During our road trip to Morocco, one of the highlights of the trip and the place we wanted to visit the most was the Sahara desert.

This time we spend the weekend in the Cafe du Sud complex thanks to Marruecos.com who provided us the best experience we could possibly have during our first time in the Sahara.

For traveling to Merzouga area you can hire a full Morocco tour with them including Marrakech, Fez, Erg Chebbi and all the places you want to visit with no stress, or you can reach the property driving by yourself, as we did.

 

 

 

Why you should stay at Cafe du Sud in Erg Chebbi

 

One of the reasons we decided to stay at Cafe du Sud was the location very close to the high dunes of Erg Chebbi, and that it’s very easy to reach.

The complex has everything you need for a perfect stay in the Sahara, including a swimming pool, camels, restaurant, luxury camp, and a Riad in the same area.

The staff at Cafe du Sud is remarkable friendly and polite and we could see they were all trying their best to make every guest feel comfortable and at home during their stay.

The most exciting at Cafe du Sud was that almost all the staff spoke perfect Spanish too!

 

 

Auberge du Sud Hotel

The hotel is the base for the activities at Cafe du Sud, having a restaurant and a dining area outside near the dunes where you can feel the desert under the camel hair tents and beautiful carpets on the floor while you enjoy breakfast and dinner where they will play beautiful music for everyone!

The Auberge du Sud has Berber Suites, and Standard rooms, all including air conditioning and some have direct access to the terrace.

My favorite part of the Auberge du Sud is the swimming pool, where you can have one of the most beautiful views of the Erg Chebbi dunes directly from the frame around this area, a perfect canvas for your eyes.

The best is their prices are very affordable, starting at 35€ per person

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bivouac Cafe du Sud Luxury Camp

The camp is located close to the Auberge du Sud and you can reach there by 4×4, by camel, or even walking. The Luxury Camp is having a beautiful set-up with carpets guiding your steps into the tents. 

They have three categories of Berber tents to stay:

• Suites Tents
• Luxury Tents
• Standard Tents

 

In the Bivouac, I will definitely recommend you to stay in their Luxury or Royal tents as they have not only a beautiful decoration but also a private bathroom and even a shower!

The Restaurant Tent is having a simple yet pretty set up and the food was served at the table for dinner, and breakfast was a buffet. All the meals were very tasty and fresh plus the service was remarkably good.

Starting at 40 Euros per person including a camel ride, tent, dinner, breakfast

You can CHECK HERE the current prices and availability 

 

Riad Cafe du Sud

This place was feeling like our home in the Sahara. 

If you want more privacy or even if you are planning a bigger family vacation, staying at the Riad du Sud you can feel the luxury of staying right in the desert but with all the facilities you can imagine.

The Riad is having a Moroccan a Hammam, a living room, a kitchen, and four luxury rooms, two of them have a balcony viewing the dunes, is there a better way to wake up?

Starting at $169 this is the place when you want more luxury in Merzouga.

The Food at Cafe du Sud

All the meals were different and having good quality with fresh products and great taste.

Breakfasts were including bread, honey, dates, fruits, and sweets while dinner was a display of different preparations and one of the biggest buffets I’ve ever seen, with so many dishes I couldn’t manage to try them all.

Every day we had live music performed at the end of dinner and we could dance and feel the vibe of the desert with the musicians.  

 

What to do during your desert stay in Erg Chebbi

The activities you can do in a desert Hotel are several and we tried to do as much as we could during our three-day stay.

We reached the Cafe du Sud, located at the base of the sand dunes in the evening and we were welcomed with tea and very friendly faces. After drinking the best Whiskey Berber, aka Morrocan Tea, we were ready to start our way to see the sunset.

 

Doing a camel safari in Erg Chebbi sand dunes

Riding a camel in Erg Chebbi dunes is one of the must-do activities to do in the Sahara. 

I was doing a lot of research about how sustainable and responsible it’s to ride a camel and I couldn’t find clear and serious information pointing it’s bad for them being ridden. 

The most important thing is to never ride camel that is in the city riding in the heat a lot of people, and NEVER ride them by two people. Also, it’s important to know how are they have taken care of and how they look. It’s also important though they can be for days without water that they have water available when they need it.

So we decided to go for a short ride in the evening to see the sunset in the higher dunes near our hotel.

We went in a group of five through the dunes riding the camels and after 20 minutes we stopped to wait for the sunset. The camels were in the shadow resting while we were at the top of a dune taking pictures and enjoying the incredible view. 

I always thought the pictures from here were photoshopped because of the color, but being there I noticed the sand is really having an orange color. 

 

4×4 Day tour around Erg Chebbi

Taking a day tour around the area was a very good idea as we could see so much and have a better idea about the region related to culture and nature.

The area around the Erg Chebbi dunes is beautiful and unexpectedly full of life. The day went driving around the dunes area and passing Villages, Nomad communities, a lake full of Flamingos, and even an oasis. 

 

 

Visiting a nomads family was very interesting. Since five years ago they settled in this place and are working with tourism, sharing their experience and serving bread and tea to visitors.

To sit under a camel hair tent and enjoy tea, bread and the most delicious, argan oil with dates paste was the perfect way to feel the calm life of the family.

 

 

We made a stop to have a break and listening to the traditional music from the Bambara people, an ethnic group native to Mali.

Lunch took place in a restaurant serving the specialty of the region: the Berber Pizza, a dough stuffed with a mix of veggies and yummy spices, that was very delicious!

 

 

 

Seeing the lake area with so many flamingos standing in the water was one of my biggest surprises of the day. I was not noticing it was a lake here and I can imagine how beautiful it is when is having a higher level.

The area was a bit risky to walk at this moment of the year, as the terrain is a bit unstable in the areas closer to the water, so you have to walk very carefully and not drive too close to this part to stay safe.

 

Driving a Quad in the dunes

We had the most fun definitely riding quads in the evening to reach higher dunes. I really love driving but It was my first time driving one of these and I was a bit scared for a while as you go very fast! 

The dunes are soft and you need to learn a bit the technique to reach the top of the dunes and I got stuck twice before figuring out how to do it.

 

I was also a bit scared when going down too fast, but once you got it, it’s really fun! Our guide Mohammed was super helpful and patient with our pace and rhythm.

Watching the sunset after all the adrenaline driving through the sand dunes was so relaxing and we could have a very beautiful view of the orange sunset up there.

 

How to get to Cafe du Sud in Merzouga

To reach Cafe du Sud you can leave everything on the hands of Marruecos.com and get everything organized by them, including not only your stay in the desert but also all the highlights between Marrakesh or Fez, for example.

BY CAR

To reach Cafe du Sud by car is very easy and while we were driving from Ouarzazate we had two main options: to drive through the N12 or to take first the N10. In Erfoud we were directly taking the R702 road as at this time it was in good condition, you can also take the N12 to reach there.

While getting closer to Erg Chebbi the dunes are appearing at the distance and as soon as I saw the massive dunes of Erg Chebbi I almost had tears of happiness in my eyes, we were finally arriving at the Sahara!

 

 

 

Conclusion

When deciding to visit the area of Merzouga, one of the best places to stay can be Cafe du Sud. They have all that you can need to make your stay the best and to get the best memories of a Sahara Luxury experience.