Bucket List #31 – Riding a Camel in Morocco 🐪

As many of you know from my incessant flooding of social media with pictures from Morocco, I went on a camel trek in April in the Sahara desert. It was a 2-night, 3-day trip that left from Marrakech and ended in the Merzouga desert, near the border of Morocco and Algeria. I went with the travel company Marrakech Desert Trips which we booked in advance to save money. I would highly recommend booking in advance and not dealing with the tourist shops in the city that try to rip you off if you are booking last minute.

In this post, I want to share more photos and a complete breakdown of the itinerary for the 3-days of the tour. I highly recommend this trip, as it is the perfect amount of time to see a lot of Morocco, enjoy the desert, but also get back to the fun stuff in Marrakech without getting sick of being with a big group.

Day 1: Marrakech to Boumalne Dades 

You’ll cross the High Atlas Mountains. Bring medication if you get carsick easily. Enjoy the beautiful views of lush valleys. 

Stop #1 — Visit Kasbah Ait Ben Hadou

This was a super cool stop. It is a typical merchant village in the middle of nowhere on the way to the desert. This is where a LOT of notable movies have been produced or had scenes filmed – including The Mummy, Gladiator, Alexander, Kingdom of Heaven, Babel, Prince of Persia, and Son of God.

Next: Drive across Skoura Oasis

Another interesting stop in the midst of the mountains, a traditional Berber village. This is an opportunity to shop and buy directly from families who make rugs that are sold in the major cities of Morocco. You’ll get a much better deal here and it is a far more pleasant experience.

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Next — Visit the Valley of the Roses

Drive past the road of 1001 Kasbahs

This is a short stop to get water and take some photos. Beautiful little village in the valley of the High Atlas. After this we had dinner & spent the night at the Dades Valley Hotel Chems.

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It was a decent hotel although the beds were not the most comfortable and the bathroom was very simple. There is a pool though and it overlooks a really pretty valley.

Day 2 — Boumalne Dades to Merzouga

We started the day with breakfast at the hotel before heading to Merzouga. We stopped to visit Tinghir Town and a few other side-of-the-road pullovers for more photo opportunities. The countryside of Morocco is truly stunning — even though this tour was a ton of driving, it didn’t feel tedious. I enjoyed just staring out the window at the amazing landscapes.

Another stop we had was a walk in Todgha Oasis to the canyons and visiting Erfoud and Rissani. These were little villages right before you reach the foot of the Sahara. Your guides will tell you this is the last chance to buy water – so stock up on some large bottles for the night and morning.

After these stops, we arrived in Merzouga and met our camel caravan.

Enjoy a spectacular 60 minutes camel ride over Erg Chebbi dunes to watch the sunset* 

This is the part that came at a surprise for us, as things were not EXACTLY as published. The deal was 1/2 of the group would go by camel TO the desert camp, and 1/2 would go by 4×4, and then swap over for the rides back in the morning. At first, it was a bit annoying, it worked out perfectly. I enjoyed the 4×4 ride a lot more, even though it was a bit intense and terrifying. See my video for an explanation.

Dinner and overnight at your Bedouin desert camp.

We hiked up the sand dunes for an incredible view of more SAND! It was like something right out of a movie. Hiking in the sand is also super difficult!

Day 3: Merzouga back to Marrakech

Be prepared for an early wake up to watch the sunrise! It’s hard to get up but it’s 100% worth it. I’ve never seen the sun rise over the desert like this before and it was a beautiful start to the day — made extra special while being on a camel.

We enjoyed a one hour camel trek to Merzouga hotel for shower* and breakfast. The shower is an upgrade charge – I think it was 100% worth it! 

After this, we started a long drive back to Marrakech – THIS IS A LONG DAY OF DRIVING. Bring reading materials, download podcasts, or take drugs to sleep. The views are still beautiful, but it did get a bit tiresome by the end, I think it was about 8 hours in the van. We did stop in Ouarzazate for lunch, which was delicious.

After the long day, we arrived in Marrakech at about 19h00 and checked back into our hostel.

The desert tour experience is A LOT of driving, but it is through beautiful scenery and in a comfortable, mostly air-conditioned van. You take sufficient breaks to get water and go to the bathroom as well. Our group was really awesome, which made the experience far more enjoyable.

We paid €89 euros for the tour which included dinners, breakfast and accommodation. Lunches were about €8-10 which included A LOT of food. Water was cheap to purchase along the way.

I highly recommend a desert excursion if you’re spending a good chunk of time in Marrakech, and the company we went with was fine, I’d recommend them to anyone looking for an inexpensive experience 🙂