15 Things I Wish I Knew Before My Sahara Desert Tour

Taking a Sahara Desert tour and riding camels into the orange-hued sand dunes, illuminated by the setting sun was a big bucket list item of mine. 

Perhaps it’s because I watched Aladdin far too many times as a kid (sorry Mom).

Or maybe because after riding horses and going dog-sledding in several places around the world, riding a camel in a Moroccan desert seemed like the logical next step?

Or perhaps it was the solitude of the desert and the immensity of the dunes that compelled me.

Either way, I was sold: I’d absolutely be taking a Sahara desert tour from Marrakech on my trip to Morocco.

Whatever the reason, when I was in Morocco I spent nearly two days of my trip traveling by minivan from Marrakech to the Sahara Desert (and then back to Fes afterwards).

Was it worth it to go through all that effort to ride camels in the Sahara Desert? Yes, but… it’s complicated.

Like with much of my Moroccan experience, there were some serious highs and lows. This is par for the course for my time there.

Even though I read several blog posts about Sahara desert tours before I went, I wish I was more prepared for what an overnight Sahara tour would actually entail — which is exactly why I’ve written this post for you.

As a rule of thumb, I found that managing my expectations and not romanticizing things in an unrealistic way was key to enjoying my time in Morocco. I suspect it will be the same for you.

So, is a Sahara tour worth it? I personally think so, but I’ll let you decide after reading this post.

If you’re wondering if a Sahara Desert tour is worth the money, I can’t answer that for you directly, but I can share all the good, the bad, and the truly WTF experiences I had along the way so you can make the right call.

Without further ado, here are the top 15 things I wish somebody told me before my Morocco desert tour… and what I’d do differently next time!

Morocco Desert Tour FAQs

How do you get to the Sahara Desert in Morocco?

The best way to get to the Sahara Desert is typically by guided tour from one of Morocco’s main tourist hubs, usually Marrakech. 

You can also take a bus or drive a rental car to Merzouga and then book your desert activities separately, like staying in a luxury desert camp and organizing your activities via them. 

Alternately, if you really want to avoid the drive, you can fly to Errachadia Airport.

However, it’s still 2 hours away by car from Merzouga, and you won’t be saving that much time.

How do I get to the desert from Marrakech?

Visiting the Sahara Desert from Marrakech is the most common way to access it. But it’s not close!

It’s typically about 12 hours to the desert (one way), spread across two days of transit on the way there, going via the breathtaking Atlas Mountains.

On the way back, you don’t make any stops except to eat and use the bathroom, so it just takes one full day on the way back to Marrakech.

Alternately, some tours will bring you onwards to Fes if you are traveling north after Morocco, like if you’re following my 10-day Morocco itinerary which includes Fes, Chefchaouen, and Tangier.

In my opinion, a guided tour is the best and easiest option. However, it only allows for limited time in the desert itself: most of the time is getting to the Sahara.

Other more adventurous options include booking a bus to Merzouga, renting a car and driving to the Sahara, and flying to Errachadia and then booking a taxi to get you to Merzouga.

What are the best desert tours in Morocco?

I’ve done a ton of research on what the best tour companies are after my subpar experience (which you can read about more below). 

But here are my quick picks based on where you want to start and end, and if you want a group tour vs. a private desert tour.

• Marrakech Group Tour: If you’re coming from Marrakech and want to return there, I suggest this tour.
• Marrakech Private Tour: If you’re coming from Marrakech and want a fully private tour with just your group, I suggest this tour.
• Marrakech to Fes Group Tour*: If you’re coming from Marrakech and want to end in Fes, I suggest this tour. *This is what I did
• Fes or Fes to Marrakech Group Tour: If you’re coming from Fes, and want to return to Fes or head onwards to Marrakech, I suggest this tour.

If you are coming from Essaouira, Rabat, or Casablanca, it’s a lot further to the desert.

To streamline things, I suggest making a waypoint at Marrakech first.

What sand dunes will I see in the Merzouga Desert?

