Erg Chegaga Desert: Everything You Need to Know for Your Desert Tour

What You Need to Know About the Erg Chegaga Desert

An endlessly vast desert landscape, an adventurous journey across the sand, a breathtaking starry sky, and absolute silence. That’s the Erg Chegaga in the Sahara.

The Erg Chegaga Desert (as it’s also commonly called) is the largest sand dune area in Morocco by size. Yet far fewer tourists make it out here. You might find yourself completely alone.

This is mainly due to the long journey from the surrounding desert towns and the higher prices for a desert tour into the Erg Chegaga Desert. You’ll need a somewhat bigger budget for your Morocco trip.

The desert towns near the Erg Chegaga are Zagora, M’hamid, and Foum-Zguid. All three towns are easy to reach by rental car.

In our opinion, the best starting point is M’hamid. It’s the ideal base if you’re planning your Erg Chegaga desert tour independently.

From there, you’ll still need to travel about two hours by 4WD to the desert camps among the truly towering dunes. There’s no faster way. By camel, it would take significantly longer.

Two More Deserts in Morocco

Besides the Erg Chegaga Desert, there are two other deserts that are great for a desert tour in Morocco. The most popular is the Erg Chebbi Desert, which is also located in the Sahara.

This is where you’ll find the tallest sand dunes, the journey is less demanding, and prices are more affordable. If you’ve never done a desert tour before, we’d recommend the Erg Chebbi Desert. It’s probably the most popular day trip destination from Marrakech.

Then there’s the Agafay Desert. It’s not part of the Sahara and is more of a rocky, gravelly desert. On the plus side, it’s only 40 minutes by car from Marrakech — perfect if you’re on a city trip to Marrakech and have limited time.

We’d recommend the Erg Chegaga Desert if you’ve already been to the Erg Chebbi Desert or you really want to experience the desert without crowds. You’ll also get a bit more of an adventure here. That said, a desert tour here is significantly more expensive.

The Erg Chegaga Desert on a Map

The Erg Chegaga Desert is located in southern Morocco, near the border with Algeria. It’s about 450 kilometers from Marrakech.

Depending on which desert town you head to, the drive takes between six and eight hours. Then you’ll need to add at least another two hours for the journey into the desert itself.

For an overview of exactly where the Erg Chegaga Desert and the three desert towns are located, we’ve marked everything on a map for you.

What Does a Desert Tour Mean?

A desert tour is essentially a big excursion into the desert — with an overnight stay. It’s one of our 14 coolest activities in Morocco.

It doesn’t really matter whether you plan your desert tour independently or go with a guided tour and a guide.

Because for almost every traveler, the journey, the time at the desert camp, and the activities on-site are very similar.

You’ll first need to get to a desert town, and from there you’ll usually head to the desert camp by 4WD. There you’ll have meals and can do some really cool activities.

Here are a few activities to look forward to:

• Camel riding
• Watching the sunset and sunrise
• Stargazing
• Listening to Moroccan music around the campfire
• Sandboarding
• Guided excursion in the desert to Berber families and more

Erg Chegaga: On Your Own or With a Guide?

You can plan your desert tour to the Erg Chegaga Desert independently, or you can do it with a guide and a guided tour, usually departing from Marrakech.

Our recommendation: plan your Erg Chegaga desert tour on your own. To make the trip to the Erg Chegaga Desert truly worthwhile, you should stay for at least two nights. And very few guided tours offer that — and when they do, they’re very expensive.

The best way to do it is to work the Erg Chegaga desert tour into your road trip through Morocco.

A guided tour from Marrakech only makes sense if you don’t want to drive yourself in a rental car in Morocco and/or you really only have one night to spare for the Sahara Desert. But it could get pretty hectic.

You should also know that with a classic guided tour, you won’t venture deep into the Erg Chegaga Desert. Instead, you’ll stay closer to the edge of the desert, in what’s known as the Zagora Desert. We’ll tell you more about that now.

