5 days Desert trip from Agadir to the Erg Chebbi dunes

Departure by 4WD at 8.30 a.m. from Agadir to Taroudant, dubbed “the little Marrakech.” Its magnificent medina and enormous ramparts make it amazing.

We proceed to Taliouine, the center of Morocco’s saffron-growing region, where there is a small saffron-related museum managed by the government. The lovely fragrance of saffron greets you as you walk in. Taznakht, known for its Berber gelims and carpets, is where we arrive after passing via the Tizi-n-Tighatine and Tizi-n-Ikhsane passes.

After passing through Bouazzer’s copper and cobalt mines, the road goes on to Agdez, where travelers spend their first night in the Dra’a Valley.

The oldest Kasbah in the Dra’a Valley, Kasbah Tamnougalte, will be visited after breakfast. It is still home to about 13 families, but the Jewish section has been abandoned and is gradually collapsing.

We continue southward from here, crossing the Dra’a River in Tansikht. Ask your driver to pull over just before you get there so you may examine the dinosaur footprints in the rocks by the side of the road! We now head east and pause for lunch at a riad with a mountain view at N’Qob.

Afterwards, we go via the “Babel”-featured town of Tazzarine before arriving at the Merzouga bivouac, where you will be welcomed with a glass of tea. Once you’ve had some time to relax, you ride a camel and watch the sun set over the dunes.

You eat dinner and spend the night in an opulent tent featuring king-sized mattresses, a private shower, exquisite Moroccan furnishings, and lighting that are thoughtfully placed to maximize your enjoyment of the solitude and beauty of the dunes.

If you get up early enough, you can witness the amazing sunrise, when the dunes’ colors and the way the shadows move create a breathtaking scene. We depart for Tinghir and the Toudgha gorges after eating breakfast at the tent.

While traveling, you will cross the “khettarat,” or water canals, which you can descend inside to observe the ingenuity and engineering of this irrigation system that blocks evaporation in the sweltering summer months. The channels begin at one end at a gradient that is higher than the other and eventually emerge at the soil’s surface where they are fed into the fields. You can read Andrew Wilson’s work to learn more about these channels.

There are walks around the gorge and through the farms and gardens of the village before you get to the gorge itself. The schedule then heads to Dades Valley. Millions of years ago, the area that is now the Dades Gorges was under the sea. Massive coral reefs were surrounded by vast amounts of sediment, which eventually compacted into a variety of sedimentary rocks like limestone and sandstone. The Atlas Mountains and the surrounding terrain were eventually formed when the area rose above the sea due to movement in the earth’s crust. You spend the night in a kasbah or hotel.

A visit to the Dades gorges and a little stroll there are planned after breakfast. We proceed to the Valley of the Roses, which is well-known for its May Rose Festival. The delightfully fragrant damascene roses are used to make cosmetics and hygiene products, which are highly prized across the nation.

Kasbah Amredhil in Skoura and its oasis awaits an extremely worthwhile visit. The exquisitely preserved kasbah provides a clear picture of multigenerational living in such homes. Due to the thickness of the walls, it is completely composed of adobe, a great building material that is cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

We continue on our trip to Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou, which is the setting for numerous Hollywood blockbusters and one of Morocco’s nine UNESCO World Heritage sites. Some of the structures in this most well-known Kasbah in Morocco date back to the 17th century. The drive continues with breathtaking sights as it crosses the High Atlas Mountains. We arrive in Marrakech at the end of the afternoon after traversing the Tizi-n-Tichka pass.

Following breakfast, you spend the morning touring the locations of your choice with a guide before making your way back to Agadir after lunch.

Sights to see include the Majorelle Gardens, which were once owned by Yves St. Laurent, the Saadian tombs, the Madressah ben Youssef, the souks, and the Bahia Palace. Throughout the grounds, plant pots and walls are painted a renowned, unique Majorelle shade of blue.

You can’t see everything in one quick morning, but you could always extend your trip by one more day! Your driver will take you to your riad as he concludes your desert excursion from Agadir to Erg Chebbi Dunes.