Since most desert tours from Marrakech go as fast as possible, you will likely see the Erg Chebbi dunes, which are the closest to Merzouga.

Note that on a 3-day tour to the Sahara, you will not see Erg Chigaga, the largest dune in the Sahara.

This would require different planning than your standard Sahara desert tour and it’s simply not offered by most mainstream desert tours as it’s not located near Merzouga at all.

If you really want to see Erg Chigaga, you’ll have to plan for that specifically as it’s further south.

This tour includes visiting the area around Erg Chigaga and staying the night in a luxury desert camp near the dune.

However, you’d have to get yourself to M’Hamid first for this tour, which is rather far from Merzouga and not the easiest to travel to, as this tour does not include transport to M’Hamid.

What are the best things to do in the Sahara Desert?

There are all sorts of activities you can do in the Moroccan desert — from camel trekking to desert glamping to sandboarding to ATV riding and more. 

While it sounds like a lot of time, a 3-day tour actually gives you fairly limited time in the Sahara Desert.

Once you get to the desert, you will do a sunset camel trek, have a desert camp meal, stargaze, sleep in a tent and be able to watch the sunrise before leaving again — that’s about it.

If you want more time in the Sahara Desert, I suggest taking the bus to Merzouga and planning an independent trip there rather than taking one of the Marrakech tours.

You can stay at one of the desert luxury camps for however long you like and organize desert exploration activities directly with them.

How do I visit the Sahara Desert independently?

If you don’t want to do a tour, you can visit the Sahara Desert (fairly) independently by getting yourself to Merzouga, either by bus or rental car, and then renting accommodations in the desert.

There are all levels of budget and luxury for desert camps available.

Since picking out unique accommodations around the globe is one of my main passions I’ve cultivated over my near-decade of travel blogging, I’m here to help!

I’ve written a guide curating the 9 best desert camps in the Sahara Desert here to help you narrow down the immense options.

There are some great luxury glamping options such as the Sahara Desert Luxury Camp and the Desert Bivouac Merzouga which offer improved amenities such as private bathrooms and beautifully designed rooms.

There are also more bare-bones accommodation options like Desert Berber Fire Camp and Dune Merzouga Camp.

Expert Tip: When pricing out your trip and making decisions, don’t just look at the base price, but also look for what’s included in each property and make an assessment based on that.

You may have to pay for transit, meals, etc. which could eat into your “savings” compared to a higher-priced but more all-inclusive experience.

Value in Morocco can be hard to suss out until you really get into what’s included and excluded on each option, so check the tour or camp’s inclusions before deciding.

15 Things to Know Before Your Morocco Sahara Desert Tour

You cannot do a Sahara desert trip on a day trip from Marrakech.

Merzouga, the gateway to the Sahara, is 350 miles or around 560 kilometers of winding mountain passes and dizzying curves away from Marrakech. 

As a result, you shouldn’t expect to be able to reach the Sahara in a day from Marrakech!

At a bare minimum, you need 3 days to visit the Sahara Desert from Marrakech, all of which will entail serious amounts of driving. 

It’s about 12 hours of driving in a van each way between Marrakech and Merzouga (not including stops), so expect to spend a good portion of your 3 day Sahara desert tour on the road.

If you only have time to do a day trip from Marrakech, you will simply not be able to see true sand dunes like you can see in Merzouga and Erg Chebbi, full stop. Adjust your expectations so you won’t be disappointed! 

If you only have one day for a desert trip from Marrakech, you can do a camel ride through the rocky Agafay desert and palm grove outside of the city.

It’s not as impressive as the dunes in the Sahara, that’s for sure, but you will get that quintessential desert vibe.

Prices are quite reasonable – you can check prices for one-day tours here.

With two days, you’re a little better off – you can get to the Zagora Desert and do a sunset camel ride, sleep in a desert overnight, and have a sunrise camel ride the next day. 

Tours to Zagora are a little pricier than just a day trip, obviously, since it includes accommodations and more meals, but it’s still a good value – learn more about two-day tours here.

