The Sahara desert was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever witnessed and experienced!
If you’re a backpacker like myself and looking into the possibility of heading into the Sahara Desert but not sure how to go about it; weather to do it independently or through a tour company, you’ve clicked onto the right post.
Since I started backpacking way back in 2010, I very rarely take tours. I prefer to do excursions like this independently, but this time I opted for a Sahara desert tour from Marrakech because of time restraints.
If you find yourself in a similar situation, In this post we will explore your options and I’ll run through the experience I had with IgoMorocco.com’s marrakech Sahara desert tours.
Before we dive into this Sahara desert tour though I do have to admit something. In all my years of traveling around the world, all the things I’ve seen, done and experienced the riding through and staying the night in the Sahara is easily was one of my greatest experiences and the best thing; it’s budget traveler friendly!
But, how do you get to the Sahara desert?
There are certain things, we budget backpackers prefer to do on our own. And if you have the nouse, the time, some haggling ability, I’m sure you could do this alone. However there is that risk of getting lost in the Sahara desert. I’m sure you could just rock up, haggle, buy or rent a camel and wander off into the Sahara desert. But if you’re not an expert at navigating vast Sahara desert dunes; I wouldn’t recommend it.
Of course there are other options to do it independently without getting lost on your own. You could make your own way to a town close to the Sahara desert edge, and get a local guide from the towns to take you into the dunes. I’ll be honest if I had more time on my hands, I probably would have chose this option instead of one of the Sahara desert tours from Marrakech.
So, you can either do it independently and get a local or a guide to take you into the desert once you get to the town on your own, or the other option is to book an organized Sahara desert tour from Marrakech or Fes.
Which methods suits you best?
A Pre-booked Sahara desert tour from Marrakech is a better option if you prefer everything organized for you if you want to just turn up and be led the whole way and be hassle free in planning or don’t have the time to do it yourself. However with tours, everything is on time restraints, there’s an itinerary to follow, there’s no freedom of length of time spent in one place, or where to eat and sleep. It’s all pre-determined and there’s less of a chance of spontaneity, so depending on your view that can be seen as a pro or a con.
If you want to do it independently, you have to do all the research yourself, figure out a route, decide where to stop and how long for and then figure out which local or guide can take you into the Sahara desert dunes themselves.
Remember, you should go for the option that suits you and your traveling style best.
Me personally?
As I mentioned I prefer to do trips independently, I like to have the freedom to explore in my own way at my own pace, to figure out my own route, and doing things my way. For me, it’s more of an adventure to get to the destination that way.
Having said that, I have taken tours in the past and due to time restraints so this time I chose to book a Sahara desert tour.
Budget Sahara Desert Tour options
If you decide to go the organized Sahara desert tour route, then your first course of action is to seek out a tour company/operator.
When it comes to choosing a Sahara desert tour, there is no need to worry. There’s no shortage of budget Sahara desert tours from Marrakech.
You might get tempted to just book one online and get it out the way, but there are plenty of options in Morocco itself. It felt like every other shop was offering Sahara desert tours from Marrakech, and even the ones that weren’t knew somebody who sold one. You can book them through your hostel or Riad (although not the best option as I found out from people in my hostel.) And, don’t even worry about booking too far in advance, tours run 365 days a year.
I learned that most Marrakech desert tours offer pretty much the same options and itineraries the only difference between then are the prices. (Prices vary on the quality of the tour operator and trip. However, some companies charge a higher rate for a poorer quality of the trip. More on this later.)
Types of Sahara desert tours available:
Most Sahara Desert Tours from Marrakech have pretty much the same Itineraries, they typically range like this:
2 day/1 night – Shorter trips that typically go to smaller dunes like Zagora, including a few stops along the way, an overnight stay in a Berber camp in the dunes and a return journey the next day – Great introduction to the desert if you’re really tight on time. (But you don’t go so deep into them)
3 day/2 nights – Longer trip that takes you further to the bigger dunes like Merzouga and Erg Chebbi, tours typically include scheduled stops like Kasbah Ait Ben Hadodu, Dades Gorge Valley, and Todra Gorge. This option includes your first night in a shared or private hotel, second night in the desert camp and a return journey to Marrakech.
4 days/3 nights – This option includes all of the above but you get to spend a full day in the desert doing activities like sand boarding, quad biking and 4×4 riding
*Note activities depend on the tour operator, not all will offer activities.
Budget trips – Basic camps and tents, Air conditioned Mini-vans.
