Merzouga
Sand dunes a hundred and fifty metres high, and a night without any light
- When to go
- September 29° · 2 rainy days
- Per day
- €€price 2 of 5
- How many days
- 2days
- For you
- 6 questions →
- Right now
Merzouga is a village on the edge of Erg Chebbi, one of Morocco's two true sand seas, with its highest dune around a hundred and fifty metres. You do not come here for a day: the drive from Marrakesh takes a whole one, and the entire point is to sleep in the desert.
The standard pattern is a three-day, two-night tour from Marrakesh, with a night in Dades or Todra and the second night in a camp among the dunes. The alternative is a flight to Errachidia or Ouarzazate and then a car — quicker, dearer, and it costs you the Tizi n'Tichka pass and the Draa valley, which are half the reason to go overland.
Camps differ more than the listings suggest. Those near the village are cheaper and you hear the generator; those deeper in the dunes need an hour by camel or four-wheel drive, and at night they are quiet in a way you will not meet elsewhere. The question that separates them is not stars but how far the camp is from tarmac.
Temperature here is a safety matter, not a comfort one. From June to September the daytime maximum regularly passes forty degrees and climbing dunes at noon is not an option; in December and January nights drop close to freezing, and the camps are not heated. March, April, October and November are best.
What to see in Merzouga
Erg Chebbi
A sand sea some twenty-eight kilometres long, its highest dune around a hundred and fifty metres. Sunrise from the ridge is the reason you come.
A night in camp
No power and no light from anywhere. The Milky Way is visible to the naked eye, and that is what people remember.
Camel or four-wheel drive
Both get you to the camp. The camel is slower and more painful, and worth taking one way.
- D
Dayet Srji
A seasonal salt lake north of the dunes; when there is water, flamingos stop here. It is dry most of the year.
- G
Gnawa music
The village of Khamlia, a few kilometres on, is settled by descendants of people brought across the Sahara. Their music is the reason to go there in the evening.
The road here
The Tizi n'Tichka pass, the Draa valley and the Dades and Todra gorges. Half the value of the trip is what you see on the way.
Two things you probably did not know
Erg Chebbi near Merzouga has dunes up to a hundred and fifty metres high, formed from sand the wind carries hundreds of kilometres. The dune field is the exception: nearly all the Sahara is stone, not sand.
The Sahara has not always been desert. Between six and ten thousand years ago it was savannah with lakes and herds, and satellite images still show riverbeds under the sand.
Ready for Merzouga?
Within reach from here
Places sorted by straight-line distance from Merzouga — day trips or weekends.
Morocco
→The north by train, the south by road, and in July you leave Marrakech for the coast
Portugal
→A country that spent centuries looking at the ocean instead of the Europe behind it
Turkey
→Istanbul, then one direction: Cappadocia by plane, Ephesus and Pamukkale by train, or the Lycian coast by bus
All 277 places we write about sit on one page — narrow them down by continent, country, price or what you are travelling for.
Within reach from here: Ait Ben Haddou, Fez and Marrakech
See how much of that actually suits you — or pin Merzouga if you have been.
Front row for the next trip
Leave your email and we'll let you know when a new destination or story goes up.