As a bonus in their favor compared to day trips, trips to Zagora also include a visit to Ait Benhaddou, a UNESCO site that is also a Game of Thrones filming spot.

While Zagora isn’t quite as impressive as Merzouga (and I’d say that is true by a good margin), it’s still a worthwhile option to compare.

Not sure what to pick? I wrote quite a bit more on how to decide between the two in this post on choosing between Merzouga vs. Zagora for your Morocco desert trip.

If you can spare the time and the money, then I highly recommend picking the Sahara Desert as your final destination (the three day tour option).

 In my opinion, the rock desert and palm oasis outside of Marrakech is nowhere close to how spectacular the Sahara Desert is.

As a result, the palm desert should only be booked if you have extremely limited time or funds, but you still have a camel ride and desert experience on your Morocco bucket list. 

The Zagora Desert is closer to what you would want from a Sahara Desert tour, but it’s still a ton of driving plus an overnight.

At that point, unless time is an absolute deal-breaker, I’d urge you to just go for the full three day Sahara tour instead. 

It’s not much more money (about $30 more than the Zagora tour), and absolutely nothing in my life compares to the beauty of seeing the sun rise and set in the Sahara Desert for myself with my own eyes.

Book your 3 day Sahara desert tour here!

The Sahara Desert is even more magical than you expect.

In my now 70+ countries of travel, I’ve still never seen anything quite as beautiful as the Sahara Desert.

That’s true even to this day, and even despite some rather negative experiences I had there (more on that in just a bit).

There is something otherworldly about the contrast between the orange sand and the blue sky, and the way the sand ripples in perfect formations that look as if they could only drawn by an artist’s hand.

As sunset fell, I almost wanted to pinch myself to confirm that it was real. But if it was a dream, I didn’t want to risk waking up.

The softness of the orange sand, the seeming infiniteness of the rolling dunes, the way that footsteps looked as they left magical trails in the sand, the inky blackness of the sky punctured by a million tiny stars at night… there’s simply no comparison to the Sahara.

Getting to the Sahara Desert from Marrakech is a royal pain, and yet somehow it is completely and utterly worth it.

Book your Sahara tour in advance so you can read reviews.

The worst piece of advice that I read (and unfortunately followed) about taking a tour to the Sahara desert is that you shouldn’t book it in advance.

Their bad advice was that you should try to get a better deal by waiting for a tout in the souks to offer you a better price than what you can book online.

Here’s the thing I’ve discovered about trying to cut cost and corners in a place like Morocco: you can likely get a cheaper price, but you will not get a better deal.

What do I mean by that? You will make up for that price difference somewhere, either with poor quality service, bad guides, or through scams and upsells along the trip. 

I went on one of the cheapest tours I could find, and I don’t recall the company name as I booked it from a random tout in the souk (as I was told to do by bloggers who I won’t name).

One of the worst parts of my tour experience getting told that the A/C in the van is “broken” on a 115 degree Fahrenheit day so they could save money on gas. 

They put on the fan and insisted the A/C wouldn’t work, and they only put it on after I insisted many, many times… upon which, the A/C magically worked perfectly.

If I hadn’t insisted and begged for them to do so, I would have roasted in the car for hours all based on believing a lie.

I was constantly up-charged on everything, from lunch to the made-in-China scarves that they insisted was mandatory for the desert.

At this point, two days into being scammed and disrespected, I was so stubborn that I spitefully tied a shirt around my head at this point — just to prove a point.

Oh, and I also got scammed by a rug vendor in a Berber village we visited… but more on that later.

Instead, I highly recommend booking your Sahara desert tour in advance with a company with a good reputation and a strong online presence. 

Quite frankly, it’s not because of any merits of the company itself or the uniqueness of the tour.

All tours follow a similar route (typically included are the High Atlas Mountains, Aït Benhaddou Kasbah, the Dades Valley & Dades Gorge, Todra Gorge, Ouarzazate, etc.)

It’s just because a company that has put in work to establish a solid online presence has a ton more to lose.

