Errachidia to the Erg Chebbi dunes is a short drive. Two days is enough to do it properly — the Ziz palm valley, the fossil workshops at Erfoud, Gnawa music in Khamlia, a night in a luxury camp on the sand, and the dunes at both sunset and sunrise.
We run this tour on Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays for one reason. Rissani’s market only happens three days a week, and it lands on your way home. You get the real thing: date sellers, wool, spices, livestock, and a yard behind the souk where a few hundred donkeys are parked while their owners shop.
Private vehicle, your own driver-guide, no group to wait for.
| Day | Highlights | Overnight |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Ziz Valley panorama, Erfoud fossil workshops, mint tea with a nomad family, Gnawa music in Khamlia, sunset camel trek into Erg Chebbi | Luxury camp, private tent |
| Day 2 | Sunrise over the dunes, Rissani souk on a market day, back up the Ziz | Errachidia (drop-off) |
We collect you from your hotel in Errachidia or from Moulay Ali Cherif Airport, then head south along the Ziz.
The valley is a single green line of date palms cut through bare rock — the whole regional economy in one view. We stop at the panorama above the palm grove, and your guide will explain the khettara: underground gravity tunnels that watered these oases for six centuries. There were around eighty of them here. Fewer than twenty still run.
At Erfoud you’ll walk through a fossil workshop. This ground was a shallow sea floor 380 million years ago, and the limestone is packed with ammonites, orthoceras and trilobites. Local families have quarried and polished it by hand for generations. Your guide will show you how to tell a real specimen from a painted one before anybody tries to sell you anything.
Past the last of the tarmac we stop at a nomad family’s tent for mint tea. They move with the water and the grazing, and there are fewer of them every year — the drought has made the old routes impossible. Ask about the animals: nothing here is grown as feed, so goats and camels live on dried barley straw, palm fronds and date stones.
Then Khamlia, a village of Gnawa families whose ancestors crossed the Sahara from Mali, Sudan and Niger. The music here is spiritual before it’s a performance — guembri, iron qraqeb, call and response, played in a room rather than on a stage. We stop for lunch nearby.
We reach Merzouga in the late afternoon. Camels are waiting. You ride into Erg Chebbi for sunset, and there’s time for sandboarding before dinner.
Overnight: luxury camp, private tent with private bathroom. Dinner and breakfast included.
The nomad visit usually falls on day one, before Khamlia. If the day runs long we move it to tomorrow morning instead — your guide will tell you which.
Worth getting up for the sunrise. The dunes change colour twice in twenty minutes.
After breakfast we head north. If yesterday ran long and we did not reach the nomad family, this is when we go — mint tea in the tent before the heat builds.
Then Rissani, on a market day.
Rissani sits on top of Sijilmassa, an 8th-century caravan city that handled West African gold and salt and was once a rival to Marrakech. It’s also where the Alaouite dynasty began — Morocco’s royal family traces back to Moulay Ali Cherif, whose mausoleum stands at the edge of town. We stop at the decorated gate, walk the ksour, and give you real time in the souk rather than fifteen rushed minutes.
If you want lunch here, ask your guide for madfouna — the Rissani bread baked with spiced meat, sometimes called Berber pizza. It needs about forty minutes, so we phone ahead.
We drive back up the Ziz in the afternoon and drop you at your hotel or the airport.
Rissani’s souk runs on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday only. On a two-day tour, Rissani falls on the return day — so we lock departures to Saturday, Monday and Wednesday. Every guest gets the market at full volume instead of an empty square. Tours that leave on any other day drive past a closed souk.
| You leave | You return | Rissani on the way home |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday | Sunday | Souk day |
| Monday | Tuesday | Souk day |
| Wednesday | Thursday | Souk day |
Departures run year-round on those three days. Souk hours are roughly dawn to early afternoon, which is why the itinerary is shaped the way it is. Tell us the week you want and we will confirm the date.
Flying in? See our Errachidia airport transfer page for pick-up details, and our guide to camel treks at Erg Chebbi for what the ride is actually like.
The vehicle is private and the luxury camp is included in every option. Prices are in euros, for the whole party:
| Travellers | Total | Per person |
|---|---|---|
| 1 traveller | 560 € | 560 € |
| 2 travellers | 595 € | 298 € |
| 3 travellers | 695 € | 232 € |
| 4 travellers | 850 € | 213 € |
Four travellers share one vehicle. It takes four comfortably with small or medium bags — if you are four with large suitcases, tell us when you book and we will send a bigger car.
Deposit is 10% of the tour price by PayPal to hold the date. The balance is cash at pick-up. Five or more travellers needs a second vehicle and a second tent, so message us and we will quote it directly.
Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Each one returns on a Rissani market day — Sunday, Tuesday or Thursday.
Rissani’s souk only opens three days a week. Tours that leave on other days pass through a closed market. Ours never does.
Yes. Pick-up and drop-off at Moulay Ali Cherif Airport (ERH) or any hotel in Errachidia is included.
About two hours of actual driving, roughly 130 km down the N13. With the Ziz panorama, Erfoud and Khamlia added, the run to Merzouga fills most of the first day.
Yes — a private tent with its own bathroom, dinner and breakfast included.
Yes, about an hour into the dunes at sunset. If anyone cannot ride, we will bring you in by 4×4 instead. Just tell us when you book.
No. Your guide will stop somewhere good on both days, and you pay directly.
Yes. Camel rides are shared with a guide leading, and the camp is family-friendly. Tell us ages when booking.
An overnight bag, warm layers for the night, sunglasses, a scarf and closed shoes. Big suitcases stay in the vehicle.
Yes. One vehicle takes four travellers with small to medium bags, at 850 € for the group, 213 € each. If you are four with large suitcases, tell us when you book and we will send a bigger car.
10% of the tour price by PayPal to hold your date. The balance is cash at pick-up.
Usually on day one, before Khamlia. If the first day runs long we move it to the second morning instead, on the way to Rissani.
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