Private 4-Day Sahara Tour - Marrakech to Merzouga

This private 4-day tour from Marrakech to Merzouga is the unhurried way to experience the Moroccan Sahara - with time for the stops that a 3-day circuit drives past. Cross the Tizi n'Tichka Pass at 2,260 metres in the High Atlas Mountains, then visit the UNESCO-listed ksar of Ait Benhaddou with a private licensed guide rather than a quick photo stop.

Follow the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs through the Dades Valley and walk beneath the towering cliffs of the Todra Gorge - stages that a 3-day circuit passes through without stopping. The Dades Gorges deserve an hour on the canyon floor, not a view from the road.

At Erg Chebbi, a camel trek across the dunes brings you to the desert camp in time for sunset. One night in the Sahara - a camel trek at dusk, dinner at the bivouac as the dunes cool, and a sunrise the following morning with time to walk on foot into the dunes before the heat arrives. That sunrise morning, with no departure pressure, is what makes this format different from a rushed overnight stop.

The return to Marrakech follows a different route - south through the Draa Valley palmeries at Zagora and Agdz before climbing back over the High Atlas - so no two driving days cover the same ground.

• The High Atlas and Tizi n'Tichka Pass : 2,260 metres, cedar forests, Berber villages built into the rock face. The first driving day crosses Morocco's most dramatic mountain road before descending into the pre-Saharan south.
• Ait Benhaddou and the Kasbah Route : the UNESCO ksar with a private licensed guide, then the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs through the Dades Valley: fortified ksour, rose-growing villages, and the Dades Gorges canyon floor.
• Todra Gorge : 300-metre canyon walls, 10 metres apart at the narrowest point. Walked on foot from the canyon floor, not viewed from a parking area.
• Two nights at Erg Chebbi : camel trek to the camp at sunset, dinner at the bivouac as the dunes cool, and a second morning free to walk into the dunes before the heat arrives. The second morning is what makes this format different from a 3-day circuit.
• The Draa Valley return : palmeries at Zagora and Agdz, the oasis towns along the old caravan route, before climbing back over the High Atlas to Marrakech. A different road in each direction.