Day of arrival

Pickup from the airport of Ourzazate and a 1-hour transfer to our hotel in the green valley of Agdz. If you’re arriving at the airport of Marrakech, be aware that the transfer will take about 5 hours. Agdz, which means “resting place,” in the local language. Dinner and general briefing at the hotel at 20.00 hrs.

Day 1 – Agdz to Foum Zguid (110 km)

Morning – From the palm groves to the pistes

After breakfast at 08:00, it’s time to meet your bikes and set off at 09:00. We begin among the palm groves surrounding our hotel before riding into Agdz to refuel. Just 200 metres after leaving the asphalt, we hit our first off-road piste. The winding track takes us through gentle hills, passing small villages, remote mines and the gold mine at Blaida as we make our way southwest.

Afternoon – Picnic & a first taste of sand

We’ll find a scenic spot along the route to stop for a picnic lunch, surrounded by the wide-open landscapes of southern Morocco. After lunch, the terrain begins to change as we get closer to the desert. Along with the rocky pistes and small tracks, we’ll encounter our first sandy patches of the tour. Nothing too serious and no dunes just yet, but enough to get your first taste of riding the little bikes through sand and start getting a feel for it. We continue towards Foum Zguid, passing through fields of watermelons and henna before arriving at our hotel. After a full first day on the bikes, it’s time to cool off in the pool and relax.

Day 2 – Foum Zguid to Erg Chegaga (100 km)

Morning – Into the Sahara

After breakfast, we ride into Foum Zguid to refuel before leaving the asphalt behind and heading south into the desert. The first section is rocky, followed by a mixture of hard-packed pistes and short sandy stretches. Around 40 km into the ride, we reach the enormous dried bed of Lake Iriki, part of the 123,000-hectare Iriki National Park. We ride approximately 15 km across the vast lake bed, with nothing but open desert around us, before stopping for lunch at the wonderfully remote Titanic Café.

Afternoon – The dunes of Erg Chegaga

After lunch, we continue along the southern side of the Jbel Bani Mountains, following desert pistes and avoiding the deeper dunes further south. Our final kilometres take us across the eastern side of Lake Iriki towards Erg Chegaga, where we arrive at Chez Naji, our desert bivouac for the night. There’s time to relax before heading into the dunes for sunset. Walk to the top, take a camel or hire a quad if you prefer to save your legs. Tonight, we have dinner at the bivouac followed by a campfire under an incredible desert sky, far away from the lights of civilisation.

Day 3 – Erg Chegaga to Ouled Driss (80 km)

Morning – Sacred Oasis & desert tracks

After breakfast, we leave Erg Chegaga behind and follow a winding mixture of rocky and sandy pistes towards the Sacred Oasis of Oum Lâalag. Hidden in the desert and fed by a natural spring, the oasis has provided water and shelter to nomads and travellers for generations. From here, we continue on a long desert piste towards Erg Lihoudi, the “Jewish Dunes”. Most of the route is hard-packed, although a sandy dry riverbed should keep things interesting along the way. Eventually, we leave the desert pistes behind and reach the asphalt road connecting M’Hamid and Zagora, before continuing to the village of Ouled Driss.

Afternoon – Couscous with a local family

Once we arrive at our hotel, we drop our luggage in our rooms, but we’re not quite finished with the bikes yet. A short five-minute ride takes us to the home of a local family, where we’ve been invited for a traditional couscous lunch. It’s a wonderful opportunity to experience genuine Moroccan hospitality and enjoy a home-cooked meal together. After lunch, we return to the hotel and the rest of the afternoon is yours. Relax by the pool or head out to explore nearby M’Hamid El Ghizlane, an old oasis settlement on the edge of the Sahara.

Day 4 – Ouled Driss to Zagora (120 km)

Morning – Single tracks through the palm groves

Today the riding changes completely. We leave Ouled Driss and head north, passing Erg Lihoudi before stopping in Tagounite to refuel. From here, we leave the main road behind and disappear into the palm groves along the Draa River. Narrow single tracks twist their way between palm trees, small fields, villages and irrigation canals. The tracks are too narrow for our support 4×4, so for this section, we’re on our own. It’s a completely different style of riding from the wide-open desert pistes of the previous days. Take it easy around the blind corners: you never know when you might meet a donkey, a local farmer working his land or someone coming the other way. And keep an eye on those irrigation canals. They’re definitely part of the scenery, not the route!

Afternoon – Tamegroute, pottery & lunch

We emerge from the palm groves at Tamegroute, famous throughout Morocco for its distinctive green pottery. We’ll visit one of the traditional workshops to see how the pottery is still handmade using techniques passed down through generations. From the pottery, it’s only about a kilometre to our lunch stop near the Tamegroute mosque and its historic library. Those who are interested can visit the library, which houses an impressive collection of ancient manuscripts. After lunch, it’s just 17 km to our hotel near Zagora, beautifully located amongst the palm groves. The bikes can be parked for the day and the rest of the afternoon is yours to relax and enjoy the hotel.

Day 5 – Zagora to Agdz (130 km)

Morning – Following the Draa Valley

Our final day on the bikes takes us north from Zagora towards Agdz, following the beautiful Draa Valley. The morning is mainly on quiet asphalt roads, with a few sections taking us off the tarmac and into the palm groves along the way. We ride through a constantly changing landscape of date palms, cultivated fields, traditional villages and old kasbahs, with the dry mountains rising on either side of the valley. Around lunchtime, we arrive at Dar Hnini, where we stop for a well-earned lunch in beautiful surroundings.

Afternoon – Gravel pistes back to Agdz

After lunch, we leave the asphalt behind again and take to the gravel pistes for our final stretch towards Agdz. The tracks wind their way through the countryside and give us one last taste of off-road riding before we eventually arrive back at the hotel where our Sahara adventure began. Time to park the bikes, wash off the last of the desert dust and enjoy a well-earned drink by the pool. Five days of rocky pistes, sand, palm-grove single tracks, desert landscapes and winding roads. A fitting end to our Sahara adventure.

Day of goodbye

Today it’s time to say goodbye after five days of exploring southern Morocco and the Sahara. If you’re flying from Ouarzazate Airport, the transfer from Agdz takes approximately 1.5 hours. For those travelling back to Marrakech, it’s a longer journey of around 5.5 hours, crossing the High Atlas Mountains along the way, so be prepared for a full travel day. Depending on your departure time, there may still be time for a relaxed breakfast before setting off. Thank you for joining us on our Sahara Desert adventure. We hope you’re heading home with some great memories, plenty of stories and perhaps already an idea of which Desert Rats tour to tackle next.