Destination

Sahara Desert

Tours reaching the Sahara — camel treks over the Erg Chebbi dunes and nights in a luxury desert camp.

36 tours in Sahara Desert

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Planning a trip to Sahara Desert

Almost every tour on this site is built around reaching the Sahara, and in practice that means one of two dune fields. Erg Chebbi at Merzouga is the larger and more dramatic — a 28-kilometre sand sea with dunes up to about 150 metres, reachable on a sealed road. Erg Chigaga, beyond M'Hamid in the far south, is wilder and takes a couple of hours of off-road driving to reach, which is both its appeal and its cost in time.

The shape of a desert trip is the same either way: drive in during the day, ride out to camp by camel as the light goes, eat, sleep under canvas, and come back at sunrise. What changes between itineraries is how much of the country you see on the way there and back.

The honest constraint is distance. The dunes are a long way from every airport, so a three-day tour is mostly driving with one desert night in the middle. Give it six or seven days and the same route stops feeling like a dash — you get the gorges, the kasbah road and the Atlas as places in their own right rather than scenery through a windscreen.

Questions about Sahara Desert

Which is better, Erg Chebbi or Erg Chigaga?

Erg Chebbi for most people: the dunes are higher, the access is easier, and the camps range from simple to genuinely luxurious. Choose Erg Chigaga if remoteness matters more to you than convenience and you have the extra days the drive demands.

What is the desert actually like at night?

Quiet in a way that surprises people, and much colder than the day. In winter it can approach freezing. The sky is exceptional when there is no moon — if stars are the point of the trip, ask us to check the lunar calendar against your dates.

Is a desert tour suitable for young children?

Yes, with the caveat that the driving days are long. Families often do better on a longer itinerary with shorter daily legs rather than the compressed three-day version. Children can share a camel with a parent or ride in the 4x4 to camp.

Camel caravan crossing the Erg Chebbi dunes at sunset near Merzouga

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