What a Guided Erg Chegaga Desert Tour Looks Like

Let us walk you through what a guided desert tour with one overnight stay in the Erg Chegaga Desert looks like. It’s best to book the tour online in advance — most tours depart from Marrakech.

You’ll be picked up early in the morning at your accommodation in Marrakech or nearby. Before heading into the desert, you’ll make a stop at one of the coolest sights in Morocco.

You’ll stop at Aït-Ben-Haddou. The town is famous for its ancient ksar, a fortified city and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The ksar has served as a film set for shows like Game of Thrones, Gladiator, and Lawrence of Arabia — incredibly cool!

After that, you’ll continue on, finally heading toward the desert. On a classic guided 2-day group tour, however, as already mentioned, you won’t venture deep into the Erg Chegaga Desert — you’ll stay closer to the edge, in what’s known as the Zagora Desert.

The Zagora Desert doesn’t have massive sand dunes. Think of it more like a moonscape — lots of gravel and rocky desert. With a few small sandy hills, palm trees, and other shrubs scattered in between.

From the desert town of Zagora, you’ll ride a camel to your Zagora desert camp. Along the way or afterward, you can enjoy the sunset over the Zagora Desert, which is beautiful here too.

Once you arrive at the Zagora desert camp, there’ll be a delicious dinner — usually tajine, which is our favorite food in Morocco. Afterward, you can gaze up at the starry sky and join the locals around the campfire for some music.

The next morning, you should get up early, because the desert sunrise is an absolute highlight. After breakfast, it’s time to head back to Marrakech.

Be very aware that over these two days you’ll spend a lot of time in the car, you won’t have all that much time in the desert, and you’ll only be in the Zagora Desert — not in the real Erg Chegaga Desert.

The upside of the guided Zagora Desert tour: once you’ve booked, you don’t have to worry about a thing and can simply enjoy the two days.

2-day guided desert tour to the Zagora Desert

That’s the classic tour to the Zagora Desert, which you’ll find everywhere. But there are exceptions, which is why there are also guided tours from Marrakech into the Erg Chegaga Desert — the real one, with the towering sand dunes.

These are private tours, though. Personally, they’d be too expensive for us. The tour does cover two nights, but only one of those nights is spent at a desert camp in the Erg Chegaga Desert.

Of course, you don’t have to worry about anything and don’t need to drive yourself through Morocco in a rental car. Feel free to take a look at the tour and decide for yourself.

Private 3-day desert tour to the Erg Chegaga Desert

Tours from Fès to the Erg Chegaga Desert are rarely available — the distance is simply too great. A desert tour to the Erg Chebbi Desert would make more sense from there.

What an Independent Erg Chegaga Desert Tour Looks Like

Our top recommendation is to plan your desert tour to the Erg Chegaga Desert independently. Organizing it really isn’t as complicated as it sounds!

And it has several advantages: you get to choose your own desert camp, you experience the real Erg Chegaga Desert, and you can stay at least two nights in the desert — which we strongly recommend.

The most important things to take care of in advance:

• Book a desert camp in the Erg Chegaga Desert.
• Through the camp you’ve booked, arrange a 4WD transfer from M’hamid to the camp.
• Have a rental car.
• Plan for at least one night in the desert — two is even better!
• If needed, plan for a night in M’hamid before and/or after the tour.

Before heading into the Erg Chegaga Desert, you’ll need to book a desert camp. Our favorite is the Chegaga Berber Camps — a simple but truly wonderful Erg Chegaga camp.

After booking, make sure to contact the camp owners — it’s easy to do through Booking. You’ll need to arrange the 4WD transfer from M’hamid to the camp. Important: you cannot drive your rental car to the camp!

Almost all desert camps in the Erg Chegaga Desert offer a transfer. However, the transfer costs extra and isn’t exactly cheap. Most of the time, you’ll pay around 100 euros per person for the round trip.

As a starting point for the Erg Chegaga Desert, we recommend — as mentioned — the desert town of M’hamid. From there, it’s still about two hours by 4WD to the tall dunes.

