top of it, to be a smooth ride! Oh yeah, they also forget to tell you how to get on so don’t be surprised when you’re lurched forwards and clinging on for dear life when the camel decides to get up with zero notice! They lead with the hind legs when getting up and sitting down and all you’ve got is a thin, wobbly bar to hold onto!
A team effort: There are a LOT of people involved in your tour: the tour operator who you bought your ticket from, the first driver who picks you up from your riad, the second driver who drives your tour bus and different tour guide for each stop along the way.
Top Tip 2: Ask your tour operator to write on your ticket which package you paid for as we bought a ‘medium’ package and in the rush of arriving at the desert and clambering onto a camel, we’re pretty sure we ended up with the basic package as we definitely did NOT get to ride into the dunes for 2 hours and sleep there…our accommodation was about 100m from the road, which was pretty disappointing.
You don't see much of the desert: Although it’s called the Sahara desert tour, you arrive at the desert just before sunset on the 2nd night and leave just after sunrise the next morning so the amount of time you actually spend in the desert is minimal. The rest of the time is spent at other sites like Berber villages, gorges and viewpoints.
Berber tents: The tents are not like the thin, plastic, Western tents you may be used to at home, they are Berber tents made from thick canvas, covered in a bunch of Moroccan rugs so don’t worry about getting cold, your tent will actually get hot and quite stuffy. You may find you’d prefer to sleep outside under the stars on the rugs they lay out for you. Just be careful if you're a solo female traveller as you may find the locals get a little too cosy...or just travel with your favourite guy like I did!
The desert isn't all beautiful, golden dunes: Let's set your expectations right here and now. As the Sahara desert is the largest hot desert in the world and could actually cover the area of China or the United States, the rough, flat, rocky, dirt-like sand you’re driving past for hours is actually the Sahara desert. The majority of the desert actually looks like that...pretty mundane right? The majestic, orange-hued, mountainous dunes you’ve seen in photos only expand for 5-10km, you just have to get past the ugly part first to reach the gold!
How much money should I bring?
You will find that Morocco is a country where NOTHING IS FREE. The following is a list of things you should consider when budgeting for your tour:
Toilet stops: not even the basic human process of emptying your bladder is free. Expect to pay donations to the ladies who clean the toilets (which is stressful because you never know how much is a scam, a generous amount or blatantly mocking them).
Tips: Bring plenty of cash as EVERYONE will expect (and ask for) tips, and you meet a lot of different tour guides along the way, pretty much one for each stop and some barely even say anything! Sometimes they tell you the exact amount to tip so you don’t even have a choice.
Are there ATMs along the way?
Our driver did (thankfully) do an ATM stop on the second day before we got to the desert but one of the ATMs wasn’t working and you don’t want your tour friends waiting for you.
Snacks: If long, sedentary breaks between meals make you peckish, and if everyone else is buying an ice cream on the snack stops, well FOMO will take over so expect to be buying snacks too. Of course, the snack shops are expecting tourists so crank the prices up. A magnum was equivalent to $7AUD!
Souvenirs: If you’re planning on buying a rug in Morocco then the most authentic, hand-made, quality rugs are from the small Berber town you stop at on the tour. These prices will be much cheaper than those in Marrakech or Fes. Souvenirs are also a lot cheaper than what you’ll find in major cities.
Lunch: As lunches are the only thing not included in the tour, the guides purposely take you to the most expensive restaurants, where there will only be one restaurant around. If you see a cheaper place to eat with local prices you won't be allowed to eat there as you have to stay with the group. The menu will only have about 5 options, with everything the same price - 110-120 dirham ($30-32 USD) per meal! And you have to pay for drinks on top of that (unless you want to dehydrate in the world’s largest hot desert!) Local prices are about 60% cheaper!
Scarf: You will be taken to a scarf shop and pretty much told that you'll burn in the desert if you don’t wear one of their special 3m scarves, and they show you how to wrap it around your head so you look the part. They even pour water over cheaper scarves to show that colour runs off them to make you buy a more expensive one! By the time you actually get on that camel, the sun is setting so there's no need to buy a scarf!
Pros and cons of the Sahara desert tour
Pros of the Sahara desert tour:
The sand in the Erg Chebbi dunes is by far the softest sand I have ever felt. No beach can ever compare…and I live in Sydney with some of the best beaches in the world! #notbiasedatall
Erg Chebbi dunes: Although it isn’t as large as you may have expected, the Erg Chebbi dunes are just like the pictures. You just have to look one way and forget that the town is only a few hundred metres behind you...
Watch the sunset: Running to the top of the highest sand dune to watch the sunset is a memory that’ll be kept forever!
Shooting stars: Waking up in the middle of the night and coming out of your tent to watch the stars while everyone else is still asleep feels like you are alone with the stars. And never have I seen so many shooting stars (and satellites)! You can even see the outline of the Milky way!
