Nearly every three-day tour from Marrakech crosses the Tizi n’Tichka pass, stops at Ait Ben Haddou and the Todra Gorge and spends one night in a camp in the Erg Chebbi dunes. Our verdict therefore rests on what differs between the listings: the camp classes and what the page writes about them, where day 3 ends, lunch and the number of days.
Camp class and heating
MOROCCO TRIP heats the luxury tents on its round trip, as do Marrakesh Travel Services and MOROCCOFIRSTGATE; their standard tents get blankets and no heating, for winter nights of 0 to 5 °C. From spring to autumn the standard tent is enough for most people. The private premium tour of MOROCCO TRIP is also the option that goes inside the Atlas Studios, which the shared tours only see from outside. At MOROCCOFIRSTGATE every guest party has its own tent in both classes, with toilets outside and showers in the lodge. Standard or luxury camp compared.
Where day 3 ends
Round trips return over the High Atlas and reach Marrakech around 8 pm, a time MOROCCO TRIP does not guarantee, so leave a buffer before a flight. If you continue to Fes, Chefchaouen or Tangier, a tour ending in Fes turns north through the Ziz Valley, the cedar forests of the Middle Atlas and Ifrane instead. On its Fes tour MOROCCO TRIP sells standard, deluxe and premium tents, and the deluxe tent has its own shower and toilet. Desert tours ending in Fes.
Lunch on the road
Breakfasts and dinners are included, while lunch, drinks and tips are on the not-included list of almost every listing, and the van stops at restaurants along the road. Ando Travel is the exception, with an option that adds three lunches on its round trip and on its tour to Fes. Prices and extra costs.
Three days or four
Day 3 of a three-day tour is mostly the drive back. A fourth day splits it: Manzil Dades adds a second night in the Dades Valley at a kasbah with a pool, and Ando Travel a night in a desert lodge in Merzouga, with the choice of ending in Marrakech or Fes. The four-day tour by Tours From Marrakech is private and includes meals during the tour. 4-day desert tours compared.
Merzouga rather than Zagora
The tall dunes of Erg Chebbi are at Merzouga. Two-day tours mostly go to Zagora in the Draa Valley, where the dunes are lower and more scattered, even when the title says Sahara. Every tour in our verdict sleeps at Erg Chebbi. Merzouga or Zagora.