Compare the level of service they have to provide with the hundred or so indistinguishable tour companies who make their profit off of selling to tourists on the street, for whom reputation and word of mouth means little. 

A desert tour with good reviews and a large digital footprint will be more scrupulous and careful as to protect their reputation and their livelihood, and that’s a good thing for the consumer.

After carefully researching dozens Sahara Desert tour offerings and comparing them to my own experience, this tour is the one I’d recommend for travelers on a budget who want a good group tour experience.

With an average of 4.5 stars out of nearly 4,500 verified reviews, including several positive reviews from solo women, this company is tried and tested in a way that I’m comfortable with recommending despite not having tried this exact tour for myself. 

You can check tour specifics, itinerary details, and prices here on Get Your Guide, which protects your purchase and provides free cancellation if your plans change. 

In the sake of fairness, it’s important to note there are some bad reviews, mostly from people who said that there’s too much driving — unfortunately, this is true no matter what company you go with. 

Be aware no matter what you choose that the Sahara desert is huge, as it’s the largest desert in Africa (and the largest hot desert, period, after the Antarctic and Arctic deserts). 

Morocco’s section of the Sahara Desert is basically on the border of Algeria, and you have to cross through the High Atlas Mountains, so there is simply no avoiding the drive. 

Any shorter tour will not take you to the Sahara, but instead to far less impressive rocky deserts closer to Marrakech.

If you want to go onward to Fes after your trip instead of returning to Marrakech (a common choice to avoid backtracking, and one that I made), they also run a tour from Marrakech to the Sahara ending in Fes, which you can find here.

Be cautious and do your research if you are a solo female traveler.

I’m telling you this because I, in my eternally stupid penny-pinching ways, did exactly the opposite and paid the price. 

I don’t remember what the exact name of the tour company I went with: something incredibly generic, literally like Sahara Tour Morocco.

I should note that I did this tour before becoming a more diligent note-taker as a blogger.

I followed the (bad) advice of others and just went wandering through Marrakech and booked it in-person from one of the men in the medina selling tours.

Again, this is what I was told was the best (read: cheapest) way to book a Sahara desert tour by other backpackers. 

While sure, it was cheaper (I paid about the equivalent of $100 USD for a 3-day trip in July, after some haggling), I ended up having a pretty horrible experience. 

They lied about many things: the inclusions, the air conditioning, how I’d get to Fes after my tour finished.

But on the tour, I was sexually harassed by my guides, and even worse, I was nearly groped while I was sleeping in the desert.

It all started innocently enough, in my mind. I was sitting after dinner, chatting with a guide trying to learn more about Berber culture. 

Without victim-blaming myself (as a person or two have done in the comments…), I must say that I need to remind myself that North American (and specifically Californian) friendliness is not always the smartest move.

Especially with men from more conservative cultures, they can mistake courteous talkativeness as an invitation for something physical.

After a while, this guide got progressively creepier and creepier as the night got darker, continuing to move closer to me as we talked.

I felt paralyzed with the knowledge of what was happening yet also frozen and powerless to stop it. 

Then he asked me if I wanted to go somewhere alone with him to see the stars better (um, they’re plainly overhead, but k).

Despite my repeated insistence that I just wanted to sit and enjoy by myself, he continued to ask.

Eventually, I had to tell him quite directly that he was bothering me, that I was upset, and he needed to leave me alone. He went away.

It may sound simple enough, but for a nonconfrontational girl like me who hates conflict, it was difficult. 

After he left, I enjoyed the next few hours a lot, chatting with my fellow travelers and admiring the vastness of the sky and the hints of the Milky Way overhead.

Later that night, since it was July, virtually all of the travelers chose to sleep outside where there was a breeze instead of the stuffy tent .

It was impossible to breathe in tents and there was a nice breeze outside. Meanwhile, a different guide set up his sleeping site about five feet from me. 

He placed a large pillow as a buffer between us, which I took comfort in, and I fell asleep.

I honestly remember feeling glad that I had a benevolent guardian to keep me away from the creep who was hitting on me earlier.

