A round trip for travellers already based around Ouarzazate — out to the Sahara through two of the south's best-known valleys, and back by the same striking road.
Tour highlights
- Skoura's palm oasis and kasbahs
- Dades Valley and its rose fields
- Todra Gorge
- Erg Chebbi dunes and a desert camp
- Ouarzazate's kasbahs and film studios
Itinerary
Day 1 — Ouarzazate to Merzouga via the Dades Valley
We leave Ouarzazate through the palm groves and kasbahs of the Skoura oasis, then follow the Dades Valley — the Valley of the Roses — past its folded "monkey fingers" rock formations, before turning east through the Todra Gorge. In the afternoon we press on to Merzouga, riding camels into the Erg Chebbi dunes for sunset and a night at a desert camp.
Day 2 — Merzouga to Ouarzazate via Todra and Dades
Sunrise over the dunes, then breakfast and a stop in Rissani, the region's largest souk, and the fossil workshops of Erfoud before we retrace the route through Todra and the Dades Valley, stopping again where the light is different heading west, back to Ouarzazate for the night.
Day 3 — Ouarzazate
A morning around Ouarzazate: the Taourirt Kasbah, once the seat of the Glaoui pashas, and the Atlas Film Studios, where Lawrence of Arabia and many others were shot, before your onward journey.
