4-Day Agadir to Merzouga Desert Tour

Agadir → Taroudant → Taliouine → Taznakht → Ouarzazate

Leaving Agadir we cross the Souss valley to Taroudant, walking a stretch of its earthen ramparts and the souks inside. The road climbs into the Anti-Atlas at Taliouine, Morocco’s saffron capital, where you can visit a cooperative and see how the crocus threads are picked and dried, then continues through the carpet town of Taznakht to Ouarzazate for the night.

Accommodation: Hotel or riad in Ouarzazate or similar

Ouarzazate → Ait Ben Haddou → Skoura → Kalaat M’Gouna → Dades Gorges

A short drive west brings us to Ait Ben Haddou, the fortified earthen village on the old salt road and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with time to cross the river and climb to the granary at the top. Back through Ouarzazate — the Atlas Film Studios are here if you want them — we take the kasbah road east to Kasbah Amridil in the Skoura oasis and the Rose Valley at Kalaat M’Gouna, reaching the Dades in the afternoon for a walk out to the monkey-finger rocks.

Accommodation: Hotel or riad in the Dades Gorges or similar

Dades → Todra Gorge → Tinghir → Erfoud → Merzouga (Erg Chebbi)

Up the Dades hairpins for the morning viewpoint, then across to Tinghir and its palm oasis, and a walk beneath the 300-metre walls of the Todra Gorge. Continuing east through Erfoud — fossils and dates — we reach Merzouga in the late afternoon. Your camels are waiting for the hour-long trek into Erg Chebbi, sunset from a high dune, then dinner and drums at the camp.

Accommodation: Tawada Desert Camp or similar

Merzouga → Rissani → Agdz (Draa Valley) → Taroudant → Agadir

Sunrise over the dunes and breakfast, then west by a different road. We stop at Rissani for the souk and the Sijilmassa ruins, then follow the open country of Alnif and Tazzarine down into the Draa Valley at Agdz, where Morocco’s longest river runs green beneath Jbel Kissane. From Ouarzazate we retrace the Anti-Atlas through Taznakht and Taroudant, arriving in Agadir in the evening.