I woke up maybe an hour later to him staring at me, saying “shhhhh,” just a few inches away from my face, the pillow he had placed between us nowhere to be seen.

It was, in a word, terrifying. 

He tried to tell me to go back to sleep, but you better believe my a** was up and in my hot stuffy tent as quickly as I could manage in my sleep-drunk state.

I didn’t sleep much the rest of the night, obviously.

Since I didn’t book online, had no plans to return to Marrakech (I ended my tour in Fes), or have any papers confirming who I went with, I didn’t really have a way to review the tour.

I also didn’t feel comfortable going to the police for a variety of reasons (namely, the language barrier and gender norms with a culture of victim blaming, etc). 

If I had booked it online, I could have read reviews from other female travelers if they had a similar experience.

Had I been more smart about how I booked the tour, it would have been much easier to report the bad behavior I experienced on this tour.

This way, I could hopefully help ensure it wouldn’t happen to other female travelers down the line. 

I still feel sort of sick to my stomach when I think about not being able to report this. I hate the fact that this behavior will likely continue to other women.

This is why I recommend booking in advance with a reputable company so strongly and emphatically.

For solo female travelers, I recommend booking online.

As I said above, I suggest this tour if you want to go onward to Fes, or this tour if you want to go back to Marrakech at the end of your trip.

Sadly, this kind of behavior is not that uncommon for Morocco.

Other women have had similar experiences with their guides in the desert (read Lauren of Never Ending Footsteps’ experience here) 

I’ve also, of course, heard positive stories as well, though these usually come from men or people who traveled as a couple. 

As a solo female traveler, I can tell you though that it’s better to spend the extra money and book a tour in advance so you can read all the reviews.

That won’t completely shield you from an assault or harassment, but it’s one small (but important) layer of protection.

A lot of fuss is made about dressing properly in Morocco.

I will say that I was covered up almost all the time and not particularly provocative in any way, shape, or form, and I was harassed frequently.

When writing this post, since I didn’t have a personal tour recommendation, I vetted the companies and pored through the reviews pretty thoroughly. 

The tour I recommend above looks to be the best, safest option for solo female travelers, and still looked to be a good option as of this update (January 2024).

If reading this in the future, and you’re a solo woman, I’d do my due diligence and check the reviews from the most recent few months, just in case there is a new guide who is causing trouble.

Read what is included carefully.

My Sahara desert tour included round-trip transportation to and from Marrakech and the Sahara Desert. This included pick up and drop off at your riad.

When booking my tour with one of the tour operators in the medina, I told them I wanted to go onwards to Fes, a common thing tourists do to avoid backtracking. 

The tour operators said that all the transportation (including to Fes) was included in the price they gave me, but I never got that in writing.

Surprise surprise, when it came time to get a shared taxi towards Fes, we ended up having to fork out about $30 USD or so per person to get there. 

I can say that the price was pretty fair, but the method of being duped, stuck in the desert with no other options, is a principle I can’t stand by.

But at this point, after nearly being groped by one of the guides, I was ready to get out of there — no matter what the cost.

Tip: If you want to go onward to Fes like I did and avoid backtracking, be sure it is included on your tour! I suggest this Marrakech to Merzourga to Fes desert tour.

The shuttle bus was comfortable enough, but they kept insisting that the A/C was broken after the first day.

This was extremely was annoying, as I was overheating and feeling incredibly nauseous with only the fan on, since we couldn’t open the windows in the back. 

After enough of the minibus complained, they turned it on again and voila: it was magically working. Strange.

The tour included two nights accommodation, one in a hotel on the way to the desert and one in the desert camp itself.

The accommodations at both were of decent quality, actually, they were better than I expected for the price, to be fair. The tour cost included the camel ride as well.

Here are a few things most tours do not include: no lunch on any of the days, so you’ll have to either BYO food or add on another $10 USD or so for each meal. 

No matter what tour you go on, you can be guaranteed that you’ll be forced to eat at expensive, mediocre restaurants — likely wherever your tour guides get the best kickback, unfortunately! 

