A palace garden courtyard in Marrakech: a marble fountain, banana palms and carved stucco galleries

Couple questions: Romantic places

Is the Agafay desert worth it for a honeymoon?

Yes, if you cannot spare the days for the Sahara. The Agafay is a stone desert about 40 minutes from Marrakech, with luxury camps, Atlas sunsets and candlelit dinners, and some camps have pools and spa tents. Go knowing it is rolling rocky hills, not sand dunes. For the great dunes, plan Merzouga or Erg Chigaga.

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Answered by the Morocco Honeymoons team. Checked October 2026.

The short answer

The Erg Chebbi dunes after sunset, a sharp ridge in the foreground and a rose and violet sky — Erg Chebbi after sunset, MerzougaPhoto: Mike Prince, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized and colour-graded)

In more detail

The Agafay works because it is close. A chauffeured arrival in the late afternoon, a camel ride over the hills as the light softens, dinner at a lantern-lit table as the High Atlas turns pink, and then either a drive back to your riad or a night in an en-suite canvas suite under a very large sky.

Our destination notes describe some of Morocco's most beautiful luxury camps here: canvas suites with proper bathrooms, and at the finest, infinity pools and spa tents with the desert and mountains as the view. It is the easiest way to give a short honeymoon a desert night.

Rolling dunes in low golden light, their crests lit and their hollows in shadow — Golden hour on the Merzouga dunes, Erg ChebbiPhoto: Mustang Joe, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized)

The best months are October to May; summer days are very hot, so summer visits are timed for the evening. If the Sahara is the heart of your trip, keep the Agafay for a first-night treat rather than a substitute.