Honeymoon in Merzouga’s Sahara Desert – 7 days

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Honeymoon in Merzouga’s Sahara desert – overview:

Celebrate the most momentous occasion of your life in one of the world’s most romantic destinations; the majestic Sahara Desert.

This honeymoon tour to Merzouga Sahara Desert includes stays at stylish and romantic rural Riads in the Skoura Oasis, the Dades Valley and Ouarzazate.  The highlight will be the night in a luxury desert camp and romantic candlelight dinners under the starlit Saharan night.

Your honeymoon in Morocco kicks off with a Marrakech sightseeing tour with a local guide to discover the red city’s attractions.

This is followed by the majestic Atlas Mountains, the former residential palace, Kasbah Telouet and the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou, Skoura Oasis and the Dades Valley.  In the narrow, high Toudgha Gorges, you will be able to stretch your legs along the riverbank or go for a hike with a local guide.

The desert offers you the following: a sunset camel ride, a whole day trekking in the dunes, a private candlelight dinner and champagne,  a star-lit Saharan sky, an evening of Berber music and drumming around a bonfire, a comfortable luxury tent near the big dunes.

And on the last day of your honeymoon desert tour to Merzouga, you pay a visit to the iconic Kasbah Taourirt in Ouarzazate and the Atlas Film Studios on the outskirts of the town.

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The total cost of the honeymoon trip is 1910 €

Honeymoon in Merzouga Sahara Desert – itinerary:

1st day: Marrakech Sightseeing tour

Marrakech is probably best known for its main square, Djemaa El Fna, with its juice stalls, dried fruit and nut stalls, women applying henna, snake charmers, storytellers, and the myriad of nightly food stalls.

After breakfast in your riad for two, you will be joined by a licensed local guide who will guide you through Marrakech. You will be able to visit the following places according to time and your preferences: the Majorelle Garden, which belonged to Yves St Laurent and is famous for its special shade of blue, called Majorelle blue.

Another famous and stunning garden is le Jardin Secret, a traditional Islamic paradise garden divided into four equal areas on each side of the central crossroads pathway whose water channels are fed directly from the Atlas Mountains.

The Koutoubia Mosque, which is Marrakech’s iconic landmark and can be seen towering over the city, is located near Djemaa El Fna and is worth wandering past – non-Muslims are not permitted entry. The garden behind is worth a visit in spring with the overpowering scent of the orange blossom and people competing for the innumerable benches in the shade.

El Bahia Palace which means “the palace of the beautiful”, the Qur’anic School, the Ben Youssef Madrasa, which used to house some 80 Quranic students, as well as the Saadian Tombs are all worth a visit.

Among the souks are the tanneries and the leather workers, the metalwork in the shape of innumerable lamps, carpets, and Berber rugs, while the Mellah quarter with the Jewish souks have been beautifully restored.

2nd day: Marrakech – Skoura Oasis

Morning departure at 8.30 from your hotel or riad in Marrakech to cross the High Atlas Mountains. After the Tichka pass, the highest in North Africa at 2260 m, you leave the main road and take a side road to the Telouet Kasbah, which belonged to the Lords of the Atlas, the Glaoui family.

Each addition to the building now stands in ruins exposed to the wind and the rain, having been abandoned and plundered after the last Pasha died in 1956. Wait to be pleasantly surprised by the traditional interior decoration as you reach the farthest end of the Kasbah.

Sadly, the entire Kasbah is presently closed due to the destruction caused by the earthquake that hit Morocco in September 2023. Nonetheless, you can still enjoy the exterior with a local guide to uncover its fascinating history.

From here you drive along the beautiful and awe-inspiring Ounila Valley, full of bends in the roads, surprises at the hues of the rock and soil, Berber villages and gardens, as well as smaller Kasbahs.

Almost at the end of the road, you reach Ait Ben Haddou, where you stop for a tasty lunch, after which you will have more energy to visit this UNESCO World Heritage site and famous backdrop to innumerable Hollywood blockbusters. After an hour’s drive, we arrive at the beautiful Skoura Oasis.

At night, enjoy a romantic private dinner and spend the night in a luxury rural riad overlooking the Dra’a Valley.

3rd day: Skoura Oasis – Dades Gorges

After breakfast, you will have time for a walk in the oasis of thousands of palm trees, olives and almonds, as well as past traditional houses set among the fields. This walk is followed by a visit to the beautifully restored Kasbah Amredhil, a clear example of traditional historic Berber life.