Most tours don’t include any beverages, water, etc. either so keep that in mind and bring plenty of cash for the tour.

Keep your expectations in line with reality.

The price range of Sahara Desert tours varies wildly based on the level of luxury. 

One blog post I read said their (comped, I might add) tour cost $700 USD per person for a 3-day tour, which is expensive for many — and definitely an outlier for Morocco, at about 5x the cost of the tour I recommend.

However, it would absolutely be worth it for a special occasion like a honeymoon when you won’t want to be crammed in a van with 15-odd other travelers. 

Meanwhile, on the low end, you can spend about $120 USD for a 3 day, 2 night tour.

You won’t be staying at the luxury desert camps you’ve seen the Instagram girls enjoying, but rather bare-bones tents with an outhouse and very few creature comforts. 

But who needs showers when you can bathe in the gorgeous light of a million tiny stars in the clearest night sky you’ll ever get a chance to see?

Most tours cost somewhere in the ballpark of $100-200 USD for a 3 day, 2 night Sahara tour, and that’s a fair price.

The tour that I recommend shakes out to about $40 per day, which I think is fair given all the inclusions and its good reviews. 

Check out the ratings & reviews of this Sahara Desert tour

Riding a camel is not at all like riding a horse.

If you’ve romanticized a camel ride in the desert, let me demystify that for you. This is no pleasant horse ride through a meadow. 

Riding a camel is among the least comfortable things I’ve done, and I’m amazed that people actually even trained camels to be ridden after feeling how freaking uncomfortable it can be!

While camel trekking, my thighs were sore by the end of the first hour. I could barely feel my butt when I got off the camel. 

The camel slid in the sand quite a bit, leaving me lurching and clutching on for dear life (camels are even taller than they look).

Anyway, the next day, I was given the option to ride on the roof of their ATV or go back the same way doing a camel trek – you better believe I chose the roof (though to be honest, that choice was mostly to avoid the creepy guide).

Despite my complaining about the discomfort, however, I’d do it again – the views are simply that magical, and the camel ride — as uncomfortable as it is — is a huge part of the desert experience.

Just be prepared! As I mentioned at the outset of this post, managing expectations is the key to enjoying your Sahara desert trip.

Going in the summer isn’t the worst idea ever.

I did my Sahara Desert tour in July… aka the stupidest time in the world to go to Morocco. 

It was 115° F (46° C) in the desert the day we arrived… so that may have had something to do with why the price I negotiated was so low.  

The car was hot and stuffy, but that was because my driver purposely shut off the A/C, something that won’t happen on a reputable tour.

Still, I’ll say that 115° F in Morocco isn’t nearly as bad as 90° F and humid in NYC.

I’m a Californian who grew up in a particularly hot and dry part of the state, and I will fight to the death that dry heat is 100x better than wet heat.

To me, the desert heat wasn’t a deal-breaker, especially since we arrived at the desert at sunset when the night breeze was already coming in nice and cool.

And at night, it cooled down to a nice 75° F (24° C) or so, and it was downright pleasant and beautiful with a light wind.

However, the tents were still like an oven that would have been impossible to sleep in, but outside underneath the stars downright pleasant (minus the gropey guide…)

On the other hand, it will be freezing in the winter.

Many people approach the Sahara Desert with the misconception that it’s hot year-round, but this is patently false. 

The desert is home to wild temperature swings – even in the summer, a 115° F day dropped to a 75° F night, a 40° F temperature variation. This is standard. 

This is true even in the winter. In the peak winter months such as January, the desert will be around 65° F / 18° C in the day and hovering around 32° F / 0° C at night.

And yes, it even snows sometimes in the Sahara!

If you visit the Sahara Desert in winter, you’ll want to bring some thermal tops (I like these from 32 Degrees) as well as a thin down jacket to keep you warm.

Be prepared for long days of driving and some dull stops.

It’s about two long days in a van from Marrakech just to get to the Sahara desert (not including the 12 hour drive on the way back). 

