What's the best desert tour for first-timers?

When it's your first time in the Sahara, I always steer you toward the most reliable version of the experience rather than the most adventurous one — there's time for the wild stuff later. That means Merzouga and the Erg Chebbi dunes, on a 3-day / 2-night tour. Merzouga gives you the towering ~150-metre dunes most people picture, and it's the most accessible big-dune desert in Morocco, with a paved road right to the edge of the sand. As a first impression of the Sahara, nothing beats it.

I'd avoid two things on a first visit. First, the 2-day Merzouga dash — it crams about 18 hours of driving into two days and you'll barely touch the dunes. First-timers especially feel cheated by it. Second, Erg Chigaga, the remoter dune sea beyond M'Hamid: it's wonderful, but it needs a long, rough off-road 4x4 crossing and it's better appreciated once you already know you love the desert. Start with the version that's almost guaranteed to land.

The route is half the joy for newcomers, so make sure your tour stops properly. From Marrakech the drive crosses the High Atlas and takes in Ait Ben Haddou — the mud-brick kasbah you've seen in countless films — plus the Todra or Dades gorges. I tell first-timers that a good Sahara tour isn't just the night in the dunes; it's a moving introduction to southern Morocco's landscapes, and the stops break up the drive so it never feels like a slog.

Two practical nudges from experience. Go private rather than on a big group minibus — for a long drive, your own vehicle and an English-speaking driver-guide who can stop where you like and explain what you're seeing is worth every bit of the extra cost, especially when you don't know the country yet. And choose a mid-range camp with real beds and en-suite or proper shared facilities; first-timers who worry about roughing it relax instantly once they see the camp is comfortable, and then they can simply enjoy the stars.