The Magic Dunes - 5 days 4 nights

1st day : Marrakesh – Agdez 

We depart at 8 am. from Marrakesh to Ouarzazate, cross the High Atlas Mountains. After the Tizi-n-Tichka pass (2260m.), There are viewpoints that are panoramic and you can take many photos there. We have lunch in Ouarzazate and visit the Kasbah of Taourirt in the towne centre which was once the home of the Pasha of Marrakech, it’s a symbol of the feudal period of the Lords of Atlas. In the afternoon we will drive along the Dra’a Valley and to the village of Agdez. We stay for the night there in guest house or riad .

 

 

2nd day : Agdez – M’hamid 

We have breakfast and visit a Kasbah before we drive off-road and down the Dra’a Valley to Zagora and have lunch. Later that afternoon, the trip takes us to M’hamid and the end of the paved road. Now we are at the beginning of the desert where we can take a one to two hour camel ride and see the high dunes where the sunset view is spectacular. We spend the night is s a nomadic tent very close to the dunes of Erg Lihoudi. 

 

3rd day : M’hamid – Chagaga 

Once we eat breakfast we return to M’hamid, across the dry Dra’a River, we visit the old village. When we finish lunch, the 4x4 will take us to the Erg Chagaga dunes, we will be traveling 60km off-road. We passes many aspects of the desert : ‘erg’, ‘reg’, ‘hammada’, and the Sacred Oasis to dunes very far from from civilization, in the desert proper, it is very peaceful and the vast amount of sand looks overwhelming. If you like you can take a second camel ride here. Dinner is in the evening and you spend the night in a bivouac of nomadic tents. 

 

4th day : Chagaga – Ouarzazate 

After we eat breakfast, we take a route through another 90km of desert with various types of scenery : Lake Iriqui, mountains and fossils. We eat lunch at Foum Zguid, it’s a village we come to right after the desert, we can take a refreshing shower here. The drive back to Ouarzazate is via the village of Taznakht, famous for its Berber carpets and rugs, and we arrive in the afternoon. We stay the night in Ouarzazate. 

 

5th day : Ouarzazate – Marrakesh 

We eat breakfast and depart to the Kasbah of Tifoultoute and the cinema studios, continuing to the Kasbah of Ait Ben Haddou, (many Hollywood blockbusters are made here) and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We will eat lunch at Ait Ben Haddou, then drive to Kasbah Telouet, the palatial residence of the former Pasha of Marrakesh, Thami Glaoui. We then cross the Tizi-n-Tichka pass, the highest pass in Morocco, in the afternoon, we reach the city