Go on this 6-day Desert Tour from Agadir to Erg Chegaga for a once in a lifetime desert experience. Travel through and explore Taroudant, nicknamed the little Marrakech. Here, you will visit the ancient medina, tour the vibrant local market, and photograph its massive ramparts.
Stop at Taliouine to visit the Saffron Museum. Visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou. Travel over the Anti-Atlas Mountains and arrive at Agdz at the edge of the valley.
Drive through Dra’a Valley’s palm trees and fortified kasbahs. Explore Zagora, the last town before the desert. Visit the green pottery co-operatives in Tamegroute village. Experience camel trekking in the dunes of Erg Lihoudi and the remote desert of Erg Chagaga. Admire the spectacle of the sunset from the summit of the dunes.
Taste dinner under the starlit sky of the Sahara Desert and enjoy traditional music. Sleep in a private nomad tent in a desert camp among the big dunes. Go on a 4×4 off-road driving through the great Sahara Desert. Hunt for fossils in Iriqui Lake, and stop at Taznakht to learn about the Berber rug craftsmanship. Arrive at Agadir by the end of the afternoon.
| Number of persons | 2 Persons | 3 Persons | 4 Persons | 5 Persons | 6 Persons |
| Price per person | 845 € | 755 € | 725 € | 685 € | 685 € |
| Total price | 1690 € | 2265 € | 2900 € | 3425 € | 4110 € |
Departure in the morning from your hotel, and you venture east on your 5-day desert tour from Agadir to Erg Chegaga. You will travel along the Souss River Valley with all its argan trees growing on the hilly slopes at the side of the road. Your first destination will be Taroudant, known as “the little Marrakech”. It is spectacular for its massive ramparts and beautiful medina.
From here, you continue to Taliouine, the heart of the saffron-growing area of Morocco, where there is a small government-operated museum dedicated to saffron agriculture. Following our journey over the Tizi-n-Tighatine and Tizi-n-Ikhsane mountain passes, we reach Taznakht, a small town famous for its Berber gelims and carpets.
From here, you travel further south driving past fascinating rock formations and wider flatter fields as we approach the edge of the Sahara Desert and reach Foum Zguid which will be the venue for dinner and the overnight.
Following breakfast, we set out on a journey into the Sahara Desert, crossing the now-dry Lake Iriqui, which was once supplied by the Dra’a River and was abundant with aquatic life and waterfowl. In the middle of this dried lake, you have the opportunity to search for fossils.
Our off-road drive takes you through the various landscapes of the desert including the rocky stony desert known as “reg,” as well as the barren plateau called the “hammada.”
Lunch will be served in the Erg Chegaga dunes, a remote location distant from villages and urban life, surrounded by expansive sand dunes that extend as far as one’s eyes can see.
By the end of the afternoon, you take a camel ride up to the summit of the Erg Chegaga dunes. You will enjoy the sunset from the top of the dunes!
Back at the camp, dinner is served, followed by an evening of nomad music and drumming around a campfire. You spend the night in your tent, equipped with a private toilet & shower, king-sized beds, mattresses, sheets, pillows, blankets & carpets, lamps and beautiful Moroccan furnishings, all tastefully arranged to enhance your stay.
After breakfast in the camp, you cross another 60 km of the desert terrain as far as M’hamd El Ghizlane, the first village after the desert where we rejoin the paved road.
The old villages on the other side of the Dra’a River are typical of desert dwellings, where houses are constructed entirely of adobe. This excellent building material keeps out the summer’s searing heat due to the walls’ thickness. You will explore these villages and learn about life in this harsh yet equally beautiful environment. A perfect example of these houses is Hamza’s ancestral home which you can visit.
Next, you travel up north along the Dra’a Valley, the longer valley in Morocco. Just before Zaogra, the largest oasis in the Dra’a Valley which is particularly famous for its dates, you stop at Tamgroute Village to visit the green pottery co-operatives.
After lunch, you follow the ancient caravan route used by the caravans that crossed the Sahara Desert bringing treasures from Mali to Mauritania. The road passes between the river and the mountains past all the Kasbahs and the local agricultural fields, giving you a clearer impression of life here in this area of Morocco.
You will spend the night in Agdz in a guest house at the edge of the Dra’a Valley.
After breakfast, you will visit Kasbah Tamnougalt, the oldest Kasbah in the Dra’a Valley which is still partially inhabited. The Jewish quarter is crumbling since the departure of its inhabitants to Israel in 1963.
You travel further east via the Dra’a Valley’s unlimited palm trees and green oases along the ancient caravans road. We rejoin the paved road in Tansikht, having crossed the Dra’a River. We stop for lunch in N’Qob, overlooking the mountains.
From here, we pass through the villages of Alnif and Tazzarine, featured in the film Babel, and arrive in the Dades Gorges for the night.
After breakfast, the itinerary continues through the beautiful Valley of the Roses as far as Kel’aa M’gouna, where over 4000 tons of roses are harvested every spring from this desert oasis! Here, you can visit a local cooperative producing cosmetic articles from the valley’s abundant roses. These organic products are highly valued.
From here, you travel through the road of a thousand Kasbahs as far as the Skoura Oasis, where you stop to visit the Kasbah Amredhil, which used to be depicted in the old 50 dirham banknote. The kasbah has been beautifully restored and is well worth visiting; constructed entirely of adobe, an excellent building material that keeps room temperature cool in the summer and warm in the winter due to the thickness of the walls.
You will have lunch in one of the local restaurants with time to wander the Skoura Oasis and learn about the Berber way of life in the south of Morocco.
Just outside of Ouarzazate, you could visit the Film Studios, a movie wonderland just outside Ouarzazate, known for keeping its sets and reorganising them to offer a wide range of choices to production studios, but also for letting tourists experience the unique thrill of discovering the sets where many successful films and series have been shot, including “Gladiator”, “Prince of Persia” and “Game of Thrones.”
By the end of the day, you check in to your guest house, where you spend the night with dinner and breakfast.
After breakfast, you will visit the Film Studios, a movie wonderland just outside Ouarzazate, known for keeping its sets and reorganising them to offer a wide range of choices to production studios, but also for letting tourists experience the unique thrill of discovering the sets where many successful films and series have been shot, including “Gladiator”, “Prince of Persia” and “Game of Thrones.”
Driving north, you leave the main road and take a side road to the Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou. It is the most famous Kasbah in Morocco and one of the Kingdom’s nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is also better known as the backdrop for many Hollywood blockbusters, including “Gladiator,” “Alexander,” and some scenes of the famous TV series “Game of Thrones.”
From here, you travel back to Agadir on a different road for a short portion. Along the way, you will stop at panoramic viewpoints to take photos and stretch your legs. You will arrive in Agadir by the end of the afternoon.
