Agafay is a stony desert thirty minutes from Marrakech, and almost everything to do there happens in the late afternoon and evening. There are no dunes: it is a landscape of grey hills and dry riverbeds that empties completely at sunset, which is the whole appeal.
It works as an evening rather than a day. You leave the city around four, and you are back by eleven.
Things to do in Agafay
| Camel ride at sunset | An hour across the hills as the light goes. The classic, and the reason most people come |
| Dinner under canvas | Tagine, a fire, and usually Berber musicians. The core of any Agafay evening |
| Quad biking | The dry riverbeds are made for it. Usually an hour, and dusty |
| Stargazing | Far enough from Marrakech that the sky is properly dark, close enough to go home after |
| Horse riding | Quieter than a quad and covers more ground than a camel |
| Sunset from a ridge | Free, and the best thing on the list. The Atlas turns pink behind you as the sun drops |
| A day by a pool | Several camps open their pools to day visitors in summer, with the desert as a view |
| Hot air balloon | Some sunrise flights launch from this side of the city |
What Agafay actually is, and is not
It is a rock desert, or hamada, not a sand one. People arrive expecting a small Sahara and find grey stone hills instead, which is why it disappoints anyone who was not told in advance.
What it does have is silence, a horizon with nothing on it, and the High Atlas as a backdrop. Thirty minutes from Jemaa el-Fnaa, that is a remarkable thing to reach. We compared it to the real Sahara here.
The evening, hour by hour
Pick-up is usually around four in summer, earlier in winter. Camels or quads take the last of the daylight, dinner is served once it is dark, and the drums start somewhere around nine. Most trips are back in Marrakech by eleven.
Our dinner and sunset camel ride runs that way, and the version with a quad adds an hour of driving before the light goes.
Who it suits
Anyone with a short stay who wants a desert night without three days of road. Families, because thirty minutes of driving is manageable with children where ten hours is not. And anyone arriving late in a trip who has already done the mountains and the coast.
Who it does not suit: people whose whole reason for coming to Morocco is the Sahara. For dunes, you need Merzouga and three days.
Practical notes
It gets cold after dark from October to April, and the camps are open to the wind. Bring a layer even in summer. Closed shoes are better than sandals: the ground is sharp stone rather than sand. And the track in is rough, so a normal car will struggle.
The other six kinds of day are on things to do in Morocco.
