The Sahara Desert With Kids

Getting to the Sahara Desert with kids takes real effort, and it is the one part of Morocco I would tell you not to skip. Merzouga sits right at the edge of the dunes, a long drive from anywhere, and what you get for the trouble is a silence and a colour you do not quite believe until you are standing in it. Here is where we stayed, what we actually did with a three year old and a seven year old, and the practical things nobody warned us about.

Where endless orange meets blue skies, the Sahara Desert will indeed take your breath away.  We have been to many places and have seen many incredible views, but something about the Sahara leaves you a bit speechless.  Perhaps it is the eerie silence as you lookout over the dunes in Merzouga Morocco, the gateway to the Sahara, knowing that there are literally thousands of miles of sand that lay in front of you.  Maybe it is the striking color of the orange sand that is so soft that it feels like silk as it falls through your fingers.  Either way, there is something about the Sahara that just has to be experienced.  If you make it all the way to Morocco, there is just no reason not to make the trek a bit further to experience the magic of the Sahara Desert.

Where to Stay in the Sahara Desert With Kids

We stayed at Riad Cafe du Sud.  For several reasons we felt that this was the best option around the area of Merzouga Morocco.  Most importantly, it is literally ON THE SAND.  There were other hotels in the town that looked like the rooms may be nicer, but you have to get in a car and drive to actually touch the sand.  I wanted the kids to have the experience, and mom and dad to have the convenience, of stepping out of our room and being on the sand!  The girls loved playing in the sand, anyone would, it’s insanely soft and fun to touch.

Second reason, that pool!  It was a fantastic pool with even better views.  I knew that if we were going to be in the desert, in the summer, we better be spending an afternoon in the pool.  We spent the early mornings exploring the dunes (and getting stuck, a whole different adventure) and the afternoon poolside.  Kaida was able to nap in the shade in a lounge chair so we could keep soaking up the cool pool waters and having fun!  We asked if we could order lunch and eat it poolside and the staff was happy to accommodate.

Third reason, the Riad itself.  I liked that it was a separate house and not part of the larger hotel.  The rooms were well appointed and much nicer than the rooms in the hotel.  There is a staff member, Said (sa-yeed), that lived in the lower portion of the Riad and made us breakfast and attended to any of our needs.  He was very kind, spoke great English, and I felt more secure knowing that in the case of an emergency, in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, we had a local in the building if we needed him.  There were definitely cheaper options, but for the quality of the room, the facilities and the ease of doing the activities we wanted, I felt there was no better deal in Merzouga Morocco.

Book a room through the Riad Cafe du Sud listing on Booking.com.  To view the hotel website and book a room in the hotel, not the Riad, visit visit the Auberge du Sud website.  They also offer glamping in the dunes for those looking for a little extra!

What to Do in Merzouga With Kids

Ride a camel, DUH!  I mean, it is kind of a quintessential thing that must be done while in the Sahara.  Our Riad host arranged for the camel caretaker to take us on a journey.  They were so accommodating with our schedule.  We arrived at six in the evening and asked if we could do a sunset camel ride that night.  The camel guy was on our door step with two camels in an hour!  Not only were we traveling with littles but I also knew that camels are not comfortable so we kept it to a 30 minute ride up some dunes for a spectacular view of the endless orange fields of sand.

The morning before we left we asked if the girls could do a little more riding, just one camel, and the caretaker was out front with a camel in 30 minutes. What service!  Our youngest ended up deciding that she was terrified to ride on a camel anymore so the camel caretaker was kind enough to include her in the leading of the camel.  She was thrilled.  She led our oldest around on the camel for 30 minutes and was in heaven.  Who knows, maybe she will grow up to be a camel caretaker!

Go off-roading!

