Dar Azawad

A hotel at the end of the road

M'Hamid El Ghizlane is the last village in the Draa valley: 80 km south of Zagora and 250 km from Ouarzazate, where the tarmac ends. Dar Azawad stands in the palm grove, in the douar (hamlet) of Ouled Driss, about 400 m from the first dunes.

The hotel is built in the valley tradition: low adobe (raw earth) buildings that the Michelin Guide, which has included it in its selection, describes as blending into the landscape. It has 15 rooms in three families:

• Nomade rooms, designed like Berber tents and air-conditioned, for the feel of a camp without leaving the pool;
• Saharien and Sultan's rooms, in the heart of the garden, shaded by tamarisk and acacia trees, built like small kasbahs in traditional materials;
• suites: two Suites of the Dunes, which the hotel intends for families, finished in tadelakt (polished lime plaster), zellige (glazed terracotta mosaic), sabra (aloe-fibre fabric) and bejmat (terracotta tiles), and three Saharien Suites with a private balcony and seating area.

Our advice: for a transit night before or after the desert, a garden room is enough; for a family, a Suite of the Dunes; for a couple staying two nights, a Saharien Suite and its balcony.

Hotel and camps, in two stages

What sets Dar Azawad apart in the valley is that it runs both the hotel and several camps in the sand, each at its own level of comfort. The typical stay comes in two stages: a night in M'Hamid and a night at camp, or the other way round.

• Rêve Sahara, a camp of nomad tents about twelve kilometres from the hotel, towards Erg Lihoudi, designed for families and groups of friends. It is the closest, for a first night in the dunes without a long track.
• Nomade Camp, in Erg Chigaga, in traditional Berber tents, with songs and stories around the fire in the evening.
• Aladdin, the "comfort" camp in Erg Chigaga, with a terrace in front of each tent.
• Le Sand, the best-equipped camp, at the foot of the Chigaga dunes: 8 large white tents with bathroom, toilet and king-size bed, carpets, cushions and a log fire.
• Les Hommes Bleus, a private camp for a group of up to six, alone on its stretch of desert, with gourmet cooking.

The house also has a camp in Erg Chebbi, at Merzouga: Le Sand Merzouga, six tents and a large khaima (reception tent) used as the restaurant.

Erg Chigaga can only be reached by 4x4, some fifty kilometres west of M'Hamid. Our reading: for anyone coming from far away, two nights at camp are better than one, and the house gives a 10% discount from two nights, at the hotel and in the camps.

A garden planted from scratch

The garden covers 3 hectares. The hotel says it started from bare land and planted 1,500 acacias; the gardeners have recreated a small ecosystem, with its own flowers and wildlife. There is desert basil, verbena, mint, coriander, cotton plants and at least six varieties of date palm. From August to November, guests can join the date harvest. Since 2010, Youssef has grown a vegetable garden of local varieties, served at dinner.

The cooking follows the same line: local, seasonal dishes and Moroccan recipes in a contemporary style. Dinner is served in the restaurant, in your room, by the pool or privately: on a terrace facing the dunes, by candlelight, or after an aperitif on the sand at sunset.

Pool, hammam and bar

The heated pool measures 12 m by 6 and is surrounded by a 300 m² terrace, where dinner is served in the evening by the fireplace. The spa has a hammam in two cabins, one for four people and one for two, each with a warm room followed by a hot room: a scrub with a glove and black soap with argan oil and eucalyptus, then a ghassoul (white clay) wrap. Next comes a herbal tea chosen to suit your massage, then a half-hour or one-hour massage with verbena or orange-blossom oils.

The bar, with its fireplace and banquettes, serves coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon and cocktails in the evening. After a night at camp, this is where you shake off the sand.

Sabaro's view

For whom: travellers who want Erg Chigaga, the most isolated of the country's great dune fields, with the comfort of a hotel before or after; families, with the Suites of the Dunes and the Rêve Sahara camp; couples, with Le Sand or the private camp.

Strengths: a single contact for hotel and camp; a 3-hectare garden; a proper two-room hammam; a bar.

Good to know: M'Hamid is about five hours' drive from Ouarzazate, so it is best to set off in the morning; winter nights are cold in the camps; the Erg Chigaga season runs from October to April.