3-Day or 4-Day Sahara Tour from Marrakech?

Both tours go to the same dunes. Our 3-day tour and our 4-day tour leave Marrakech on the same road, sleep in the Dades on the first night and spend the second at the same camp in the Erg Chebbi dunes at Merzouga. The fourth day does not add desert time. It splits the drive home.

That is the whole decision: one day of about nine hours back to Marrakech, or two shorter days with a night in Ouarzazate.

At a glance

Both are private: your own vehicle and driver-guide, from your riad or hotel in Marrakech. At the camp, both use tents with their own bathroom, shower and WC, and air conditioning.

Day by day

The first two days are the same trip. Day one crosses the High Atlas by the Tizi n'Tichka pass at 2,260 m and stops at the UNESCO ksar of Aït Ben Haddou. Day two walks into the Todra Gorge and reaches Merzouga in the afternoon, in time to ride out to camp as the sun goes down.

Both tours also come home by a different road from the one they went out on, through Tazarine, so you do not drive the same stretch twice.

What the fourth day gives you

• A shorter drive home. Merzouga to Marrakech is about 560 km. The 3-day tour drives it in one day of roughly nine hours. The 4-day tour stops in Ouarzazate after about five, and covers the last stretch, about four hours, the next morning.
• A night in Ouarzazate, in a hotel with dinner and breakfast included.
• Aït Ben Haddou twice. You see it on day one and again on the last morning, when the light is on the ksar.
• Time for Ouarzazate itself: the Atlas Film Studios on day one (about €7, not included) and the Taourirt Kasbah on the last morning, both optional.

What it does not give you is a second night in the dunes: both tours spend one night at the camp.

What the extra day costs

The price per person depends on how many of you travel, because the vehicle and driver-guide cost the same whether they carry one person or six.

For a couple, that is €760 against €1,052: €292 more for an extra night with dinner and breakfast, an extra day with the vehicle and driver-guide, and a drive home cut in two. From seven people the 4-day price falls to €252 each, and to €245 from ten, its maximum group. The 3-day stays at €230 each from six up to twelve. The full cost breakdown is in what a 3-day Sahara tour from Marrakech costs.

Which one to choose

Take the 3-day tour if:

• You have three days and want the Sahara anyway. It is the shortest trip that reaches Erg Chebbi properly.
• One long day in the car does not bother you.
• You are watching the budget: it is €146 per person cheaper for two.

Take the 4-day tour if:

• The nine-hour drive home is what puts you off the desert.
• You are travelling with children, older relatives or anyone who does not travel well by road.
• You want time in Ouarzazate and a second look at Aït Ben Haddou.
• You are flying out the day after you get back and would rather not arrive late and tired.

Other ways to do it

• Shared, 3 days: our shared Merzouga tour follows the same route as the private 3-day, in a minibus with up to sixteen others on a fixed departure. It costs €120 per person from two people, or €160 travelling alone. We compare the two formats in private vs shared desert tours.
• With children, 4 days: the family desert tour runs the same road with about five hours of driving on day one and about four on each of the other three, at the same per-person price as the 4-day tour from two travellers.
• Two days only: go to Zagora instead. It is the closest desert night to Marrakech, but the dunes are smaller; see Merzouga vs Zagora.
• Further and emptier: the dunes of Erg Chegaga are a different desert altogether. See Erg Chebbi vs Erg Chegaga.

👉 See the 3-day tour or the 4-day tour, and send us your dates: we reply with the price for your group.