Okay, full disclosure, we are not the off-roading family.  Both myself and Kaida get carsick so I am never jumping at an opportunity for wild driving.  However, when in Rome… we decided we would do a little exploring and check out the surrounding area, and let Viona pick out a few hills she wanted to go over.  All was well and good for the first 5 minutes, then just our luck, we get stuck.  The girls thought that was an even more exciting adventure, until it started getting really hot and bugs kept scurrying around them in the sand.  Fortunately a couple of guys walking home from work (yep, they walk like 5 miles to and from work everyday, in the middle of the desert) helped out our driver and we were free!  We offered to give these nice young men a ride the rest of their way home.

Dinner in the Dunes

I thought it might be special to do a dinner in the dunes since it was Dawson’s birthday.  Our Riad host arranged for everything and our driver drove us out to the beautiful table the Riad had set up in the dunes.  The food was nothing spectacular, as I mentioned in previous posts, don’t have high expectations for food the farther towards the desert you get.  However, the unique experience more than made up for it.  We had a hard time keeping the girls at the table they were so excited to be eating on the sand.  Boujeema our driver, also arranged for a local baker (whose bakery was currently closed because of COVID) to make a beautiful birthday cake for Dawson.  It felt like a real celebration!

Helpful Tips for Visiting the Sahara Desert With Kids

It is remote.  The town of Merzouga Morocco is barely a town at all.  Just a random grouping of homes and a hotels and very few shops.  Don’t expect to be able to find any essentials here.  Make sure you stop in Erfoud, or a similarly populated area before arriving at your destination, for any essentials like snacks for the kids or yourself.  There is not not much in the way of places to eat in the desert.  Most eat at their hotel/riad.  If you are a snacker or have kids that will want snacks, come prepared!

Have cash.  So many places only take cash.  Even if you reserve your riad or hotel on a site like booking.com, the hotel will still ask for cash on arrival.  That point aside, our tour guide did tell us that these places have the ability to take credit cards but many will not tell you that or claim it is not working.  Either way, we weren’t about to chance it so we brought cash.  There are no ATMs in Merzouga Morocco so you must stop at one in a more populated area on your way in.  If you want to do activities like riding camels, ATV’s etc, you will likely need cash.  Don’t forget about tipping, the livelihood of the locals depends on your support!  So calculate ahead of time how much you may need.  ATMs have a max draw per card so plan ahead, you may need to draw the max 2 days in a row for the desert portion of your trip.  Tip: my husband and I brought separate ATM cards for the same checking account so we could each pull the minimum amount and double our daily cap.

Hydration.  This should go without saying, but make sure you and your kids are drinking enough water, especially if you are there in the hotter months.  We live in an area where it gets to 115 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer so we are no strangers to the heat.  However, the Moroccan sun can easily be underestimated.  I drank plenty of water (or so I thought) and spent as much time in the shade as possible and I still got a bit of sun poisoning.  The kids and Dawson were fine.  Just drink lots and lots of water and don’t forget sunscreen

Know your limits.  There are so many excursions you can do in the desert.  Much longer camel treks to basecamps for overnighters further out into the dunes.  You can check out fossil sites and meet locals that live in the dunes.  You can rent ATV’s and do some serious off-roading with an experienced driver.  You know your limits.  If you are traveling in the Sahara with kids, make sure you are not overdoing anything.  We were perfectly content in our nice Riad, exploring close dunes, riding camels short distances and playing in the sand.  Anything more than that probably would have been a little much for me and my concerns for the kids.  When they are older, maybe we can return and do some glamping at a base camp and ride ATVs!

The Sahara desert was an exceptional experience and I am so glad we made the extra effort to get there.  It can seem a bit difficult to get all the way there from Fez or Marrakech but I assure you it is worth the trek.  We took our time and made stops along the way so the journey was easy on the kids.  So if you find yourself in Morocco, do yourself a favor, put in a little extra work to get to where endless orange sands meet blue skies.

If you are putting a Morocco route together, the desert is usually the far end of it. We broke the drive at Ouarzazate with kids on the way, and the whole trip was driven for us by the team in our Sun Trails Morocco review, including Boujeema. Before the desert we spent time in Marrakech with kids and Fes with kids, both of which are easier stops than this one and worth doing first.