2 days tour from Marrakech to Zagora desert
2 days desert tour from Marrakech to Zagora
Go camping and do the best camel ride ever with our 2 days tour from Marrakech to Zagora desert
Note: This tour is not to Erg Chebbi Merzouga desert, please check out our other Morocco tours for it.
Main info:
Departure location:
Marrakech
Return location:
Marrakech
Departure time:
08:00 AM
Itinerary duration
2 days/ 1 nights
Highlights of our tour:
- Hike up Ait Benhaddou
- Ouarzazate atlas studio
- Camel trekking in Zagora
- Camping in Berber tents
Tour overview:
2 days trip from Marrakech to Zagora desert offers the best experiences for you. That is to say, you will discover old and adobe Kasbahs and the traditional villages. And you experience a camel trekking trip in the Sahara of Zagora. Secondly, you figure out the High Atlas and Anti Atlas Mountains. Moreover, you visit the largest Rive in Morocco and tree groves. Finally, you explore the Hollywood of Africa and Atlas Studios.
Itinerary:
Day 1: Marrakech – Ait Ben Haddou – Zagora:
We will pick you up from your Raid and start our 2 days trip from Marrakech to Zagora desert. Therefore, we will drive through the High Atlas Mountains and admire mountain views. Firstly, we will visit the Argan oil cooperative to know about Argan products. Besides, we will make a stop for panoramic views of the mountain pass named Tizi-N-Tchka( 2260m). Secondly, we visit the UNESCO Kasbah of Ait Ben Haddou. It is the largest Kasbah in Morocco. It is one of the best places where they film, movies, such as Gladiator and Game of Throne. We then drive via the Anti-Atlas Mountain to Zagora. Finally, you start your camel trip and enjoy the sunset view on your way to the camp. After dinner, locals will entertain you with music around the fire under the stars.
Day 2: Zagora- Ouarzazate- Marrakech:
Today, you will wake up early to enjoy the best sunrise view. After breakfast, you come back by camel to resume our tour. Thus, we drive via the Draa River and palm tree governs and Berber villages. Then, we reach Ouarzazate and have free time to visit its Atlas Studios. Here, you will discover all the materials for filming movies. Finally, we drive back to Marrakech. However, we will stop at any interesting place again. Our 2 days trip from Marrakech to Zagora desert ends at your accommodation or the airport.
Tour includes:
- Pickup and drop off from accommodation.
- Camel for each in Zagora
- Berber tent accommodation.
- Vehicle with gasoline
- Dinner and Breakfast
Tour excludes:
- Monuments fees
- Lunches
- Tips
- Soft drinks
Testimonials:
Related Morocco tours:
We have customized different tours itineraries from Marrakech, desert tours, and city tours. However, if the plans below do not match what you are looking for, please fill in our contact form with your needs.
Highlights overview:
Marrakech:
Marrakech is the departure location of the 2 days tour to the Zagora desert. Usually, visitors prefer to visit this red city before starting their tour to experience the camel rides and nights at Berber camps.
This city is known as the capital of Tourism, receiving above 3 million tourists in the year 2019. Here, we give you a list of things and places to visit in Marrakech:
Jamaa El Fna:
Take the “Jemaa-el-Fna Square,” situated in the medina’s heart. This square, the symbol of the town, offers you an extraordinary concentration of cultural traditions by music, cuisine, art… It is also a meeting place for residents in Marrakech, but also for tourists… Fruit and vegetables can be bought throughout the day, oriental food tasted or the best orange juice pressed. The square is once the night falls into a showroom, filled with snake charmers, chiromancers, healers, blacksmiths… There is an atmosphere in the world that is unmatched.
The Souks:
A little tour of the souks is obviously a must while visiting Marrakech! Don’t miss such a visit, whether you’re looking for a deal or just to enjoy the eyes! Souks in Marrakesh are considered one of the prettiest in the country: pottery, gems, spice, slippers… You will find everything in Morocco The art of haggling you will quickly taste! And if you come back, whether for you or your Family, you will have plenty of beautiful souvenirs.
The Majorelle Garden:
Go out and visit the Jardin de Majorelle from the bustle of the city. A true haven of peace, with relaxed atmosphere and natural beauty, will attract your curiosity! In 1931, the artist Jacques Majorelle founded this splendid garden to visit but owes its fame to the famous Yves-Saint-Laurent fashion designer.
