Is Merzouga or Zagora better for a desert trip?

Merzouga, easily — Zagora is closer to Marrakech but offers stony desert with small dunes, while Merzouga has the real towering sand sea.

Zagora’s appeal is saving three hours of driving; the cost is the scenery the trip exists for. If the golden-dunes photograph is in your head, only Erg Chebbi (or remote Chigaga) delivers it.