We then set out towards the Dades Gorges, passing Kela’a Mgouna, the Valley of Roses, famous for its Rose Festival in early May. Here we stop to see the cosmetic articles which are made locally from the valley’s abundant flowers. These products are well-known throughout Morocco and are highly valued.

From here, you take an off-road route to have a better impression of the landscape. Along the way, you will stop at caves, used by whichever Berber nomads happen to pass and claim residence there. We will have a glass of tea with them before continuing to the Dades Gorge for lunch.

This leaves you half a day to walk in the valley or to spend it relaxing or simply strolling by the fields and gardens, or having tea with a Berber family. You spend the night in a guest house.

4th day: Dades Gorges – Merzouga Desert

After breakfast, the honeymoon in Merzouga Sahara Desert continues a short distance to Tinghir and the very different Toudgha gorges where you can take a short walk to appreciate the steep sides to the gorge and the narrow expanse of the sky above.

From there, you continue to the Chebbi dunes via Tinjdad, and the Oasis of Tafilalet near Erfoud, famous for its Date Festival, and Rissani, which is the seat of the Alaouite family of the present king of Morocco.

Between Tinjdad and Erfoud, you can stop to go down into the ingenious underground water channels deep below the earth, always cool and preventing the evaporation of this source of irrigation. It is fascinating to climb down to experience the coolness below ground and to wonder at the ancient engineering involved.

At the camp, you are welcomed with a glass of tea before taking a camel ride to watch the sunset from the top of the dunes. Later, there is dinner and the night in a nomad tent at the foot of the dunes.

5th day: Merzouga Desert

After breakfast, you take the camels, either riding or walking behind, as they carry everything needed to cook your lunch, which will be prepared out in the dunes by your camel man. You’ll walk about three hours in the morning, followed by another three in the afternoon returning to the bivouac for dinner and the night.

Alternatively, after breakfast, you will explore the desert area more fully. First of all, you will be visiting the Gnawa people in the village of Khamlia. They specialize in Gnawa music brought from sub-Saharan Africa with the slave trade. They will play some for you.

Afterwards, you will visit the old city of Rissani. This small town was the foundation of the Alaouite dynasty – the current ruling royal family in Morocco. It is surrounded by 360 ksars (a ksar is a fortified village with many towers) and has a large souk (an open market) held three times a week. Here you’ll walk through the souk, which sells spices, vegetables, household goods, and handicrafts. Rissani has been built on the site of Sijilmassa, which was the meeting place for the salt caravans, coming from Timbuktu in Mali.

And then in the afternoon, you will mount your camel, and be led by an experienced camel man through the sand dunes of Erg Chebbi at Merzouga for an hour to an hour and a half to watch the sunset.

Weather conditions and temperatures in South Morocco are rarely stable.  Should it become too hot from May through to the end of September, we may have to advise you not to attempt trekking in the dunes but to take this alternative instead.

Dinner is once again in the camp and followed by drumming and music around a campfire.

6th day: Merzouga Desert – Agdz

If you wake up early enough, you can watch the spectacle of the sunrise, when the colour of the dunes and the play of shadows are an awesome sight. The drive back west to the Dra’a Valley takes us via the villages of Tazzarine (featured in the film ‘Babel’) and N’Qob, where we have lunch.

In the afternoon, we continue to Tansikht, crossing the Dra’a River. Here in the Dra’a valley, full of palm trees of some 44 date varieties, we turn north to Agdez, the head of the valley.

Upon your arrival, you will be treated to a couple’s spa experience for two to relax and decompress. At night, enjoy a romantic private dinner and spend the night in a luxury rural riad overlooking the Dra’a Valley.

7th day: Agdz – Marrakech

After breakfast we make a morning departure to Kasbah Taourirt, also a Glaoui Kasbah and the landmark of Ouarzazate.

Not far from the town lie the cinema studios which is worth a visit for Hollywood blockbuster film buffs to see many of the original sets used in the filming.

Kasbah Tifoultoute lies a little off the main road and is perched on an outcrop overlooking the valley and the river, above the village which is greatly expanding in size.

We drive much of the way back along a different road to Marrakech, which once again passes numerous Berber villages, fields and gardens, where walnut, apples, quince and pomegranate trees alongside silver birch and oleander are visible everywhere.

At the end of the afternoon, having crossed the Tizi-n-Tichka pass, we arrive in Marrakech. Your driver escorts you to your hotel bringing your honeymoon in the Merzouga Sahara Desert to an end.

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