Marrakech Sahara Desert Grand Tour – 6 Days: Dunes & Aït Benhaddou
- Private vehicle & driver — Pick-up at your riad, pace set by you
- Local licensed guide — Licensed guide nº2898 · since 2011
- Book on WhatsApp — Reply within 1 hour · no payment at this stage
- Marrakech's medina and maze-like souks, guided
- Cross the High Atlas at the Tizi n'Tichka pass
- Todra Gorge, oasis towns and the Valley of a Thousand Kasbahs
The 6-day Marrakech Sahara grand tour costs from €900 per person — five nights half-board (Marrakech riads, a Boumalne Dades kasbah hotel, an ensuite Erg Chebbi camp and a guesthouse facing the Aït Benhaddou ksar), with a guided Marrakech day, the camel trek, a guided ksar visit and your own 4×4 and driver throughout. Six days is the Marrakech desert loop with the hurry removed: against the 4-day version you gain a full guided day in the Red City at the start and — the connoisseur’s night — an evening and dawn at Aït Benhaddou after the day-trip crowds have gone, with the Todra Gorge, Erg Chebbi’s dune day and the Tizi n’Tichka in between. No driving day exceeds about five hours. Private departure on your dates; the written day-by-day quote arrives within the hour on WhatsApp.
| Duration | 6 Days |
| Price | From €900 per person — car, driver and accommodation included |
| Departures | Your dates — every departure is private, never a shared group |
| Languages | English- and French-speaking driver-guides; licensed city guides where included |
| Booking | WhatsApp +212 661 454 738 — written quote within 1 hour, no payment at this stage |
The six-day format is the answer to a precise question: what do the 4-day loop and the dunes both deserve that they never get? Time, in two places. Here Marrakech opens the trip as a guided day rather than a pickup point, and Aït Benhaddou becomes a night — evening ramparts and dawn passageways with the ksar to yourself — instead of a lunch stop between buses. The desert keeps its full day: Todra Gorge on the way in, sandboarding or a 4×4 dune run before the road back.
Against our other desert formats: the 4-day Desert Adventure is the fastest honest route to Erg Chebbi; the 5-day Sahara tour adds the Dades at ease; this 6-day grand tour is the first that treats the city and the ksar as destinations in their own right. Same dunes, more Morocco around them.
- Marrakech's medina and maze-like souks, guided
- Cross the High Atlas at the Tizi n'Tichka pass
- Todra Gorge, oasis towns and the Valley of a Thousand Kasbahs
- Camel trek into Erg Chebbi and a night at a desert camp
- An evening and a dawn at Aït Benhaddou, Morocco's most famous ksar
Itinerary
Open a day to see the detail: transport, accommodation, meals and activity time.
Day 1 Marrakech, the Red City
Arrival and a guided first day in the old trading capital of the Atlas tribes: the 77-metre minaret of the Koutoubia and its gardens, then the souk labyrinth — el-Attarin for spices, Chouari for wood, Smata for babouches, the Dyers' Souk for colour. The carved cedar and zellige of the Ben Youssef madrasa close the afternoon; at sunset, Jemaa el-Fna ignites and dinner happens at the stalls.
Day 2 Over the High Atlas to the Dades
Eastward over the High Atlas — Toubkal's 4,167 m profile on a clear day — through earthen Berber villages, lunch in Taddert and an argan-oil cooperative stop, then the panoramic pause at the Tizi n'Tichka pass. Ouarzazate offers its film studios or the Cinema Museum before the Valley of a Thousand Kasbahs and the Valley of Roses carry you to the Dades river at Boumalne.
Day 3 Todra Gorge and the camel trek into Erg Chebbi
East again to the sand sea: Tinerhir and its oasis, a walk into the 300-metre cleft of the Todra Gorge, fossil workshops in Erfoud and the livestock-market bustle of Rissani. At Merzouga the vehicle stops and the camels start — a trek into the Erg Chebbi dunes to a Bedouin-style camp, sunset from a dune crest, dinner by the campfire and drums under the stars.
Day 4 Desert morning, then Aït Benhaddou by evening
Sunrise over the dunes, then the Erg's playground: sandboarding, a 4×4 dune tour or quad ride, or simply a pool in Merzouga. The road back west passes the Saharan village of Khemliya — Gnawa rhythms and dance — Rissani's Maison Tuareg, lunch at Alnif and the date palmeries of the Draa before arriving at Aït Benhaddou for the hour the ksar is at its best: evening, crowds gone, rooftop views over the valley.