You’ll drive your rental car all the way to M’hamid. Driving in Morocco is definitely doable and the roads are in pretty good shape. In M’hamid, you can usually leave your car in a parking lot at the base camp.

Then the real adventure into the Erg Chegaga Desert truly begins. The drive through the desert is incredibly bumpy, exciting, and simply a one-of-a-kind experience.

Ninety percent of the time, you’re driving through a true moonscape. The landscape with its endless fields of rubble is bizarre and breathtaking at the same time. Almost like a mirage, nomads pass in the distance with their camel herds.

Only toward the end do you catch sight of the towering sand dunes — absolutely stunning! The journey is only possible with a 4×4 Jeep and local knowledge, though.

When you arrive at the desert camp in the Erg Chegaga Desert, you’ll usually be welcomed with a delicious Moroccan mint tea. The silence here is truly unlike anything else!

After that, you absolutely have to watch the sunset — it’s pure magic. You can simply climb one of the dunes, or ask at the camp about a camel tour.

For dinner, as is pretty much always the case in Morocco, there’ll be a delicious tajine. At almost every camp, the locals gather around a campfire to play music afterward — also really cool.

Another absolute highlight in the Erg Chegaga Desert is the starry sky. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the sky is clear so you can photograph the stars.

If you’re spending two nights in the Erg Chegaga Desert, the next day will be wonderfully relaxed. Even so, you should definitely get up for sunrise — it’s so beautiful!

After that, you’ll start the day with a really delicious, traditional breakfast. Then you can relax until lunch and soak up the tranquility. Or try sandboarding on your own — it’s a blast!

For the afternoon or evening, we recommend booking a tour through your camp. You can go camel riding, head out to the highest dunes for sunset, or visit nearby Berber families with a guide.

The next morning, after breakfast, it’s time to head back to M’hamid. The best approach is to work your Erg Chegaga desert tour into your road trip itinerary. From here, you’re just a short drive from the Atlas Mountains or Aït-Ben-Haddou.

A circular route from the Erg Chegaga Desert to Agadir, along the most beautiful beaches in Morocco, on to Essaouira or Taghazout, and back to the best sights in Marrakech is also absolutely doable.

The Best Erg Chegaga Desert Camps

There aren’t many desert camps in the Erg Chegaga Desert, so you don’t have a huge selection. Still, you can choose between simple standard camps and more luxurious camps.

The difference isn’t enormous, though. The Nubia Luxury Camp Erg Chegaga, for example, has a nice design, but don’t expect the kind of true luxury you’d find at a really upscale riad in Marrakech.

Since the Erg Chegaga camps are truly out in the middle of the desert, you should be prepared at all camps for everything to be pretty basic: the beds, the design, the amenities, the food.

Some camps have a private bathroom, while others offer only a shared bathroom. Breakfast is often included, and you’ll usually pay separately for dinner on-site. There are, of course, no restaurants in the Erg Chegaga Desert.

Our absolute favorite is the Chegaga Berber Camps — an affordable but truly lovely standard camp. Brothers Mohamed and Ali make sure you want for nothing in the desert.

Our tip: After booking, don’t forget to message the owners to arrange your transfer.

Note: Make absolutely sure you book an Erg Chegaga camp that’s genuinely located in the middle of the desert. On Booking you’ll find additional desert camps, but many of them are right next to M’hamid. You won’t be in the middle of the dunes there.
Our other desert camp recommendations:

Is a Desert Tour Dangerous?

First of all, we’d say that a desert tour to the Erg Chegaga Desert is not dangerous and you shouldn’t worry too much about your safety in Morocco. That said, to keep it that way, you need to prepare well and follow a few rules.

Weather and temperatures in the desert as a risk

One of the biggest dangers in the desert could be the weather. Temperatures can be extremely unpredictable. During the day it can get really hot, especially in summer. At night, on the other hand, it can get quite cold — especially in winter.

