Is Morocco good for stargazing and astronomy (where and when)?

I have spent more nights under Moroccan skies than I can count, and I tell every guest the same thing: the desert here will ruin ordinary skies for you forever. Out at Erg Chebbi near Merzouga, or deeper at Erg Chigaga beyond M’Hamid, you are hundreds of kilometres from any meaningful light, the air is exceptionally dry, and the altitude of the pre-Saharan plateau keeps the atmosphere steady. On a clear, moonless night the Milky Way is not a faint smudge — it throws a shadow, and you can read the structure of it with your naked eye.

Timing is everything. For the deepest skies you want a night around the new moon, because even a half-moon washes out the faint detail. The desert is comfortable and reliably clear from roughly April through October, though high summer nights are warm and a touch hazier; my personal favourite window is late September and October, when the heat has broken, the air is crisp, and the core of the Milky Way is still high after dark. Winter desert nights are astonishingly clear too — just cold, so pack layers.

Beyond the dunes, Morocco has a genuine astronomy pedigree. The Oukaimeden observatory in the High Atlas, above 2,700 metres, is a working research site precisely because the skies there are so good, and the surrounding mountains give you dark horizons without a desert journey. Several desert camps now keep a telescope and a guide who can walk you through Saturn’s rings, the Andromeda galaxy and the Orion Nebula; if astronomy is your reason for coming, ask for a camp that offers this rather than assuming it.

My honest advice for a stargazing trip: build it around the lunar calendar first and the itinerary second, spend at least two nights in the deep desert so one bad-weather night does not sink the trip, and bring a red torch and a star app to find your bearings. A camp at Chigaga or a remote bivouac at Erg Chebbi, on a moonless night, is as good as naked-eye astronomy gets anywhere. Check moon phases and camp facilities before you book.