If you have 2 or 3 weeks in Morocco, that’s fine – but if you have a really limited amount of time for your trip, it’s a lot of time in a car.

The views are simply beautiful, particularly the Atlas Mountains and the Dades Gorge, so keep your camera at the ready to snap some shots.

You’ll pull over a few times at scenic overlooks throughout the trip, which helps to break up the drive.

However, besides stopping at the UNESCO site of Ait Ben Haddou and a pretty gorge, most of the stops are pretty uninteresting. 

Many stops were aimed at getting as much money out of you as possible as opposed to being interesting for sightseeing.

This is common with group tours, even small group tours, but it was cumbersome nonetheless.

I will say that they did give us a lot of bathroom stops, which as someone with a clinically small bladder, I really appreciated!

Bring some anti-nausea pills.

There are so many twists and turns on the road to the Sahara Desert because you have to pass through the Atlas Mountains, the Dades Gorge, and the Tizi n’Tichka mountain pass — all of which involve countless hairpin turns!

I get motion sickness quite easily, so I lulled myself into a state of near-constant semi-slumber for the two days with the help of my Sea Bands. 

They worked okay at keeping me from barfing, but I would have preferred actual Dramamine.

Personally, I’d choose the normal version over the non-drowsy that I usually opt for, to better help me sleep off all those hours in the van.

I’d also bring some stomach medicine like Pepto Bismol tablets just in case.

Morocco has some issues with food safety and undrinkable tap water that can end up messing with some travelers’ stomachs. 

I was fine during my two weeks in Morocco, but I know several people who got food poisoning while they were there, so better safe than sorry. 

Bring plenty of cash (about $100 USD worth).

There are plenty of little add-ons throughout the Sahara Desert tour that end up driving up the price quite a bit. 

Figure about $1 per bottle of water, $2 per soda, money for tips for various people you encounter along the way, and extra for souvenirs and strongly “recommended” purchases along the way.

Your guides will also take you to expensive and uninspiring restaurants for lunch, though since I wasn’t a big fan of Moroccan food to begin with, that wasn’t a huge loss in terms of flavor. 

The cost of lunch while on your Sahara desert tour is usually about $10 USD per meal, which is about 3 times the price of a meal elsewhere in Morocco.

This is pretty standard for every tour and is part of the reason why the price of your Sahara Desert tour is so low.

Virtually all tour guides are getting a kickback for bringing people to the restaurant, guides, and shopping stops, so they make up the money there.

Be aware that most stops are designed for the guides to make more money

Pretty much every stop we made along the way to the desert was rushed and not that interesting. 

All of these stops seemed designed for us to spend extra money, rather than to enjoy a particularly beautiful location.

For example, the stop at the rug store, the gift shops at Ait Ben Haddou, and the completely unnecessary stops to encourage us to buy specific scarves to wrap around our heads for the desert tour.

I understand this is how they make up for their slim margins, but I just wish the tour cost a bit more.

I’d rather pay more so that we didn’t spend so much time making a million souvenir stops.

Instead, I’ve had preferred to spend more time at the few stops that are interesting, like Ait Ben Haddou and Ouarzazate and the Draa Valley and the Dades Gorge. 

But that’s just how guided tours in Morocco go, I guess, unless you opt for a private tour and can tell them you’re not interested in these stops.

Buy a rug with caution.

In a moment of weakness, I splurged on (what appeared to be) a gorgeous hand-woven Berber rug at the village near Tinghir, paying about $40 USD for a very tiny lambswool rug. 

Mind you, when I took this Sahara desert tour, I didn’t even have a home — so why I needed a rug was beyond me… but alas, FOMO got me yet again.

Anyway, when I unwrapped it a few days later, I discovered they had swapped it out for another one entirely!

Despite not having touched the rug until I opened it, I opened it to find it completely and totally falling apart at the edges.

I ended up trashing it rather than lugging around a fraying rug for the rest of my trip. Fool me once…

Consider the pros and cons carefully.

