Escape Agadir for a private 3-day journey to the remote Erg Chigaga dunes. Travel through the Anti-Atlas Mountains, Taliouine, the Draa Valley and Lake Iriqui before reaching a peaceful desert camp surrounded by vast, untouched sand dunes. Enjoy a flexible itinerary with a private driver-guide, comfortable 4×4 transport and an authentic overnight stay in the Sahara.
Morocco’s most remote dunes, reached straight from Agadir
Erg Chigaga stayed hard to reach, and that is the whole point of it. The tarmac gives up at M’Hamid, and the last stretch to the dunes is driven on sand and stone with no signposts, which is why you will not find a car park or a souvenir stall waiting at the other end. What you find instead is a 300 square kilometre sea of sand and a horizon with nothing built on it.
Most Erg Chigaga trips start in Marrakech. Leaving from Agadir changes the drive completely. You climb into the Anti Atlas through Taliouine, where the world’s saffron is picked by hand every October, then drop into the Draa Valley and follow the palms south until the green runs out. Coming back, the route crosses the Iriqui lakebed and the old Paris to Dakar rally track, so no two hours of this tour look the same.
Three days is the honest minimum for this loop and it works well as a break from a beach holiday in Agadir or Taghazout. Your driver guide, vehicle and desert tent are yours alone, so the timing bends around you rather than a schedule.
Duration3 days / 2 nights
VehicleAir conditioned Toyota Land Cruiser
Start and finishAgadir hotel or Al Massira Airport
Night 1Hotel La Fibule, Zagora
Night 2Erg Chigaga desert camp
Camel treksSunset and sunrise
Signature stopTaliouine, saffron capital
Best suited toAgadir beach holidaymakers
Price from€285 per person
The Draa Valley, the green corridor you follow south on day one
Your itinerary
Agadir to Erg Chigaga day by day
Timings below are how the days usually run. Your driver guide adjusts them on the road for light, traffic and how much you want to linger.
Day1
Agadir → Taliouine → Agdez → Draa Valley → Zagora
About 6 hours of driving · Dinner and breakfast at Hotel La Fibule
08:00Agadir pickup
Your driver guide meets you at your hotel or the airport, loads the Land Cruiser and heads inland while the coast is still cool.
10:30Taliouine, saffron country
A stop at a growers’ cooperative in the terraces above the village. You see how the crocus flowers are stripped by hand, why a kilo costs what it costs, and you can buy saffron at the source rather than in a city bazaar.
Taliouine, where the saffron is picked by hand
13:00Agdez, lunch under the kasbah
Lunch in the old caravan town at the head of the valley, with the Kasbah of Tamnougalt and the first serious palm groves in view.
Agdez, the old caravan town below the kasbah
15:00Draa Valley
Two hours following the river south through date palms, mud brick villages and abandoned ksour. This is the corridor caravans used to reach Timbuktu, and it still feels like the edge of something.
17:30Zagora, Hotel La Fibule
Check in to an ensuite room with air conditioning, a garden and a pool. Time for a swim before dinner at the hotel.
About 4 hours of driving, half of it off road · Dinner and breakfast at camp
09:00Breakfast, then south
A relaxed start. Today is the shortest drive of the three and the one people talk about afterwards.
09:45Tamagroute library and pottery
One of the oldest Quranic libraries in the country, holding manuscripts that go back to the 13th century, some written on gazelle skin. Next door, the kilns still turn out the green glazed pottery the village is known for.
Tamagroute, manuscripts and green glazed kilns
12:30M’Hamid, where the road ends
Lunch in the last village before the Sahara proper. Tyres get let down, water goes in the back, and the tarmac stops for good.
14:30Off road to Erg Chigaga
Around two hours across four different deserts: soft erg, stony reg, flat hammada and a couple of isolated oases where nomad families still water their goats. The dunes appear as a pale wall long before you reach them.
Two hours of open track past M’Hamid
17:30Sunset camel trek
You swap the vehicle for a camel and ride into the high dunes for the last hour of light, when the sand turns from beige to deep orange.
The sunset trek into the high dunes
19:30Erg Chigaga camp
Your own tent, tagine dinner, drums around the fire with the nomad crew who run the camp, and a sky with no town within 60 kilometres to spoil it.
Up before the light for a short ride onto the crest behind camp. Cold, quiet, and the best photographs of the trip.
08:00Breakfast and departure
Mint tea and bread at camp, then west across the dunes on the piste towards Foum Zguid.
09:30Iriqui dry lake
A cracked white lakebed that fills once in a decade, crossed on the old Paris to Dakar rally track. Flat, silent, and unlike anywhere else on the route.