What that means for you: pack sunscreen, sunglasses, a hat, a neck scarf, and light, loose long clothing for the daytime — especially if you’re riding a camel in direct sunlight. For the night, you’ll want a sweater, socks, long pajamas, and, depending on the camp, a beanie is a good idea too.

Especially between March and May and September and November — the best time to visit Morocco — you should have no trouble dealing with the weather.

A second risk is desert sand and sandstorms in the Erg Chegaga Desert. Even with a light breeze, sand constantly swirls toward your face and can end up in your mouth or eyes. That’s why you need to keep both well protected at all times.

Full sandstorms are more dangerous. These can become so severe that you can sink completely into loose, piled-up desert sand.

But don’t panic just yet — this is truly a rare to nonexistent occurrence. And if weather conditions are genuinely too bad, no 4WD driver will take you to an Erg Chegaga camp.

Camels and wild animals in the desert as a risk

The camels in the Erg Chegaga Desert interact with people every day. So riding them through the desert should be pretty safe. Always listen to your guide, though, and don’t pet the camels without asking first.

There can also be wild animals in the desert, such as scorpions, lizards, snakes, insects, spiders, or even wild camels. The small creatures tend not to be in the sand itself, but rather among the shrubs. It’s best to steer clear of any animals you encounter, and if in doubt, talk to a guide or a staff member at the Erg Chegaga camp.

We didn’t spot any of these dangerous animals in the Erg Chegaga Desert. But on trips to places like Malaysia we’ve seen wild scorpions, and in Colombia snakes, and we know that they don’t typically attack humans unprovoked.

Illness and injury as risks in the Erg Chegaga Desert

If you do get bitten by an animal, make sure to notify a guide or staff member at your Erg Chegaga desert camp right away. Chances are every one of them grew up in the desert and knows exactly what to do.

Diarrheal illness and cholera are additional risks, though honestly these can be picked up anywhere. Here too, a few simple rules can significantly reduce your chances of getting sick.

• Don’t drink tap water — only water from sealed plastic bottles bought at a store.
• It’s best to also use drinking water for brushing your teeth.
• Wash your hands before eating.
• Only eat salads or raw foods if you feel confident about the hygiene. When in doubt, skip it.
• Before your trip, you can also get an oral vaccine against diarrheal illness and cholera. It’s best to discuss this with your doctor first.

Venturing out alone in the desert

If you want to feel safe in the desert, you should not explore the really tall sand dunes on your own.

If you head out onto the dunes for stargazing or to catch the sunrise, we recommend always staying close to your camp and not wandering too far alone.

Packing List for Your Erg Chegaga Desert Tour

The weather and temperatures in the Sahara are often quite different from the rest of Morocco. That’s why we’ve put together a short packing list for your desert tour to the Erg Chegaga Desert.

These are all things you’ll need in addition to the standard items for your Morocco trip.

• An extra daypack to carry your clothes for one or two nights in the desert. You often can’t bring your big suitcase into the Erg Chegaga camp — you’ll leave it at the base camp.
• A head covering: cap, hat, or scarf
• Sunglasses
• A neck scarf to protect against wind and sand on the Morocco Sahara tour
• A thick sweater or fleece jacket
• Long, comfortable pants for camel riding
• Comfortable, sturdy sandals — sand will get into sneakers and stay there forever
• Long pajamas, in case it gets cold at night in the Morocco desert camp
• Thick socks
• Beanie and gloves in winter
• A rain jacket, just in case
• Sunscreen
• A small towel and/or wet wipes
• Toilet paper and/or tissues if you’re staying at a standard camp
• A power bank
• A camera and/or phone — make sure it’s well protected from sand!
• A flashlight / headlamp
• Motion sickness tablets, in case the camel ride or the car journey gets too bumpy
• Enough water or a refillable bottle — we’re big fans of 24bottles stainless steel bottles (depending on whether it’s included in the tour)
• A plastic bag for your trash

Frequently Asked Questions About the Erg Chegaga Desert Tour in Morocco