Morocco: Marrakech & Sahara Desert

My first week in Morocco was full of new experiences, adventure, and lots of photos. From exploring Marrakech and getting lost in the medina to watching shooting stars in the Sahara Desert. Marrakech & the Sahara Desert were a great start to my time in Morocco.

Since I had spent the night before my flight to Morocco in the airport, I was exhausted by the time I arrived in Marrakech. When I was booking my hostel in Marrakech they offered an airport pick up where they would also walk me to the hostel. I wasn’t sure I needed that much assistance, but after talking with my friend Chelsea, who had been to Morocco a year ago, I decided to take advantage of the airport pickup and the walk to the hostel since she told me that the medina can be confusing and hectic when you first arrive. When booking the pick up through my hostel I figured it would be a normal taxi, to my surprise it was a fancy, newer, sixteen passenger van that I had all to myself. It felt so luxurious. Once I arrived at my hostel I rested there for a bit and while at the hostel I met Sophia who had also just arrived in Morocco. That evening she and I went out to dinner together and then the next day we explored Marrakech together. On both of our first full day in Marrakech we spent the day wandering through the different winding streets of the medina and walking to some of the landmarks outside of the medina. Marrakech was such a photogenic city, especially the medina. There were so many areas to stop and get photos, from the beautiful doorways to the orange streets and different shop stalls. It was fun exploring the medina, both to experience it and to capture it through the lens of a camera. On my second day in Marrakech I joined Sophia on a day tour into the Atlas mountains to Kasbah Ait Benhaddou and Ouarzazate. Ait Benhaddou has been the site of a bunch of different movies and was so picturesque and cool to visit. It is known as the gateway to the Sahara. After going on a tour through the town and learning more about Berbers and their nomadic lifestyle, we headed on to the next stop which was Ouarzazate. Once there we had lunch at a very touristy restaurant and then were given time to freely roam the town. Sophia and I ended up wandering around the town with the others on the tour and then after a while our group parted ways and Sophia and I ended up finding a few cool areas where we could take some great photos of each other. It was really nice being with another traveler who was good at taking photos of people and we were happy that we were both able to get multiple good photos of ourselves. After taking a bunch of photos we headed back to the meet up point for our tour and started the long journey back through the Atlas mountains and back to Marrakech. The next day was my last day in Marrakech and I spent the day exploring more of the medina. At the time I visited Marrakech almost one month had passed after their huge earthquake and most of the government run museums and attractions were still closed for repairs and structural safety checks. Because of the repairs and safety checks there wasn’t as much to do in Marrakech as there would have been pre-earthquake, but I still made the most of my time there. Additionally, it was really hot, so during the hottest parts of the day Sophia and I avoided the heat by relaxing in the hostel.

After spending three days in Marrakech I started a three day, two night tour of the Sahara Desert. Originally I was going to go alone, but Sophia ended up completely changing her Morocco plans and joined me on the tour. We were given a recommendation of a tour company's name late the night before we left so I messaged them and we ended up booking the tour about 12 hours before we were picked up. Getting to the Sahara Desert was a long journey and we didn’t arrive until the evening of the second day. The first day of the desert tour ended up being a repeat of the day tour Sophia and I had done two days prior. Although I had already visited Ait Benhaddou, I made the most of the second visit and I enjoyed learning more about the town from the perspective of a different tour guide. After Ait Benhaddou we headed to Ouarzazate, however this time it was only for lunch. Since Sophia and I had already been to the restaurant that the tours bring you to, we knew to avoid it and we knew that there were much cheaper options nearby so we headed there for lunch and were joined by Cheyenne and Julian, two other solo travelers in our tour group. After lunch we got back in the van for multiple more hours of driving. Along the way we stopped at some beautiful viewpoints in the Atlas Mountains. The first night of the tour we stayed at a hotel in the Dades Valley. That night we had dinner at the hotel and met Christian and Hakim, two friends who were traveling Morocco together. The six of us ended up becoming one big group together on the tour and it was a lot of fun.