Budget Shared – Shared mini-vans with people from other tour groups (This is not told beforehand and causes confusion, more on this further in the post.)
Private Sahara desert tours are available but at a higher cost.
IGoMorocco.com Sahara desert tours from Marrakech
- In this part one of this post we are going to cover what my experience with IgoMorocco.com tour company was like:
- Sahara desert tour day 1
- An early start
- Nothing runs on time
- Leaving Marrakech behind
- Atlas mountains
- Kasbah Ait Benhaddou; a UNESCO world heritage site.
- Accommodation
- Join me for part 2 – the main event
I opted for the 3 day Marrakech to desert tour which included mini tours and stops along the way, first night in shared or private accommodation, a 2-hour camel ride to the camp, a night’s stay at the desert camp, with a return journey back to Marrakech.
This option covers all main attractions and gives you a decent amount of time to experience the Sahara desert.
TIP: With most tour companies, you can choose between riding a camel into the desert or riding in a 4×4 but the latter is more expensive.
IGoMorocco were very good with communication about the Sahara desert tour before the trip. Booking was simple, a quick secured online payment, which I got a receipt for instantly. They emailed me the Itinerary, what to bring and even sent me a reminder through Email and a phone message the day before.
As I mentioned above most of the Marrakech Sahara desert tour operators follow the same route to the desert and include similar Itineraries. Below is how my 3 day Marrakech to Desert tour with Igomorocco turned out.
Sahara desert tour - Day 1
The first thing you should know and prepare yourself for is the early starts and long drives. The Sahara desert is a long way from Marrakech and the days will be long.
An early start!
Nothing ever runs on time
Being an experienced backpacker, I was well aware pickups are rarely on time, and this was no different. While other Marrakech desert tours came and went, I waited and waited with others who booked with IGoMorocco. Finally, somebody appeared to let us know our driver was running a little late (surprise, surprise.)
When our minivan did arrive, the 6 of us got on the van, but a few of us were told to swap vans onto another one with no explanation – The confusion started!
So with 4 of us in a new van, we were finally on our way – well, so we thought! We seemed to circle Marrakech a few times before stopping outside the Palace where more people were swapped around; more confusion. With the van filled, we were just about to leave but then the driver got in on the act and played the swap game with a driver from a different van.
Finally, we hit the road and left Marrakech behind us
As usual with organized tours, there wasn’t much conversation to begin with. I think this was due to the fact that everybody was trying to figure out what was going on. However not too long into the journey the ice started to break and conversations started to break out. Of course, the thing we all had in common was that everybody was confused.
The confusion escalated when we found out people in the van had booked through different companies, 6 of us through IGoMorocco, and the others from 2 or 3 different companies, and we had all paid different prices. Put it this way there were 4 people who had paid much more than me from a different company to do the exact same trip as me.
(It was only after I got in contact with IGoMorocco when I returned to Marrakech that I found out this was because I chose a shared budget tour. Apparently shared tours in Morocco don’t just mean shared with other people but with other tour companies too.)
Never the less, in light of the confusion, this made for some great banter between us all and as much as I don’t like tours this Sahara desert tour got off to a fun start.
Atlas mountains
Once we left Marrakech in the rear-view mirror, the road opened up, the landscape changed and the mountains started to come into full view. It wasn’t long before we were amongst the Atlas mountains. Our first stop was a mountainside cafe, just to take in the view and to refresh before we started winding and weaving up, down and through the incredible mountain range.
Most of the early morning was spent driving through the mountains.
Kahsbar Ait Benhaddou
The first major stop and mini-tour for all tour companies is the historic village of Kasbah Ait Benhaddou; a UNESCO world heritage site.
This was an important village along the caravan route from the Sahara to Marrakech (Learn about its place in history here.). However, in modern times, this village is known more commonly for being the setting for movies like Lawrence of Arabia and more recently Gladiator.
I have to admit, the sight of the village and walking around it, felt like stepping into history. The old interlinking clay houses crammed into the hillside give you a sense of the thriving community it once was. And, it was great to learn about its history, it’s purpose, the way locals would let the desert nomads, and traveling merchants stay with them.
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Lunch
So lunch was at a pre-determined cafe, a set menu with not much choice and was over-priced (lunch price is not included in your original tour price.) The less said about this lunch the better.
