The four-day version of our Erg Chigaga trip gives you shorter driving days and more time in the south: a night in Ouarzazate, a full day down the Draa Valley to M’hamid, and the 4×4 crossing to Morocco’s largest and quietest dunes.
Accommodation: selected hotels or kasbahs in Ouarzazate and the Draa Valley, and one night in a Berber desert camp in Erg Chigaga. Guidance and transport: a multilingual local guide-driver in an air-conditioned vehicle, with a 4×4 for the desert crossing.
Pickup from your riad or hotel in Marrakech · Drop-off back in Marrakech
Around 8:00 AM (we confirm the exact time with you before the trip)
Driving days are 4 to 6 hours except the last day back to Marrakech (about 8 to 9 hours). The desert crossing is on rough tracks. A good choice if you want the remote dunes without rushing.
Route: Marrakech → Tizi n’Tichka → Telouet road → Ait Benhaddou → Ouarzazate
Night: hotel or kasbah in Ouarzazate · Meals: dinner
Approx. 200 km · about 4 h driving
We leave Marrakech for the High Atlas and cross the Tizi n’Tichka pass, with stops at Berber villages and viewpoints along the way.
In the afternoon you explore Ait Benhaddou at an easy pace, then continue to Ouarzazate, the ‘door of the desert’, for the night.
Route: Ouarzazate → Agdz → Draa Valley → Zagora → Tamegroute → M’hamid
Night: hotel or kasbah in the Draa Valley · Meals: dinner
Approx. 260 km · 5–6 h with stops driving
We cross the Anti-Atlas to Agdz and follow the Draa Valley south, stopping in palm groves and old earthen kasbahs.
After Zagora we visit Tamegroute’s potters and continue to M’hamid, at the edge of the Sahara.
Route: M’hamid → 4×4 piste → Erg Chigaga
Night: Berber desert camp in Erg Chigaga · Meals: dinner
Approx. 60 km · about 2 h off-road driving
A relaxed morning, then the 4×4 drive of about 60 km across the desert to Erg Chigaga, passing small oases and nomad areas.
In the late afternoon you ride a camel into the dunes for sunset, then dinner and music around the fire at camp.
Route: Erg Chigaga → Lake Iriki → Foum Zguid → Taznakht → Marrakech
Night: end of tour in Marrakech · Meals: breakfast
Approx. 460 km · 8–9 h driving
Sunrise over the dunes, breakfast, then the 4×4 crossing of the dry Lake Iriki to Foum Zguid.
From there we drive back through Taznakht and over the High Atlas, reaching Marrakech in the evening.