The second day of the Sahara Desert tour began with an early start since we had a long day ahead of us. On our way to the Sahara Desert we stopped at multiple Berber villages. It was so cool visiting the different places and the views along the way were breathtaking. After many hours in the van we arrived at the huge, golden sand dunes of the Sahara Desert. Once there, we took with us only what we needed and we were then brought to camels that we were going to ride in the desert to take us to the camp where we were spending the night. The Sahara Desert and the sand dunes were breathtaking and being in the desert was definitely one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had. However, I was not a fan of riding a camel. The entire time I was riding the camel I felt terrible for the camels and it didn’t seem to me like they were treated very well. I wish there had been an alternative option for getting to the camp. Luckily, halfway into the journey we stopped for photos and to see some of the golden hour before sunset. After we all took a ton of photos, all of the women in the two groups were put into a truck and we were driven the rest of the way to camp. Honestly, I enjoyed riding in the truck a lot more than riding a camel. The ride in the truck was so much fun and they drove so fast up, down, and around the sand dunes, in part for the fun of it and in part to not get stuck in the sand. At one point we were riding in the truck at a steep sideways angle, steep enough it felt like we could have easily rolled. It was truly so much fun and all of us in the truck were having a blast. Once at the camp we were taken to our tents. Sophia, Cheyenne, and I shared a tent and we had also shared a hotel room the night before. The tent was a mix between glamping and normal camping. While it was very large and had beds and a bathroom, it was extremely basic and the bathroom didn’t have walls so the three of us got very close very fast. After getting into the tent, we quickly headed out again to make the most of the setting sun and to get even more desert photos. It was so much fun taking action shots running, and sometimes falling, on the sand dunes. The photos turned out so cool. By the time the sun had fully set, the rest of the group who had been riding the camels arrived to camp.

For our one night in the Sahara Desert we had dinner in one of the tents and then the six of us, Sophia, Cheyenne, Julian, Christian, Hakim, and I, all went just outside of the camp to the top of a sand dune and laid under the stars. I have never seen such a bright, breathtaking night sky. After laying out under the stars we headed back into camp where there was a campfire and then later in the night there was music and dancing around the fire. It was such a fun experience. When everyone else in camp went to bed, the six of us ended up staying out even longer, talking and stargazing. It was such an incredibly memorable night. The Milky Way was extremely bright, I have never seen so many stars in my life, and I was able to see a ton of shooting stars. Each shooting star was so exciting to see. By the time the six of us went to bed it was after 2:00 am and we had been told that breakfast was at 4:30 am. In the less than two hours we were actually asleep it managed to get beyond freezing cold outside and when I awoke for breakfast I was absolutely frozen. While I knew the desert gets cold at night, I could never have imagined being as cold as I was. When Sophia, Cheyenne, and I went out for breakfast at 4:30 am all the lights were off and they didn’t have breakfast ready until after 5:20. We were not thrilled because it meant we could have gotten another hour of much needed sleep if we had known. After breakfast the six of us got into the bed of a pickup truck and rode through the desert to one of the highest sand dunes to watch the sunrise. The view from the top of the sand dune was breathtaking and it was such an awe-inspiring experience watching the sun slowly light the desert and all of the surrounding sand dunes. It was an amazing end to my time in the Sahara Desert. After sunrise we got back in the bed of the truck and rode through the desert. To get back into town we first had to drive straight down a massive sand dune. When looking from the top it looked like it went straight down at an almost ninety degree angle. It was terrifying and so much fun driving down the dune. Once back in town we met back up with the van and started the long journey back to Marrakech which took over ten hours. Along the way I fell asleep. Driving through the changing altitudes in the mountains with earbuds in messed up my ears and sinuses and by the time I got back to Marrakech I felt terrible and sick. I was originally only going to spend one day in Marrakech to rest after the desert tour but I ended up spending two days there since I got sick after running on little sleep for days and experiencing changing climates and altitude. 

Overall, I had a spectacular first week in Morocco and I enjoyed meeting a bunch of new people. Words truly cannot describe just how phenomenal the time I spent in the Sahara Desert was. It was definitely one of my favorite experiences from my trip and a definite “must do” activity when visiting Marrakech. The tour was definitely made so great by the people I was with. If not for them it wouldn’t have been as amazing of an experience. Stargazing and sharing so many laughs under shooting stars was an unforgettable experience.

“Travel doesn’t become an adventure until you leave yourself behind.”

- Marty Rubin