Day 5 Aït Benhaddou at dawn, back over the Atlas
The fortified village before the buses arrive — empty passageways of the 11th-century ksar in first light — then the Tizi n'Tichka once more, westbound to Marrakech. The afternoon takes the monuments south of Jemaa el-Fna at your own pace: the Saadian Tombs, the sunken gardens of El Badi, or the painted ceilings of the Bahia Palace, before a café balcony above the square.
Day 6 Marrakech morning and departure
A free morning for the last souk errands — or the Majorelle Garden's bamboo and cobalt out in the Ville Nouvelle — before drop-off at your riad or Marrakech airport.
Six days is the Marrakech desert loop with the hurry removed: against the 4-day version, you gain a full guided Marrakech day at the start and — the connoisseur's night — an evening and dawn at Aït Benhaddou after the day-trip crowds have gone. The driving splits into honest halves; no day exceeds about five hours on the road.
Included in your tour
- Private air-conditioned 4×4 or minivan with English/French-speaking driver-guide — 6 days
- Pickup at Marrakech airport or your hotel
- Nights 1 & 5: riad in the Marrakech medina — half-board
- Night 2: kasbah hotel in Boumalne Dades — half-board
- Night 3: ensuite desert camp at Erg Chebbi — half-board, camel trek included
- Night 4: guesthouse facing the Aït Benhaddou ksar — half-board
- Guided day in Marrakech with a licensed local guide
- Guided visit of the Aït Ben Haddou ksar (UNESCO)
- Drop-off at your Marrakech hotel or at the airport
Not included
- International flights
- Lunches and beverages
- Entrance fees to monuments and historical sites (optional — pay directly)
- Tips for guide and driver
- Personal expenses
- Travel insurance (recommended)
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Questions travellers ask
How much does Marrakech Sahara Desert Grand Tour – 6 Days: Dunes & Aït Benhaddou cost?+
From €900 per person, per person. The price includes private air-conditioned 4×4 or minivan with english/french-speaking driver-guide — 6 days, pickup at marrakech airport or your hotel, nights 1 & 5: riad in the marrakech medina — half-board. You receive a written itemised quote before paying anything — no hidden fees.
How long is this tour and when does it depart?+
6 Days, departing on the dates you choose — there is no fixed schedule, because every departure is arranged for you alone.
Is this a group tour or private?+
Fully private: your own vehicle, driver and licensed guide, never seat-in-coach and never mixed with other travellers. The daily pace flexes around you.
Where is the desert in Morocco?+
South and east of the Atlas mountains. The named destinations, in order of distance from Marrakech: the Agafay stone desert 45 minutes away (no sand dunes), the Zagora dunes down the Draa valley at 360 km, Erg Chigaga beyond M'Hamid where the tarmac ends, and the great Erg Chebbi dune sea at Merzouga, 560 km out — the Sahara of the photographs.
How much of Morocco is desert?+
Broadly, everything south and east of the Atlas watershed is arid or Saharan — roughly half the country by area. The photogenic sand seas are actually small pockets of that expanse: Erg Chebbi and Erg Chigaga are each a day's drive apart, islands of dunes in a vast landscape of stone, oases and kasbah valleys.
What should I wear on a Morocco desert tour?+
Layers, always: desert days can hit 30°C while nights drop near freezing outside summer. The working formula is light long sleeves and trousers for sun and camels, a warm fleece or jacket for the camp evening, closed shoes for sand and stones, sunglasses, and a scarf (a cheche) — bought in any souk for a few dirhams — for sun, wind and the photograph. Luggage stays in the vehicle; you carry a small overnight bag to the camp.
How far is the Sahara desert from Marrakech?+
The honest ladder: the Agafay stone desert is 45 minutes away (no sand dunes, but real desert scenery); the first true Sahara dunes at Zagora are 360 km — about 6 hours over the Tizi n'Tichka; the great Erg Chebbi dunes at Merzouga are 560 km — 8 to 9 hours, which is why serious itineraries take 3–4 days. There is no Sahara 'day trip' from Marrakech worth the name — anyone selling one is selling Agafay.
More answers in the “The desert experience” chapter of our Travel FAQ →
Itinerary and prices last updated October 2026.