11:30Foum Zguid
The first village after 90 kilometres of desert. Coffee, fuel, and the return of tarmac under the wheels.
Foum Zguid, where the tarmac starts again
13:30Taznakht, carpet town
Lunch in the Anti Atlas weaving capital. The Ouaouzguite rugs sold here are woven in the surrounding villages, and you can watch a loom in use if you have the time.
Taznakht, the Anti Atlas weaving capital
18:30Agadir
Down through the Souss Valley and its argan trees, with a drop off at your hotel or Al Massira Airport in the early evening.
One thing about day 3
It is a long day in the vehicle, seven to eight hours from the dunes to Agadir, and there is no shorter way back. The scenery earns it, from the lakebed through the Anti Atlas to the argan country above Agadir, and we break it up with a proper lunch and photo stops. If you would rather not do it in one go, ask us about adding a fourth day with a night in Taroudant, the walled town an hour east of the coast.
Gallery
Erg Chigaga in pictures
Tap any photo to open it full size. All images on this page enlarge the same way.
Tour price
Private tour rates per person
The vehicle, guide and camp are private whatever the group size, so the cost per person drops as you add travellers.
1 traveller€895per person
2 travellers€525per person
3 travellers€395per person
4 travellers€315per person
5 travellers€285best value
Travelling as six or more, or with children sharing? Send us the numbers and dates and we will quote it exactly.
What’s covered
Included and not included
Included in your tour
Private air conditioned Toyota Land Cruiser with an English speaking driver guide for all three days
Pickup and drop off at your Agadir hotel or Al Massira Airport
Night 1 at Hotel La Fibule, Zagora: ensuite room, air conditioning, half board
Night 2 at the Erg Chigaga camp: private tent, shared bathrooms, dinner and breakfast
Sunset camel trek on day 2 and sunrise camel ride on day 3
Fuel, tolls and all off road driving to the dunes
Optional: luxury ensuite camp with private bathroom and hot shower, plus €125 per person. Mention it when you book and we will confirm for your dates.
Not included
Lunches and drinks
Entrance fees at monuments and sites, paid on the spot
Local guides where one is required, paid on the spot
Tips for your driver guide and the camp team
Travel insurance, which we strongly recommend
Before you reserve
FAQ
Straight answers to what travellers ask us most about this route.
How is Erg Chigaga different from Merzouga?
Merzouga has a paved road to the dune line and dozens of camps within walking distance of each other. Erg Chigaga has neither. It is bigger, roughly 40 kilometres of dunes, reachable only by 4×4, and the nearest village is an hour of open desert away. That isolation is the reason to choose it, and the reason the drive is longer.
Are three days enough from Agadir?
Yes, and it is the shortest sensible version of this trip. You get one full night in the dunes, both camel rides, and the Draa Valley in daylight. A fourth day would let you sleep in Taroudant or Taznakht on the way back and take the pressure off day 3, but it adds no new headline sight.
How much of the tour is spent driving?
Roughly six hours on day 1, four on day 2 with the last two off road, and seven to eight on day 3. Day 1 and day 2 are broken up by the saffron cooperative, lunch stops, the valley and Tamagroute. Day 3 is the long one and we are upfront about that.
What is the desert camp actually like?
The standard camp gives you a private tent with real beds and blankets, with clean shared bathrooms a few steps away. Meals are cooked on site and served in a communal tent. There is no electricity beyond solar lighting, so bring a power bank. The luxury option adds a private bathroom with a hot shower inside your tent.
Are both camel rides included?
Both are included, the sunset trek into the dunes on day 2 and the shorter sunrise ride on day 3. If anyone would rather not ride, your guide will drive you to the same viewpoints instead.
Can we be picked up outside Agadir?
Taghazout, Tamraght, Aourir, Inezgane and Al Massira Airport are all fine at no extra cost. Taroudant or Tiznit can usually be arranged too. Tell us where you are staying when you reserve.
Is the off road section suitable for children or anyone prone to car sickness?
The two hours to Erg Chigaga are bumpy rather than extreme, and children generally love it. Sit in the front if you are sensitive to motion, tell your guide early, and he will slow the pace and stop more often. Booking a private tour means that flexibility costs nothing.
What should we pack?
Layers you can peel off during the day and a warm jacket for the evening, because the desert cools fast in every season. Closed shoes for the sand, a scarf or hat against sun and wind, sunscreen, a power bank, and a swimsuit for the pool in Zagora. Leave big suitcases at your Agadir hotel and travel with a soft bag.
Which meals are included?
Dinner and breakfast on both nights, at Hotel La Fibule and at the camp. Lunches stay open on purpose so you can stop where the day takes you, guided by your driver’s recommendations.
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