10-Day Erg Chigaga Desert Trekking Tour from Marrakech

Met at Menara airport and taken to a traditional riad in the medina. The rest of the day is yours: rest after the flight, or walk to Jemaa el-Fnaa and the souks while the light lasts. Dinner in the riad.

A full day in the city before the road south: the medina and its souks, Bahia Palace, the Koutoubia quarter, the Saadian Tombs or the Majorelle Garden, lunch at a traditional restaurant. The afternoon is for buying anything the trek is still missing and checking your kit, the road leaves after breakfast tomorrow.

South out of the city and up through the High Atlas to the Tizi n'Tichka pass, then down to Aït Ben Haddou, the ksar of rammed earth on the old caravan road, and a UNESCO site. Walk the paths, eat, then on through Ouarzazate and the Draa Valley: kasbahs, palm groves and the green line of the river against the plain, down to Tagounite.

The night is at Casa Juan, on the edge of the Sahara, with tomorrow's briefing over dinner.

An easy morning to M'Hamid El Ghizlane, the last town before the sand. Here you meet the guide, the cook and the camel team; the main luggage goes to them and you keep only a daypack. A first gentle walk depending on the hour, sandy tracks, tamarisk, open desert, then camp: mint tea, dinner cooked over the fire, and the kind of sky you only get this far from a town.

The first full walking day: 12–16 km, four to five hours, across open plains, dry riverbeds and tamarisk ground, the camels carrying everything. Picnic lunch in the shade around midday, then on to the Sidi Naji area. Camp by evening, free time on the dunes to watch the light change, dinner cooked by the desert cook, and a night in the open.

Another 12–16 km as the ground turns from stone to sand and the ridges of Erg Ezzahar rise ahead. The guide reads the landscape on the way: desert plants, animal tracks, the old caravan routes that once ran south from here. Picnic out of the midday heat, a climb onto a ridge for the view, and camp below the dunes at sunset.

The last walking day, 10–15 km depending on where camp sits: sandy corridors and rocky plateaus beyond Erg Smar, then the dunes of Erg Chigaga, the widest sea of sand in Morocco and the quietest ground on the trip. Regular stops, a picnic lunch, and the colour changing on the sand as the sun drops. Dinner at camp, and the stars.

Up early for sunrise over the dunes and a last short walk in the sand, then the 4x4 across the off-road country back towards M'Hamid. The minibus waits: north through Zagora and the Draa Valley, past villages and palm groves, through Ouarzazate and up into the High Atlas foothills to Tisselday, where Irocha Guest House has dinner waiting.

A slow morning in the mountains, coffee, a walk in the valley, then the road north to Marrakech with lunch and photo stops along the way. Into the medina by late afternoon. The evening is free: a hammam, souvenir shopping, or a last dinner on a rooftop.

Breakfast at the riad and a last morning in the medina if the flight allows, a walk, a coffee, whatever was forgotten, then the private transfer to Menara airport.