Walk in the shady alleys between exotic plants and trees… Feel the sweet aroma of jasmine, see the pools full of water lily and lotus
You’re going to love the mix of the luminous colors and soothing harmony. You can also visit the former painting workshop of Jacques Majorelle that has transformed itself into a museum and where you’ll find splendid Berber art collections and lovely canvasses made by the artist! A visit to Marrakech would mean one of the most unspeakable places in the city of the Thousand one nights would miss without going into the majorell garden.
Ait Benhaddou:
30 km northwest of Ouarzazate, is the town of Aït Ben Haddou. It belongs to the rural Aït Zineb municipality in the Amrezgane circle. It lies in the west part of the Ouarzazate basin and is crossed by the El Maleh Mountain range. While widespread in the landscape of the southern valleys, this architectural style is hardly any longer constructed. Few Ksours today have been inhabited and most of them have been deserted by their owners.
The Ksar Ait Ben Haddou is not immune to this decline, but it retains a proud appearance, thanks in part to the large, well-preserved, and richly decorated Kasbahs that line the surrounding wall. In terms of image, At Ben Haddou is the most well-known and widely used ksour.
This architectural form is the result of the earth builders’ technical prowess on the hill’s steep slopes. Archaeologists have not determined the exact origin of the adobe technique, but etymological studies on the various names given to this technique throughout the Mediterranean basin suggest that it was invented by the Berbers. The exceptional know-how of the Berbers is reflected in the quality of this ensemble, which fascinates earth specialists from all over the world.
This Kasbah is the first stop on our two-day tour from Marrakech to the Zagora desert. As a result, it is regarded as a highlight in addition to the camel ride and spending the night in Zagora at the camp.
Ouarzazate:
Several films have been filmed in and around Ouarzazate and its surrounding landscapes. Their natural beauty serves as a backdrop. The desert and its parched hills give way to an oasis, a ksar (fortified granary), or a small village in some places. The ideal terrain for excursions into the region’s great valleys, the Draa and Dades valleys.
The architecture of Ouarzazate is famous for the number of kasbahs (fortresses) the city has: the most famous, the kasbah of Taourirt, dating from the seventeenth century, still guards the medina. Not to mention, the city’s tranquility draws an increasing number of curious visitors and lovers of wide-open spaces.
When discussing Ouarzazate, we must mention the Atlas and CLA studios. We will visit parts of the studio during your two-day tour from Marrakech to Zagora. Many Hollywood films have been filmed there, including Gladiator, Cleopatra, Alexander, and many others.
Morocco, in general, is well-known for the Nour solar energy station in Ouarzazate. It cost $9 billion to build.
Zagora desert:
Zagora, also known as Tazagorte in Amazigh, is a province in the Draa-Tafilalet region. It was founded in 1997. According to the 2014 census, Zagora has a total area of 23,000 km2 and a population of approximately 307,306 people.
The city is well-known for its nomad camps near oases, where we will spend the night on the second day of our two-day tour from Marrakech to the Zagora desert.
The green palm groves of the Draa Valley, Morocco’s longest river, stretch for 200 kilometers from Agdez to M’Hamid El Ghizlane.
With the magnificent sand dunes of the M’hamid and Tinfou region, the desert occupies a significant portion of the territory in Zagora. Because of its natural resources, Zagora is a popular tourist destination.
The presence of rock engravings at Forum Chena and Tazarine, as well as the Forum Larjam necropolis at Ighir N’tidri at M’hamid El Ghizlane, attest to the region’s ancient history.
The Saadian chiefs who came from the East settled in the Draa valley after the Islamic era (1554 to 1636). Tagmadert became the home of this dynasty, which ruled over all of Morocco and conquered Western Sudan via the famous Timbuktu road.
Zagora is also home to one of Morocco’s most famous Sufi brotherhoods, the Zaoua Naciria in Tamgroute. Mohammed ben Nacer founded it in the 17th century. This Zaouia is well-known for its religious tenets.
It is also famous for its library, which houses rare secular manuscripts of theology, history, medicine, mathematics, astrology, astronomy, and so on. Some are as old as the thirteenth century.