After lunch, we were taken to a few shops to buy a headscarf for the desert. The shopkeepers put on a demonstration on how to put a headscarf on properly and their selling point was that this is the last place you can buy a headscarf before the desert. Now, to clear this up, no this is not true, you can buy a headscarf anywhere all the way up to the entering the dunes.
More driving
Accommodation
As day eventually turned to night and clocking up a lot of miles on the open road and through the mountains, the driver started to drop people off at their accommodation. There was more confusion here too.
With the shared budget trip there is an option to upgrade to a private heated room, now normally being a budget traveler I wouldn’t have paid for an upgrade. However, on this occasion, I got an upgrade as part of my deal to write this post (A perk of being a blogger.)
A few guys were dropped off at a hotel in what seemed like the middle of nowhere, the rest of us stayed on board, a few others dropped off at another. I was still seated on the van, finally, the rest of the group were dropped off (at the shared accommodation.) However, I was told to stay on the minivan. I thought I was going to get some special treatment but turns out the driver just forgot to drop me off at the previous stop.
Upgraded hotel
There was free WiFi in the hotel but the signal was only strong in the freezing cold lobby so mostly everybody was clattering their teeth while trying to get online for the first time in the day. (We all know how hard it is to go a whole day without being online.)
The room itself wasn’t anything special but I it was heated and it was so nice to have a hot shower to round off a confusing but fun first day of my Sahara Desert tour.
Day 2 - The Sahara desert tour main event!
That was just day 1 – Part 2 of my Sahara Desert tour includes the actual trip into the Sahara desert, the overnight desert camp experience and the return journey back to Marrakech.
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25 Comments
Andria · February 3, 2021 at 3:03 pm
Your experience looks amazazing, Thank you so much for sharing with us your beautiful pictures.
Nancy Cote · March 30, 2020 at 7:04 am
Hello,
The Sahara Desert Tour igomorocco Information is the best place and greatful Morocco. thank you for share this blog
Gemma · March 5, 2020 at 9:24 pm
Wow it sounds like a once in a lifetime experience! I’m hoping to go to Morocco this year towards th autumn, and I’d love to organise a similar trip!
foreverroamingtheworld · March 5, 2020 at 9:51 pm
It really was a once in a lifetime experience …I can honestly say I’ve never felt so much serenity in my life…igomorocco was a really good company, I dont normally do tours but this was really well organized and the camp site in the desert was really comfy…hope you get to go, enjoy the trip 🙂
Lana · June 10, 2018 at 8:15 pm
This brings backs memories! We also tend to do things independently, however we opted for the 3 day Sahara tour too. It seems we encountered similar problems eg late picking us up for the tour and swapping cars. What did you think of the lunch places? So over priced and average right!? I loved Kahsbar Ait Benhaddou! Our guide was a bit impatient with us haha! Ian and I were taking out time exploring the site 😉 Can’t wait to read your overnight camping experience in the Sahara Desert!
Geemiz · April 17, 2018 at 8:32 pm
I am that type of traveler who makes my own itinerary. List down all the places I wanted to go then add those recommended places by friends but a professional help from a travel agency would always be appreciated. I have never tried one before so reading your post gives me idea on what to expect when hiring one.
foreverroamingtheworld · April 17, 2018 at 8:38 pm
I’m the same …i normally do it myself but because of the short time I had no other choice but to do a tour …it went a lot better than I expected 😉
Victoria @TheBritishBerliner · April 17, 2018 at 3:59 am
Wow!
It sounds confusing just reading about your adventure, but you made it, that’s what counts. Thanks for sharing!
p.s. I’ve ridden a camel a few times in various countries, and your bum really hurts. How did you cope over a couple of days?
Jas · April 16, 2018 at 5:17 am
It’s my goal this year to visit so I’m super glad I came across your helpful guide! I think I definitely would’ve started panicking if I were you in the van swapping situation. An independent/self-organized tour sounds much more pleasant to me for sure.
foreverroamingtheworld · April 17, 2018 at 8:41 pm
Haha it jist kinda added to the trip…but yes normally I would have chose.to do it independently but because of the time constraints I had to book a tour and it wasn’t too bad
Suman · April 15, 2018 at 10:52 am
Agree with you, at some places we do need to hire help as exploring solo is not possible. The tour looks nice and well organized. Will look into igomorocco if I ever go there.
Exploring Curiously · April 14, 2018 at 5:48 pm
This makes me think of a lot of my own similar travel experiences with waiting for drivers who are late, as well as my experience in Morocco where everyone knows someone who offers what you need. I look forward to reading about the main event.