- Experience varied scenery from the Sahara Desert to the High Atlas Mountains
- Journey into the desert Bedouin style, by camel
- Spend a memorable night under the stars
- Visit Tighza and experience a traditional hammam
- Walk in the magnificent High Atlas Mountains
- Explore Marrakech with its lively souks and peaceful gardens
On this Moroccan adventure, we spend five nights in hotels, one night in a gite and one night in a Sahara camp. Below are the accommodations we typically use.
Marrakech: Hotel Akabar (nights 1 and 6-7)
We begin and end the adventure at Hotel Akabar, which has a sun terrace with a pool, a restaurant and bar. If you're ready for a cultural adventure, it's just a 20-minute walk to the Djemaa el Fna square, where you can explore the mazy souks, excellent restaurants and street-food stalls. Alternatively, if you don't fancy the walk, a taxi will take you there in around five minutes.
Ait Benhaddou: La Rose du Sable (night 2)
Just a 15-minute walk from the magnificent Ait Benhaddou, La Rose du Sable occupies a prime address for our adventures. Though the location is undoubtedly a highlight, the hotel also has a swimming pool for any spare moments, plus there’s an upstairs terrace where our groups often gather to chat and relax.
Sahara: Camp Chez Le Pacha (night 3)
The highlight for many is our night in the Sahara, where our camp is circled by bronze dunes you can climb to watch the sun set and rise. Our accommodation is a ring of traditional mud huts, though most prefer to take their beds outside to sleep under a blanket of stars – look out for the tell-tale streak of a shooting star. In the centre of the camp is a fire, which is lit at night and typically becomes the place to share stories and bond with our guide and hosts. Distractions are few here, which allows everyone to share, what is for many, a bucket-list experience.
Zagora: Hotel Chez Le Pacha (night 4)
After a night under the desert sky, the large pool, sun loungers and swinging hammocks at Hotel Chez Le Pacha make for a nice change. There's also a restaurant serving Moroccan dishes, plenty of seating spaces to gather as a group, and traditionally styled rooms.
Tighza: Mountain 'gite' (night 5)
Our night in the Atlas village of Tighza is spent in a gite, which denotes simple rural accommodation (like a refuge or hostel) in Morocco. Here, we receive a lovely welcome from our hosts, who bring us tea as we sit on the terrace taking in countryside views. Our rooms are simple and sparse and you could be sharing with other group members depending on room availability; however, the spectacular location and chance to spend a night in a traditional village is reason enough to visit.
Worth knowing
There are shared bathroom facilities at the Sahara camp and mountain gite.
Single supplement not available in the desert camp or mountain gite.
