The short answer
At a good luxury camp you sleep in a large private tent with a real bed, electric light and your own bathroom with a hot shower and flushing toilet. Dinner is a proper multi-course Moroccan meal, there is music by the fire, and in winter many tents have a heater. Basic camps share bathrooms and use simpler beds.
In more detail
The gap between camp tiers is wide. Standard camps, which make up most of what operates at Erg Chebbi, use large canvas tents with simple bed frames and a shared toilet and shower block. They are real and often memorable, but quality swings a lot between operators. Luxury camps give each tent its own bathroom, proper bedding and space to sit outside.
Dinner at the better camps is usually four courses: harira soup, a pastilla or salads, a tagine or slow-roasted mechoui lamb, then pastries with mint tea. Breakfast comes after sunrise. Vegetarian and other diets can be handled if you say so in advance, given how far the kitchen is from a shop.
Ask exactly what "ensuite" means before you book, and how many tents the camp has: a small camp is quieter. Some of the most polished luxury camps in the country are in the Agafay, close to Marrakech, which makes a comfortable single night easy. We use camps we have stayed in ourselves.
Good to know
- Ask: private bathroom inside the tent, or next to it?
- Ask: how many tents in total?
- Ask: is there heating in winter?