The camels are some of the most peaceful creatures I have ever come across, not vicious at all and super tame.
Sunset camel ride: You don’t have to worry about getting sunburnt on the camel ride as you will ride at sunset, which makes it even more romantic!
No rush: Unlike most tours you find in places like Thailand and Indonesia, at no point did we feel rushed by the people involved in our tour. They let us have lunch at a leisurely pace, still took us to all of the tour destinations and never rushed us. Although I would’ve preferred more time in the desert, there was just so much ground to cover! If anything, you may feel rushed for time to fit everything in but our driver never rushed us. It may be a different story for you though.
Friendly & efficient tour guides: Everyone involved in the tour – the drivers, tour guides, riad hosts, berber rug shop seller, were all very knowledgeable, friendly and efficient at their jobs. I guess they’re motivated by tips so you shoulder expect the best possible service!
Making friends: If you love making friends from around the world, this is the tour for you! On our tour there were travellers from Croatia, Germany, France, Japan, Belarus, New Zealand, Italy and Australia!
You don’t have to worry about organising anything, during the whole tour, just pay your 90 euros a couple of days in advance and it’s all sorted. They organise guides for each stop to take you through the sites and teach you all the site facts; dinners and breakfasts are included and they take you to your restaurant for lunch. If you’ve forgotten to bring a scarf, worry not! This is even a stop on the agenda! They also factor in toilet and snacks stops as hangry tourists is the last thing they want to deal with!
Cons of the sahara desert tour:
There is a LOT of driving and therefore a LOT of sitting, especially the taxi drive back to Fes, which is 10 hours long! If you thought this would be an active trip, then think again. It is super scenic but super sedentary too. As a distance runner, my legs hated being squished in the middle back seat of the taxi for 10 hours between two guys. At least the views are breathtaking and you stop lots of times along the way to stretch the legs, take photos, get snacks and see sites!
You don’t actually spend that much time in the desert. Although it’s called the ‘Sahara desert’ tour, the majority of the time is spent actually getting there. This means in the car and stopping at various sites along the way, which I liked but many have described as ‘underwhelming’ or ‘unexciting’ stops.
I would’ve preferred to skip some of the stops and spent that time running up the sand dunes and seeing how far into the desert my curious legs could take me; discovering fossils that are advertised on the way to the Erg Chebbi dunes; spending more time in the company of the camels (and taking camel selfies!) or just enjoying the Sahara sunset in a relaxed way without being rushed onto a camel.
There are always added costs! Although you bargained the tour price all the way down to 90 or so euros, you’ll end up paying extra on tips etc (outlined in the previous section). At times, I wished we could’ve paid a little more at the start to exclude all these extras!
Breakfasts were pretty average with our first morning being just olives and mandarins with the standard plain bread and ordinary jams. I guess meals will vary depending on which riad your driver takes you to but you’ll find you get pretty sick of all the bread they eat in Morocco!
What we would do differently if we could redo the Sahara experience:
As with most trips abroad, ‘you live and you learn’ and signing your life away to the hands of others in the form of a tour will always include things out of your control. Often in countries where all they think about is money, money, money, you’ll find that at first, you think you’ve grabbed yourself a bargain but then added costs pop up more than you’d like. It’s happened to us countless times! And you’d think we would learn but if we had done something differently in one aspect then no doubt another problem would have arisen somewhere else.
You’ve just gotta have flexible plans and slightly lower expectations when travelling to 3rd world countries!
In our experience, we thought we had paid for the medium package and what we were looking forward to most (for months! This bucket list goal was literally getting me through the past 6 months of work) was riding for 2 hours into the Erg Chebbi dunes on the back of a camel, camping under the stars in the middle of the desert, staying up all night star-gazing, and an early sunrise camel ride across the majestic dunes again.
Well, this was definitely one of those insta vs reality kind of situations!
Instead, we ended up arriving while the sun was setting only to be rushed onto a camel for a hurried 30 minute ride to try and get to the dunes before the sun fully went down; ate dinner inside the riad that was on the road next to the desert; slept in tents set up 100m from the road, where we could still see and hear the cars; woke up and had to leave at sunrise for a 10 hour cramped taxi ride to Fes.
The former sounds a whole lot more romantic, right?! Definitely not the idealistic image I had created in my mind but hey, that’s travelling for you! Not everything goes to plan all the time.
Although I’m sure anyone would’ve preferred the first option, the 2am gastro thanked me for the close proximity to the riad’s bathroom so our accommodation was…’practical’.
In the end, we saw the Sahara desert, we rode camels and if I had to sit on a camel for any longer I think my bum would’ve fallen off so our Sahara experience was still a memorable one, for all the ups and downs, just like the Sahara’s sand dunes…or that camel’s bloody hump!
Enjoy the Sahara!
Click for tips on visiting the blue city, Chefchaouen!