Road to the Sahara: Marrakech to the dunes, stage by stage
- Published
- 6 February 2025
- Reading
- 4 min read
The road from Marrakech to the dunes is about 560 kilometres and eight to nine hours of pure driving. Anyone who stops to look splits it over two days — and day one usually unravels at Ait Ben Haddou.
From Marrakech to the Erg Chebbi dunes at Merzouga is about 560 kilometres, over the Tizi n'Tichka pass at 2,260 metres. Without stopping that's eight to nine hours of driving, nine to ten with lunch and fuel — so if you plan to look at anything on the way, the road splits into two days.
Verdict — two days one way, if you stop to look at anything. Times are driving only — time spent at Ait Ben Haddou and in the gorges isn't included.
Ait Ben Haddou — the stop that turns into half a day
Day one usually unravels right here. The plan is a photo stop, but the rammed-earth village needs an hour or two at least, and those hours come out of the daylight left for the rest of the road. If you want Ait Ben Haddou and the gorges without rushing, don't push on to Dades the same day: sleep in Ouarzazate and leave Dades and Todra for day two.
Ouarzazate and the Todra Gorge
Ouarzazate is a film-studio town: Atlas Studios, five kilometres west of the centre, has been running since 1983, and parts of 'Gladiator', 'The Mummy', 'Kingdom of Heaven' and 'Game of Thrones' were shot in and around it. The reason is the landscape around the town, which on screen can pass for many countries.
On day two the road runs up the valley to Tinghir and the Todra Gorge. In places the walls rise up to 400 metres, and the best stretch is the last one, about 600 metres long, where the gorge narrows to around ten metres between walls 160 metres high. After Todra the road runs via Erfoud to Merzouga and the dunes.
Who one day isn't enough for
Anyone who wants the dunes. One day covers Ait Ben Haddou and back to Marrakech. The dunes can be reached in a day only by driving without looking; with anything on the way it's two days one way, and the road back is just as long — so this isn't planned as a transfer but as part of the trip, with nights of its own.
Morocco, in brief
What now
If this sounds like your trip, start here.
- Allow about 560 km to the Merzouga dunes — if you stop for anything, that's two days one way, not one.
- Give Aït Benhaddou an hour or two, not a photo stop; entry to the village is free, whatever you are told at the gate.
- In the Todra Gorge go on to the last six hundred metres — there it is about ten metres wide, between walls 160 high.
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Ait Ben Haddou, Marrakech and Essaouira from this story
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