While I had a mixed bag of experiences, in my opinion, it was still absolutely worth taking a Sahara Desert tour, as it was a huge bucket list item. 

However, if I could do it again, I would have researched what tour I took, and not have just gone with the cheapest desert tour option that a tout offered me on the streets of Marrakesh.

My safety and overall enjoyment is worth more than a few dollars, and so is yours.

I don’t want to scare you from taking a Sahara desert tour: thousands of solo female travelers take them, and take them safely.

But in the spirit of full transparency, I want to share my experience with you so you can be prepared should any shadiness occur in the Sahara. 

(And judging by the fact that my story is not unique, that is a possibility).

I will readily admit that traveling Morocco can be frustrating as a woman.

Adjust yourself accordingly: be courteous, but distant; not rude, but not friendly, and you’ll likely have a more positive experience than I did.

I’m of the belief that you shouldn’t let fear dictate what you do or take away from your dreams. 

Even though I had a bad experience on my Sahara desert tour, there are a few things I could have done differently. 

I could made friends with and stuck with other female travelers rather than chatting with the guides. 

I could have vetted the tours more carefully and picked one with better online reviews rather than trying to seek out the lowest price.

To be clear, this is not to victim blame myself, nor to victim blame anyone who has had something similar happen to them. (Though a few people in the comments have chosen to go that route…)

It is solely upon the predator to not be a predator, and not on the victim to prevent harassment or an attack.

However, just like there are measures to can take to avoid theft, there are a few things you can do to make yourself slightly safer against harassment from men. 

I hate that I have to write this here, but my experience is so not out of the ordinary that I feel compelled to share these tips.

Sadly, these are just facts of life for traveling alone in a country as unfriendly to solo women as Morocco is.

If you don’t like the idea of a Sahara desert tour, you could take the badass alternative and rent a car and driving out to the Sahara Desert, like the bloggers at Along Dusty Roads did. 

But again, if you’re solo, this may not be the best course of action – road trips are always best enjoyed with a travel buddy.

Ultimately, you’ll have to make the call, but in my gut and despite what happened to me, I say go for it – the Sahara desert is something that must be seen to be believed. 

Even with all the crap I dealt with on my 3 day Sahara tour — I wouldn’t take it back. I’d just go with another company, obviously.

What to Bring on a Sahara Desert Tour

Motion sickness pills: Don’t underestimate how winding the roads will be leading out to the desert! You will cross all sorts of high mountain passes between Marrakech and the Sahara Desert. Motion sickness pills will be your friend. I had motion sickness bands and they helped (but not quite enough). I wish I had Dramamine!

Snacks: I didn’t enjoy the food at the lunches we stopped at along the way and I wish I had packed enough snacks to skip a lunch or two. Snacks can also be a nice pick-me-up when you need a little sugar rush after countless hours of driving. I like packing Larabars for a pick-me-up.

A camera and tripod (for night photography): You’ll want a camera with a zoom lens and the ability to use manual settings to capture the best of the desert in all its beauty. A smartphone won’t quite do it, especially for night photos!

This is the camera I used in the Sahara desert. I also suggest a tripod if you want to photograph the Milky Way and do some astrophotography — you’ll likely never find darker skies!

Long sleeve shirt and pants: Even if it’s hot, you’ll want to have your arms and legs covered for multiple reasons during your desert tour. For one, it’ll protect you from the hot Moroccan sun… but for another, it’ll shield you (a tiny bit) from prying eyes.

A scarf: It can occasionally get windy in the Sahara Desert. Your guides will insist that you have a scarf they can wrap around you like a turban to protect your face from the sand, and they will make a stop in Erfoud or somewhere nearby the desert to buy overpriced scarves. Just bring your own scarf because the scarves you can buy there are not good quality and are basically single-use.

Layers (in winter): If you’re visiting the Sahara in the winter, you’ll want to bring warm layers as the desert can drop down to freezing in the nighttime (not kidding!). Bring a thermal top/leggings (I like these from 32 Degrees) as well as a thin down jacket to keep you warm.